By Monica Migliorino Miller on Feb 07, 2022 05:01 pm “The whole world woke up astonished to find itself Arian.” So lamented the fourth-century Church Father St. Jerome on just how fast a Christological heresy originating in Alexandra, Egypt spread within the Church with the [...] Read in browser »
By Catholic News Agency on Feb 07, 2022 02:00 pm The third Synodal Assembly of the ‘Synodal Way’ in Frankfurt, Germany, on Feb. 4, 2022. / Max von Lachner/Synodal Way. Frankfurt, Germany, Feb 7, 2022 / 12:00 pm (CNA). A plenary meeting of the German Catholic Church’s “Synodal Way” ended on Sa... [...] Read in browser »
By Dr. Adam A. J. DeVille on Feb 07, 2022 01:52 pm How many of us expect to mark seventy years on the job? How many of us would like to spend seven decades in the same job? Even if we find much of our work interesting, [...] Read in browser »
By Catholic News Agency on Feb 07, 2022 06:40 am British human rights campaigner Benedict Rogers / Courtesy photo London, England, Feb 7, 2022 / 04:40 am (CNA). A British human rights activist said on Sunday that it would be “totally unacceptable” for the Vatican to establish formal diplomati... [...] Read in browser »
In God's presence—in an intimate relationship with Him—is the source of every good, righteous, and positive attitude and act. Because the justifying work of Jesus Christ gives us access to God, prayer brings us near so He can give these things, and we can receive them.
This can be illustrated in a simple way. We have probably been in the close presence of a person of positive, uplifting attitudes, who radiates enthusiasm, zeal, confidence, gentle humor, and determination. On the other hand, it is likely we have also been in the presence of someone who wears a sour countenance, seethes with anger, trembles in fear, wallows in lethargy, or whines about his "victimization" at the hands of unseen people or forces. What happens to our attitude in either situation? Unless we resist, we tend to respond to the strength of the other's attitudes. A literal, spiritual transference of attitude takes place.
What happens if we are some distance from either of these persons, or even if near, we are completely disinterested? It does not affect us in the least. Why? Because we are neither near enough nor interested enough to be affected.
It is the spirit of these people radiating out from them that influences and perhaps even changes our spirit. This also gives insight into why we carnally reflect Satan's spirit: It permeates our environment. Similarly, prayer to God through Jesus Christ brings us into the very presence of the most positive, righteous, and unchanging attitudes that exist in the entire universe!
God greatly desires us to have the qualities of His Spirit, and being in His presence is one way He accomplishes this. This is why people can leave God's presence in prayer and feel peace, joy, or confidence—or humble and chastened because God has led them to remorse and repentance.
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY… 1971: Nasdaq Composite stock market index debuts with 50 companies and a starting value of 100
An internal investigation found that Eric Lander, President Joe Biden’s top science adviser, bullied and demeaned subordinates and violated the White House’s workplace policy.
Lander, a cabinet member and director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), was “bullying” his then-general counsel, Rachel Wallace.
According to Wallace, Lander “retaliated against staff for speaking out and asking questions by calling them names, disparaging them, embarrassing them in front of their peers, laughing at them, shunning them, taking away their duties, and replacing them or driving them out of the agency. Numerous women have been left in tears, traumatized, and feeling vulnerable and isolated.”
Christian Peele, the White House’s deputy director of management and administration for personnel, said that the investigation also concluded that there was “credible evidence of disrespectful interactions with staff by Dr. Lander and OSTP leadership.”
There was also “credible evidence” that Lander had spoken “harshly and disrespectfully to colleagues in front of other colleagues,” Peele said.
“The investigation found credible evidence of instances of multiple women having complained to other staff about negative interactions with Dr. Lander, where he spoke to them in a demeaning or abrasive way in front of other staff.”
Fourteen current and former OSTP staffers who worked under Lander this past year shared similar descriptions of a toxic work environment where they say he frequently bullied, cut off, and dismissed subordinates. Some said Lander yelled and humiliated people in front of their peers.
According to POLITICO, who first reported the news, Lander’s behavior is at odds with Biden’s Day-1 warning to his political appointees that anyone who disrespected their colleagues would be fired “on the spot. No ifs, ands or buts.”
After Lander caught wind of the outlet’s investigation, he sent an email of apology to all OSTP staff.
“I am deeply sorry for my conduct. I especially want to apologize to those of you who I treated poorly or were present at the time,” Lander wrote.
“It’s my responsibility to set a respectful tone for our community. It’s clear that I have not lived up to this responsibility. I have spoken to colleagues within OSTP in a disrespectful or demeaning way.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed that “a full and thorough investigation was conducted” after a complaint was filed against Lander. She said senior White House officials told Lander after the investigation that “his behavior was inappropriate” while also informing him of the “corrective action that were needed.”
