Ads

 If I wanted to watch advertising, I'd log onto advertising sites, which, these days, seems to be every site. I do not want to watch ads, nor do I want to see pictures of women with their naked bodies in full page glory. I don't want to watch pornography. Sites that get ticked off if I use an ad blocker need to consult the Constitution that gives me the right to express myself. Anyone who does not like my ad blocker can just pull up their knickers and put a cinch in their belt, because I hate advertising. 

Sites that don't want to hear from me after making pulic posts have a problem, because I do, as mentioned above, have the right to express myself.

I will be polite and direct in my responses which is more than I can expect from websites. 

If I had the money to buy all the stuff advertised, I would likely not be writing this post anymore, I'd be out enjoying amy purchases. I have just barely enough to make ends meet, and need my money for groceries, paying bills and paying rent. Eveytime I look, there is someone new standing in line waiting to demand that I give them part of what I have. I don't mind sending money to those less fortunate than me, but I limit donations to one place, and they don't quibble over the amount, thanking me for what I gave. They are orphans living in a third world country in our hemisphere, and the children deserve to have something to eat too.

Advertising is based on information about me which websites eagerly collect and hoard in the belief I will break down and go head over heels in debt to have. Since the information usually was gathered without my permission, it is illegal in the first place, and those who gather people's information should be put in jail. They are not hurting in any way, and I have no sympathy whatsoever. Advertising's very nature is contrary to my reight to privacy, and since ads are shoved in my face without a choice and unwanted, I do not feel the slightest remorse about deleting the ads and dissing the site that bombarded my sensibilities with crap.

Ads are also used by criminals to influence elections, and that is another facet of advertising which makes me wish those advertising would get a clue before someone finally has had enough and puts advertisers in jail where they belong.

It is Christmas eve, and you problably were expecting something different than a diatribe against ads. I find very little to make me merry.

Hands

We are in His holy hands.

 It is owing to the holiness and perfection of God, that good Chrstians fear they will not be worthy of heaven, but be hindered by some sin.

Even the very holiest had their doubts.

If they had not somehow seen the holiness of God, they would not have doubted.

Pray to see His holiness, and to comfort the pain of His Heart, and the suffering of His Mother, and the children of the Church.

This is necessary because we have such determined enemies. But God is more determined that we go to be with Him, not to punishment.

Let your love grow in intensity, for each other and for God himself. That which will change and go away, will go away because it is time. Be at peace in each other's company, endowed with the light of the Holy Spirit in which we are enabled to see the Lord. At any moment in which the soul if lifted up, the Holy Spirit comes to comfort us. We may be unaware, as we must grow into seeing in a new way, the way which the Holy Spirit sees and rejoices in God and His children.

Evil has no joy, no light, and no peace but is tormented forever, and God stands beside us to protect and deter evil from harming us. Especially have joy in your heart.

Pain

 Do not be deterred by evil but be strong in love, for it vanquishes selfish greed and hatred.

Be childlike, not childish in your approach to  others, so that the gentle acceptance of the Lord Himself might be made  plain to  others. 

In all things strive to be like Him, not cringing at the thought of suffering or  pain or rejection or failure.

If Christ had stopped to consider those things, He would never have been able to embrace His last evening on earth which was in Gethsemane. The olive trees themselves wept to witness His suffering and rejoiced in His victory. The human race was not saved by fear but by love. Never forget that, and when He asks you for anything, nothing will deter you from granting it.

Having opened my heart, He did me a great service in accepting others, The way was opened unforgettably when he opened my side and my heart. He forgot nothing but included everything that would  make me useable by Him. I simply needed to accept what He wanted to give me, and in receiving, I became enough like Him so He could work  miracles; it did not depend on me, nor was He afraid to use me. I had to overcome my fear of pain. When i could, I became useful in His hands and in His Heart I rejoiced where I used to be afraid.

