Allotment Update

Thanks be to God and Our Lady and thank you to the very kind friends who helped me out today. One of them was a Traditional Latin Mass loving blog reader who travelled all the way down from Croydon to help build the shed. I have been to a retreat centre in the region in which the Holy Mass is said in something that looks like rather like a shed. I don't think it would be fitting for a priest to celebrate Mass here, but a sprinkling of holy water and a blessing for the allotment would be good.

Next I need to order a massive bag of manure from a local farm and dig it in to improve the soil, collect an archway I've bought for Our Lady and plant some roses around her. I also have a cheap, plastic greenhouse which I have purchased that needs to go up in order for propagation to take place.

All in all, however, the hermitage is now ready. Truly, this allotment, she is starting to become a pearl of great price. I'm hoping that Our Lady of Whitehawk will appear and make this plot a popular pilgrimage destination with a miraculous water feature and I'll have recouped the money I have squandered on this small piece of land. All I need now is a vision!

What if Peter Stops Talking about Eternal Life?

It seems to me that the greatest temptation for the Catholic Church is to become that which Pope Francis has said it must never become - an NGO no different from the World's charitable organisations - with its radical spiritual mission to preach the Gospel to the nations blunted by the purely humanistic values of the age.

Yet, looking at 'The Voice of the Pope and the Church', Vatican Radio does have something of an 'NGO' feel about it at the moment which is disconcerting. Much of the content is quite laudable, in a humanitarian sense, but there is not really much teaching about what the Church actually believes - the Faith of the Church. Why can there not be, as well as the Church speaking out about the injustices that take place in the world, some element of the supernatural Faith which we, at Baptism and Confirmation, profess and proclaim that we believe.

One priestly blogger today asks why there is an apparent trend among Catholics bloggers to keep counsel and blog considerably less. It seems to me that the big crunch issues facing the Papacy and the Church today are certainly big issues but that the issues are not the real issue. The big question I face as a Catholic blogger is this:

'What are Catholics to do or what are Catholics to say if Peter follows the lead of the majority of Bishops in the Church and stops talking about Eternal Life, talking instead only about life in this World?'

That is really what is at the heart of the conflicts surrounding the Synod. Do we believe in Eternal Life anymore?  If Peter suggests, by saying nothing - or next to nothing - about Eternal Life, then does the Church no longer profess it? If Peter only talks about life in this world, then does he speak for Christ and the whole Church or only for himself?

Where Peter is, there is the Church, where the Church is there is eternal life, but what if the Successor of Peter and the overwhelming majority of the Successors to the Apostles keep silent on eternal life?

My Flirtation with Christian Buddhism

There is a reason why this image is offensive

The former archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has spoken of his daily meditation exercises which draw upon Orthodox and Buddhist traditions. Interestingly, for the former chief Anglican guru, Anglican 'spiritual exercises' are neglected in favour of something slightly more esoteric, or even exotic.

Rowan Williams maintains that in the morning he 'squats' to pray. Physical postures for prayer are quite important. We are told that Our Lord spent nights in prayer - so despite what His Holiness tells us, it is simply untrue to suggest that Our Lord was a pastor who had no time for contemplation, but did Our Lord adopt the 'yogi' position? Would the desert fathers recommend it? Is the Buddhist posture of the 'lotus pose' suitable for Christian prayer?

I think I understand where Rowan Williams is coming from here. While a Catholic not very long into his conversion, I bought a book called 'Light Within' by Laurence Freeman OSB, a Benedictine monk. At the time I was particularly vulnerable and already very self-absorbed. The kind of Christian meditation (repeating 'Maranatha' while squatting on my bed in a bid to find 'inner peace') was really very unhelpful to me. I believe it succeeded in sending me even further up my own behind than I was already at the time. I became more arrogant than I already was at that time, more proud than I already was at that time and behaved as something of a 'little god'. I am not saying I am without such vices now, I am saying the spiritual methods advocated in Christian meditation drawing upon the Buddhist tradition seemed to inflame, rather than dampen, or root out, these vices. Of course, these Buddhist-informed spiritual methods did sister chastity no favours either.

