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Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost |
Posted by: Stone - 09-19-2021, 08:53 AM - Forum: Pentecost
- Replies (6)
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INSTRUCTION ON THE SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST.
From Fr. Leonard Goffine's Explanations of the Epistles and Gospels for the Sundays, Holydays, and Festivals throughout the Ecclesiastical Year 36th edition, 1880
In the Introit of the Mass the justice and mercy of God are praised: thou art just, O Lord, and thy judgment is right; deal with thy servant according to thy mercy. Blessed are the undefiled in the way; who walk in the law of the Lord. (Ps. cxviii.) Glory, &c.
PRAYER OF THE CHURCH. Grant to Thy people, we beseech Thee, O Lord, to avoid the defilements of the devil, and with a pure mind to follow
Thee, the only God. Thro'.
EPISTLE. (Ephes. iv. i— 6.) Brethren, I, a prisoner in the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation in which you are called. With all humility and mildness, with patience, supporting one another in charity, careful to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. One body and one spirit, as you are called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. One God, and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in us all. Who is blessed for ever and ever. Amen.
ADMONITION. Implore God continually for grace to accomplish and make certain your vocation by practicing these virtues, recommended by St. Paul.
Quote:INSTRUCTION ON THE ONE ONLY SAVING FAITH.
One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. (Ephes. iv. 5. 6.)
THESE words of the great Apostle of the Gentiles show clearly, that it is not a matter of indifference, what faith or religion we profess. Yet in our times so poor in faith, we often hear the assertion from so-called enlightened men: It is all the same to what religion we belong, we can be saved in any, if we only believe in God and live uprightly." This assertion is impious! Consider, my dear Christian, there is but one God, and this one God has sent only one Redeemer, and this one Redeemer has preached but one doctrine, and has established but one Church. Had God wished that there should be more than one Church, then Christ would have founded them, nay, lie would not have preached a new doctrine, established a new, Christian Church; for the Jews also believed in one God. But Jesus cast aside Paganism and Judaism, promulgated a new religion, and founded a new Church. Nowhere does He speak of Churches, but always of one Church. He says that we must hear this Church, and does not add, that if we will not hear this Church, we may hear some other. He speaks of only one shepherd, one flock, and one fold, into which all men are to be brought. In the same manner He speaks always of one kingdom upon earth, just as there is only one kingdom in heaven; of only one master of the house and one family, of one field and one vineyard, whereby He referred to His Church; of one rock, upon which He would build His Church.
On the day before His death, He prayed fervently to His Heavenly Father, that all who believe in Him, might be and remain one, as He and the Father are one, and He gave His disciples the express command to preach His gospel to all nations, and to teach them all things, whatsoever He had commanded them. This command the apostles carried out exactly. Everywhere they preached one and the same doctrine, establishing in all places Christian communities, which were all united by the bond of the same faith. Their principal care was to prevent schisms in faith, they warned the faithful against heresy, commanded all originators of such to be avoided, and anathematized those who preached a gospel different from theirs. As the apostles, so did their successors. All the holy Fathers speak with burning love of the necessary unity of faith, and deny those all claim to salvation who remain knowingly in schism and separation from the true Church of Christ.
Learn hence, dear Christian, that there can be but one true Church; if there is but one true Church, it naturally follows that in her alone salvation can be obtained, and the assertion that we can be saved by professing any creed, is false and impious. Jesus who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life , speaks of but one Church , which we must hear, if we wish to be saved. He who does not hear the Church, He says, should be considered as a heathen and publican. He speaks furthermore of one fold, and He promises eternal life only to those sheep who belong to this fold, obey the voice of the shepherd and feed in His pasture. The apostles were also convinced, that only the one, true Church could guide us to salvation. Without faith it is impossible to please God, writes St. Paul to the Hebrews, (xi. 6.) and this faith is only one, he teaches the Ephesians. (iv. 5.) If the apostles had believed that we could be saved in any religion, they would certainly not have contended so strenuously for unity, they would not have declared so solemnly, that we should not belong to any other than to Christ alone, and that we must receive and obey His doctrine. As the apostles taught so did their successors and all the Fathers agree that there is no salvation outside of the true Church. St. Cyprian writes: "If any one outside Noah's ark could find safety, then also will one outside the Church find salvation." (De unit. eccl. c. y.J From all this it follows, that there is only one true
Church which insures salvation, out of which no one can be saved.
But which is this Church ? The Roman Catholic, Apostolic Church, for she alone was founded by Christ, she alone was watered with the blood of the apostles and of thousands of holy martyrs, she alone has the marks of the true Church of Christ, [see the Instruction for the first Sunday after Easter] against which He has promised that the powers of hell shall not prevail. Those who fell away from the Church three hundred years ago, do, indeed, contend that the Church fell into error and no longer possessed the true, pure gospel of Jesus. Were they right, Jesus might be blamed, for He established this Church, promising to remain with her and guide her through the Holy Ghost until the end of the world. He would, therefore, have broken His word, or He was not powerful enough to keep it. But who dare say this?
On the contrary, she has existed for eighteen hundred years, whilst the greatest and most powerful kingdoms have been overthrown, and the firmest thrones crumbled away. If she were not the only true and saving Church, founded by Christ, how could she have existed so long, since Jesus Himself said: Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. (Matt. xv. 13.) If she were not the Church of Christ, she would have been destroyed long ago, but she still stands to-day, whilst her enemies who battled against her, have disappeared, and will continue to disappear; for the gates of hell shall not prevail against her, says our Lord. He has kept His promise and will keep it, notwithstanding all the oppositions and calumnies of her implacable enemies.
You see, therefore, my dear Christian, that the Catholic Church is the only true, the only saving Church; be not deceived by those who are neither cold nor warm, and who say: "We can be saved in any religion, if we only believe in God and live uprightly," and who wish to rob you of your holy faith, and precipitate you into the sea of doubt, error, and falsehood. Outside of the Catholic Church there is no salvation; hold this firmly, for it is the teaching of Jesus, His apostles, and all the Fathers; for this doctrine the apostles and a countless host of the faithful have shed their blood. Obey the teaching of this Church, follow her laws, make use of her help and assistance, and often raise your hands and heart to heaven to thank God for the priceless grace of belonging to this one, true Church; forget not to pray for your erring brethren, who are still outside of the Church that the Lord may lead them into her, that His promise may be fulfilled: There will be one fold and one shepherd.
GOSPEL. (Matt xxii. 35 — 46.) At that time, The Pharisees came to Jesus, and one of them, a doctor of the law, asked him, tempting him: Master, which is the great commandment of the law? Jesus said to him: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets. And the Pharisees being gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying: What think you of Christ; whose son is he? They say to him: David's. He saith to them: How then doth David in spirit call him Lord; saying: The Lord said to my Lord, Sit on my right hand, until I make thy enemies thy footstool? If David then call him Lord, how is he his son? And no man was able to answer him a word: neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions.
What is meant by loving God?
It means to find one's pleasure, happiness, and joy in God, because He is the highest and most perfect Good; to rejoice in His infinite majesty and glory; to direct one's thoughts, words, and actions towards Him as our only end; to do His will in all things, and be prepared always rather to lose everything, even life itself, than His friendship.
What is meant by loving God with our whole heart, our whole soul, &c.?
These different expressions all properly mean the same thing, namely, that we should cling to God with a true, sincere and heartfelt love, but by our heart, our will may be understood, that power by which we wish God all glory, and desire nothing more than that He be known, loved, and honored by all men. The soul signifies the intellect by means of which we should endeavor to arrive at the knowledge and love of God, praise and glorify Him above all things. The mind may signify our memory, with which we continually remember God and the innumerable benefits, bestowed on us by Him, praise Him for them, thank Him, and always walk irreproachably before Him. Finally, we love God, with all our strength, if we employ all the powers and faculties of our body in His service, and direct all our actions to Him as to our last end.
