If your eye causes you to sin...

Here's how St. Francis of Assisi interpreted these words of the Gospel: “And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.” (Mark 9:46, reading for Thursday 02/27/14).

St. Francis preaches to the Muslim leader, Sultan Al-Kamil in 1219, during the Fifth Crusade. An excerpt from my book St. Francis of Assisi and the Conversion of the Muslims, TAN Books, 2007, pp. 68-69.

Al-Kamil made another attempt to test St. Francis, this time in the matter of the Gospel teachings of Christ. This incident shows that he had some familiarity with Christian doctrine, perhaps based on what had already been preached to him by Francis. The sheik confronted the friar with the words from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, recounted in the Gospel of St. Matthew:

"But I say to you not to resist evil: but if one strike thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the   other: And if a man will contend with thee in judgment, and take away thy coat, let go thy cloak also unto him." (Matthew 5: 39-40.)

The sultan asked Francis why, in the light of this teaching of Jesus, should Crusaders be invading the lands of the Muslims? Since the passage teaches “turning the other cheek” and repaying evil with good, the sultan was contending that there was no justification for the Crusader invasions, even though he knew that the Muslims had taken the land by force from the Christians centuries earlier. 

Once again the response of Francis surprised al-Kamil. He declared that the sultan had not completely studied the Gospel, and pointed out to the king the words Jesus had spoken earlier in the same discourse:  

"And if thy right eye scandalize thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee. For it is expedient for thee that one of thy members should perish, rather than that thy whole body be cast into hell. And if thy right hand scandalize thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is expedient for thee that one of thy members should perish, rather than that thy whole body be cast into hell." (Matthew 5: 29-30.)

Francis then proceeded to impart a distinctive interpretation to these lines, by referring them to those who attempt to turn Christians away from their faith and love of God. The sultan was as dear to him as his own eye, he admitted to the potentate (11). But someone very close to us who draws us away from our religion, even if he were the “ . . . apple of our eye, must be repulsed, pulled out, expelled . . . ” so that our faith and salvation would be secure. For this reason, “ . . . it is just that Christians invade the land you inhabit . . .” since the Muslims seek to draw everyone to their own religion, and away from the worship of Christ, and blaspheme his name (12). On the other hand, he continued, if the sultan and his people ‘ . . . were to recognize, confess, and adore the Creator and Redeemer . . .” they would be beloved by all of Christendom. When Francis had finished addressing the sultan, “All the spectators were in admiration at his answers.” (13) 

11. Little Flowers, Chapter 24; p. 1354 Omnibus. 

12. Legend of Perugia, no. 37; p. 1015 Omnibus.

13.  St. Bonaventure, Major Life, Chapter 5, no. 8; p. 668 Omnibus.

 Painting by Fra Angelico.

Did St. Francis teach: preach the Gospel, use words if necessary?

Actually, he did teach this, but true to form, he did not use words to do so.

  
As others have often pointed out, there is no record that he literally said "preach the Gospel, use words if necessary" (good summary here).  Or, to paraphrase a certain famous baseball player, "He never really said everything he said."  But he did say it without words.

The following anecdote from a 13th century biography of the saint, written shortly after his death, is the most probable source of this legendary remark attributed to St. Francis.

     Of the sermon Francis preached more by example than by words.

Repeatedly asked by his vicar to preach the word of God to his daughters [Poor Clare nuns] when he stopped off for a short time at St. Damian's, Francis was finally overcome by his insistence and consented. But when the nuns had come together, according to their custom, to hear the word of God, though no less also to see their father, Francis raised his eyes to heaven, where his heart always was, and began to pray to Christ.

He then commanded ashes to be brought to him and he made a circle with them around himself on the pavement, and sprinkled the rest of them on his head. But when they waited for him to begin, and the blessed father remained standing in the circle in silence, no small astonishment arose in their hearts.