Laurence Freeman OSB and the Dalai Llama

The more I did 'Christian meditation', in the 'tradition' of this Benedictine monk, the more 'spiritual' I believed I was becoming. His lectures and books and spirituality are regularly praised in The Tablet, which, if I was a spirituality guru would give me the absolute shudders. Of course, it would be foolish to extend my experience of this eastern-influenced 'Christian meditation' technique to the experience of everyone else, but while searching for the 'light within', there is perhaps a unique danger that a Christian may find quite easily not the Light of the World but the false light of Lucifer. That is, of course, what mystics down the ages have warned can happen to the 'spiritual man' quite easily.

In reality, I used 'Christian meditation' as a way not of seeking God but of escaping from myself at a time when I was particularly in turmoil. I look back on this episode in horror, not because I am 'such a better person now', but because traditional Catholic devotion to the Mass, to the Blessed Sacrament, frequent Confession, the authentic liturgical prayer of the Church to be discovered in the Divine Office or Little Office of Our Lady and the Holy Rosary help me truly to look away from myself and to turn towards the Lord. Traditional Catholic spirituality is all about the Other and the Other, most especially in the Mass, is visible and tangible, God Incarnate - not 'out there' or even, until Holy Communion, 'within'. We do not have to search for Him 'within' ourselves when He is truly present! It is then that we adore, adoring not ourselves but our God. Of course, every Catholic Church has the Mass and the Blessed Sacrament, but not every Church has reverent liturgy that advertises the Real Presence and fosters devotion.

Our faith in Jesus is mysterious but tangible. He is Other but present.

I do not kneel anywhere like as much as I should before the Divine Majesty of our God, but thanks to the teaching of Benedict XVI and others, I understand that kneeling, especially in reverence to the Blessed Sacrament, not only gives due honour to God but helps to reinforce within ourselves an acknowledgement that God alone is Good, that I am helpless without Him, that I am dependent upon Him for every grace and virtue that I need in order to live in my particular state of life.

Adherents of Christian prayer that incorporate the Buddhist methods of meditation would protest, I am sure, at my criticism, but within the still relatively new emergence of those who seek the 'light within', there rarely seems to be a love of Catholic Truth, a sense of loyalty to the Magisterium and love of Our Blessed Lady and the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. There doesn't tend to be much of a sense of sin and our need to be saved from it. It is not impossible that those who advocate such practices have discovered within this unique blending of Christianity and Buddhism, a 'higher truth' that makes the true Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ and our need for repentance irrelevant. When we disappear up our own behinds, that is what tends to happen, though I understand the importance of not making universal what, for me, was particularly unhelpful.

The sad truth is that these time-tested spiritual practices recommended by the Saints and holy Popes of the Church are much neglected in modern times by modern Catholics who are always open to the temptation to find within 'eastern' spiritual traditions, something that accommodates itself to their particular tastes, doesn't upset their sensibilities and really makes spirituality revolve around the self under the pretense that this spirituality is focused uniquely on the Godhead. This is not, of course, to denigrate the Orthodox model of ceaseless prayer of the desert Fathers in recitation of the 'Jesus prayer', but merely to suggest that Buddhist techniques of 'prayer and meditation' are somewhat in contradiction to authentic Christian prayer, if for no other reason than the physical position adopted by the one who prays. It models a posture of self-dependence and self-exploration that can lead to self-absorbtion. Praying while standing and praying while sitting may not be the absolute ideal, we may find we pray as we can when we can, but to deliberately adopt the posture of 'squatting' does rather say to ourselves and to God that we are deliberately looking within, towards introspection of self, rather than looking towards Him.

Our Lord spent nights Himself on His knees to pray to His Eternal Father. The Gospels recount those times when men and women prostrated or knelt before Our Lord in recognition of His divinity and power. There really is nothing within the Orthodox spiritual tradition or the Latin spiritual tradition - or even the Anglican spiritual tradition - that remotely suggests that the one who prays is the one who "squats" like a Buddhist seeking 'wisdom within' and I don't think St Benedict would approve of this still new Christian Buddhist tradition of "squatting" to pray, if only because it is the tradition of those who do not believe. But, hey ho, now that Communists are 'closet Christians', I guess Buddhists are as well...

I do hope this blogpost does not sound unnecessarily harsh.