Is it true love, if we love God only because He is good to its?
This is grateful love, which is good and praiseworthy, but it is not perfect love, because the motive is self-love and self-interest.
What, therefore, is perfect love?
When we love God only because He is in Himself the highest Good, and most worthy of all love. In this manner we should endeavor to love Him; not through self-interest, not through hope of reward, not through fear of punishment, but only because He, as the greatest Good, contains all goodness and, therefore, deserves to be loved only on account of Himself. Such love had St. Francis Xavier, which he very beautifully expressed in the following canticle, composed by himself:
O God, I give my love to Thee,
Not for the heaven Thou'st made for me,
Nor yet because who love not Thee
Will burn in hell eternally.
In dying throes on Calvary,
My Jesus, Thou didst think of me,
Didst bear the lance, the nails, the tree,
Rude scoffs, contempt and infamy,
And pangs untold, all lovingly, —
The scourge, the sweat, the agony,
And death itself, — all, all for me,
A sinner and Thy enemy.
Why, therefore, should not I love Thee,
O Jesus, dead for love of me?
Not that I may in heaven be,
Not that from hell I may be free;
Not urged by dread of endless pain,
Not lured by prize of endless gain,
But as Thou, Lord, didst first love me,
So do I love and will love Thee.
To Thee, my King, I give my heart,
For this alone that God Thou art.
Can fear exist with love?
Servile fear cannot , but filial fear may. Servile fear is rather a fear of punishment than a fear of offending God. Where such fear exists , love cannot dwell; for in love, writes St. Augustine, (in Joann. Tr. q.) there is no fear, for perfect love casteth out fear, (i John iv. 18.) Filial fear, on the contrary, is the fear of offending God. This fear leads to love and is also an effect of love; it is the beginning of wisdom. (Ecclus, i. 16.) Let us cherish this fear, for it will drive away sin, as sentinels expel thieves; (Ecclus, i. 27.) it will replenish us with joy, and gladness, and obtain for us in our last moments divine blessings, and a holy death. (Ecclus. i. 11 — 13.)
How may we obtain a perfect love of God?
By meditating on His infinite, divine perfections, such as His almighty power, His wisdom, His splendor, His beauty, &c; by contemplating His boundless love for us, in the incarnation, sufferings, and death of His only-begotten Son; by frequently practicing this virtue; by fervent prayer;
and by making acts of love, such as are found in good prayer-books.
When should we practice the virtue of love of God?
As soon as we have arrived at the age of reason; when the world, the devil, and the flesh, endeavor to withdraw us from God, by their apparent goods and pleasures; when we have separated ourselves from God by mortal sin; when we receive the holy Sacraments, particularly holy Communion; when we receive a particular grace from God; when we use food and drink, and other lawful enjoyments; when we contemplate God's creatures; often during the day; and especially in the hour of death. [Concerning the love of our neighbor, see the twelfth Sunday after Pentecost].
Why is the commandment to love God and our neighbor called the greatest commandment?
Because in it are contained all the other commandments, for Christ says, in it consists the whole law. He who loves God with his whole heart, does not separate himself from God by infidelity, does not practice public or private superstition and idolatry; he does not murmur against God, does not
desecrate the name of God by cursing and swearing; he does not profane the Sabbath, because he knows, that all this is displeasing 1 to God. On the contrary, he hopes in God, keeps Sundays and days of obligation holy, and observes all the commandments of the Church, because God wishes, that we hear the Church; he honors his parents, inflicts no evil upon his neighbor; does not commit adultery, does not steal, calumniates no one, does not bear false witness, does not judge rashly, is not envious, malicious or cruel but rather practices the corporal and spiritual works of mercy; and all this, because he loves God and his neighbor.
What is the meaning of the question: What think you of Christ?
Christ asked the Pharisees this question in order to convince them, from their own answer, that He was not only the Son of David, but that He as the only-begotten Son of God was the Lord of David and of all men from eternity. (Ps. ii. 7.) — Unhappily even to-day there are men, who like the Pharisees deny the divinity of Christ, the Son of the living God, consider Him merely a very wise and virtuous man, and do not receive His doctrine, confirmed by so many miracles. Beware, my dear Christian, of these men who rob you of the peace of the soul, and the consoling hope of a future resurrection and eternal life, together with faith in Christ, the divine Redeemer. But if you believe Christ to be the Son of God and our Lord. Law-
giver, Instructor, and Redeemer, follow His teaching, and do not contradict in deed what you profess with your lips.
PRAYER. O most amiable Jesus! who hast admonished us so affectionately to love God and our neighbor, pour the fire of Thy love into our hearts, that all our deeds and actions, all our thoughts and words may begin and end with Thy love. Grant, that we may love Thee with all the powers of our body and soul, and thereby be so united to Thee, that, like St. Paul, no temptation, no tribulation, no danger, not even death, may be able to separate us from Thee. Grant us also, that we may love our neighbors, friends, and enemies as ourselves for Thy sake, and thus be made worthy to possess Thee as our Redeemer and merciful Judge.
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Dom Prosper Guéranger: The Ember Days of September |
Posted by: Stone - 09-18-2021, 06:41 AM - Forum: Pentecost
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Ember Days of September
For the third time this year, Holy Church comes claiming from her children the tribute of Penance, which, from the earliest ages of Christianity, was looked upon as a solemn consecration of the Seasons. The historical details relative to the institution of the Ember Days will be found on the Wednesdays of the third week of Advent and of the first week of Lent; and on those same two days, we have spoken of the intentions which Christians should have in the fulfilment of the demand made upon their yearly service.
The beginnings of the Winter, Spring, and Autumn quarters were sanctified by abstinence and fasting, and each of them, in turn, has witnessed heaven’s blessing falling upon their respective three months; and now, Autumn is harvesting the fruits, which divine mercy, appeased by the satisfactions made by sinful man, has vouchsafed to bring forth from the bosom of the earth, notwithstanding the curse that still hangs over her. The precious seed of wheat, on which man’s life mainly depends, was confided to the soil in the season of the yearly frosts, and with the first fine days, peeped above the ground; at the approach of glorious Easter, it carpeted our fields with its velvet of green, making them ready to share in the universal joy of Jesus’ resurrection; then, turning into a lovely image of what our souls ought to have been in the season of Pentecost, its stem grew up under the action of the hot sun; the golden ear promised a hundred-fold to its master; the harvest made the reapers glad; and now that September has come, it calls on man to fix his heart on that good God, who gave him all this store. Let him not think of saying, as that rich man of the Gospel did, after a plentiful harvest of fruits: My soul! thou hast much goods laid up for many years! take thy rest! eat! drink! make good cheer! And God said to that man: Thou fool! this night, do they require thy soul of thee! and whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? Surely, there is too much of the Christian among us to allow us to be senseless in that way. If we would be truly rich with God, if we would draw down his blessing on the preservation, as well as on the production, of the fruits of the earth, let us, at the beginning of this last quarter of the year, have recourse to those penitential exercises, whose beneficial effects we have always experienced in the past. The Church gives us the commandment to do so, by obliging us, under penalty of grievous sin, to abstain and fast on these three days, unless we be lawfully dispensed.
