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Tuesday, May 13, 2014

O God my God .... why hast thou forsaken me?

Psalm 21

[2] O God my God, look upon me: why hast thou forsaken me? Far from my salvation are the words of my sins. [3] O my God, I shall cry by day, and thou wilt not hear: and by night, and it shall not be reputed as folly in me. [4] But thou dwellest in the holy place, the praise of Israel. [5] In thee have our fathers hoped: they have hoped, and thou hast delivered them.

[2] The words of my sins: That is, the sins of the world, which I have taken upon myself, cry out against me, and are the cause of all my sufferings.

[6] They cried to thee, and they were saved: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded. [7] But I am a worm, and no man: the reproach of men, and the outcast of the people. [8] All they that saw me have laughed me to scorn: they have spoken with the lips, and wagged the head. [9] He hoped in the Lord, let him deliver him: let him save him, seeing he delighteth in him. [10] For thou art he that hast drawn me out of the womb: my hope from the breasts of my mother.

[11] I was cast upon thee from the womb. From my mother' s womb thou art my God, [12] Depart not from me. For tribulation is very near: for there is none to help me. [13] Many calves have surrounded me: fat bulls have besieged me. [14] They have opened their mouths against me, as a lion ravening and roaring. [15] I am poured out like water; and all my bones are scattered. My heart is become like wax melting in the midst of my bowels.

[16] My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue hath cleaved to my jaws: and thou hast brought me down into the dust of death. [17] For many dogs have encompassed me: the council of the malignant hath besieged me. They have dug my hands and feet. [18] They have numbered all my bones. And they have looked and stared upon me. [19] They parted my garments amongst them; and upon my vesture they cast lots. [20] But thou, O Lord, remove not thy help to a distance from me; look towards my defence.

[21] Deliver, O God, my soul from the sword: my only one from the hand of the dog. [22] Save me from the lion' s mouth; and my lowness from the horns of the unicorns. [23] I will declare thy name to my brethren: in the midst of the church will I praise thee. [24] Ye that fear the Lord, praise him: all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him. [25] Let all the seed of Israel fear him: because he hath not slighted nor despised the supplication of the poor man. Neither hath he turned away his face from me: and when I cried to him he heard me.

[26] With thee is my praise in a great church: I will pay my vows in the sight of them that fear him. [27] The poor shall eat and shall be filled: and they shall praise the Lord that seek him: their hearts shall live for ever and ever. [28] All the ends of the earth shall remember, and shall be converted to the Lord: And all the kindreds of the Gentiles shall adore in his sight. [29] For the kingdom is the Lord' s; and he shall have dominion over the nations. [30] All the fat ones of the earth have eaten and have adored: all they that go down to the earth shall fall before him.

[31] And to him my soul shall live: and my seed shall serve him. [32] There shall be declared to the Lord a generation to come: and the heavens shall shew forth his justice to a people that shall be born, which the Lord hath made.

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Tonight I fell asleep early and when I woke up the wind was howling and I felt a diabolic presence... I looked at the time and it was almost midnight... And I opened the door and looked out expecting to see rain, but I saw no rain... only the shadows of the tree limbs swaying in the howling wind as I felt a chill from an evil presence... I made the sign of the Cross... I closed the door.... I sat at my computer and stared at the unholy news of the un-Godly act that was being committed tonight at Harvard -- the officially sanctioned worship of satan! .... to be sure the bishop's office published a tepid press release expressing "deep sadness and strong opposition”  in the local paper....

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Article at Catholic Family News:
http://www.cfnews.org/page88/files/84768296180fd2f224ba32099bc30ecf-226.html

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Excerpt from the last chapter of Dietrich von Hildebrand’s seminal study of the post-conciliar crisis – The Devastated Vineyard:
http://angelqueen.org/2014/01/14/dietrich-von-hildebrand-on-how-to-respond-to-the-crisis-in-the-church/

We must not underestimate the power of those ideas which fill the intellectual atmosphere of the time, nor the danger of being infected by them when we are daily breathing this atmosphere. Nor should we underestimate the danger of getting used to the evils of the times, and then becoming insensitive to them. At first perhaps many people see the devastation of the vineyard, and react in the right way. But after a while one becomes accustomed to it. Then, too, there is this to consider, that the devastation of the vineyard is an increasing process, and so certain evils which belong to the earlier stages, seem harmless in the light of the later stages. And so we are in danger of becoming insensitive, on the one hand, because the devastation progresses, and its beginnings seem insignificant in the light of its advanced forms.

But it is still worse to become infected than to be insensitive. The first thing to be done in order to avoid both dangers is to realize completely how extraordinary is the situation in which we live today. St. Peter tells us, “Brethren, be watchful and sober, for your adversary the devil goes about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour….

…..Today these trends [of error and disobedience] are able to develop within the Church. We can clearly discern them in sermons, in pastoral letters, and in books by well known authors. Since these bad trends encounter so little resistance within the Church, it has become much more difficult for the simple faithful to grasp their incompatibility with the deposit of Faith. Thus, St. Peter’s exhortation to watchfulness applies today in a special way to watchfulness with respect to heresies within the Church. We must constantly determine whether sermons, or new books, do not contain something heretical, or some basically false emphasis. The Imprimatur used to be a great guarantee, and especially the Index [of forbidden books]. But today we have to develop in ourselves a special awareness, a holy mistrust, for we not only live in a poisoned world, but in a devastated Church. In our present trial God requires of us this watchfulness, this holy fear of being infected. It would be a lack of humility to think that we are in no danger of being infected. It would be a false security rooted in pride if we were to think that we are immune. Each of us must become aware of his frailty, and understand that this special watchfulness is required of us by God in the trial which we are going through……..

Our response must be……a growth in faith, hope, and charity. Is not the devastation of the vineyard of the Lord an exhortation to love God, Christ, and His Holy Church more than ever? Do we not betray Christ if we turn away in disgust? Should not we of all people strive to see that true beauty of the vineyard of the Lord, which objectively must be to work for the glorification of God, and toward our own personal sanctification, and to oppose this-worldliness by our own unconditional imitation of Christ.

This has of course become more difficult. We are not longer surrounded by the radiance of the Holy Church as we were before the Council…….Today our Faith no longer has the great support and help of previous generations, and it has to penetrate through much which is foreign to this sacred world in order to reach that tremendous and sacred event, the mystery of the unbloody re-enactment of Calvary, and of the union of love between our soul and Jesus in Communion. This is precisely why the devastation of the vineyard of the Lord is a time when our faith is tried, when we are called upon to grow in faith, hope, and charity. But it is a time of trial which demands a completely new kind of watchfulness……

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