Habakuk

 Habakkuk’s Complaint
2 How long, Lord, must I call for help,
    but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
    but you do not save?
3 Why do you make me look at injustice?
    Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?
Destruction and violence are before me;
    there is strife, and conflict abounds.
4 Therefore the law is paralyzed,
    and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous,
    so that justice is perverted.
The Lord’s Answer
5 “Look at the nations and watch—
    and be utterly amazed.
For I am going to do something in your days
    that you would not believe,
    even if you were told.
6 I am raising up the Babylonians,[a]
    that ruthless and impetuous people,
who sweep across the whole earth
    to seize dwellings not their own.
7 They are a feared and dreaded people;
    they are a law to themselves
    and promote their own honor.
8 Their horses are swifter than leopards,
    fiercer than wolves at dusk.
Their cavalry gallops headlong;
    their horsemen come from afar.
They fly like an eagle swooping to devour;
9     they all come intent on violence.
Their hordes[b] advance like a desert wind
    and gather prisoners like sand.
10 They mock kings
    and scoff at rulers.
They laugh at all fortified cities;
    by building earthen ramps they capture them.
11 Then they sweep past like the wind and go on—
    guilty people, whose own strength is their god.”
Habakkuk’s Second Complaint
12 Lord, are you not from everlasting?
    My God, my Holy One, you[c] will never die.
You, Lord, have appointed them to execute judgment;
    you, my Rock, have ordained them to punish.
13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil;
    you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.
Why then do you tolerate the treacherous?
    Why are you silent while the wicked
    swallow up those more righteous than themselves?
14 You have made people like the fish in the sea,
    like the sea creatures that have no ruler.
15 The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks,
    he catches them in his net,
he gathers them up in his dragnet;
    and so he rejoices and is glad.
16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net
    and burns incense to his dragnet,
for by his net he lives in luxury
    and enjoys the choicest food.
17 Is he to keep on emptying his net,
    destroying nations without mercy?
Footnotes
Habakkuk 1:6 Or Chaldeans
Habakkuk 1:9 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
Habakkuk 1:12 An ancient Hebrew scribal tradition; Masoretic Text we

Dance

They do dance, even with the nail holes in their feet.

It is Thanksgiving Day, a chance to express gratitude for our many blesseings. While it is nominally a happy time, it is also a time when, whether we want ti or not,sorrow insinuates itself into the hours of that day, adding a piquancy to the moments of it.

Wars, natural disasters and many kinds of suffering have a way of muting the warmth of the momennt. Time goes on, things happen, and we are left to deal as best we can, with happenings in the world.

What is important is not the infestation of our universe by evil, but the strength of our love which enlighten  our time.

Like a heavy jacket on a cold day, the cold can be held at bay to some extent, but not elimincated entirely. It is not as if we have some magical power to make the cold warm or to trscend distance and time to unite us to those we love. If we have a place to live and call our own, we should be aware of the multitudes who feel the cold despite the well-meaning wishes of the kind.

The reality is, there is no magical way to dissipate the loneliness and cold; it is a part of this world we cannot dismiss. At best, we can offer the warmth of a smile or a warm greeting. If we can do more, we should be grateful for that as well.

I have often spoken of a special kind of love that is willing to sacrifice itself for those who are without advocate, who are burdened and bound by sin and the need for foregiveness. Perhaps many do not realize the need because they have become so accustomed to the cold dark that they became desnsitized to their sins or the possibility of outright redemption. By offering our sacrifices and and little sufferings, joined together, a mighty manifestation of love is had, and even the most jaded heart can feel the comforrt and pleasure of the Lord and His forgiveness. Be aware, 

Miracles

Ask and you will receive.

How do miracles happen?

I have had some in my life, but I only discuss them in general terms.

Perhaps the one aspect that comes to peoples' minds is that they really have to want the miracle and there can't be any doubt about receiving a miracle.

An honest person will probably be frantic, or the need for an actual miracle would not come up in the first place.

While there are criteria in the Lord's mind, we will never reach such pinnacles of perfection; our selfishness is a very hard burden in life. You don't need to be a saint to ask for a miracle. You do need to be humble and your eyes fixed on the Heart who loves you, because miracles do not take place outside of a great deal of love; very deep and unselfish love.

A person might want to ask, but they may not see themselves worthy. Well, no one is worthy, because we blew in the beginning by the first sin. 

So if you need a miracle, ask for it, humbly and unselfishly, and don't worry about what if. Sometimes the asking must be carried out for a while before it is reoeived. It does not hurt to be a person who bothers to live the way God asks either. 