We have already spoken on the necessity of private penance, for the Christian who is at all desirous to make progress in the path of salvation. But, in this, as in all spiritual exercises, a private work of devotion has neither the merit nor the efficacy of one that is done in company with the Church, and in communion with her public act; for the Church, as Bride of Christ, has an exceptional worth and power in all she does; and these qualities are communicated by her, to works of penance done, in her name, in the unity of the social body. St. Leo the Great is very strong on this fundamental principle of Christian virtue; and we find him insisting on it, in the sermons he preached to the Faithful of Rome, on occasion of this Fast, of what was then called, the Feast of the seventh month. “Although,” says he, “it be lawful for each one of us to chastise his body, by self-imposed punishments, and restrain, with more or less severity, the concupiscences of the flesh, which war against the spirit,—yet, need is, that, on certain days, there be celebrated a general fast by all. Devotion is all the more efficacious and holy, when, in works of piety, the whole Church is engaged in them, with one spirit and one soul. Everything, in fact, that is of a public character, is, to be preferred to what is private; and it is plain, that so much the greater is the interest at stake, when the earnestness of all is engaged upon it. As for individual efforts, let each one keep up his fervor in them; let each one, imploring the aid of divine protection, take to his own self the heavenly armor, wherewith to resist the snares laid by the spirits of wickedness;—but, the soldier of the Church,—(the soldier that has the spirit of the Church,—ecclesiasticus miles), though he may act bravely in his own private combats (specialibus præliis), yet will he fight, more safely, and more successively, when he shall confront the enemy in a public engagement; for in that public engagement, he has not only his own valor to trust to, but, under the leadership of a King who can never be conquered, he is in the battle fought by all his fellow-soldiers, and, by being in their company and ranks, he has a fellowship of mutual aid.”
Another year, when preaching for the same occasion, this eloquent Pontiff, and Doctor of the Church, was even more energetic and lengthy, in putting these great truths before the people; would to God the words of such a Pope, as Leo the Great, could make themselves heard by our present generation, and induce us Christians to mistrust the individualistic tendencies of what is called the piety suited to the age we live in. Fortunately, the words of the Saint exist, and in all their “pontifical eloquence;” we invite our readers to peruse his “Sermons;” all we have space for, is a short selection from his third Sermon on the Fast of the seventh month (our September Ember Days).
Quote:“God has sanctioned this privilege,—that, what is celebrated in virtue of a public law, is more sacred than that which depends on a private regulation. The exercise of a self-restraint which an individual Christian practices by his own will, is for the advantage of that single member; but, a fast, undertaken by the Church at large, includes every one in the general purification. God’s people never is so powerful, as when the hearts of all the Faithful join together in the unity of holy obedience, and when, in the Christian camp, there is one and the same preparation made by all, and one and the same bulwark covering us all. … See, most dearly beloved, here is the solemn Fast of the seventh month urging us to profit by the potency of the unity (of which we were speaking), and which is invincible. … Let us raise up our hearts, withdraw from worldly occupations, and steal some time for furthering our eternal goods. … The most plenary remission of sin is obtained, when there is the whole Church in the like prayer, and the like confession; for, if the Lord promises, that when two or three shall, with a holy and pious unanimity, agree to ask Him anything whatsoever, it shall be granted to them,—what is there, that can be refused to a people of many thousands, who are all alike engaged in observing one and the same practice of religion, and are, with one common accord, praying with one and the same spirit? In the eyes of God, my dearly beloved, it is a great and precious sight, when all Christ’s people are earnest at the same offices; and that, without any distinction, men and women of every grade and order, are all working together with one heart. To depart from evil and do good, that is the one and same determination of all. They all give glory to God for the works he achieves in his servants. They all unite in returning hearty thanks to the loving Giver of all blessings. The hungry are fed; the naked are clad; the sick are visited; and no one seeketh his own profit, but that of others. … By this grace of God, who worketh all in all, the fruit is common, and the merit is common; for the affection of all may be the same, although all are not equally rich; and they who are receivers of the liberality of others, may not be able to make a like return, but they can entertain a like affection. There is nothing out of joint in such a people as that; there are no variances; for all the members of the whole body are alike in the energy of the same piety. … The beauty of the whole becomes the excellence of each member. … Let us, then, embrace this blessed solidity of holy unity, and with one agreement of the same good will, let us enter upon this solemn Fast.”
Let us not, in our prayers and fasts, forget the new Priests and other Ministers of the Church who, on Saturday next, are to receive the imposition of hands. The September ordination is not usually the most numerous of those given by the Bishop during the year. The sublime function to which the Faithful owe their Fathers and Guides in the spiritual life has, however, a special interest at this period of the year, which, more than any other, is in keeping with the present state of the world, which is one of rapid decline towards ruin. Our Year, too, is on the fall, as we say. The sun, which beheld rising at Christmas, as a giant who would burst the bonds of frost asunder and restrain the tyranny of darkness—now, as though he had grown wearied, is drooping towards the horizon; each day we see him gradually leaving that glorious zenith, where we admired his dazzling splendor, on the day of our Emmanuel’s Ascension; his fire has lost its might; and though he still holds half the day as his, his disc is growing pale, which tells us of the coming on of those long nights when Nature, stripped of all her loveliness by angry storms, seems as though she would bury herself forever in the frozen shroud which is to bind her. So it is with our world. Illumined as it was by the light of Christ and glowing with the fire of the Holy Ghost, it sees in these our days that charity is growing cold, and that the light and glow it had from the Sun of Justice are on the wane. Each revolution takes from the Church some jewel or other, which does not come back to her when the storm is over; tempests are so frequent that tumult is becoming the natural state of the times. Error predominates and lays down the law. Iniquity abounds. It is our Lord himself who said: When the Son of Man cometh, shall he find, think ye, Faith on earth?
Lift up, then, your heads, ye children of God! for your redemption is at hand. But from now until that time shall come, when heaven and earth are to be made new for the reign that is to be eternal, and shall bloom in the light of the Lamb, the Conqueror, days far worse than these must dawn upon this world of ours, when the elect themselves would be deceived, if that were possible! How important is it not, in these miserable times, that the Pastors of the flock of Christ be equal to their perilous and sublime vocation; let us then fast and pray; and how numerous soever may be the losses sustained in the Christian ranks of those who once were faithful in the practices of penance, let us not lose courage. Few as we may be, let us group ourselves closely round the Church, and implore of that Jesus, who is her Spouse, that he vouchsafe to multiply his gifts in those whom he is calling to the—now more than ever—dread honor of the Priesthood; that he infuse into them his divine prudence, whereby they may be able to disconcert the plans of the impious; his untiring zeal for the conversion of ungrateful souls; his perseverance even unto death in maintaining, without reticence or compromise, the plenitude of that truth which he has destined for the world, and the unviolated custody of which is to be, on the last Day, the solemn testimony of the Bride’s fidelity.
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September 18th – St. Joseph of Cupertino, Confessor |
Posted by: Stone - 09-18-2021, 06:37 AM - Forum: September
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September 18 – St. Joseph of Cupertino, Confessor
While, in France, the rising spirit of Jansenism was driving God from the hearts of the people, a humble son of St. Francis, in Southern Italy, was showing how easily love may span the distance between earth and heaven. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself, said Our Lord; and time has proved it to be the most universal of his prophecies. On the feast of the holy Cross, we witnessed its truth, even in the domain of social and political claims. We shall experience it in our very bodies on the great day, when we shall be taken up in the clouds to meet Christ, into the air. But Joseph of Cupertino had experience of it without waiting for the resurrection: innumerable witnesses have borne testimony to his life of continual ecstasies, wherein he was frequently seen raised high in the air. And these facts took place in what men are pleased to call the noonday of history.
Let us read the account of him given by holy Church.
Quote:Joseph was born of pious parents at Cupertino, a town of the Salentines in the diocese of Nardo, in the year of salvation one thousand six hundred and three. Prevented with the love of God, he spent his boyhood and youth in the greatest simplicity and innocence. The Virgin Mother of God delivered him from a long and painful malady, which he had borne with the greatest patience; whereupon he devoted himself entirely to works of piety and the practice of virtue. But God called him to something higher; and in order to attain to closer union with him, Joseph determined to enter the Seraphic Order. After several trials he obtained his desire, and was admitted among the Minor Conventuals in the convent called Grotella, first as a lay-brother, on account of his lack of learning; but afterwards, God so disposing, he was raised to the rank of a cleric. After making his solemn Vows he was ordained Priest, and began a new life of greater perfection. Utterly renouncing all earthly affections and everything of this world almost to the very necessaries of life, he afflicted his body with hairshirts, chains, disciplines, and every kind of austerity and penance; while he assiduously nourished his spirit with the sweetness of holy prayer, and the highest contemplation. By this means, the love of God, which had been poured out in his heart from his childhood, daily increased in a most wonderful manner.
