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      Readers can see the fruits of their voting efforts beginning tomorrow when we debut our countdown with vignettes on the person chosen, beginning with number 100, then number 99 on Monday and so on daily leading up to the top ten Catholics who will be revealed in December. By the way, each of the top ten received at least 500 votes, with the top five receiving over a thousand. We had well over 23,000 total votes with nearly 730 different persons nominated. Number 100 will be revealed tomorrow!

Love is a two-way street!

      In his column today, Pat Ludwa writes about the various degrees of love: self love, which puts self at the detriment of all else; worldly love which is blinded to what love truly is and too often buys into the trappings and glitz of the sexual emphasis without realizing what true love is; and love of God in which we submit our will to the Divine Will not because we don't love ourselves or take pleasure in legal, good emotions such as conjugal love, but because we realize by loving God all the other loves are placed in proper balance and only then can we experience true love as it is meant to be. He points out that the first two loves are the basis of radical groups who try to bypass the issue of love of God by saying God is love and would never punish us. But love is a two-way street and, though God loves each and every one of His creatures, He expects us to love Him in return, with our whole heart and our whole mind. It's as basic as to gain the happiness of Heaven we must know, love and serve God in this world. For Pat's column Three loves, click on VIEW FROM THE PEW

Three loves

    Saint Peter Julian Eymard, founder of the Blessed Sacrament Fathers, wrote: "Man is love like his divine Model. As he loves, so he lives. Self-love makes him selfish; love of the world, vicious." (A Eucharistic Handbook, Vol. 6, pg 3)

    Put simply, we can either love ourselves, love the world, or love God. If we love ourselves, nothing is too great to be sacrificed to satisfy that love. We can sacrifice our children (born and unborn), our families, our Church, whatever. If it gets in the way of our personal happiness, our self love, it has to be removed. And since love of self is all consuming, anyone trying to help get a better understanding of love is to be removed, ridiculed, etc.

    Love of the world is often connected with self love. In fact, today, that love of self is part of the world's philosophy. How many times have we heard "One must love oneself first before loving another." We can see the effects of the viciousness of worldly love every day. In secular newspapers, one might read an article implying that the Church is returning to the superstitions of the Dark Ages (regarding the Church's redoing of the Rites of Exorcism) and how 'right' thinking Catholics (often quoting FutureChurch, WomanChurch, or Call To Action) see this as avoiding the issue of justice.

    "For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, fierce, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding the form of religion but denying the power of it." (2 Tim. 3:2-5)

    Consider that when the rest of the world viewed women as cattle and even royal women were nothing more than political footballs and baby making machines, the Church held women up as examples of holiness, giving them responsibility for abbey's, convents, and Orders. St. Teresa of Avila chastised the Pope to leave France and return to Rome. St. Clare of Assisi withstood the Pope to lessen the Rule for her Order. Even a 12th century Church manuscript reads; "In the meanwhile Peter Bernadone (the father of St. Francis of Assisi) returned home; and, on finding his son gone, he added sin to sin by abusing his wife." (Legend of the Three Companions; St. Francis of Assisi, Omnibus of Sources; pg. 908)

    Our present Pope has written "MULIERIS DIGNITATEM" (On the Dignity and Vocation of Women; August 15, 1988) And Pope Paul VI wrote: "Within Christianity, more than in any other religion, and since its very beginning, women have had a special dignity, of which the New Testament shows us many important aspects . . . ; it is evident that women are meant to form part of the living and working structure of Christianity in so prominent a manner that perhaps not all their potentialities have yet been made clear."(Address to the National Meeting of the Centro Italiano Femminile; Dec. 6, 1976)

    And in Humanae Vitae we read: " It is also to be feared that the man, growing used to the employment of anticonceptive practices, may finally lose respect for the woman and, no longer caring for her physical and psychological equilibrium, may come to the point of considering her as a mere instrument of selfish enjoyment, and no longer as his respected and beloved companion." (Grave Consequences of Methods of Artificial Birth Control, #17)

    Yet we hear that the Church is anti-woman, sexist, encouraging the abuse of women, oppressing women. Why? Because the Pope has declared that the Church doesn't have the authority to ordain women and the Church won't sanction artificial birth control and abortion. Even when it is clear that it is for their benefit that these teachings are done.

    Self love and love of the world have made them 'hate' the Church. Viciously attacking the Church at every turn and at every opportunity. Declaring "we need people with chisels inside (the church) chiseling away at that institution or it is never going to fall." (Sister Maureen Fiedler, of Call To Action's "We Are Church" referendum) And to remove this 'obstacle' to self love, they intend to destroy the Church.