Sheikh Anwar Awlaki in Surprise Call for 'Culture of Encounter'

Is Rome ready for a 'culture of encounter'?

Islamic terrorists known for beheading and crucifying those who do not convert to Islam, headed by the now globally famous 'Caliph' - Sheikh Anwar Awlaki - were stunned today when the Sheikh announced a new era of dialogue in a brave and bold 'culture of encounter'.

Moved by His Holiness Pope Francis's calls for 'dialogue' as people of different faiths gather together to promote peace, tolerance and mutual respect, it has been announced by ISIS that they would very much like to visit Rome to promote 'a culture of encounter'. The Vatican has yet to issue a formal comment on the idea, but continues to promote mutual respect and understanding between different religions in an atmosphere of tolerance, that fosters peace and brotherhood. Now that communists have been labelled as closet Christians by His Holiness Pope Francis, can we look forward to Islamic hardliners being labelled the same? After all, there is some stuff in the Qu'ran about helping the poor. I was hitherto under the impression that Christians follow the teachings of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Communists follow the teachings of Marx and Gramsci and Muslims follow the teachings of Mohammed and, in Iraq and Syria, people who claim to speak in his name.

Within the brave new spectrum of people (Jews, freemasons, communists, satanists) who could be classified as 'Christians' (and Christians who do not quite realise it yet), do priests, friars, nuns, bishops, cardinals and lay people who attend, assist at, or offer the Traditional Latin Mass get into the Christian 'party'? For the FFI and for its founder, time has told. For the rest of us, time will tell, assuming that Rome is not sacked by Islam in the coming year(s) again. The 'dialogue' with ISIS, if recent behaviour is anything to go by, is really quite brief, curt and 'to the point'. They don't appear to be into planting olive trees...

How to Run an Allotment

Now that's what I call a greenhouse.

There are some lovely images of the Transalpine Redemptorists growing fruit and vegetables in the Orkney Islands.

Today I obtained a shed as I had a day off work and will be putting it up in the next week. Next, the greenhouse...well, that might have to wait a while and finally the statue of Our Lady, the arch and the roses, then a blessing of the allotment by a local priest and some serious mulching and seeding.

That should keep the Council off my back.

Black is Black

If His Holiness tells you his shoes are red, it is okay to say they are black

'We should always be disposed to believe that that which appears white is really black, if the hierarchy of the Church so decides.' 

~ St Ignatius of Loyola

Rorate reports that during the astonishing - extraordinary - meeting between the Holy Father and the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, that His Holiness is said to have quoted St Ignatius of Loyola with the above statement and attributed it to the current occupant of the Chair of Peter. Now is, then, a good time to remind ourselves that there are very particular circumstances in which a Pope's statement is infallible and that no guarantee of infallibility was given to the founder of the Jesuits. We are perfectly entitled to believe that black is indeed black and that white is indeed white and that anyone who says any differently is deceiving you, since he can see and knows that black is black and that white is, indeed, white. So if a Pope tells you that the Resurrection of Christ was a physical, historical reality white is indeed white, but if a Pope tells you that the Resurrection of Christ was not a physical, historical reality, white is still white, not black.

Saints, no matter how holy, can say things that are regrettable when read in the light of a particular period in the Church's history.

It is also worth reminding ourselves, as far as I know, that no actual Pope in history has spoken of himself and his role in such a way as this, presumably because while those under obedience to the Pope are entitled to say outlandish things about the virtue and value of holy obedience to the hierarchy, for a Supreme Pontiff himself to say it could produce unnecessary and damaging suspicion among those under his care that he feels fit to abuse the authority placed into his mortal hands and corrupt the Office of the Papacy itself.

For a Pope to say this could give rise to opinion forming among the Faithful that the occupant of the chair of Peter is putting forward a view that is the very opposite of humility. The overwhelming majority of Popes have seen their roles in terms of safeguarding that which has been passed down to them and to teach the Faith, to strengthen the brethren and Shepherd the Faithful under their care, rather than in terms of altering reality. Apparently, according to Michael Jackson RIP, such things as black and white matter not anyway...