His burning charity shone forth most remarkably in the sweet ecstasies which raised his soul to God, and the wonderful raptures he frequently experienced. Yet, marvelous to tell, however rapt he was in God, obedience would immediately recall him to the use of his senses. He was exceedingly zealous in the practice of obedience; and used to say that he was led by it like a blind man, and that he would rather die than disobey. He emulated the poverty of the seraphic patriarch to such a degree, that on his deathbed he could truthfully tell his superior he had nothing which, according to custom, he could relinquish. Thus dead to the world and to himself Joseph showed forth in his flesh the life of Jesus. While in others he perceived the vice of impurity by an evil odor, his own body exhaled a most sweet fragrance, a sign of the spotless purity which he preserved unsullied in spite of long and violent temptations from the devil. This victory he gained by strict custody of his senses, by continual mortification of the body, and especially by the protection of the most pure Virgin Mary, whom he called his Mother, and whom he venerated with tenderest affection as the sweetest of mothers, desiring to see her venerated by others, that they might, said he, together with her patronage, gain all good things.
Blessed Joseph’s solicitude in this respect sprang from his love for his neighbor, for he was consumed with zeal for souls, urging him to seek the salvation of all. His love embraced the poor, the sick, and all in affliction, whom he comforted as far as lay in his power, not excluding those who pursued him with reproaches and insults, and every kind of injury. He bore all this with the same patience, sweetness, and cheerfulness of countenance as were remarked in him when he was obliged frequently to change his residence, by the command of the Superiors of his Order, or of the holy Inquisition. People and princes admired his wonderful holiness and heavenly gifts; yet, such was his humility, that, thinking himself a great sinner, he earnestly besought God to remove from him his admirable gifts; while he begged men to cast his body after death in a place where his memory might utterly perish. But God, who exalts the humble, and who had richly adorned his servant during life with heavenly wisdom, prophecy, the reading of hearts, the grace of healing, and other gifts, also rendered his death precious and his sepulcher glorious. Joseph died at the place and time he had foretold, namely, at Osimo in Picenum, in the sixty-first year of his age. He was famous for miracles after his death; and was enrolled among the Blessed by Benedict XIV, and among the Saints by Clement XIII. Clement XIV, who was of the same Order, extended his Office and Mass to the universal Church.
While praising God for the marvelous gifts he bestowed on thee, we acknowledge that thy virtues were yet more wonderful. Otherwise thy ecstasies would be regarded with suspicion by the Church, who usually withholds her judgment until long after the world has begun to admire and applaud. Obedience, patience, and charity, increasing under trial, were incontestable guarantees for the divine authorship of these marvels, which the enemy is sometimes permitted to mimic to a certain extent. Satan may raise a Simon Magus into the air: he cannot make a humble man. O worthy son of the seraph of Assisi, may we, after thy example, be raised up, not into the air, but into those regions of true light, where far above the earth and its passions, our life, like thine, may be hidden with Christ in God!
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September 17th – The Stigmata of St Francis |
Posted by: Stone - 09-18-2021, 06:33 AM - Forum: September
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September 17 – The Stigmata of St Francis
The great Patriarch of Assisi will soon appear a second time in the holy Liturgy, and we shall praise God for the marvels wrought in him by divine grace. The subject of today’s feast, while a personal glory to St. Francis, is of greater importance for its mystical signification.
The Man-God still lives in the Church by the continual reproduction of his mysteries in this his Bride, making her a faithful copy of himself. In the thirteenth century, while the charity of the many had grown cold (Collect of the feast), the divine fire burned with redoubled ardor in the hearts of a chosen few. It was the hour of the Church’s passion; the beginning of that series of social defections, with their train of denials, treasons and derisions, which ended in the proscription we now witness. The Cross had been exalted before the eyes of the world: the Bride was now to be nailed thereto with her divine Spouse, after having stood with him in the pretorium exposed to the insults and blows of the multitude.
Like an artist selecting a precious marble, the Holy Spirit chose the flesh of the Assisian seraph as the medium for the expression of his divine thought. He thereby manifested to the world the special direction he intended to give to the sanctity of souls; he offered to heaven a first and complete model of the new work he was meditating, viz: the perfect union, upon the very cross, of the mystical Body with its divine Head. Francis was the first to be chosen for this honor: but others were to follow; and henceforward, here and there through the world, the Stigmata of Our blessed Lord will ever be visible in the Church.
Let us read in this light the admirable history of the event, composed by the Seraphic Doctor in honor of his holy father St. Francis.
Quote:Two years before the faithful servant and minister of Christ, Francis, gave up his spirit to God, he retired alone into a high place, which is called Mount Alvernia, and began a forty-days’ fast in honor of the Archangel St. Michael. The sweetness of heavenly contemplation was poured out on him more abundantly than usual, till, turning with the flame of celestial desires, he began to feel an increasing overflow of these divine favors. While the seraphic ardor of his desires thus raised him up to God, and the tenderness of his love and compassion was transforming him into Christ the crucified Victim of excessive love; one morning, about the Feast of the Exaltation of holy Cross, as he was praying on the mountain-side, he saw what appeared to be a Seraph, with six shining and fiery wings, coming down from heaven. The vision flew swiftly through the air and approached the man of God, who then perceived that it was not only winged, but also crucified; for the hands and feet were stretched out and fastened to a cross; while the wings were arranged in a wondrous manner, two being raised above the head, two outstretched in flight, and the remaining two crossed over the veiling the whole body. As he gazed, Francis was much astonished, and his soul was filled with mingled joy and sorrow. The gracious aspect of him, who appeared in so wonderful and loving a manner, rejoiced him exceedingly, while the sight of his cruel crucifixion pierced his heart with a sword of sorrowing compassion.
He, who appeared outward to Francis, taught him inwardly that, although weakness and suffering are incompatible with the immortal life of a seraph, yet this vision had been shown to him to the end that he, Christ’s lover, might learn how his whole being was to be transformed into a living image of Christ crucified, not by martyrdom of the flesh, but by the burning ardor of his soul. After a mysterious and familiar colloquy, the vision disappeared, leaving the Saint’s mind burning with seraphic ardor, and his flesh impressed with an exact image of the Crucified, as though, after the melting power of that fire, it had next been stamped with a zeal. For immediately the marks of nails began to appear in his hands and feet, their heads showing in the palms of his hands and the upper part of his feet, and their points visible on the other side. There was also a red scar on his right side, as if it had been wounded by a lance, and from which blood often flowed, staining his tunic and underclothing.
Francis, now a new man, honored by this new and amazing miracle, and, by a hitherto unheard of privilege, adorned with the sacred stigmata, came down from the mountain bearing with the image of the Crucified, not carved in wood or stone by the hand of an artist, but engraved upon his flesh by the finger of the living God. The seraphic man well knew that it is good to hide the secret of the king: wherefore, having been thus admitted into his king’s confidence, he strove, as far as in him lay, to conceal the sacred marks. But it belongs to God to reveal the great things which he himself has done; and hence, after impressing these signs upon Francis in secret, he publicly worked miracles by means of them, revealing the hidden and wondrous power of the Stigmata by the signs wrought through them. Pope Benedict XI willed that this wonderful event, which is so well attested and in pontifical diplomas has been honored with the greatest praises and favors, should be celebrated by a yearly solemnity. Afterwards, Pope Paul V, wishing the hearts of all the faithful to be enkindled with the love of Christ crucified, extended the feast to the whole Church.