Peace be with you.

Rapture and other myths

 

The time has come for sober thought. Would God allow a nuclear war? I think the answer has been given before now; we fought the first world war, a second world war, and the VietNam war with the Korean war, the Afghan war and now we prepare for another war. Insofar as war is concerned, another war based on a nuclear exchange would annihilate the human race; there can be no winning side, no thousand year reich or soviet utopia, or wall street atheistic war to establish the kingdom of personal satisfaction and pleasure.

Let that sink in for a bit. The personal guard of Vladimit Putin prance around his palace with a priggish smirk on their face as if they are the master race. As far as human survival is concerned, there is no master race, no master economy and no worker's paradise in which he who works is the slave of the government, whether it resides in Washington DC or Moscow or Beijing or Pyongyang. Every human empire has come to an end; someone smarter and stronger came along and wiped it out, taking possession of everything achieved. Built on the ashes of the last empire, every empire comes to an end.

And if God allows another war, will there be a rapture? Ask yourself, did the people of the first and second world war go away at the height of the veangance rocket? Are we going to give away everything we have achieved? I think not. But even if nucllear weapons disappeared and the very concept was vanished, we would still be at each other's throat without the grace of God, and it is only the grace of God that will allow us to live in peace. Unlike the world that existed in the movie "THe Day the Earth Stood Still", there are no master robots with the ability to totally erase the human race if they don't stop fighting.

No economic system can survive without a radical transformation of human beings by God's grace.

Frankly, I am tired of thinking about these things. I have been thinking about them for 77 years and I participated only in the Vietnam war, and have no desire for any further participation in any further wars. I have seen too much evidence of the consequnces in human lives, young, old and in between.

I think we must insist on His grace, demanding it at any cost. While demanding it may seem arrogant and selfish, people truly in love with each other demand quite a bit from each other, and I am told He loves us with an infinite love. Not much love exists in the world anymore. Only our prayers can preserve it and help it survive and thrive in place of the selfishness and sinfulness of the human race, which seems bent on inventing new heights of sin and hate 

We may be deserving of punishment and chastisement, but even Jesus endured it, when He was whipped at the scourging post in Jerusalem.

That He endured it, not deserving of it, is a fact, and whether we punish ourselves or God punishes us, a lot of unpleasantness and gloomy despair awaits those who will not open their minds and hearts to Christ. I am also tired of having to to shut up and not offend someone who has no clue who God is, let alone what He is really like. The God who allowed the first two world wars was not a woose or a wimp. He is not afraid to punish us justly. We must satisfy His justice, or He will do it.

Rapture refers to a state in which God swoops up a soul and suspends it between heaven and earth, so that nothing of this world affects it and is capable of feeling the full effect of infinite love and joy. It has nothing to do with floating above the scene of a final war, or being lost in God's own bliss to unite us to Himself. The final state of the people who inhabit heaven will be perfected, free of sin or the capacity to commit sin and will be eternally happy. Another word for rapture is ecstasy, in which the senses are suspended along with bodily functions. In that state, the soul feels as God feels, and anything the soul can endure will be at the divine level, and only God can make it possible to be suspended that way and able to endure the happiness. I have never experienced it, though I have experienced great happiness and was not concerned about earthly comfort while I was in His presence.

All in all, I would rather feel that love than suffer anything on earth, but if only some great suffering will satisfy the Lord, then I would choose to be stigmatized, as that was Jesus choice, the choice of St. Francis and the choice of St. Padre Pio when the occasion arose. In Padre Pio's case, he desired the wounds out of love for Jesus, but not the constant harassment he suffered because he bore Christ's wounds. 

So we have come full circle. Much suffering is evident in our future, but loving God, we will not care, because to feel that love is to be wholly abosorbed in Him to the exclusion of everything else. We do have choices, but thus far, the human race has chosen poorly. We see what happened to the Nazi who chose poorly in the ndiana Jones" movie.. Let our intellect be perfected by Jesus so it is at Hs service, then we will not be liable for the sin of selfishness and we may console Jesus hanging still on the cross of selfish loves.