The saint then suddenly rose and to the amazement of the nuns, in place of a sermon he recited the Miserere mei Deus [Psalm 50 (51) “Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy. And according to the multitude of they tender mercies blot out my iniquity. . . ”]. When he had finished, he quickly left.

The Servants of God were so filled with contrition because of the power of this symbolic sermon that their tears flowed in abundance and they could scarcely restrain their hands from inflicting punishment on themselves. By his actions he taught them that they should regard themselves as ashes and that there was nothing in his heart concerning them but what befit this consideration.

This was the way he acted toward these holy women; his visits to them were very useful, but they were forced upon him and rare. And this was his will for all his brothers: he wanted them to serve these women in such a way for Christ, whom they serve, that like them that have wings they would always guard against the snare laid out for them.

Celano, Second Life, Chapter CLVII, no. 207.

Were Adam and Eve originally clothed in garments of light?

 
The Word of God says this of our first parents while they were in Paradise, before the fall:  “And they were both naked: to wit, Adam and his wife: and were not ashamed,” (Genesis 2:25 Douay-Rheims).

That this nakedness refers to the absence of material, physical garments is made clear in subsequent passages, after the fall:
  “And the eyes of them both were opened: and when they perceived themselves to be naked, they sewed together fig leaves, and made themselves aprons,” Genesis 3:7.
  “And the Lord God made for Adam and his wife, garments of skins, and clothed them,” Genesis 3:21.

Although they had been "naked" in Paradise in the literal sense of the word, is it possible that in a figurative sense, on another level of meaning, they were clothed in some supernatural way before the fall? The answer is yes, according to two noted mystics of the Church, who lived a century apart and came from different cultures. The revelations granted to these two mystics bear a striking correspondence. They both assert that our first parents, Adam and Eve, were originally clothed in beams and rays of light, a divine radiance.

Certainly no Catholic is required to believe in any private revelations, but if what is presented below is in fact true, it indicates just how far mankind has fallen.

Revelations to Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich of Westphalia, Germany (1774 – 1824), from her four-volume Life of Jesus Christ and Biblical Revelations. (TAN Books, or online here).  The following is from Chapter Three of the first volume.

   They were like two unspeakably noble and beautiful children, perfectly luminous. and clothed with beams of light as with a veil. From Adam's mouth I saw issuing a broad stream of glittering light, and upon his forehead was an expression of great majesty. Around his mouth played a sunbeam, but there was none around Eve's. I saw Adam's heart very much the same as in men of the present day, but his breast was surrounded by rays of light. In the middle of his heart, I saw a sparkling halo of glory. . . . .

   From the hands and feet of Adam and Eve, shot rays of light. Their hair fell in five glittering tresses, two from the temples, two behind the ears, and one from the back of the head.

. . . .

   The glittering beams on Adam's head denoted his abundant fruitfulness, his glory, his connection with other radiations. And all this shining beauty is restored to glorified souls and bodies. Our hair is the ruined, the extinct glory; and as is this hair of ours to rays of light, so is our present flesh to that of Adam before the Fall. The sunbeams around Adam's mouth bore reference to a holy posterity from God, which, had it not been for the Fall, would have been effectuated by the spoken word. Adam stretched forth his hand to Eve. They left the charming spot of Eve's creation and went through Paradise, looking at everything, rejoicing in everything. That place was the highest in Paradise. All was more radiant, more resplendent there than elsewhere.

Revelations to the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta, Corato, Italy (1865 - 1947).
Following is an overview of the entry of 12/12/1926 of Volume 20 of Luisa's Diary, The Book of Heaven.

    Our Lord, making Himself seen by Luisa, told her that during His Passion, He felt an immense pain in the depths of His Heart, when they divided His garments and cast lots for His tunic. It was hurtful seeing this tunic used for a game, since it was the only object that He possessed that had been given to Him by His Mother.