...but then he's not the Pope. His Holiness is also reported to have said to the Franciscans of the Immaculate that "the Pope is the guarantor of orthodoxy" but it seems odd that Pope Francis has had very few positive words to say, if any, of 'orthodoxy', until the day that he is confronted by a group of depressed, perhaps abjectly so, Franciscans dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and to their seraphic father St Francis, who have been placed under strict and severe penalties that deny them the right to celebrate the Mass given legal protection in the whole Universal Church by this Pope's predecessor, Benedict XVI. In this sense, Francis has, to use the expression of St Ignatius, made what is white, black, but that does not stop making the Traditional Latin Mass dependent on permission given by the relevant authority in Rome anything else but illegal and unjust.

The Birthday of St John the Baptist

I am pleased that His Holiness has affirmed that torture is a mortal sin and I look forward to His Holiness teaching us the other sins which fall into the category of sins that bring death to the soul.

I do personally wish that Popes would cease making statements upon United Nations 'International Days' because unless some strange agreement has been made the Vatican and the UN, the UN has absolutely nothing to do with the Bride of Christ. The UN have made it very clear that they believe the Church's position on abortion and homosexuality is, in Pope Francis's words, a 'mortal sin'. Perhaps His Holiness was really talking about abortion.

Happy Feast of the Birthday of St John the Baptist. Pray for the Franciscans of the Immaculate and pray for Pope Francis that he will govern the Church with equity, justice and prudence and that His Holiness will govern the Church in a true spirit of humble service, rather than give the impression that he is in favour of governing the Church in the style of a Renaissance prince. There is nothing on this story on Rome Reports. Presumably, for the Holy Father, this is not good publicity.

Allotment Progress

In response to a reader's comment asking for an allotment update, I am working this week all week, including Saturday. With regard to quite how I am going to make adequate improvements on my allotment I can see only a desert land, with no water and no way. Shall I quit my job or just give the keys to Jason and hope for the best? He'll want paying, mind.

There is no way the Lord is giving messages to Maria Divine Mercy...

I mean the Man who gave us the Beatitudes would never talk like this! There is no way that the Man who said 'judge not lest ye be judged' and 'condemn not lest ye be condemned' would tell His followers to abide by holy charity and to refrain from venting our spleen at others. No way, that just would not make sense. 

I have never posted anything in terms of actual text from the ecclesiastically condemed Maria Divine Mercy site claiming to prepare the Church and World for the Second Coming of Our Lord, on my blog, but you know what, this time I might just go with it...

Lord, spare your servant.

My dearly beloved daughter, to those amongst you who do not desire that I communicate with you, then know this. Your free will means that you are free to choose whether or not you accept what I say and what I desire. Whether to believe or not believe – that is your choice and, whatever you decide, I will never Judge you because of this.

But you must never judge others in My Name. By this I mean judging those who reject Me, as well as, those who accept My Intervention. Not one amongst you has the right to declare another person to be evil or guilty of wrongdoing. Those of you who judge harshly - those people you believe to be wrong, guilty of wrongdoing or heresy – do not have this right. You must remain silent and pray for those you believe to be afflicted. Only I, Jesus Christ, have the Power to Judge humanity.

When you demean another person in My Holy Name, you are guilty of sin and I will hold this against you. When you harm others by your tongue, I will silence you. When you hurt another person’s reputation, your own reputation will be questioned by others. Hypocrisy disgusts Me and when you are guilty of calumny, carried out in My Name, then you bring great shame, not only on yourselves, but upon My Holy Name

Any man who inflicts pain upon another person and openly professes to speak in the Name of God, deceives only himself. Those who punish others and say that they are merely carrying out their orders, because of their dedication and devotion to God, are not of Me. 

Shame on you, for you do not know Me. And while you fight amongst yourselves – Christian against Christian – the pagans amongst you are invading My Church. The enemy works very cleverly. His cunning plan is to create discord within My Church and as true allegiance to Me weakens, the doors have been opened to allow the heathen to desecrate My Churches and the Holy Eucharist.
Shame on those of you who know the Truth – My Holy Word given to you in the most Holy Scriptures. Every sacrifice was made for you; the prophets of God sent to you were violated, persecuted and killed; the visionaries, seers and the saints – all revered, only after their deaths, but scourged by you when they imparted My Word and then My Own Sacrifice – when you crucified Me. Now what do you do? You allow those who worship false gods to pay homage to them upon My Altars, which are meant to honour Me. Would these pagans allow you to do the same in their temples.