    "The organization (Womens Ordination Committee), long the most visible group advocating that the Catholic priesthood be opened to women, might (now) drop that objective in favor of a long-range goal of reconstructing the church." (New York Times religious editor Peter Steinfels (11/14/95)) And that restructuring entails "transforming the priesthood into a non-sacramental office of community-ordained facilitators." (Elisabeth Fiorenza-Schussler; "New Woman,New Church, New Priestly Ministry.")

    Also consider this: "The Church, obedient to the Lord who founded her and gave to her the sacramental life, celebrates the divine plan of the loving and life-giving union of men and women in the sacrament of marriage. It is only in the marital relationship that the use of the sexual faculty can be morally good."

    The Church sees that our sexuality is good only when used in the context of a marital relationship, between a man and a woman. However, the world doesn't see it that way. "Sex sells." Our children are taught, implicitly and explicitly, that sex is normal and that abstinence is abnormal and even unhealthy. And if one can, and should, have sex with whomever one wishes, whenever one wishes, then obviously this applies to homosexuals as well.

    The Church teaches: " At the same time the Congregation took note of the distinction commonly drawn between the homosexual condition or tendency and individual homosexual actions." (ON THE PASTORAL CARE OF HOMOSEXUAL PERSONS; October 1, 1986) No one can be accused of sinning for being a homosexual, no more than one can be accused of sinning for being a heterosexual. However, sin does occur when the homosexual has homosexual sex just as a heterosexual sins when they have heterosexual sex outside of marriage.

    "Therefore special concern and pastoral attention should be directed toward those who have this condition, lest they be led to believe that the living out this orientation in homosexual activity is a morally acceptable option. It is not." (Ibid)

    This, according to such groups as Dignity (which is linked with Call To Action) is homophobic and encouraging violence toward homosexuals. Even though the Church teaches. "Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition." (CCC #2358)

    Again, it isn't that they need to change to suit God, but rather, God must change to suit them. " An essential dimension of authentic pastoral care is the identification of causes of confusion regarding the Church's teaching. One is a new exegesis of Sacred Scripture which claims variously that Scripture has nothing to say on the subject of homosexuality, or that it somehow tacitly approves of it, or that all of its moral injunctions are so culture-bound that they are no longer applicable to contemporary life. These views are gravely erroneous and call for particular attention here…..The Church today addresses the Gospel to a world which differs in many ways from ancient days. But the world in which the New Testament was written was already quite diverse from the situation in which the Sacred Scriptures of the Hebrew people had been written or compiled, for example. What should be noticed is that, in the presence of such remarkable diversity, there is nevertheless a clear consistency with the Scriptures themselves on the moral issue of homosexual behavior. The Church's doctrine regarding this issue is thus based, not on isolated phrases for facile theological argument, but on the solid foundation of a constant biblical testimony. The community of faith today, in unbroken continuity with the Jewish and Christian communities within which the ancient Scriptures were written, continues to be nourished by those same Scriptures and by the Spirit of Truth whose Word they are. It is likewise essential to recognize that the Scriptures are not properly understood when they are interpreted in a way which contradicts the Church's living Tradition. To be correct, the interpretation of Scripture must be in substantial accord with that Tradition." (ON THE PASTORAL CARE OF HOMOSEXUAL PERSONS; October 1, 1986)

    In both cases, and others, we see, hear, and read how the Church must change to suit them. This is the sign of selfish, worldly love.

    Yet the love of God is selfless, caring not for the ways of the world nor our own personal wants and desires. "Then Jesus told His disciples, 'If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life?'" (Matthew 16:24-26).

    "And this is love, that we follow his commandments; this is the commandment, as you have heard from the beginning, that you follow love…Any one who goes ahead and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God; he who abides in the doctrine has both the Father and the Son" (2 John 6;9).

    "Now this I affirm and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds; they are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart; they have become callous and have given themselves up to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of uncleanness. You did not so learn Christ!-- assuming that you have heard about Him and were taught in Him, as the truth is in Jesus. Put off your old nature which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 17-24).

    It's when we love God more than ourselves that we can humbly respond, "Thy will be done.", regardless of what sacrifice that may entail. It's when we have self love and/or worldly love that we say, "My will be done.", regardless of what cost to others, or even ourselves. " For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life?"

    Though they preach tolerance and understanding, they don't give tolerance and understanding. Their attacks on the Church and the faithful shows them to be intolerant, biased, bigoted, and vicious.

    "I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths. As for you, always be steady, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil your ministry" (2 Timothy 4:1-5).

Pax Christi, Pat

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DAILY LITURGY

      Today is Feast of Saint Mary Magdalen, the loyal, devoted Disciple of the Lord - the prodigal sister, if you will who turned from vice to virtue and is held up by the Church as an excellent example of sinner turning saint. Tomorrow is the Sixteenth Friday in Ordinary Time as well as the Feast of the mystic married woman and religious founder Saint Bridget of Sweden with tomorrow being the Fourteenth Friday in Ordinary Time. For the readings, liturgies and meditations for these two days, click on DAILY LITURGY.

