Points To Ponder: June 2008

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Published on June 30th, 2008 [First Martyrs of the Church of Rome]

Do you wonder... how long this seemingly endless "expectation" for the full unraveling of the world situation must keep on going?

Wonder no more. You may find the response on a letter from miguel de Portugal posted in the Public Forum - Part II dated June 30th, 2008.

Published on June 29th, 2008 [Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul]

Do you wonder... if it was an act of disobedience to God the real cause for the falling out between Adam and Eve and God?

Not at all. The transgression, which mankind "has made a career of", was trying to be like God. And we quote from Genesis 3:

Why should satan change his tune? Man - without the Spirit of God in his heart - in his abysmal stupidity, continues to make the same mistakes, millennia after millennia.

Puny man - whose "civilization" can be tossed about by water, air, fire and quakes without him being able to do a thing to prevent it (1) , wants to be like God (2)?

Brethren, if that is not pathetic - we certainly do not know the meaning of that word.
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(1)  Even the natural disasters that could be forecasted - they can't even do it properly!
(2) The higher the false elevation is the harder and more devastating the fall will be.

Published on June 27th, 2008 [Mary, Mother of Perpetual Help]

Do you still wonder... exactly what we mean every time we call upon the principle of  "coherence"? We have revised the document in which we explain its meaning so that it becomes clearer and easier to grasp.


Published on June 25th, 2008

Do you ever wonder... why Jesus - the same One who had raised the dead, cure the incurable, walked on water, multiplied food, etc. is found in this state: "...kneeling down, he prayed, Saying: Father, if thou wilt, remove this chalice from me: but yet not my will, but thine be done.... And being in an agony, he prayed the longer. 44 And his sweat became as drops of blood, trickling down upon the ground.? [Luke 22: 41-44]

For the same reason we explained below on the posting of June 18th: In order to be able to make salvation available to all humanity, He had to - in all ways except in sin - experience what a normal human being would in each given situation and, as we should do, always defer to the Will of the Father after first requesting to be freed from any impending suffering.

Brethren - all is that simple!  What is it going to take for humanity to finally catch on?

Published on June 23rd, 2008

Do you wonder....  how close we are to the edge of the abyss?  Wonder no more!


Published on June 20th, 2008

Do you ever wonder.... why if Jesus clearly said: Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites: because you devour the houses of widows, praying long prayers. For this you shall receive the greater judgment. [Matthew 23:14] many Catholic prayers seem to be endless?

Because when Catholic prayers are delivered as the Pharisees did - for show and just repeating hollow words - are as worthless as the ones the Pharisees offered.

Jesus' message was that we should offer prayers from the heart - what counts is not the number of words but the intensity and faith with which a prayer is offered.

If Pharisees had prayed in such meaningful manner, we would not have heard such complaint from Jesus.

A prayer composed of a mindless string of words has the same value and effect as if we recorded a set of prayers and played them endlessly in a tape/CD player - NONE!

Published on June 18th, 2008

Do you ever wonder.... why when Jesus cried out "...My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" [Matthew 27:46] is quite appropriate but the Ratzinger utterance:  Why, Lord, did you remain silent? How could you tolerate all this? when visiting the site of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland on May 28, 2005, was a blasphemy?

Because Jesus had to experience all that a human would - except sin and, for a brief moment He had to experience what a human being experiences when he/she feels abandoned by God.


Published on June 16th, 2008

Do you wonder.... why "we even bother" to go on considering what we posted on the Private Forum dated June 16th?

Wonder no more since God, in His infinite Mercy, again reminded us of the reason today.  Following is a letter that we have just received from Pakistan:

Published on June 11th, 2008

Do you ever wonder.... what Jesus meant when He said to the daughters of Jerusalem: For if in the green wood they do these things, what shall be done in the dry? [Luke 23:31]

If with the Word of God made manifest in the person of Jesus - the "green wood" - still breathing, what He had said was twisted by the Temple Masters and their "conservative" and "liberal" followers to turn the populace against Him, what can we expect after He was crucified - the "wood" is no longer "green" but "dry" -  and the Good News have been presented to the Faithful in a myriad of ways - mostly spun to justify human thirst for power?

What we could expect is exactly what we are living through now: A christianity which - with its leaders - would not even give Him three and a half years, if He manifested Himself as He did originally, before destroying Him for the same reasons He was crucified the first time.

Which brings us to fully understand what He meant when He said, as part of the same conversation: "...the days shall come, wherein they will say: Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that have not borne, and the paps that have not given suck. 30 Then shall they begin to say to the mountains: Fall upon us; and to the hills: Cover us."  [Luke 23: 29-30]

Those are these days....