History repeats itself. The heathen took over My Father’s Church and they were cast out. When you desecrate My Church and My Body, you are no longer fit to serve Me and I will cast out every sacred servant of Mine who betrays Me in this way. Your sins are blacker than those whom you serve in My Name, for you will carry with you the souls you take away from Me. It is time for you to choose. You either accept Me, Jesus Christ, as I Am and not what you want Me to be or you deny Me. There is nothing in between.

Your Jesus 

No. This visionary must be a witch. Let's stone her. That can't be Jesus Christ because we all know that if Jesus spoke to a servant today His message would be very similar to Mundabor's. "Forget that 'love one another' stuff", He would say, " Charity is for losers". Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, because I have sinned against You. What is evil in Your Sight, I have done.

The Twofold Message of Benedict XVI

Readers may have gleaned today that I am somewhat concerned about the state of Catholic blogging and in particular how we interact with each other online in a 'virtual world' in which it is so easy to forget that a person's presence on the internet does not render them in some way less than human.

I am open to the idea that I am completely and utterly wrong about this and there is 'no problem' here, but it seems to me that there is a genuine disconnect between how we relate to other Catholics - and 'the other' online and how we would behave if we were in the same room as them. There is then, of course, the scandal that with some Catholics, we would not wish to be seen dead in the same room as them. The ease with which the internet allows words to be so easily used or thrown about, without face-to-face contact, gives us plenty more temptations than normal custom would permit to indulge our anger, frustration and even our hatred of an opponent. There are things we say online that we would never dream of saying to someone's face - no matter how much we disagreed with them, or thought their opinion to be entirely false and wrong.

As Catholic bloggers, we are often wistful in our remembrance of the reign of Benedict XVI because of the assurance with which Benedict XVI governed the Church. There was never any question under Benedict XVI that any article of the faith or any doctrine handed down to him was in any way 'unsafe'. Benedict XVI's clear belief, before, during and after his resignation, was that truth would win and that the Catholic Church's Head was and is Our Lord Jesus Christ Who will keep the Church and be with the Church until the end of time, nourishing Her and feeding Her in time of trouble and persecution or time of peace and liberty.

Yet, love of and adherence to the Truth was not the only reason that Benedict XVI was admired. There was a gentleness and holiness to the personality of Benedict that remains deeply attractive to those who lived through his reign. The depth of his knowledge of the Scriptures, his personal humility, his gentle manner, his courtesy and respect for others, his fervent life of prayer, his prudence, his wisdom, his obedience to the Church's holy tradition, his self-effacing manner and penetrating spiritual insights. Benedict XVI was - and is - graced by many heavenly virtues for which we may earnestly thank the Lord. His pontificate was marked by the building of bridges towards those who had strayed from or who were placed outside of the path leading to Salvation. Benedict XVI's liturgical vision was about manifesting, showing forth - the beauty and attractiveness of Jesus Christ and His Gospel. For him, everything was - is - centred on Christ. Contrary to popular belief, Benedict XVI was not about expelling those in the centre to the peripheries, or pushing those on the peripheries out of the Church, but was about bringing those on the margins into the centre to discover the joy of the worship of God and the discovery of His mercy and truth.

Benedict XVI: Not a liberal, but a Pope, a scholar and a gentleman

Benedict XVI, before he departed from the Throne of St Peter lamented the sin and disunity that wounds the Bride of Christ. His thoughts were thus:

The readings that have just been proclaimed offer us ideas which, by the grace of God, we are called to transform into a concrete attitude and behaviour during Lent. First of all the Church proposes the powerful appeal which the prophet Joel addresses to the people of Israel, "Thus says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning" (2.12). 

Please note the phrase "with all your heart," which means from the very core of our thoughts and feelings, from the roots of our decisions, choices and actions, with a gesture of total and radical freedom. But is this return to God possible? Yes, because there is a force that does not reside in our hearts, but that emanates from the heart of God and the power of His mercy. The prophet says: "return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and relenting in punishment" (v. 13).