Standard-bearer of Christ and of his Church, we would fain, with the Apostle and with thee, glory in nothing save the Cross of Our Lord Jesus. We would fain bear in our souls the sacred Stigmata, which adorned thy holy body. To him whose whole ambition is to return love for love, every suffering is a gain, persecution has no terrors; for the effect of persecutions and sufferings is to assimilate him, together with his mother the Church, to Christ persecuted, scourged and crucified.
It is with our whole hearts that we pray, with the Church: “O Lord Jesus Christ, who, when the world was growing cold, didst renew the sacred marks of thy Passion in the flesh of the most blessed Francis, to inflame our hearts with the fire of thy love; mercifully grant that by his merits and prayers we may always carry the cross, and bring forth worthy fruits of penance. Who livest and reignest with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.”
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September 17th – St Hildegarde of Bingen, Virgin |
Posted by: Stone - 09-18-2021, 06:29 AM - Forum: September
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September 17 – St Hildegarde of Bingen, Virgin
At Bingen, in the diocese of Mayence, Saint Hildegarde, Virgin. Let us salute the “great prophetess of the New Testament.” What St. Bernard’s influence over his contemporaries was in the first half of the twelfth century, that in the second half was Hildegarde’s; when the humble virgin became the oracle of popes and emperors, of princes and prelates. Multitudes from far and near flocked to Mount St. Rupert, where the doubts of ordinary life were solved, and the questions of doctors answered. At length, by God’s command, Hildegarde went forth from her monastery to administer to all alike, monks, clerics, and laymen, the word of correction and salvation.
The Spirit indeed breatheth where he will. To the massy pillars that support his royal palace, God preferred the poor little feather floating in the air, and blown about, at his pleasure, hither and thither in the light. In spite of labors, sicknesses, and trials, the holy Abbess lived to the advanced age of eighty-two, in the shadow of the living light.
PRAYER
O God, who didst adorn thy blessed virgin Hidlegarde with heavenly gifts: grant, we beseech thee, that walking in her footsteps and according to her teachings, we may deserve to pass from the darkness of this world into thy lovely light. Through our Lord.
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Learning the Traditional Catholic Faith |
Posted by: ThyWillBeDone - 09-17-2021, 08:52 PM - Forum: Q&A: Catholic Answers to a Catholic Crisis
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Hello,
What is the best way to learn the traditional Catholic Faith without modernism or errors? Any websites or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. I would like to also learn how to defend the traditional Catholic Faith Thank you.
I usually read the Baltimore Catechism and read Butlers live's of the Saints and the Council of Trent. I also am constantly seeing Fr. Hewko's and the Resistance Priests on YouTube.
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The Recusant #56 - Autumn 2021 |
Posted by: Stone - 09-17-2021, 06:41 PM - Forum: The Recusant
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Contents
• True and False Obedience (Abp. Lefebvre)
• “Then And Now” (Abp. Lefebvre vs. modern SSPX)
• English Martyrs (September & October)
• Is ‘Quo Primum’ Still in Force?
• “What are we to think of the Society of St Peter?” (old SSPX)
SPECIAL: What do “Traditionis Custodes” and “Summorum Pontificum” actually say? (Analysis) Pages 34-49
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For Homeschoolers: How to Teach Virtue |
Posted by: Stone - 09-17-2021, 02:47 PM - Forum: General Commentary
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Why Telling Stories to Our Children is the Best Kind of Character Education …
by Williams Kilpatrick
In After Virtue, Alasdair MacIntyre observes that in all classical and heroic societies, “the chief means of moral education is the telling of stories.” In a real sense the heroes of the Iliad and the Odyssey were the moral tutors of the Greeks. Likewise Aeneas was the model of heroic piety on which young Romans were nurtured. Icelandic and Irish children were suckled on sagas. And the Christian world, which reaped the inheritance of both classical and heroic societies, carried on this tradition of moral education with Bible stories, stories from the lives of saints, and stories of chivalry. To be educated properly was to know of Achilles and Odysseus, Hector and Aeneas, and later to know of Beowulf and Arthur and Percival and the Christian story of salvation.
The telling of stories does not seem to hold a place of much importance in contemporary attempts at moral education. In most American and Canadian schools, the favored methods for developing moral awareness are the moral reasoning approach of Harvard psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg and the values clarification approach developed by University of Massachusetts psychologist Sidney Simon and his colleagues. These models rely heavily on group discussion, analysis of competing claims, and the development of decision-making skills. The closest approximation to a story is the presentation of a moral dilemma: a man contemplates stealing a drug for his dying wife; passengers on a foundering lifeboat decide whether to toss their fellows overboard and who should be sacrificed; survivors in a fallout shelter debate whether to admit outsiders to their sanctuary.
It will be apparent at once that there are important differences between these modern “fables” and the old ones. And the differences give us, in turn, a clue to the differences in thinking that animate the modern as opposed to the classical and Christian approaches to moral education. The first difference is that no attempt is made to delineate character in the moral dilemma, whereas character is everything in the heroic story. In the saga or epic, everything revolves around the character of the hero—whether he exercises, or fails to exercise, the virtues. But the characters in the dilemmas have no characters, only decisions to make. Both Heinz (the man in the purloined drug dilemma) and Ulysses must aid their wives, but there the comparison ends. Heinz is no Ulysses. He is a blank, a cipher. He is there because he is needed to present a dilemma. We have no interest in him, only in his case. One cannot imagine parents passing down to their children the saga of Heinz and the stolen drug.
The second difference is this: The actors in the dilemmas are not tied to any social particularities—traditions, loyalties, locations, or histories. True, Heinz is attached to his wife, but there is no indication why he should be. We know why Ulysses is loyal to Penelope, since her virtues are carefully enumerated. As in all the old stories the hero’s deeds are rooted in loyalty, not only to homeland and tribe, but also to hearth—essential details that are absent from the dilemmas.
What is implied in this approach is that particular loves and loyalties—the kind that make for a good story—are largely irrelevant to moral issues. One can somehow dispense with the prelude of moral particularities and leap right into the arena of universal principles. The assumption is that the kernel of good moral judgment lies in abstract devotion to abstract principles. In Kohlberg’s scheme, where justice is the sole guiding principle, one must leave mother and father, wife and husband, and cleave to the principle of Justice with a capital J. Moreover, there is the suggestion that devotion to father and mother or attachment between wife and husband may have nothing to do with the pursuit of justice. As in so much contemporary psychology, the central concern is with the autonomous individual.
The third difference between the old stories and the new dilemmas is that the new stories, properly speaking, do not have endings. They are open-ended, unfinished. They await your judgment. What should the shelter survivors do next? You decide. Was Heinz right to steal the drug? You decide. There is, in short, no sense that the story is ever complete or definitive. It’s up for grabs and will be again next year with the next class. You can do what you want with these stories; you cannot with the Odyssey. There is no sense of a life fully lived or a mission completed. All of which amounts to saying that they are not stories after all. The old storytelling approach to moral education has been replaced with something new. Spring1.indd
The new approach is one from which the concepts of character and virtue are entirely missing. From its point of view, the life of a man is envisioned not as a personal story in which accumulated habits and actions may eventually harden into virtue or vice, but as a disconnected series of ethical and other dilemmas—all amenable to rational solution. If we return to the heroic, classical, and Christian stories, we can see how stark this contrast is and how radically novel the new approach is. And although the current techniques of moral education are largely the offspring of psychologists, we may note that the ancients had a more profound grasp of the psychology underlying moral education.
The telling of stories—as opposed to the presentation of open-ended dilemmas—implies first of all that adults have something to pass on to children, a valuable inheritance that children might not come by on their own. This is easy enough to accept about other cultures. “If we were anthropologists observing members of a tribe,” writes Andrew Oldenquist, “it would be the most natural thing in the world to expect them to teach their morality and culture to their children and, moreover, to think that they had a perfect right to do so . . . ” If we observed, he continues, that a society failed to do these things, we would conclude that they were “ruined, pitiable, alienated from their own values, and on the way out.” As I say, this is easy enough to see for other cultures, but when it comes to our own, a certain inhibition against cultural transmission sets in. A pervasive mentality of nondirectiveness and subjectiveness dictates that we don’t have the right to impose our values on our children. And consequently, we are forced to create the fiction that each child is in his own right a miniature Socrates—a moral philosopher, as Kohlberg would have it.
