YOM HASHOAH

Holocaust Memorial Museum - Replica of a boxcar used to transport prisoners

Yom Hashoah is Holocaust Remembrance Day.  Counterlight has a terrific post with pictures on the Shoah and its history on his blog, Counterlight's Peculiars.

Prayer by Elie Wiesel

I no longer ask you for either happiness or paradise; all I ask of You is to listen and let me be aware of Your listening.

I no longer ask You to resolve my questions, only to receive them and make them part of You.

I no longer ask You for either rest or wisdom, I only ask You not to close me to gratitude, be it of the most trivial kind, or to surprise and friendship. Love? Love is not Yours to give.

As for my enemies, I do not ask You to punish them or even to enlighten them; I only ask You not to lend them Your mask and Your powers. If You must relinquish one or the other, give them Your powers. But not Your countenance.

They are modest, my requests, and humble. I ask You what I might ask a stranger met by chance at twilight in a barren land.

I ask you, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to enable me to pronounce these words without betraying the child that transmitted them to me: God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, enable me to forgive You and enable the child I once was to forgive me too.

I no longer ask You for the life of that child, nor even for his faith. I only beg You to listen to him and act in such a way that You and I can listen to him together.

They are modest, my prayers, and humble. I ask You what I might ask a stranger met by chance at twilight in a barren land.

I ask You, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to enable me to pronounce these words without betraying the child that transmitted them to me. God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, enable me to forgive You and enable the child I once was to forgive me too.

I no longer ask You for the life of that child, nor even for his faith. I only implore You to listen to him and act in such a way that You and I can listen to him together.

From On Being Blog.

 Picture from Wikipedia.

MANNA FROM HEAVEN

Manna from Heaven; Maciejowski Bible, 13th century.

Exodus 16:10-22a

And as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the Israelites, they looked toward the wilderness, and the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud. The LORD spoke to Moses and said, “I have heard the complaining of the Israelites; say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know that I am the LORD your God.’”

In the evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat. This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Gather as much of it as each of you needs, an omer to a person according to the number of persons, all providing for those in their own tents.’” The Israelites did so, some gathering more, some less. But when they measured it with an omer, those who gathered much had nothing over, and those who gathered little had no shortage; they gathered as much as each of them needed. And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over until morning.” But they did not listen to Moses; some left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and became foul. And Moses was angry with them. Morning by morning they gathered it, as much as each needed; but when the sun grew hot, it melted.

On the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, two omers apiece.

From Bro Cuthbert at St Cuthbert's Cottage:

To each of us God gives riches that we may enhance by squandering on those who need us.

Br. Eldridge Pendleton 
Society of Saint John the Evangelist

Image from The Daily Office.

THE ANGLICAN COVENANT - GET THE GAYS

Lisa Fox at My Manner of Life posted a splendid letter from the Diocese of Rupert's Land in the Anglican Church of Canada on the Anglican Covenant.  We all know that the roots of the covenant are in the Windsor Report.  The letter spells out plainly and clearly what many of us well know to be true but continue to tiptoe gingerly around.

Finally, of course we are aware of the reason that this document has been born, but on which the document is entirely silent, namely, the matter of gay and lesbian persons’ rights in regard to marriage, ordination and consecration.

Yes.  Further, Lisa says:

I appreciate the observation that the people who forced the Anglican Covenant are silent on the bigotry that spawned it -- namely, their hatred of gay/lesbian people and our relationships. Thank you, Rupert's Land, for pointing to that. Many of us point to the ugly heritage of racism in our history. Someday, I hope the proponents of the Anglican Covenant will be named as the bigots they are. Their supposedly Biblical hatred of gay men and lesbians is the veneer behind which they hide. One day, they will be remembered alongside the bigots who repressed the Africans in South Africa and the African-Americans in the U.S. South. 

The two statements point out that the original intent of the covenant was to 'get the gays',  and 'get' TEC for ordaining a gay bishop, and 'get' the Anglican Church of Canada for allowing same-sex blessings, though you won't ever hear the proponents of the covenant say such a thing in public.

Read the whole of Lisa's post, which includes the entire text of the letter from the diocese. 

DIS ONE'S GOT THE CUTES

STORY OF THE DAY

Using the drama of the moment because 
otherwise there's not enough 
entertainment value in just listening to 
him.

Tee-hee.

From StoryPeople.

BEHIND THE SMOKE AND MIRRORS

Bosco Peters at Liturgy:

Recently all clergy received instructions from our diocesan office to read a letter aloud in every church building. This is a very rare event in our diocesan life. In this case the letter was doubly unusual. It is a letter from The Revd Canon Dr Kenneth Kearon, Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, asking for input into the process of seeking the next Archbishop of Canterbury, a process led by the Crown Nominations Commission of the Church of England.

Now I’m all for consultation, and I think this is kind of sweet (but please pewsitter number 3 out of 5 at Waikikamukau, don’t be naive enough to spend energy on preparing a submission thinking that this will influence the decision-making processes in the rooms and lavatories where the Crown Nominations Commission meets). But the real reason I was surprised was best articulated by an insightful friend of mine.

The subliminal message of “international consultation” for the Archbishop of Canterbury is an attempt to shift ecclesiology towards Anglicanism being a worldwide church. This is the ecclesiology undergirding the “Anglican Covenant”.

The title of the post is "The Archbishop of Canterbury hath no jurisdiction in this realm".  Bosco is spot on.  The archbishop hath no jurisdiction beyond his realm of the Church of England.  What the Secretary General of the ACO seems to be attempting is the putting-the-facts-on-the-ground strategy.  We are all one church, and all the provinces in the communion will have the opportunity to weigh in and offer opinions on who should be chosen as the next Archbishop of Canterbury.  Say it often enough, and it will be so.  Balderdash!

