TWILIGHT ZONE
***Will We See Roe v. Wade part 2? The Supreme Court heard oral arguments for same-sex “marriage” (during Holy Week no less) and now we await the outcome. Will it be another Roe v. Wade with the court legislating and imposing another abomination on the country overturning all state laws protecting traditional marriage? After 40 years of pretending that a baby in the womb isn’t a baby, is it really surprising that the next step is to pretend that parents aren’t really parents: that two men or two women can be physically and spiritually united as a married couple? The “love that dare[d] not speak its name” once upon a time is now the lust that screams at us from morning til night. When marriage is knocked flat and the unintended consequences (or perhaps intended) begin to unfold, the majority that approved of homosexual unions may find itself stunned by the degree of depravity to which it leads. Both Antonin Scalia and Rick Santorum have publicly stated that there is no reasonable argument against polyandry and bestiality once you redefine marriage to include same sex relationships. If marriage isn’t an institution with the dual purpose of procreating and educating children and fostering mutual love between a man and a woman, what is its new definition? Don’t ask, because homosexuals claim the definition isn’t changing at all. Ridiculous!
***A Plumber’s Redefinition of Marriage Let’s take a plumbing analogy and apply it to marriage. Among plumbing pipes there are male and female connectors. What if a homosexual plumber banned female connectors in his business because they offend his lifestyle. And besides, he claims using all male connectors is no different from using the ordinary (traditional?) male and female parts. Since the pipes can’t fit together in the normal way, he looks for innovative ways to connect the two non-fitting parts and force them together. Now you, as a homeowner, need a plumber and invite this creative individual to take a look at your problem and fix it. How long do you think his repair will last? Two men or two women can’t “unite” for a simple reason. Their parts don’t fit any more than two of the same plumbing connectors. To say that any body opening can be used as a female connector is no different from the plumber saying it’s no different to duct tape two male connectors (or two female connectors) together and call it a fix. The end result is a plumbing disaster which is a minor problem compared to what redefining marriage will be…Remember Caligula?
***How did homosexuals do it & so Fast? Can you imagine anyone even considering homosexual “marriage” a possibility in the 1950s? So what happened? Homosexuals developed a strategy and followed it relentlessly. You can read about it in After the Ball by Kirk and Marsden and in Fr. Enrique Rueda’s The Homo-Sexual Network. The homosexuals also united with other groups advocating lust like Planned Parenthood and the Feminists. From the very beginning of the abortion war, homosexuals always came out in droves supporting abortion. Why? Because the mantra was “MY body MY choice.” The feminists (a heavily lesbian movement) and the homosexuals worship the same idol – SELF. They also infiltrated institutions – churches, schools, film and pop music, media, etc. - which allowed them to mold public opinion. The media bias in favor of same-sex marriage is extensive. According to the American Foundation for Equal Rights (homosexual agitprop), 13 of the 15 major papers in the country support their call for same sex marriage including USA Today, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, San Jose Mercury News, The Washington Post, Daily News, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Dallas Morning News, The Houston Chronicle, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Arizona Republic, and The Denver Post. The only surprise will be if homo-sexaul “marriage” is not legalized.
***So Where Does That Leave Catholics?
The same place it left them in first century Rome – as a sign of contradiction to a hedonistic, idol-worshiping, murderous culture bent on forcing everyone to cooperate in its evil. Sound familiar? As Qoheleth says, there is nothing new under the sun and “All is vanity.” The works of man are “a chase after wind.” Francis Thompson said the same thing in The Hound of Heaven. The poet flees from God who pursues him “down the labyrinthine ways” of all the sinful pleasures his mind can conceive. And like Qoheleth, Thompson finds “all things betray” him. All is vanity! He finds no love or happiness until he stops flying from God, takes His hand, and hears the voice that says:
“Whom wilt thou find to love ignoble thee, Save Me, save only Me? All which I took from thee I did but take, Not for thy harms, But just that thou might’st seek it in My arms. All which thy child’s mistake Fancies as lost I have stored for thee at home: Rise, clasp My hand, and come.” But how did Thompson get the message of God’s love? Through the charity of a publisher and his wife who recognized his talent and rescued him from the streets where an addiction to opium had led him. What will convert our culture? The same commitment to charity. And one of the most important acts of charity is to evangelize the culture by word and example.
***New Age Meditation Course at OLQP Our Lady Queen of Peace in Arlington is notorious for its lack of orthodoxy so it was no surprise to see a new age meditation course there called The Cave of the Heart given by Fr. Laurence Freeman, director of the World Community for Christian Meditation. The Women of Grace blog (Johnnette Benkovic’s
apostolate which is carried by EWTN) describes WCCM this way: “It calls itself a ‘global spiritual community.’ According to Catholic Culture, a Catholic resource center that is faithful to the Magisterium, the community is directed by Laurence Freeman, OSB…..‘The World Community is ecumenical and serves a universal catholic unity in its dialogue both with Christian churches and other faiths.’…The World Community is associated with dissenting speakers such as Richard Rohr and Joan Chittister , promotes religious syncretism, and issues a newsletter that contains questionable material.