The traditional view is that adults do possess a moral treasure, and that to deprive children of it would in itself show a lack of virtue. We do not, to draw a rough analogy, wait until our children have reached the age of reason before suggesting that they brush their teeth. But sooner or later children will be able to figure out for themselves that brushing is a prudent practice. This is not necessarily true of moral practices. The moral treasure can be acquired only in a certain way. And if it is not obtained in that way, it is not possessed at all. This is why Aristotle said that only those who have been well brought up can usefully study ethics. And why Plato maintained that the well-bred youth is nurtured from his earliest days to love the Good and the Beautiful “so that when Reason at length comes to him, then bred as he has been, he will hold out his hands in welcome and recognize her because of the affinity he bears to her.”
What, then, is the proper form of education in regard to morality? It is, necessarily, an initiation, “men transmitting manhood to men,” as C. S. Lewis puts it. And this is best accomplished not by direct moral exhortation but indirectly through example and practice. One cannot have classes in moral education. It is, rather, more like an apprentice learning from a master. “
Yet, even in the most virtuous of societies, adults, recognizing their own shortcomings, have seen the need to point to examples of moral wisdom and moral courage beyond themselves. Hence the reliance on heroic stories as the embodiment of cultural ideals. When virtues have fallen into desuetude, the need for stories about virtuous and courageous men, women, and children becomes more acute. Aware of this, Lewis created in The Chronicles of Narnia literature of virtue of the type that can be considered both exemplar of and preparation for a mature morality. The Narnia Chronicles certainly seem to embody Aristotle’s dictum that the aim of education is to make the pupil like and dislike what he ought.
But if the heroic stories provide examples, we need to ask, examples of what? It would be a mistake to look upon the heroes of myth and epic as examples of autonomous moral agents or inventors of new moralities (as Nietzsche did), just as it would be a mistake to look upon them as stoic rule-abiders. The heroes of such stories are not moral philosophers, nor are they stoic. They are virtuous, or they strive to be virtuous. For classical and heroic societies and for those that sustain those traditions, morality is not a matter of following rules or making rules; it has to do with acquiring virtue. The virtues displayed by Achilles are what hold our attention, not any set of maxims he may expound. It is his loyalty to his friends that matters, not his loyalty to principle. Virtues are displayed in his actions, not only in what he says. The heroic man is not a moral pioneer who charts new ethics; rather, he is someone who does what ought to be done.
Even in the Gospel stories, the heroic theme is predominant. As I have written elsewhere, “there is nothing in Christ’s attitude about himself to suggest that he saw himself mainly as a teacher. There is a strong suggestion that Jesus looked upon himself as someone who had a job to do. And the quality of that task was not unlike the quest of a Greek or Roman hero.” Christ does what is required. He comes to do the will of Him by whom He was sent. He lays down his life for his friends, not for the sake of a principle.
Indeed, in the heroic literature there is usually very little question about what has to be done (most of the moral dilemmas in the Gospels are posed by the Pharisees); the question is whether the hero can resist temptation and do what he ought to do. Will his training in the virtues see him through?
Stories of virtue, courage, and justice can and should play a central part in the formation of good habit, that is, in the formation of character. Stories provide a way of habituating children to virtue. They help to instill proper sentiments. They reinforce indirectly the more explicit moral teaching of family, church, and school. They provide also a defense against the relentless process of desensitization that goes on in modern societies. And they provide a standard against which erosion of standards can be measured.
In addition, stories expand the imagination. Moral development is not simply a matter of becoming more rational or acquiring decision-making skills. It has to do with vision, the way one looks at life. Indeed, moral evil and sin are sometimes described by theologians as an inability to see rightly. Conversely, moral improvement is often described (by very ordinary people as well as theologians) as the result of seeing things in a different light or seeing them for the first time. “I was blind but now I see” is more than a line from an old hymn; it is the way a great many people look at their moral growth. The transformation of the moral life is rarely effected without a transformation of imagination. It follows that one of the central tasks of moral education is to nourish the imagination with rich and powerful images of the kind found in stories, myths, poems, biography, and drama. If we wish our children to grow up with a deep and adequate vision of life, we must provide a rich fund for them to draw on.
What’s more, stories appeal to the child’s normal need for identification, which is a need not for finding others just like himself (the mistake of so much contemporary children’s literature) but for finding others who are better than himself—who are just like he might become if he fulfills his potential for goodness. Identification, therefore, is built on pretense, but there is such a thing as good pretense. C. S. Lewis, in writing about his own development, admits to a certain hypocrisy when in the company of an army friend, a man of deep conscience. He then says, “The distinction between pretending you are better than you are and beginning to be better in reality is finer than moral sleuthhounds conceive.”
But we must also be clear about what we mean by a hero. Heroic stories link strength or cunning or resourcefulness with virtue. Galahad’s strength is as the strength of ten because his heart is pure. Beowulf, who has the strength of thirty men in his grip, is also renowned as “the kindest of worldly kings.” The cunning of Ulysses is used in the service of loyalty to his men. In the old epics the superheroes’ qualities do not end with raw power. But that seems to be a current trend. Consider the popularity of The Hulk—a television series spun off the comic book of the same name. The Hulk, hardly human, is more like a force of nature; he appears to be, for the most part, amoral.
Moral literature need not be of epic proportions. There is also a place for stories of manners and duty, decency and virtue, loyalty and friendship on a less epic scale—stories that say, in effect: However ordinary people actually behave toward one another, this is how they ought to behave. The Little House on the Prairie, The Wind in the Willows, and The Hobbit (a combination of heroism and hominess) come to mind as examples of this type of literature. Younger children need stories that are similar but much shorter and can be told orally.
It might be a mistake to inundate a child with too many stories. But it is important that the right kind of stories be repeated over and over until they are nearly learned by heart. After all, if repetition were not such an effective technique in the education of habits, we can be certain that the advertisers would long since have ceased to employ it.
- Originally published in The Classical Teacher Late Summer 2012.
William Kirk Kilpatrick is the author of several books, including Psychological Seduction and Why Johnny Can’t Tell Right From Wrong. His commentary on cultural and educational topics have appeared in First Things, Policy Review, American Enterprise, American Educator, The Los Angeles Times, and various scholarly journals. His articles on Islam have appeared in Investor’s Business Daily, FrontPage Magazine, Jihad Watch, Catholic World Report, The National Catholic Register, World, and other publications.
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Two senior FDA officials resign over Biden administration booster shot plan |
Posted by: SAguide - 09-17-2021, 10:57 AM - Forum: COVID Vaccines
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President Biden’s administration’s plan calls for a third dose of the Pfizer or
Moderna vaccine eight months after recipients’ second jab.
The two officials are allegedly leaving their positions because they are frustrated with White House pressures to move forward with booster vaccines without FDA approval, as well as with the CDC’s involvement in the vaccine approval process.
Indeed, the FDA has only approved booster vaccines for those who are immunocompromised, but the Biden Administration announced it is expected to have booster shots for most Americans beginning around September 20.
Link
Two senior officials have resigned from their positions within the US Food and Drug Administration over frustrations with the Biden administration’s plans to move forward with recommending COVID-19 booster shots without their prior approval, according to a report.
Marion Gruber, director of the FDA’s Office of Vaccines Research & Review, and deputy director Phil Krause are set to leave the agency this fall, with sources telling Politico that the two officials were at odds with the FDA’s top vaccine official, Peter Marks, and were discontented over the roles of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices in decisions that they believed should be handled by the FDA.
According to trade publication Endpoints, the officials felt they were sidelined on major decisions, that the administration’s plan for boosters was jumping the gun, and that Marks should have pushed for the FDA to have more autonomy on the matter.
