Well its morning time and unfortunately this was not just a nightmare that will fade from memory in the morning light.
A reader echoes this sentiment after reading my post “Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done”
I just read your blog entry with this title, and it comes very close to the way I feel–everything you said about America and socialism, the babies, the justice of God the Lord of history. The profound sadness…yes. The resignation, yes. I feel a little as if someone has died, complete with the hopeless hope that when I wake up tomorrow I will find that they got it wrong. I feel a little better reading what I know many Catholics also feel…what I think of Catholics who voted for Obama I am trying not to think. I hope you will continue to write about this season to come, because I am convinced of it being a desert time for the souls in the Church, and I bet I’m not the only one who could use a buffering word.
It does have that next day mourning feeling after someone has died but it has yet to fully sink in. Even with that, we know life goes on.
A commenter on my previous post took issue with my assertion that God is in charge of history saying “Our Lord said very clearly 3 times in the gospel of John that it is indeed Satan who is the ‘prince of this world’.” Yes, but no. I am too tired to go into any detail in this post, but suffice it to say that God allows Satan his temporary dominion and there is no doubt that God can restrict that dominion if He so pleases.
A quote from Glenn Olsen about the future of the Church sums it up nicely I think.
I have no delusion that I or anyone else can sit down and in some comprehensive way plan the future. We can know what sides to take in the great struggle of our days, but it can not be stressed too much that God is the author of history, and all history lies in his hands. What is asked of us is fidelity. We should expect neither to succeed nor to fail: this is in God’s hand. Likely, our lives and the age that is upon us will be mixed, with both triumphs and losses. In any case nothing in history lasts, and we would be advised to think more in categories of “temporary” or “mixed” successes and “temporary” or “mixed” reverses.
One last thing on this point, we should all recall the Blessed Mother’s promise of a period of peace. We know that the consecration was done, albeit late, and we still await the period of peace as promised. God keeps his promises.
Clichés are phrases that have been overused due to the simple truth that they express. Let me use a cliché to express my hope for the future, my trust in God and in His promises. It is always darkest before the dawn.
November 5, 2008 at 3:32 pm
The election of Obama isn’t what saddens me most — Bush was so unpopular, almost any Democratic ticket could’ve gotten elected.
What saddens me more is to see how voters in places like South Dakota voted for abortion. That tells me that this country really is on the path to degeneration and destruction. We are a nation that clearly places our own interests above our children’s.
November 5, 2008 at 3:33 pm
“And every time someone disagrees with his policies, it will be seen as racist. That’s not healing or unifying…”
…but it IS a form of bullying. Take it from someone who dealt a lot with bullies as a child. They respect those who stand up to them. They have contempt for those who roll over.
The choice is a simple one. Carrying it out is what’s hard. “No, you can’t prove I’m a racist, but I can prove you’re a liar.”
November 5, 2008 at 3:45 pm
“In this world ye shall have tribulations, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
November 5, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Not mulatto, David, “bright” or “mixed” – “mulatto” is a white man’s word. A lot depends on hair texture, skin color, and features, as to how “black” you are. Obama is “black” looking enough to make the grade. And yes, lets hope the reverends stay out of the spotlight.
I agree Lori, that there is a probability that accusations of racism in public policy debate will increase. Unfortunately that is often a Democrat’s tactic. That is why I said “may provide…” It will be interesting to see how Obama handles it.
At the least, his election has helped lessen the pre-conception that many blacks, especially in the poorer communities have, that white people are racist and look down on them.
November 5, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Sometimes, I wonder if I’d be better off if I moved to Alaska, joined the AIP and had them separate from the US.
November 5, 2008 at 4:57 pm
No, you wouldn’t be better off… did you read the Weekly Standards article about life in Alaska?
It’s ROUGH there… like “staking a claim by living in a basement with a woodstove and no water for the entire winter” rough…..
I doubt most of us are tought enough to make it in Alaska….