The post at Liturgy is well worth reading in it's entirety, as Bosco reveals the scene behind the smoke and mirrors.

WILL IT PLAY IN PEORIA?

Bishop Daniel R. Jenky's sermon at St Mary's Roman Catholic Cathedral in Peoria, Illinois, preceding 'A Call to Catholic Men' march. 

For 2,000 years the enemies of Christ have certainly tried their best. But think about it. The Church survived and even flourished during centuries of terrible persecution, during the days of the Roman Empire.

The Church survived barbarian invasions. The Church survived wave after wave of Jihads. The Church survived the age of revolution. The Church survived Nazism and Communism. And in the power of the resurrection, the Church will survive the hatred of Hollywood, the malice of the media, and the mendacious wickedness of the abortion industry.

The Church will survive the entrenched corruption and sheer incompetence of our Illinois state government, and even the calculated disdain of the President of the United States, his appointed bureaucrats in HHS, and of the current majority of the federal Senate.

May God have mercy especially on the souls of those politicians who pretend to be Catholic in church, but in their public lives, rather like Judas Iscariot, betray Jesus Christ by how they vote and how they willingly cooperate with intrinsic evil.

As Christians we must love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, but as Christians we must also stand up for what we believe and be ready to fight to defend our faith. The days in which we live now require heroic Catholicism, not casual Catholicism. We can no longer be Catholics by accident, but instead be Catholics by conviction.

In our own families, in our parishes, where we live and where we work – like that very first apostolic generation – we must be bold witnesses to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We must be a fearless army of Catholic men, ready to give everything we have for the Lord, who gave everything for our salvation.

Remember that in past history other governments have tried to force Christians to huddle and hide only within the confines of their churches like those first disciples before the Resurrection locked together in the Upper Room.

In the late 19th century, Bismark waged his “Kulturkamf,” a culture war against the Roman Catholic Church, closing down every Catholic school and hospital, convent and monastery in Imperial Germany. Clemenceau, nicknamed “the priest eater,” tried the same thing in France in the first decade of the 20th Century.

Hitler and Stalin, at their better moments, would just barely tolerate some churches remaining open, but would not tolerate any competition with the state in education, social services, and health care.

In clear violation of our First Amendment rights, President Obama – with his radical, pro-abortion and extreme secularist agenda, now seems intent on following a similar path.

Now things have come to such a pass in our beloved country that this is a battle that we could lose, but before the awesome judgement seat of Almighty God this is not a war where any believing Catholic may remain neutral.

Note that the sermon is directed to men.

Note the battlefield rhetoric: fight to defend our faith, a fearless army of Catholic men, this is a battle that we could lose, this is not a war where any believing Catholic may remain neutral. 

Note the analogies to Hitler and Stalin.

Is this how Bishop Jenky loves his enemies?

The Catholic Post says that the men demonstrated their fearlessness by standing in the rain for a 30 minute program.  Clearly these men are ready for battle.

Thanks to Ann V for the link.

STEPPED IN IT

KASPERSKY HELP!

I renewed my Kaspersky Anti-Virus on my desktop last month, but the credit card charge did not go through, and they notified me a few days ago, one month later.  I've used the credit card successfully at other vendors several times with no problems, but yesterday I renewed the service once again with a different card.  I forgot to remove the old expired version of Kaspersky from my computer, so the download did not complete.  My fault.

I removed the old version and tried every way I knew to find the button to attempt the download again with no success.  I contacted customer service several times.  I received a response telling me they had my email and would be in touch, but I've heard nothing, nada, rien du tout since night before last.  So, I've paid for the virus protection, but it is not functioning.  Thank goodness I ordered the CD version, which should arrive in the mail shortly, because I don't know where I'd turn next. with such unresponsive and unhelpful customer service.

Hey, Kaspersky!  You can do better.  Next time I'll buy another anti-virus. 

ET TU, GONSAGA?

From Huff Post Religion:

SPOKANE, Wash. (RNS) Archbishop Desmond Tutu is slated to deliver the commencement address next month to Gonzaga University's graduating class. A group of alumni, however, are saying he isn't welcome and are urging administrators to withdraw the invitation.

Patrick Kirby, a 1993 Gonzaga graduate, said Tutu is pro-abortion rights, has made offensive statements toward Jews and supports contraception and the ordination of gay clergy and shouldn't be honored by a Catholic institution.

The admirable work of an entire, long life, which includes a Nobel Peace Prize, counts not at all with the alumni because Archbishop Tutu does not agree with every teaching of the Roman Catholic Church.  If there is a living saint walking amongst us today, it is Tutu.

As for his "offensive statements toward Jews", I've known the archbishop to speak with great respect of the Jewish faith and the Hebrew Testament in which his own Christian faith has its roots.  What he has cautioned against is the State of Israel's policies toward the Palestinians, which is an entirely different matter.  I know that many Jewish people and non-Jews are quick to cry anti-Semitism at the least criticism of  of the policies of the Israeli state.  A good many politicians in the US do not speak out, because they fear retribution at the ballot box.  Nor is this the first time that alumni of universities have objected to appearances by Archbishop Tutu, and here I am, in my naïveté, still clinging to the ideal that one purpose of universities is the exploration of a diversity of ideas.

Thanks to Ann V for the link.

UPDATE: Sign the petition in support of Archbishop Tutu.