Marks played a leading role in helping the administration craft its August announcement of calls for an additional vaccine for most adults after eight months.
Marks announced the resignations in a letter to colleagues obtained by Endpoints.
“The administration’s booster plan; it wasn’t the FDA’s booster plan,” University of Pennsylvania infectious disease expert Paul Offit, who serves on the FDA’s vaccine advisory committee, told Politico. “The administration has kind of backed themselves up against the wall a little bit here.”
Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock sent a memo to regulators Tuesday standing by the booster timeline, stating, “The issues are complex and the days are long, but please know the work you all have done to date and will continue to do in the days, weeks and months ahead, will hopefully one day allow us to fully put Covid-19 behind us and better prepare us for future challenges.”
Jeff Zients, the Biden administration’s coronavirus czar, also defended the booster timeline.
Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock sent a memo to regulators Tuesday standing by the booster timeline, stating, “The issues are complex and the days are long, but please know the work you all have done to date and will continue to do in the days, weeks and months ahead, will hopefully one day allow us to fully put Covid-19 behind us and better prepare us for future challenges.”
Jeff Zients, the Biden administration’s coronavirus czar, also defended the booster timeline.
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New FDA records show purchases of fetal organs, heads and tissue for ‘humanized mice’ project |
Posted by: Stone - 09-17-2021, 10:11 AM - Forum: Abortion
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New FDA records show purchases of fetal organs, heads and tissue for ‘humanized mice’ project
The records are from a March 2019 Freedom of Information Act.
Lab scientist performing tests on a mouse.
Thu Sep 16, 2021 - 6:30 am EDT
(Judicial Watch) – Judicial Watch announced Tuesday that it received 198 pages of records and communications from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) involving “humanized mice” research with human fetal heads, organs and tissue, including communications and contracts with human fetal tissue provider Advanced Bioscience Resources (ABR). Most of the records are communications and related attachments between Perrin Larton, a procurement manager for ABR, and research veterinary medical officer Dr. Kristina Howard of the FDA.
Judicial Watch received the records through a March 2019 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, of which the FDA is a part (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department Health and Human Services (No. 1:19-cv-00876)). The lawsuit asks for all contracts and related documentation on disbursement of funds, procedural documents and communications between FDA and ABR for the provision of human fetal tissue to be used in humanized mice research. After successfully opposing the FDA’s redaction of certain information from its records, a federal court ordered HHS to release additional information about its purchases of organs harvested from aborted human fetuses – including “line item prices,” or the price per organ the government paid to ABR.
The court also found “there is reason to question” whether the transactions violate federal law barring the sale of fetal organs. Documents previously uncovered in this lawsuit show that the federal government demanded the purchased fetal organs be “fresh and never frozen.”
The records include an FDA generated contract with ABR, based on a “requisition” it issued on July 27, 2012, for $12,000 worth of “tissue procurement for humanized mice,” indicates the requisition was for a “non-competitive award.” Although the initial award was for $12,000, the total estimated amount of funds allocated for the requisition was $60,000. Under “Justification for Other than Full and Open Competition,” the FDA writes:
Quote:Scientists within the FDA and in the larger field of humanized mouse research have searched extensively over the past several years and ABR is the only company in the U.S. capable of supplying tissues suitable for HM research. No other company or organization is capable of fulfilling the need.
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Costs are estimated [for the fetal parts] at $230 per tissue x two tissues per shipment = $460 plus $95 shipping = $555 per shipment. A total of 21 shipments = $11,655.00.
An April 1, 2013, “Amendment of Solicitation/Modification of Contract” form that shows the FDA purchased fetal livers and thymuses from ABR going back to at least October 2012, billing $580 per liver/thymus set, but later paying a unit price of $685.
A January 1, 2013, “Fees for Services Schedule” provided by ABR to the FDA includes:
FETAL CADAVEROUS PROCUREMENT SERVICE FEE
2nd trimester D&E [Dilation and Evacuation abortion] (13-24 weeks) per specimen $275
1st trimester aspiration [abortion] (8-12 weeks) per specimen $515
Intact Calvarium [baby’s skull] (8-24 weeks)” per specimen $515
The fees for services schedule also includes “Special Processing/Preservation” of the fetal parts, such as “Tissue ‘Cleaning,’” “Snap freezing” and “Passive freezing (Dry ice).”
In a September 9, 2014, “Order for Supplies or Services,” the FDA writes regarding a $9,900 order:
The Contractors shall ship 2nd Trimester thymus $325, 2nd Trimester liver $325. Overnight deliver $150 and EFT wire transfer fee $25, for a total per delivery of $825. Total of this contract not to exceed $9,900.00.
As the result of an August 21, 2015, “Amendment of Solicitation/Modification of Contract,” ABR bumped up the price of baby livers and thymuses from $325 each to $340 each.
A “Tissue Acquisition Quote” sent by ABR to Howard on July 5, 2017, provided a quote of $5,440 each to provide 16 sets of second trimester (16-24 weeks) livers and 16 sets of second trimester (16-24 weeks) thymuses at $340 per “sample.” The request for the quote notes that “tissue known to be positive for HIV, HepA, HepB, HepC or chromosomal abnormalities are not acceptable.”
On June 28, 2017, a redacted FDA contract specialist sends Larton at ABR a request for a quote (RFQ) of pricing for human fetal tissue, aged “16-24 weeks,” including a “Statement of Needs”:
Quote:The HM [humanized mice] are created by surgical implantations of human tissue into mice that have multiple genetic mutations that block the development of the mouse immune system at a very early stage. The absence of the mouse immune system allows the human tissues to grow and develop into functional human tissues…. In order for the humanization to proceed correctly we need to obtain fetal tissue with a specific set of specialized characteristics.
A May 2018, report from a company named “LABS,” which was employed by ABR to test fetal parts and their mothers for hepatitis and HIV, notes in its “methodology description” that they are approved by the FDA “for living and cadaveric donor screening.”
The records include a recitation of requirements by the FDA for “Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer,” in which ABR must adhere to regulations relating to “Convict Labor” and “Child Labor-Cooperation with Authorities and Remedies.”
On September 24, 2018, the Trump FDA terminated its contract with ABR for human tissue purchases and began an audit of its acquisitions of baby body parts. The records include the FDA’s letter terminating the contract:
Quote:Based on the terms and conditions of the Purchase Order as awarded to Advanced Bioscience Resources, Inc. (“ABR”) on July 27, 2018, the Government is not sufficiently assured that the human tissue provided to the Government to humanize the immune systems of mice will comply with the prohibitions set forth under 42 U.S.C. § 289g- 2. Furthermore, the Government has concerns with the sufficiency of the sole-source justification. Therefore, pursuant to FAR [Federal Acquisition Regulation] clause 52.213-4(f), the Purchase Order is being terminated effective September 24, 2018.
“Chopping up aborted human beings for their organs and tissue is a moral and legal outrage,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “This issue should be front and center in any debate about America’s barbaric abortion industry.”
In February 2020, Judicial Watch first uncovered through this lawsuit hundreds of pages of records from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) showing that the agency paid thousands of dollars to a California-based firm to purchase organs from aborted human fetuses to create “humanized mice” for HIV research.
In May 2021, this lawsuit uncovered FDA records showing the agency spent tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars to buy human fetal tissue from ABR. The tissue was used in creating “humanized mice” to test “biologic drug products.” The records indicated the FDA wanted tissue purchases “Fresh; shipped on wet ice.”