    He was further transfixed because in those garments Adam came to His mind, still clothed in the garment of his innocence, and inseparable from the Supreme Will. At his creation, Adam was dressed with a tunic comprised of the interminable light of the Divine Will – a garment that could not be debased, divided or decomposed. It was the outer garment of innocence.

    Jesus explained to Luisa that in creating man, He placed him in the sun of the Divine Will. This was a garment of shining light, whose rays covered his body in a way that honored him and rendered him beautiful. To say that Adam was truly naked prior to sinning is simply not correct. Since all that God created was adorned and covered, should not man, the jewel of Creation, have been adorned in the most beautiful way? It was appropriate that he possessed the garment of the light of the sun of the Divine Volition. Since he was adorned with this garment of light, he had no need of material garments in order to cover himself.

     But in Eden, Adam divided and gambled away his garments of innocence, the clothing of the Divine Will. As Adam withdrew from the Divine Will, the light from his body and soul withdrew, and he lost his vesture of divine radiance. Realizing he was no longer surrounded by light, he felt nude and ashamed, and made use of material things to cover himself.

    In seeing from the Cross His own garment divided and lots being cast for His tunic, that which Adam did at Eden was repeated before His eyes. His pain, upon seeing this, brought forth a lament. How many creatures, doing their own will, make a game of the Divine Will, and how many times do they divide the garment of innocence with their passions?

    Subsequent to His immense sorrow at seeing His own garments divided and cast for lots, He did not take on other garments upon His Resurrection. Instead His Humanity was dressed with the shining garment of the sun of the Supreme Will. Then, clothed in these regal garments, He presented Himself to His Celestial Father, and opened heaven to all the redeemed. The Divine Will, while it is life, is also man's true garment of Creation.

    Upon hearing this, Luisa asked Jesus why He and His Mother, who also possessed the Divine Will, did not appear clothed in its light while on earth? The Lord explained that His Humanity was to represent fallen Adam, and not innocent Adam. Besides, if they were dressed in the light of the Divine Fiat, who would have dared to even go near them? At the time of His Passion, who would have dared touch Him? But when He rose from death, then He represented the new Adam, and He suspended the miracle which had kept the divine light hidden from His Humanity. Dressed in the purest light of this regal and dazzling garment, He entered into the Fatherland, in order to allow anyone that followed Him to also enter (12/12/1926).

The above overview of Luisa's revelation written that day, will be included in my third volume of The Life of Luisa Piccarreta, Journeys in the Divine Will.

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Precedence for Pope's Reticence?

There may be some precedence of sorts for the subdued approach of Pope Francis to the hot-button issues of abortion, homosexuality and contraception.

 

Missing from the hundreds of public messages from Medjugorje over the last thirty years, is any overt condemnation of these and other grievous sins and evils of our era.

 

It has been said that Medjugorje is the Marian Apparition of the Vatican II Church. The rationale behind the approach of the Conciliar Church right up to the papacy of Pope Francis has been to pour forth the balm of mercy rather than issue condemnations.   In his opening speech for the Council, on Oct. 11, 1962, Pope John XXIII said "Nowadays however, the Spouse of Christ prefers to make use of the medicine of mercy rather than that of severity. She considers that she meets the needs of the present day by demonstrating the validity of her teaching rather than by condemnations."
   

In order to determine exactly what “Our Lady of Medjugorje” said about the abortion issue, I went to the website of a major Medjugorje organization called the Medjugorje Web. This site, www.medjugorje.org, has a convenient concordance containing all words from the public messages given by the apparition from 1984 to the present. From March of 1984 until January of 1987, the public messages were given weekly, intended mainly for the parish. From January 25, 1987 to the present the public messages have been occurring monthly, for the whole world. This makes well over 400 public messages.