It is possible to return to the Lord, it is a 'grace', because it is the work of God and the fruit of faith that we entrust to His mercy. But this return to God becomes a reality in our lives only when the grace of God penetrates and moves our innermost core, gifting us the power that "rends the heart". 

Once again the prophet proclaims these words from God: "Rend your hearts and not your garments" (v. 13). Today, in fact, many are ready to "rend their garments" over scandals and injustices – which are of course caused by others - but few seem willing to act according to their own "heart", their own conscience and their own intentions, by allowing the Lord transform, renew and convert them.

As a blogger, and from my experience of social media, I know that I am more zealous for the conversion of others than I am of myself. I know that I am guilty of various offenses against charity on social media. Sometimes it is a 'heat of the moment' thing. I am glad I am off Twitter - that is a blessing from God after I received a 'virus' that blocked me out. Many of us Catholic bloggers would say we loved Benedict XVI and his message, but perhaps, now that he is out of the 'limelight' we forget that the example that he gave us was not only one that spoke of the truth of the Gospel reflected in each every teaching of the Church, but of the gentleness, humility and quiet courage with which it can be communicated.

We love Bishop Philip Egan, but we don't like it when he tells us to love 

our enemies and to exercise charity on the internet. We know better!

He never insulted his enemies, though he had many. His language was courteous, modest and respectful. His esteem for the dignity of each human being he encountered was quite visible. He seemed, to me at least, much more interested in 'the other' than he was of himself. Readers may think, 'Well that is how each Pope is', but the brash and sometimes coarse language in which his Successor communicates himself would suggest otherwise. As Catholics, many of us lamented - and still mourn - the loss of this wonderful Supreme Pontiff in terms of the Papacy and we still speak of the legacy which he will have left the Church. His tone was dignified, gentle, wise and prudent, generous and charitable, but there was never any suggestion that he was in any way guilty of abandoning the Catholic Truth.

It is worthy of note that upon leaving the Office of the Papacy, Benedict XVI identified 'sin' as the cause of the disunity within the Church, where we would perhaps imagine he would use the word 'error'. I wonder whether we have really accepted the Benedictine message in its fullness, since it seems clear to me now that Pope Benedict XVI did not consider only error to be a threat to the Church, but sin itself, which can manifest itself in so many different ways, in such sins as pride, lust, envy, malice, greed, slander, detraction, and the loss of our inability to 'love tenderly, act justly and walk humbly with our God'. I ask the question - and I ask it of myself - did we who claimed to be the loyal spiritual sons and daughters of this holy Pope really accept the full message of Benedict XVI or did we, too, reject him?

Loving Our Enemies

George Bernard Shaw, Hilaire Belloc and GK Chesterton

To my horror this morning, I have discovered that what was an internal discussion within The Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma has quickly become an open wound with Richard Collins of Linen on the Hedgerow parting ways with the Guild after I encouraged members of this coalition of bloggers towards a more charitable exchange of ideas with each other on the internet - especially on social media.

To trace the history of how we got to this point would take an age and the intricacies of the Guild's issues should remain between the members. I would like, however, to challenge Richard Collin's view of Christian charity which I find as simplistic and black and white as he may perhaps consider mine.

In his stunning post, 'Let me get this straight', Richard highlights infamous murderous dictators from the 20th century and asks whether he is called to love these people or whether he is allowed to loathe them. The first question that arises for me to ask Richard Collins is, 'Can you think of anyone in the Guild who fits the description of a murderous 20th century atheist dictator?'

Richard then cites examples from the Gospel in which Our Blessed Lord calls Herod a 'fox' and sees this in terms of what could be described as an insult. Equally, Richard could cite Our Lord's dealings with the Pharisees who are described as a 'brood of vipers' and 'whited sepulchres'. This overlooks two important aspects of Our Lord's ministry. Firstly, Our Lord was and is God and He could see into the hearts of all his hearers, his enemies and his own disciples. If anybody therefore was well placed to deliver a right and fair judgment on anyone, that person is Our Lord Jesus Christ, Universal King and Judge of the World.