“For instance, this statement attempting to redefine original sin by Freeman appeared in the September 2005 newsletter: ‘Mythically, we explain it by some kind of “Fall”, a primal disobedience or transgression whose consequences get passed down the line forever. But in the light of modern knowledge about history and psychology we read these myths differently, less literally. Perhaps it is not so much a fall as a faltering ascent which explains our predicament and the disorderly pattern of human development. Maybe we are slowly climbing a ladder of consciousness.’
“In the same issue, Freeman treats Jesus as just another teacher. ‘How have humanity’s great teachers – Jesus, the Buddha, Lao Tsu, the author of the Gita, the Hebrew prophets – as well as the greatest artists and scientists, understood the whole picture so clearly and been so far ‘ahead of their time’?’”
Yup, Jesus is just one more guru leading the community in centering prayer which, like transcendental meditation, focuses on repeating the mantra until the mind is no longer engaged in the activity and the technique brings you into “union with God.” St. Teresa of Avila and other mystics would find this repellant. St. Teresa emphasized that the mind must always be active in prayer and that union with God is His gift and happens according to His will. No technique can ever bring you to it! Unless you’re your own god which is what new age mysticism is all about! Beware the new age and OLQP.
***Daily Prayer Book Mimics Magnificat Give Us This Day (GUTD) appeared in August 2011 and a free sample landed on Les Femmes’ doorstep recently. [Lucky us!] The format mimics Magnificat, the daily missal magazine that features beautiful classical religious art on the cover and a commentary on an artwork on the inside as well as the Mass readings, excerpts from the Liturgy of the Hours, and meditations. GUTD follows a similar format, but the cover from the sample issue (Oct. 2012) was modern and meaningless But that’s the least of its problems. The advisory board is filled with dissenters. First on the list is Fr. James Martin, S.J., an editor at America, defender of the uber liberal Nuns on the Bus. Fr. Martin gave the Vatican a slap down with a video praising sister heretics like Joan Chittister and Mary Luke Tobin. [You can read about them in Donna Steichen’s book Ungodly Rage.] Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, OP, another advisor, is well known for his dissent to Church teaching on homosexuality and other moral issues. In 2011, the Vatican removed him as keynote speaker at the Caritas Internationalis conference. As for Fr. Ronald Rolheiser, OMI much of his writing can only be described as wacky. He promotes the new age concept of the “cosmic Christ” which he states means “the mystical and the hormonal, and the religious and the pagan are part of one thing, one pattern, all infused by one spirit, all drawn to the same end, with the same goodness and meaning….everything — be it…the instinctual hunt for blood by a mosquito…or the genuflection in prayer or altruism of a saint — is ultimately part of one and the same thing, the unfolding of creation as made in the image of Christ and as revealing the invisible God.” [Ah yes Jesus on the cross pouring out his heart’s blood and the Aztec priests ripping out the hearts of their prisoners in their pagan “hunt for blood” are both one, revealing the invisible God.]
Catholic World Report’s Diogenes critiqued another Rolheiser article, Breathing Emotionally, calling Rolheiser a “presumptively homosexual priest quoting a confessedly homosexual priest (Henri Nouwen)” and going on to write that “Rolheiser wouldn't be Rolheiser if he passed up the chance to do a little gender-bending. Here's his conclusion: ‘Our prayers don't seem to be heard because God, like a good mother, knows that giving a certain emotional breast back to the child only delays the inevitable. Maturity lies in learning how to breathe emotionally in a new way. The mystics called this "a dark night of the soul." And we are in one of these dark nights every time we feel the kind of aloneness that drives us to our knees pleading in mercy for the kind of tangible touch that, for a moment at least, would let us feel whole again.’” [Uh…somehow we don’t think St. John entered a dark night because Mommy God took away his pacifying breast. No wonder so many men skip church if this is the kind of twaddle from the padre at the altar.]Stick with Magnificat and give GUTD to the circular file. That’s where our sample issue is going. [Thud!]
***It’s that Time of Year: Commencement and as usual scandalous speakers are lined up at a number of Jesuit schools. [Some things are boringly predictable – like Jesuit “educators” scandalizing to the bitter end!] A few examples: Santa Clara Law School hosts Google’s David Drummond, a proponent of same-sex “marriage.” The University of Detroit Mercy Law School features Mrs. Debbie Dingell, wife of Congressman John Dingell. Dingell is an abortion activist and Planned Parenthood advocate. Loyola Marymount undergrads will hear L. A. mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, another pro-gay “marriage” CINO (Catholic in name only) politician. [Well, hey, these ARE Jebbie schools after all! Dissent is their M.O!]