When asked why Lander wasn’t being fired, Psaki would not provide a direct answer. Pressed on what corrective changes Lander was ordered to make, Psaki said she would check for more specific details.
One of the main reasons to hold the Palestinian Authority responsible for all Palestinian terror is the fact that the PA refers to all terrorists, irrespective of their terror group affiliations, as its “soldiers” who acted upon its “orders.” The messaging of the PA is so clear on the subject, that even the terrorists themselves and their families see the terrorists as “soldiers.” PA leaders and terrorists also often invoke different provisions of the Third Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, which applies only to soldiers and lawful combatants, as the basis for the rights and privileges of the terrorist prisoners.
A recent expression of this clear feeling of “agency” - the legal term that refers to a relationship between a principal (the PA) and that person's agent (the terrorists) - came from Munir Zgheir, the father of terrorist Ashraf Zgheir, who clarified that Palestinians see the terrorists as “soldiers” who have the “right to fight” according to the Geneva Convention:
“We were surprised that he was a fighter and that he was one of the soldiers ending the occupation. [This is what] we call all our prisoners, and they are considered soldiers ending the occupation. They have a right to fight against the occupation in their land according to Article 81 of the Geneva Convention, which gives them authority to fight in their land. Therefore, they are actually soldiers... I say to the entire world: Our guys in prison, our prisoners, including my sons, are the best people in the land. They are a school for virtues, a school for giving, a school for altruism.”
[Official PA TV, Jerusalem Prisoners, Dec. 27, 2021]
The terrorist “soldier” who earned the adulation of his father, Ashraf Zgheir, is a Palestinian terrorist and Hamas member who drove suicide bomber Iyad Raddad to Tel Aviv’s Allenby Street on Sept. 19, 2002, where Raddad boarded a bus and detonated a bomb, murdering 6 people and wounding 84 others. Zgheir used his Israeli residency status to be able to move around freely and select targets. On Oct. 11, 2002, Zgheir attempted to facilitate another bombing, driving suicide bomber Rafat Mouqadi to the Tel Aviv promenade where he instructed him to detonate a bomb at a restaurant. Israeli security guards thwarted the attack and arrested Mouqadi. Two days later, Zgheir received instructions from Hamas to carry out another bombing, but he was arrested before he could do so. Zgheir is serving 6 life sentences.
As Palestinian Media Watch has already shown, the Palestinian terrorists are not lawful combatants and the Third Geneva Convention does not apply to them in any way. Even the ex-PA Minister of Prisoners’ Affairs, Ashraf Abu Ajrami, has conceded that the Palestinian terrorists couldn’t be considered as “Prisoners of War.”
The PA acceptance of all the terrorists as their soldiers is expressed in numerous ways.
Firstly, section 2 of the 2004 PA Law of Prisoners and Released Prisoners, declares that “The prisoners and released prisoners are a fighting sector, and an inseparable part of the Palestinian society, and this law is meant to ensure dignified lives for them and their families.” Section 4 of the law mandates that the PA “will not sign and will not participate in the signing of a peace agreement for a solution of the Palestinian problem without the release of all the prisoners.”
Secondly, PA leaders constantly refer to the terrorists as “prisoners of war” i.e. soldiers and occasionally directly call them “soldiers”. Just recently, the Chairman of the PA-funded Prisoners’ Club Qadura Fares again reaffirmed the PA position. Fares stated that all prisoners are “soldiers” who “fought according to instructions” from the Palestinian leadership:
Chairman of the PA-funded Prisoners’ Club Qadura Fares: “[Prisoners from] the Palestinian national movement (i.e., Fatah) and the Palestinian national and Islamic factions (i.e., the PFLP, Hamas, Islamic Jihad) fought according to instructions from them. They are their soldiers in the battle.”
[Facebook page of the PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs, Feb. 2, 2021]
When explaining the PA demand that Israel release all the Palestinian terrorists, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas left no room for misconceptions:
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: "I demand [the release of] prisoners because they are human beings, who did what we, we, ordered them to do. We - the [Palestinian] Authority. They should not be punished while we sit at one table negotiating...
This is war. One (i.e., Israel) ordered a soldier to kill, and I ordered my son, brother, or others, to carry out the duty of resistance (i.e., euphemism for terror). This person killed and the other person killed. So why say this person's hands are stained with blood, and [he] must be kept in prison? He is a fighter just like any other fighter...”
[Official PA TV, Feb. 14, 2005]
Thirdly, section 7 of the PA Law of Prisoners and Released Prisoners provides that the PA will pay a monthly salary to every terrorist arrested by Israel as a result of his participation in the “struggle against the occupation.”