November 5, 2008 at 5:08 pm
“Not mulatto, David, “bright” or “mixed” – “mulatto” is a white man’s word….”
…which I have heard blacks use, especially down South. I do know that variations in skin is an issue within that ethnic group, and occasionally the cause for some resentment. Spike Lee address this in one of his movies, about black college sorority life. Anyone remember it?
November 5, 2008 at 5:19 pm
If the african american community thinks that Obama’s election is going to some how restitute for the past, they’re in for a BIG surprise.
November 5, 2008 at 5:43 pm
DL, Marc et al
I think it would be best if we dropped this line of discussion. It is not really relevant and easily misunderstood. Just a suggestion.
November 5, 2008 at 5:46 pm
The heck with the whining and navel gazing. Even if McCain had won, social conservatives & prolifers would have had their work cut out for them. This just helps seperate the summer soldiers from the rest.
Time to get to work, it's harvest time in God's vineyard and the workers are few.
November 5, 2008 at 6:04 pm
What saddens me more is to see how voters in places like South Dakota voted for abortion.
I think some pro-life people voted against it because it was not perfectly pro-life (i.e. allowed exceptions for rape, incest, or to save the mother’s life). Also was told by a friend whose sister was working for the measure that at least one local pro-life org was not supporting it, whether for this reason or because it would be overturned by the courts anyway, or for some other reason, I don’t know.
When we don’t have unity, it hurts the pro-life movement and those defenseless ones we are trying to protect.
November 5, 2008 at 6:07 pm
My big question is how to relate to the “cafeteria Catholics” who we know campaigned for Obama? The neighbors who in my mind hate children and want them killed just for a little extra $$ in their pocket? (not that they will get any, that mention of everyone having to sacrifice in the speech last night was perplexing a great many in the crowd in Chicago)
November 5, 2008 at 6:10 pm
“When we had a republican president and majority in the senate – nothing was done about abortion.”
What do you call the ban on Partial Birth Abortion and the Unborn Victims of Violence Act and the Born Alive Infant Protection Act?
You can say what you want about President Bush but he nominated 2 extremely excellent Supreme Court justices who are strict constructionists — so your claims abou the GOP have no basis in fact.
November 5, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Well it seems that many of us still have hope. Especially for the next election. Perhaps people will wake up to what they let into office. However, I highly doubt it. What I see in this election is my generation starting to take power in the electoral process. I also see the lost parents of my generation trying to relate to their children and re-live their past by mimicking them. In all honesty I believe that this is only the steepening of a downward spiral that we have been on for a long time. As we become a morally debased nation (or western hemisphere) we not only look for salvation (unconsciously) in pseudo messiahs suck as Barak but we also look for what we can do to feed our pride- with such things as his supposed handouts. Basically the American person has become a baby again. This person has regressed into the mindset of a child. As Catholics, along with many orthodox Christians, those that truly have faith are going to suffer for the Church. Only through this suffering are we going to be reminded of the potency of God’s love. Only though this suffering are the scabs and sores that cling to Holy Mother Church going to fall away. Only through tremendous suffering are we going to be ripped out of the clutches of the world and set apart as a light shining in darkness. No longer mixed into the twilight of uncertainty we will come to be at ultimate contrast with the world and its ways. The days of false and misleading compassion and relativism are coming to an end. Please Lord, through this suffering, allow your Church to become vividly in contrast to the world and its ways so that it may draw sinners into repentance and your mercy.
November 5, 2008 at 11:24 pm
The consecration most definitely was not done, in audacious defiance of Our Lady’s wishes on the part of certain Modernists. And it is particularly dangerous that many Catholics have fallen under the erroneous impression that this consecration has been performed. “The world” was consecrated to Our Lady, and I am sure that She does not object to such, but that is not what She asked. She asked Russia to be consecrated to Her Immaculate Heart, and this was never done. Her sweetest words:
“…the moment has come for God to ask the Holy Father to make, in union with all the bishops of the world, the Consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart. By this means, He promises to save Russia.”