Thursday July 22:
Feast of Saint Mary Magdalen, Disciple of the Lord

White vestments

First Reading: Exodus 19: 1-2, 9-11, 16-20
Psalms: Daniel 3: 52-56
Gospel Reading: John 20: 1-2, 11-18

      One of the greatest examples of Jesus' claim that He came for sinners was hid dear, loyal disciple Saint Mary Magdalen from Magdala near the Sea of Galilee. This beautiful Jewish woman was caught up in the world, the flesh and the devil until she met Jesus. He saw right into her soul and she knew instantly in her heart she needed to totally repent of her life of sin as a prostitute by following Our Lord into the house of a rich man, and, oblivious to the taunts and jeers from others, knelt at His feet and washed His precious feet with her tears and expensive ointment. Jesus was moved at her repentance and cast out seven devils (cf Mark 16: 9, Luke 8: 2) from her body. From that time on The Magdalen was one of the most loyal followers of Jesus. Aside from His Own Blessed Mother, no one stuck by Our Lord through thick and thin more than Mary Magdalen throughout His ministry and at the foot of the Cross. Christ Himself rewarded her for her devotion and persistence by being the first one He appeared to after His Resurrection (cf. John 20: 1-18). After the Ascension, there are some reports that Mary Magdalen retreated to the desert to live out her life in prayer and penance, while Eastern tradition claims Mary Magdalen accompanied the Blessed Mother and Saint John to Ephesus after Pentecost where The Magdalen died peacefully and was buried there. The latter bears believability since her relics were found in Ephesus, transfered to the Monastery of St. Lazarus in Constantinople in 899. Her feast was first celebrated in the 10th Century and spread to the entire Church in the 11th Century.

Friday July 23:
Sixteenth Friday in Ordinary Time and
Feast of Saint Bridget of Sweden, Married woman, Mystic and Religious Founder

Green or white vestments

First Reading: Exodus 20: 1-17
Psalms: Psalm 19: 8-11 and John 6: 69
Gospel Reading: Matthew 13: 18-23

      Born in Uppsala, Sweden in 1303, Saint Bridget was married by her parents at the early age of 14 to 18 year-old Prince Ulf Gudmarsson in 1317. The couple had eight children, one of whom being Saint Karen, a Scandinavian derivation of Catherine. God blessed the family with great faith and wisdom and their reputation reached the court of King Magnus II, the young ruler of Sweden who summoned Bridget in 1335 to serve as the lady-in-waiting for Magnus' wife, Blanche of Namur the young queen of Sweden. However, Bridget was greatly distressed by the royals' extravagance and sought unsuccessfully to curb their excesses, but to no avail. It was during this time that she began receiving messages from God. Shortly after the death of Gudmar her youngest son, she and Ulf made a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain where the relics of Saint James can be found. It so moved them that they decided to live the rest of their lives in monasteries and live the life of celibacy. Ulf died in a Cistercian monastery in 1344 at the age of 45. This prompted Bridget to put on the penitent garb and live an ascetic lifestyle, but the private revelations grew so intense that Bridget first feared she was being deceived by the evil one. However through prayer and the assurance of a learned Cistercian monk, she realized they were indeed from Heaven. Still befriended by Magnus, he offered financial assistance for her to begin two monasteries and found the Order of the Most Holy Savior which is almost non-existent today except for the Bridgettines. In the Holy Year of 1350 Bridget went to Rome where she remained until her death in 1373. She endeavored tirelessly to bring the Holy Father back to Rome from exile in Avignon and held nothing back in denouncing the wickedness of the nobility in Naples and Cyrus. It was in Rome where Bridget received the "Revelations of St. Bridget" which included the 15 Promises and Secrets and meditations on Christ's Passion, printed in the "Pieta" small booklet distributed everywhere. With one of her sons and her daughter Karen (Catherine) by her side, Bridget died peacefully at the age of 70. With great pomp and circumstance her body was transported back to Sweden and laid to rest at the monastery in Vadstena.

     In honor of today's Feast of Saint Mary Magdalen we present the Preface for today's Mass:

You enkindled in her heart the fire of an ardent love for Christ that endowed her with freedom of spirit, and You infused in her the courage to follow Christ faithfully, even to Calvary. After His death on the cross, she sought her Master so zealously that she merited to meet the Risen Lord and to be the first to announce the Easter joy to the Apostles.

"Learn well the secret and power of the Cross, and walk in this Way, for I solemnly say unto all the world: Calvary awaits you and you shall not succeed in faith if you abandon the path of suffering."