In the Medjugorje Web, one must click on the ‘Concordance’ button, since using the search box will bring up other references in addition to the messages. Using the concordance on the Medjugorje Web for the word ‘abortion’ in these public messages, brings back a result of ZERO times that the word was even mentioned, from 1984 to 2014! What makes this quite amazing is that the visionaries are supposed to receive a total of ten secrets, some of which concern great chastisements about to befall humanity because of so much sinfulness in the world. One would reasonably expect then that the “Gospa” would have constantly pointed out, over the years, the many sinful behaviours, such as abortion, that have to be remedied in order to lessen these chastisements.

Since the word ‘abortion’ brought no results, I next looked to see how many times ‘contraception’ was mentioned in all of these hundreds of messages. Same result – ZERO. Well, how about ‘pornography’ – nope, a ZERO again. What about ‘homosexuality’ or ‘sodomy’ – ZERO. What about ‘adultery’, ‘divorce’, ’fornication’, ‘drugs’ . . . all ZERO. How about ‘murder’ or ‘lust’ - ZEROES again. Surely the apparition has said something about ‘stealing’, ‘theft’, ‘idolatry’, ‘wrath’, ‘despair’ or ‘greed’ – every one of them a ZERO. Wait, there is one exception – ‘pride’ resulted in one occurrence. But upon reading it, the ‘pride’ referred to Satan, not to a sin of mankind.

And yet these apparitions are supposed to be ongoing communications and warnings from the Blessed Virgin Mary urging us to turn back from our sins or else face great chastisements. The holocaust of legalized abortion is the defining crime and offense of our era against God, with millions upon millions of innocent victims. For this cause alone, God surely has in store for us a great chastisement. Yet in the public messages delivered over the course of the past thirty years, we do not hear one peep about abortion from the “Madonna of Medjugorje.”

But who am I to judge?

 

 

Eight New Year's Resolutions from Padre Pio

Eight New Year's "Resolutions" from Padre Pio

Greetings to all.   These "resolutions' are taken from the booklet "Buona Giornata," (Have a Good Day), which is a compilation of daily meditations and observations from St. Pio's writings and comments, published by his Friary in San Giovanni Rotondo.  

Here are his thoughts - exhortations - admonitions for Dec. 31 thru Jan 7.

1.  The palm of glory is reserved only for those who fight valiantly to the end.  Therefore, let us begin our holy battle this year.  God will help us and crown us with eternal triumph. 

2.  We are by Divine Grace at the dawn of a new year.  Since only God knows whether we will finish this year, we should spend it in reparation for the past, and in preparation for the future.  Good works go hand in hand with good intentions.  

3.  Let us say to ourselves, with the full conviction of telling the truth, "My soul: begin today to do the good works which to date you have not done."  Let us be moved by the presence of God.  "God sees me," let us often say to ourselves, "and by my actions will He judge me."  Let us be sure the He will always see only goodness in us.

4.  If you have time, do not wait for time.  Let us not put off until tomorrow what we can do today.  The graves are full of good intentions that never came to pass.  Besides, what assurance do we have that we will be alive tomorrow?  Let us listen to the voice of our conscience, as said the royal prophet: "Today, if you hear the voice of the Lord, do not turn a deaf ear."  Let us come forth and treasure the fleeting moment which alone is ours.  Let us not waste time, from one moment to another, because the latter is not yet ours.

5.  When you waste time, you disdain God's gift - the present - which He, in His infinite goodness, relinquishes to your love and to your generosity. 

6.  "Let us begin today, my brothers, to do good because until now we have done nothing."  These words, which the Seraphic Father, St. Francis, In his humility, applied to himself, should be made ours at the beginning of the new year.   We have lived thoughtlessly, as if the Eternal Judge were not going to call us to Him one day and ask us to account for our works, for how we have spent our time.

7.  Love does not brook being delayed, and the Magi, immediately upon arrival, did everything in their power to make known Him, Who had conquered their hearts through an influx of grace.  He filled them with the kind of charity which must overflow, because it cannot be contained in the small structure of the heart, and must therefore be communicated.  

8.  In your actions, seek neither the most nor the least merit,  but rather the greatest honor and glory for God. 

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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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