Accordingly, if the PA sees all the terrorists as it soldiers, pays them a salary as if they are PA employees and claims that they should be released by Israel because they acted as “soldiers” on the orders of the PA, and the terrorist themselves also see themselves as “soldiers,” both sides give rise to the principle of “Agency”, and the PA is responsible for all Palestinian terror.
Finally, it should be noted that the reference by the terrorist’s father to “article 81 of the Geneva Convention, is entirely unclear. Article 81 of the Fourth Geneva Convention (GCIV), deals only with the treatment of “internees” and the support of their dependents. Article 81 applies only to “internees” and not to terrorists who are standing trial, convicted, or released from prison or to the families of dead terrorists. The only “internees” held by Israel are Palestinian terrorists held in administrative detention in accordance with Article 78 of GCIV, and Israel fulfills all its obligations vis-a-vis these “internees.” Article 81 of the Third Geneva Convention (GCIII) refers to preferential treatment for the representatives of prisoners of war. Neither Article 81 of GCIV nor Article 81 of GCIII gives anyone "authority to fight." Neither of the provisions authorizes indiscriminate terror attacks on a civilian population.
by Fr. Paul John Kalchik • ChurchMilitant.com • February 8, 2022 1 Comment
Mary's aid for our eternal benefit
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A lot is lost in translation from one language to another and from one age to another. In the case of the prophetic visions and life of the cloistered nun Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres, this is certainly the case. Mother Mariana lived more than 400 years ago in colonial Quito, Ecuador. She was a cloistered religious, a member of the contemplative Conceptionist sisters.
Sr. Mariana of Jesus Torres'
vision of Our Lady of Good Success
Mariana is probably best known today for the numerous prophetic visions she had during the course of her long life, many of which people say have come to pass — as recently reported by Martina Moyski at Church Militant.
Many people these days require a detailed explanation of what a contemplative nun is and how such nuns are different from other religious (which, ironically, compounds the misunderstandings about Mariana and her prophetic visions). And then, upon hearing the comprehensive explanation, these people may find it hard to imagine how individuals would choose to live such austere lives, secluded from the world and without the normal support from family and friends. Because the life of the contemplative religious is neither known nor understood in modern times, many, sadly, fail to understand fully the many visions Mariana had over the course of her life. To add to the confusion, the various versions of Mariana's visions, translated from old Spanish to modern, then from Spanish into English, tend to obscure the original message.
But before talking about Mariana's many visions, it's important to talk about Mariana. She joined the Conceptionists at age 13. At that very young age, with her aunt, Rev. Mother Maria de Jesus Taboada and four other Spanish sisters, she made the long voyage to Ecuador from Spain in 1576. The small group founded a new convent in Quito for their contemplative community — with the full blessing of the Spanish king, Phillip II, who was a founding patron and saw the convent's establishment as necessary for the success of Spain's new colony in Ecuador.
The founding community of contemplative sisters thrived in the New World and, with native Ecuadorian women joining them, quickly established the Conceptionist convent in Quito as a powerhouse of prayer. The nuns there were known for their austere way of life and strict adherence to their vows. The Conceptionist nuns make four vows upon their final profession. These are the vows of poverty, chastity, obedience and cloister.
In Quito, on Oct. 4, 1579, at the age of 16, Sr. Mariana made her final profession as a Conceptionist. After her final profession, she had one of her first visions. During this vision, Marianna saw Our Lord place a ring on her finger with four stones representing her four vows of poverty, chastity, obedience and cloister.
At that moment, He addressed her, saying, "My spouse, I desire for you a life of immolation. Your life will be a continuous martyrdom."
News Report: Our Lady of Good Success
Today, many, if not most, people would find the Lord's personal promise of martyrdom to Mariana as something abhorrent, not to be wished even upon one's worst enemy. Contemporary Catholics may fail to comprehend that, for a young contemplative making her final vows, the vision of Our Lord confirming that her life would be a hidden martyrdom was a phenomenal grace. The vision served to confirm that the tribulations she would undergo as a cloistered contemplative would serve a purpose, aiding her salvation and the salvation of others. Few Christians nowadays talk about martyrdom as a good to be sought after, let alone something to ask for from the Almighty. It is, moreover, one thing to accept martyrdom of the rapid sort (such as being eaten by a lion or slain by a sword). But a slow type of martyrdom is something most of us would reject outright.
We would be more apt to say, You know, Lord, I would rather not accept this type of cross. Give me one that's of shorter duration!
The Blessed Mother
crushing the head of the serpent
It's from this viewpoint of joyfully accepting crosses and tribulations during her lifetime that it's possible to understand why God permitted Mariana the numerous visions and consolations she received. From her own mouth, she did not understand the full significance of the many prophetic visions that she saw. But she remained steadfast, persevering in her life of contemplation and prayer, filled with hope. She knew she did not need to understand what she saw in the visions. She also knew that, despite the evils she saw playing out in the future, the Blessed Mother, in the fullness of time, would crush the head of the serpent and her Son would reign. Mariana knew that her lifetime gift of herself to God in worship, praise and countless atonements of all sorts was efficacious in aiding her Lord in His redemption of the world.