On August 3, 2021, Judicial Watch announced that it and The Center for Medical Progress (CMP), through a separate lawsuit, received 252 pages of new documents from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that reveal nearly $3 million in federal funds were spent on the University of Pittsburgh’s quest to become a “Tissue Hub” for human fetal tissue ranging from 6 to 42 weeks’ gestation. The Pitt scientists note that, “All fetal tissue is collected through a collaborative process including Family Planning, Obstetrics and Pathology.” Pitt anticipated “being able to harvest and distribute quality tissue and cells … [and] do not anticipate any major problems related to the acquisition and distribution of the tissues.” Pitt’s target goal “is to have available a minimum of 5 cases (tissues and if possible other biologicals) per week of gestational age for ages 6-42 weeks.”
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Mapped: Afghan refugees headed to 46 states |
Posted by: Stone - 09-17-2021, 09:43 AM - Forum: General Commentary
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Mapped: Afghan refugees headed to 46 states
[Note this is only the first wave of 37,000 Afghan refugees.]
Axios [liberal news media outlet - slightly adapted] | September 16, 2021
Screenshot - 9/17/21
The Biden administration notified governors and mayors on Wednesday of the number of Afghan evacuees their state is expected to receive in the coming weeks, two senior administration officials told Axios.
Why it matters: Although their exact immigration pathway is still unclear, an initial group of 37,000 Afghans will soon be headed to states across the country after many faced harrowing journeys from Afghanistan.
- Former Delaware Gov. Jack Markell (D), who President Biden appointed on Friday to oversee Afghan resettlement, made calls to state and local leaders notifying them on the number of Afghans to expect.
- In conversations with nearly every state on Wednesday, not one official declined to take in Afghans, one senior administration official told Axios. "I have to say it was a very warm conversation with state and local leaders."
By the numbers: California is projected to receive the largest number of Afghans at 5,255. Next is Texas, at 4,481, according to State Department data obtained by Axios.
- Hawaii, South Dakota, West Virginia and Wyoming are the only states not slated to receive anyone from the first group of evacuees, along with Washington, D.C.
- AP first reported on the numbers.
The big picture: The 37,000 is just the first group of Afghans who will be making new homes in American communities. Because they are not coming through the usual refugee process, caring for this population has come with numerous legal and logistical hurdles for groups in charge of their resettlement.
- Even the housing crunch has had an impact. The administration has been assured by refugee resettlement agencies that the evacuees in the initial group have places to live, an official said.
- The administration is also looking at launching new resettlement sites in places that have more affordable housing and job opportunities.
Of note: The group of refugees includes some Afghans who helped the U.S. in Afghanistan and applied for the Special Immigrant Visa, but officials declined to provide the exact numbers.- More than half of Afghans who have been brought to the states helped the U.S. government or are related to someone who did — that includes both SIV applicants and those who did not apply to the program, an official said.
- Thousands of others who do not have U.S. citizenship, green cards or Special Immigrant Visas will remain in shelters on military bases across the country, for now.
- More evacuees are waiting in third countries. Flights from these countries to the U.S. have been suspended due to a handful of measles cases among recently-arrived Afghans, senior officials told reporters on Tuesday.
What to watch: The Biden administration is depending on Congress to unlock additional resources for Afghans brought to the U.S. on "parole." The proposed legislation would also provide them an expedited path to a green card.
- One senior administration official noted there has been strong bipartisan support for caring for Afghans, especially those who aided the U.S. While legislation is the priority, the administration has also explored potential back-up plans — including ways to expedite the asylum process for Afghans, the official confirmed.
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Mother of rescued boy believes police video shows the Virgin Mary kept him safe |
Posted by: Stone - 09-17-2021, 09:31 AM - Forum: General Commentary
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[Australian] Mother of rescued boy Anthony ‘AJ’ Elfalak believes police video shows the Virgin Mary kept him safe
The mother of a toddler who was rescued after being lost in bushland believes a police video shows the Virgin Mary next to her son protecting him.
See here for video of rescue
NCA NewsWire | September 16, 2021
The family of young Anthony “AJ” Elfalak, who was found alive after being lost in bushland for three days, believe a blurry image taken from a police helicopter proves he was being cared for by the Virgin Mary.
AJ, who has autism and is non-verbal, was missing in an extremely rugged part of the NSW Hunter Valley before crew on a helicopter spotted him drinking muddy water at a creek on September 6.
His mother Kelly said she firmly believed saints, angels and the Virgin Mary played a role in keeping the boy safe.
Anthony “AJ” Elfalak survived three days lost in bushland. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Peter Lorimer
“We’re a religious family ... I always say that the Virgin Mary and all the saints and the angels are with my kids every day,” she recently said in a social media video.
“The Virgin Mary is always with us and I knew she was always with AJ.
“If you saw the picture of AJ in the creek, you can actually see the Virgin Mary next to him.”
The boy’s mother says the Virgin Mary can be seen the police helicopter footage.
Ms Elfalak said she believed strongly in the power of prayer.
“I prayed one hour before ... I took the holy communion ... I just had that feeling. I said to myself ‘I’m going to see him soon’,” she said.
A short time later, she learnt he had been found and she collapsed.
“I was in shock. It was such a relief. I can’t describe it. I just couldn’t believe that they found my baby,” she said.
“I’m just so blessed and I’m so grateful.”
Ms Elfalak said her son was doing well after his harrowing ordeal.
“He’s healthy, he’s happy, he only has a few cuts — nothing serious, so he’s doing really well,” she said.
Ms Elfalak said AJ had been “very distraught” when he was found.
“He was scared. He knew something was wrong ... he was holding onto me really tightly,” she said.
“He looked at me and with his eyes ... he just thought ‘Oh my God, my mum’s here’ ... and then he fell asleep.”
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COVID-19 Vaccine Passport Mandatory In Italy For All Private Sector Workers: Officials |
Posted by: Stone - 09-17-2021, 07:51 AM - Forum: COVID Passports
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COVID-19 Vaccine Passport Mandatory In Italy For All Private Sector Workers: Officials
ZH | SEP 17, 2021
Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times
The Italian government on Thursday approved among the strictest COVID-19 rules in the world by mandating that all private and public sector employees get the vaccine and show proof of vaccination, a negative test, or a recent recovery from infection, officials said.
The rules will go into effect on Oct. 15, which would penalize any worker with a suspension from their job with no pay. However, the mandate stipulates that they cannot get terminated from their job, according to provisions of the measure.
The country’s Council of Ministers, during a Thursday evening meeting, voted to approve the rules, Minister of Health Roberto Speranza said after the government approved the mandate, reported Il Gazettino.
Quote:“We will also make the network of active pharmacies more widespread” that are “capable of administering swabs [and] rapid antigen tests in our country,” Speranza said, adding that the government decree will likely boost vaccination rates in Italy.
Individuals who go to work and cannot present a so-called “green pass,” a type of vaccine passport, will face a fine of between 600 and 1,500 euros ($705 to $1,175), according to the provisions.
The provisions also stipulate that private-sector employees who don’t have a green pass will not receive a salary starting Oct. 15, when the rule goes into effect.
While some European Union states have ordered their health workers to get vaccines, none have made the vaccine passports mandatory for all employees, making Italy the first to do so on the continent. Other countries like France have mandated vaccine passports to enter restaurants, gyms, some forms of travel, and other venues.
Over the past weekend, protests erupted in Italy over the green pass rule with reports saying that there were demonstrations in 120 cities.
Italy in March ordered health workers to get vaccinated or face suspension.
As of today, 728 doctors have been suspended, the doctors’ federation said on Thursday.
It was not immediately clear how many nurses or carers had refused to comply.
A similar measure in France came into force on Wednesday. Health Minister Olivier Veran said on Thursday that around 3,000 health workers had been suspended.
President Joe Biden, meanwhile, announced last week that he will direct the federal government to penalize private-sector employees and businesses to force workers to either submit to weekly COVID-19 testing or get the vaccine. The announcement drew significant criticism from Republican governors and attorneys general, who have threatened to file lawsuits against the administration.
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich became the first state official to sue the Biden administration earlier this week, arguing that the government violates the Constitution by mandating that U.S. citizens get the vaccine while illegal immigrants don’t have to.
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