      Those words from the Sacred Heart of Jesus were imparted on March 10, 1995 to the Hidden Flower of the Immaculate Heart in which Our Lord beseeches His children to place all trust in Him and to take refuge in His Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of His Blessed Mother. Jesus cautions us not to be so concerned about future events or to worry for we have nothing to fear if we are His and resolve to live His Divine Will. He reminds us that He died on the cross for a reason and suffering is part and parcel of salvation. Our Lady prefaces her Divine Son's words three days earlier on March 7 by reminding us how satan is seeking to blot out the Light and to take God from us through legislation and belittling faith and virtue. She asks us to love and forgive and place all our trust in God. For Messages #597 and #598, click on "I SOLEMNLY TELL YOU..."

Messages 597 and 598

Message Five-Hundred-ninety-seven, March 7, 1995

(Imparted to the Hidden Flower by the Immaculate Heart of Mary)

      Beloved Hidden Flower of my Immaculate Heart, I am with you and I bless you and all your family.

      Oh! My little ones, never lose an opportunity to pray and make sacrifices. I, your Mother, know each of your struggles and crosses, and I beseech you in these days to willingly accept each cross. When you do this my Divine Son will help you to carry the cross and the act becomes a prayer of infinite value.

      Dear children, do you not yet see the signs of which Scripture tells you? Do you reject the signs of which I have spoken?

      Does prayer truly exist in your life? If it does then it must also exist beyond your home and beyond your parish church. How can my little children learn of God and of loving Him, when they are taught God is not allowed in school or in the work place?

      Oh! I have told you repeatedly of satan's plot to take my Divine Son away from you and to plunge you into total spiritual darkness. I have asked you to pray so that you might have my Divine Son's Peace and bring Peace, bring Light to all in darkness. But do you truly do this?

      Therefore, by prayer you must seek to be true apostles in these end times. For I solemnly tell you that the worldly signs as given to you in Sacred Scripture are already being fulfilled, but because you do not possess the Holy Spirit you fail to recognize them.

      If you do not see the worldly signs, how then shall you see the signs of God? Now, in this season of Lent, and at every moment, go forward as a beacon of light and do not be discouraged. Faith requires patience, for all things happen in God's time. Hope allows patience to bear holy fruit as it leads the soul along the path of love and forgiveness.

      I solemnly tell you to learn now to partake of my Divine Son's Passion and to learn from Him how to love and forgive, for as the spiritual darkness increases you will have great need of Love and Forgiveness, lest you lose your way.

      I love and bless you. Thank you for responding to my Call!

Message Five-Hundred-ninety-eight, March 10, 1995

(Imparted to the Hidden Flower by the Sacred Heart of Jesus)

      Beloved Hidden Flower of My Mother's Immaculate Heart, I give to you My Peace, My Strength. I bless you and all your family.

      Now, to all the world I solemnly say: This is truly your Lent, your preparation time if you are to persevere in these end times.

      Do you still doubt that you are living in the time of the Third Secret of Fatima? I solemnly say to all: That which My Immaculate Mother revealed at Fatima is now, and know also that My beloved holy Vicar, Pope John Paul II knows this well! How My Vicar on earth is persecuted! Pray for him. Unite your hearts to Mine so that all may become virtue and grace for all of My faithful little ones.

      O! How deaf you are to Heaven's words, My little ones. How easily you give up the struggle for Eternal Life, settling for passing satisfaction in earthly, temporal things.

      Again, I solemnly say unto all. Read Sacred Scripture and understand these words through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. For I warn you, all earthly things shall crumble and you shall have only Me before you. Understand this well, My children! Only Me, your Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ. Will you be prepared? Are you seeking My Will, or your own? Search your conscience and examine every aspect of your life. Only then can you be Mine.

      If you are Mine what then do you have to fear? If you are Mine, why do you seek knowledge and answers about the sequence of future events? Is it not sufficient that I Who Am know all and will not abandon My little ones? Am I not capable of caring for your every need?

      Oh! Trust in Me! Trust! Trust! Cast yourself into My Sacred Heart through the Immaculate Heart of My Mother, and trust Me. Learn well the secret and power of the Cross, and walk in this Way, for I solemnly say unto all the world: Calvary awaits you and you shall not succeed in faith if you abandon the path of suffering. Be united to Me in My Passion, that the Reign of My Sacred Heart may come swiftly. If you reject My plea, the sorrows shall increase until all the world is a river of tears.

      Know I desire to give Mercy to all. But you must will to give Me your heart. I love and bless you and say: Prepare, for I Come!

   Dear children! Today I thank you for living and witnessing my messages with your life. Little children, be strong and pray so that prayer may give you strength and joy. Only in this way will each of you be mine and I will lead you on the way of salvation. Little children, pray and with your life witness my presence here. May each day be a joyful witness for you of God's love. Thank you for having responded to my call.

For more on Medjugorje, click on MEDJUGORJE AND MORE

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July 22, 1999 volume 10, no. 136   DAILY CATHOLIC