I think it is fair to say that as Catholics, disciples of the Lord though we may be, unless we are exceedingly holy, we may not be in quite such a position as Our Lord with our brethren. Our Lord was and is without sin, unlike us, and therefore any judgment we give on another Christian may be incomplete and tainted by human prejudice in a way in which Our Lord's Opinion would and could never be because His Judgment alone is Perfect.

Secondly, there is, within the Gospels, a world of difference between Our Lord's condemnation of his enemies and his treatment of his friends and disciples, since they, unlike his enemies, are open to His message, His divinity and His teachings. That does not mean that Our Blessed Lord neglected to correct His Apostles and hearers, for the Lord on one occasion called St Peter the Devil's own when He said, 'Get behind me, Satan!' Yet, again, it must be asked whether, as Catholic bloggers, anything so shocking as ascribing to other members a Satanic disposition has ever been seen. Presumably, even those who take to social media to attack each other's positions on certain matters do not go quite as far as that!

Richard then says that 'there is a long litany of saints who were bad tempered grouches and worse.' This is true, but these were incredibly holy people who, presumably, when they offered correction to others, or insulted others, did so out of the fire of divine charity. It is also worth noting that being bad tempered, or being a grouch is no problem for a Guild - we all have our personalities - what was and is at stake is a credible witness to the Gospel of truth and charity to which we are all called. As chair of the Guild, by urging brother and sister members to a more charitable approach to fraternal correction, it would appear that I have disturbed a hornets nest that was far larger than at first I thought it was.

That Richard has felt need to leave the Guild saddens me greatly, but I am equally astonished that in basically drawing attention to what Bishop Philip Egan had to say on the online activity of Catholics is considered by some to be in some way a limit on their personal freedom. I would argue that if it is really true that within a Guild, if members really did hate and despise one another, mock, ridicule or slander one another, whether that is a Catholic Guild at all. Are Catholics really saying that the Lord's teaching on charity, 'Love one another' is beyond us or in some way not binding on us?

GK Chesteron and Hilaire Belloc were polar opposites to George Bernard Shaw, who during his lifetime expounded some horrendous ideas that even led to admiration for various dictators. I believe his atheism was something pretty extreme and led to his support for socialism. Yet, Belloc and Chesterton were able to meet and to dialogue with Shaw and the three of them, despite a chasm of understanding of life, love, religion, liberty, politics and economics appear to have got on quite well. GK Chesterton, it would appear, did not loathe Shaw even though his moral positions were pretty lamentable on a number of things.

Could Catholic bloggers not take Chesterton as a model and communicate the Gospel to our friends and enemies without fear, without loathing and without the destruction of the reputation of the person? Are we saying, as Catholics, that this is beyond us? I had not wanted to blog about this, since this is a private matter to the Guild, well, it was, until this morning when one of our brethren decided to leave. Pray for him and pray for the Guild. All I was saying, was 'give peace a chance' because if we really take the words of Our Lord seriously, we will, as bloggers, not only speak the truth, but speak it in charity. The following are the words of Our Lord. Surely, unless we believe them and put them into practice, then we are not followers of Him. What has surprised me is that Catholics think they are controversial.

'By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another.' 

- Our Lord Jesus Christ

Archbishop of Canterbury on the Mutual Blessings

...and then after the mutual blessings, His Holiness tuned to me and said, "Completely null and utterly void".

I said, "Oh, Your Holiness! Don't be so hard on yourself! Your people need you! Don't go all sede-vacantist on them now!"

Pope Francis Opts Out of Corpus Christi Procession

Rome Reports reports that His Holiness skipped the Procession for Corpus Christi in order to save energy for an upcoming apostolic trip to Calabria. Last year, His Holiness broke with his predecessors tradition of kneeling on route in the vehicle carrying the Eucharistic Lord and walked in the Procession instead.

This year, in order to preserve energy, His Holiness omitted the Procession altogether. It would have been nice to have seen His Holiness in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament on Our Lord's route through the streets in the vehicle. Like last year, His Holiness refused the kneeler prepared by his Master of Ceremonies for adoration and incensation of the Blessed Sacrament. There are, it appears, times when liturgy calls for kneeling and times when it does not. So, for instance, it is fitting to kneel at a Charismatic Prayer Conference while being 'prayed over', but not in front of our Eucharistic Lord.