The whole point was that Jesus desired to show, through this act of consecration, His power to save even Russia. If the promise of peace made by Our Lady were to come about without the precise execution of Her Son’s Will, as she made plain to us, then it would be spurious: it would not be clear that the peace came from God and His Mother. We must continue to pray that the Holy Father will finally fulfill this most direct manifestation of the Divine Will. Until then, the world cannot know peace.
~cmpt
November 5, 2008 at 11:39 pm
I couldn’t help thinking about how decades of allowing dissident theologians a paid platform in Catholic institutions affected the outcome of this election.
The Catholic politicians didn’t cook up their “Catholic” positions on their own. Those arguments they used on Meet the Press and other public venues likely originated from loop-hole theologians.
Those same theologians always seem to find their way onto our television screens, paraded before us as “experts” in Catholicism, all the while presenting anything but authentic Catholic teaching.
Until they lose their good standing, the bishops will continue to be undermined.
Think about it. These people are being paid by Catholic institutions to pander doctrines that are inconsistent with Catholicisim. It’s madness.
See my post election commentary, Blessed are they who mourn…
November 6, 2008 at 12:08 am
“The consecration most definitely was not done, in audacious defiance of Our Lady’s wishes on the part of certain Modernists. And it is particularly dangerous that many Catholics have fallen under the erroneous impression that this consecration has been performed…”
Among those deceived are the Holy See, which issued a statement confirming the consecration, and Sister Lucia, who confirmed this in an interview at the time.
How did we get on this subject anyway?
(Now, here’s the part where he comes back and tells you the woman playing Sister Lucia was an imposter. Any minute now…)
November 6, 2008 at 12:20 am
David,
You are a mediocre comedian. Stop trying… 😉
I am well aware that the Holy See confirmed a consecration. They confirmed that the world had in fact been consecrated to Our Lady. I’d love to see a Vatican document giving the precise formula used for the consecration, and to see Russia explicitly stated as the object of the consecration. Please, prove me wrong. I desire nothing more… If this consecration has in fact occurred, that would great news.
As for Sister Lucia, she confirmed what the Holy See told her to confirm: that the world had been consecrated. Her “confirmation” is not in some way authoritative that the proper consecration has taken place. We have Our Lady’s words in black and white. She was plain. Again, I’d love to see something from the Vatican confirming a Russia-explicit formula of consecration. Short of that, however, I see no reason to believe that the consecration took place, until Rome says it has.
The better question here is why would you believe this consecration took place the way that Our Lady asked, when by the Holy See’s own admission, the Holy Father consecrated the world and not Russia?
~cmpt
November 6, 2008 at 12:41 am
“You are a mediocre comedian. Stop trying… We have Our Lady’s words in black and white.”
You’re right. You’re much better at getting laughs. “Our Lady’s words” are those of a private revelation, which while approved for promotion of the faithful, are not binding with the theological virtue of Faith. If it wasn’t done exactly as one might expect (or in the way the vision of Our Lady is reported to have called for), Russia is part of the world, and therefore was consecrated. For now, that will have to do. That may seem cavalier, but I’d rather be a mediocre comedian than a lousy apologist.
I’ll hand it to you, though; you didn’t fall for that old “Sister Lucia is an imposter” trick.
November 6, 2008 at 1:09 am
David,
If you choose not to believe in Fatima, that is most certainly your prerogative. But the position that the apparition took place as the children said it did, and that Our Lady’s request was fulfilled as she asked, is an untenable one.
“Russia is part of the world, and therefore was consecrated…”
Sure, Our Lady and Her Son have always been huge fans of equivocation. This worked out very well for so many characters in the Old Testament and for Ananias and Sapphira in Acts, didn’t it? There was no good reason not to explicitly mention Russia other than an absence of proper intention to actually consecrate the country Our Lady asked. That is all…
~cmpt