Published on June 9th, 2008 [Mary, Mother of Grace]

Do you ever wonder.... why God seems to frequently abandon His original chosen people over the course of History?

The answer is found very early in the Sacred Scriptures - specifically in today's Mass readings. To wit:

3 ...Moses went up to God: and the Lord called unto him from the mountain, and said: Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: 4 You have seen what I have done to the Egyptians, how I have carried you upon the wings of eagles, and have taken you to myself. 5 If therefore you will hear my voice, and keep my covenant, you shall be my peculiar possession above all people: for all the earth is mine.

6 And you shall be to me a priestly kingdom, and a holy nation. Those are the words thou shalt speak to the children of Israel. [Exodus 19]

As we have said many times - a covenant is entered into by at least two parties and, for it to function properly, both parties must live up to it.

Logically, the same concept applies to His expanded chosen people - Christians.

Published on June 5th, 2008

Do you ever wonder.... why in the Old Testament we go from: God bringing misery upon anyone who would kill Cain through the Israeli's freeing themselves from the Pharaoh - "without them firing one shot" - to the "Thou shalt not kill" literally carved in stone as one of the Ten Commandments to the following kind of rhetoric followed by action....
and

11 Determine what cities shall be for the refuge of fugitives, who have shed blood against their will. 12 And when the fugitive shall be in them, the kinsman of him that is slain may not have power to kill him, until he stand before the multitude, and his cause be judged. 

16 If any man strike with iron, and he die that was struck: he shall be guilty of murder, and he himself shall die. 17 If he throw a stone, and he that is struck die: he shall be punished in the same manner. 18 If he that is struck with wood die: he shall be revenged by the blood of him that struck him. 19 The kinsman of him that was slain, shall kill the murderer: as soon as he apprehendeth him, he shall kill him....  etc. etc. [excerpt from  Numbers 35: 11-34]

We will address this at length in a future document and we assure you - it will not be a "pretty picture"; however, is better to learn about it now before crossing the veil.  Once "on the other side" we can do very little - really nothing - for ourselves.

Published on June 1st, 2008

Do you ever wonder.... why Josemaria Escrivá (1) did not make it past the Msgr. level if his "mission" was that important.... and to get somewhere they had to get their own Pope (2) in the Vatican?

Don Bosco (3) not only turned down the Msgr. position.... he turned down the position of Cardinal

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(1)  Escriva from another perspective
(2)  The Trajectory of H.H. John Paul II
(3)  The Holy Trajectory of Don Bosco

Published on May 31st, 2008 [Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary plus the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary]

On May 28th we posted on this page the following:

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They that are well have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. For I came not to call the just, but sinners. [Mark 2:17]

How come would Paul give the following advice to the Corinthians?

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We received a few responses and we must say that all of them had quite a few correct elements in them. As we explain it - as we see it - those who wrote will immediately recognize the correct elements in their response.

Let us go to Luke 19 and we will meet Zacheus - chief of the Publicans. Since he was short, yet, he was seeking to see Jesus, he climbed atop a tree. Once Jesus saw him He said: Zacheus, make haste and come down; for this day I must abide in thy house. to which Zacheus responded by making haste... and came down; and received him with joy. To which the self appointed righteous criticized Him by  "...saying, that he was gone to be a guest with a man that was a sinner."

Of course, Jesus responded: This day is salvation come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

On Mark 2 we have a similar situation. What is not as obvious is that Levi was also "seeking Jesus", i.e. seeking the Living Word of God. However, since Levi got up and followed Jesus when Jesus told him: Follow me, he may have not been seeking as Zacheus did, but his soul seeking indeed was, and once he heard the call, he followed the Living Word of God.

Logically - when the lost ones start seeking or following they must be assisted Home as the Father did with the prodigal son. (1) That is precisely what Jesus was doing.

Now we have Paul saying in 1 Cor 5:11:  But now I have written to you, not to keep company, if any man that is named a brother, be a fornicator, or covetous, or a server of idols, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner: with such a one, not so much as to eat.

As many of the responders pointed out - the key here is the qualifier of the individual: "...any man that is named a brother..."  That individual had responded to a call and was in the fold - a brother - but obviously his response was of the type we read in the Parable of the Seed in Luke 8: 11-14.

...and with such a one, not so much as to eat.

We pray that this little excercise has shown those who tried it how important and rewarding is to ponder and meditate upon the Sacred Scriptures - thus how tremendously edifying can the Mediated Rosary be. (2)
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(1) The return of the Prodigal Son
(2) The Meditated Rosary