One of the repeated messages to Mariana, in the course of her visions, was that the Conceptionist convent in Quito would survive the tribulations of time and the machinations of the evil one. She was also made aware that the contemplative life she lived so well would continue — despite numerous tribulations in the future. Everyone knows about the trials brought upon the Church by secular forces outside of the Church. Few, even a decade ago, would have imagined that the Church itself would seemingly initiate a campaign to discontinue contemplative religious orders. But that is what appears to be happening, with the Holy See suppressing contemplative communities of men and women.
The Blessed Mother would crush the head of the serpent.GabTweet
Just this past fall, it came to light that the Holy See had taken aggressive measures against two groups of Carmelite nuns in the United States. Both were well-known for their adherence to the original rule of their contemplative order, as well as for their love of the Traditional Latin Mass. As reported by Church Militant's Martina Moyski, "The Roman Curia — propelled by the pope's instructions — is targeting traditional Carmelites who seek to live lives of prayer, poverty and penance." Thus far, the Carmelites in Fairfield, Pennsylvania, blessedly have been able to maintain their traditional contemplative community against opposition from the Holy See. Tragically, however, other convents of contemplative religious have been shuttered by the Holy See in the last couple of years.
News Report: The Vatican's War Against Tradition
The assurance given by Our Lord to Mariana in her visions four centuries ago, namely, that the convent she helped found in Quito would survive despite the passage of time and the Devil's machinations against it, is no small blessing! It underscored to Mariana how phenomenally important the prayer of contemplatives is for the Church and for the world.
Where would we be without these holy contemplatives praying for the redemption of others and offering themselves as atonement for the sins of others? Upon Mariana's death, after her long life of prayer within the four walls of the Conceptionist monastery, hundreds, if not thousands, came to pay their respects and praise God for giving them such a holy nun.
Another strong confirmation of Mariana's saintliness is that she is one of those holy souls whose body, despite the passage of time, remains uncorrupted. The traditional group, Tradition, Family and Property, noted this in an article published on Nov. 6, 2016:
Saint Louis de Montfort Academy and I had the enormous privilege of assisting the nuns of the convent of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady of Good Success in Quito, Ecuador. We helped transfer the incorrupt body of Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres to a splendid new sarcophagus. This magnificent work of art was created by the organization Devotees of Our Lady of Good Success.
The image of the Blessed Mother as seen during the apparitions was carved to the exact specifications of Mariana, soon after she had a vision of the Mother of God. But some find the English word "success" in the title "Our Lady of Good Success" rather confusing. It has lost its complete meaning over the years. Some have equated the term "success" with monetary happiness, as if the Blessed Mother solely desires the faithful's economic well-being, as compared to their spiritual well-being wrought by the redemption of her Son, Jesus! Our Lady should not be viewed as something along the lines of a financial adviser, an image that would easily be promoted by televangelists.
This title was explained by the abbess Sr. Maria Flores Romero and three other council sisters in the Conceptionist monastery in Quito on July 1, 2017, in a letter to English-speaking Catholics:
The title of "Our Lady of Good Success of the Purification" refers to an event during the life of the Virgin Mary. This event occurred on the day of her purification in the Temple, which was also the presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple. It would be a misunderstanding to consider this title of good success by itself without joining it to the purification. ...
The title of "Our Lady of Good Success of the Purification" concerns the offering of the Divine Child in the Temple by the Blessed Virgin Mary. On this occasion, Christ entered the Temple for the first time. In a spirit of obedience and humility (as the Father hath given Me commandment, so do I), He offers Himself to the life and death destined by the Father for the redemption of mankind. At the same time, the mother truly offers her Son to the death on the Cross on Calvary. Her role as co-redemptrix did not begin at the foot of the Cross, but even at this moment, she already acts in this capacity. Moreover, the offering of her Divine Son is accompanied with the complete offering of herself. Christ the Redeemer offering Himself, the Co-Redemptrix, the Virgin Mother of God, offering Christ — the Most Blessed Virgin completely offering herself. This act of offering is the greatest sacrifice ever to take place in the Temple.
The life and prophetic visions of Mother Mariana, along with the divine gift to the world of the image of Our Lady of Good Success of the Purification, leave us all with many reasons for hope and consolation. In the fullness of time, the Infant Jesus, Who Our Blessed Mother extends to all of us, will eternally reign. Then there will be no more wars and no more tears, as Satan will be permanently crushed. Our Lady of Good Success of the Purification does not promise us temporal success in this fallen world, but eternal success in the Kingdom where Our Lord will reign forever!
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