A reality check on Kerry’s fantastic promises for his first 100 days in office.
Month: June 2004
Sacred Heart of Jesus, Immaculate Heart of Mary
A devotional two-fer this weekend, Solemnity of the Sacred Heart yesterday and Immaculate Heart of Mary today. I have a beautiful visage of the Sacred Heart that belonged to Grandma Ravilla that I will attempt to post here later today. It’s one of a kind and I’ve often thought of having it reproduced. I am in awe that the Church was born from the very Heart of Christ, cruely pierced by human sin though boundness in merciful love for each one of us.
From the depth of my nothingness, I prostrate myself before Thee, O Most Sacred, Divine and Adorable Heart of Jesus, to pay Thee all the homage of love, praise and adoration in my power.
Amen. – – St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
From The Holy Father:
Mary was at the foot of the Cross, co-participant of the Passion of the Son. She offers her Mother’s heart as refuge to those who seek forgiveness, hope, and peace, as we were reminded in the feast of the Immaculate Heart. Mary has cleansed us in the blood of the crucified Son. To her, we entrust the blood of the victims of violence, so that it will be rescued with that blood that Jesus poured out for the salvation of the world.
Bum rap for Cdl. Kasper
The Vatican’s chief official for relations with other Christians gave a speech Friday morning. Here’s how our friends at Catholic World News led the story:
Cardinal Kasper backs “Eucharistic hospitality”
Vatican , Jun. 18 (CWNews.com) – Cardinal Walter Kasper, the president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, has said that “Eucharistic hospitality” is licit in some circumstances.
Speaking at a major conference of German Catholics in the city of Ulm on June 18, Cardinal Kasper said that “there are circumstances when a non-Catholic can receive Communion at a Catholic Mass.”
The CWN writer suggests that the Cardinal is at odds with the Pope’s recent writings and Vatican directives on the question of non-Catholics and Holy Communion:
In his 2003 encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia, Pope John Paul II devoted most of a chapter to the issue, stressing that non-Catholics should not receive Communion. The Pope argued forcefully that the practice of intercommunion is an offense against ecumenism, not an aid, because it creates the false impression that non-Catholics share the Church’s teaching on the nature of the Eucharist.
In the recent instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum , the Congregation for Divine Worship reiterated that stand, emphasizing that under any normal circumstances “Eucharistic hospitality” is a grave abuse.
And as you might expect, readers chimed in with expressions of outrage:
“Kaspar is an embarrassment to Catholicism. His positions are heretical and reflective of an apostate who has lost the faith….”
“Cardinal Kasper should be given the boot out of the Vatican’s door….”
“What a joke – the head of the council for Christian Unity doing everything he can to destroy unity in the Church. …”
Now, I don’t know where CWN got their impression of the Cardinal’s speech, because their article does not reflect what he said on this subject. The term “Eucharistic hospitality” does not appear in the speech. The statement about circumstances in which non-Catholics may receive Communion isn’t his opinion: he’s citing the Code of Canon Law.
All in all, I think the CWN piece misrepresents the Cardinal’s speech, so here’s the relevant passage, available from the conference website (my translation):
Beheading murderers are dead — that was quick!
God swiftly answered the prayer for vengeance on Paul Johnson’s murderers. Thanks be to God. May he have mercy on the three dead terrorists’ souls. Let their examples stay the hands of other evil men, and move them to repentance.
Religion of peace claims another victim (w/XML markup)
Please do not let this take your focus off of months-old American crimes at Abu Ghirab prison, nor the outrageous memo <sarcasm>which is the equivalent of the Final Solution</sarcasm>. I would like to point out that Al Qaeda has brutally murdered another American civilian, engaged in innocent, legal commerce.
This might cause you to think that the war on terror A) exists; and B) that a worldwide conspiracy dedicated to mass murder is much worse than a bunch of soldiers who are headed for prison themselves. Please dismiss such thoughts from your minds and think about that freaky West Virginia slut with the leash.
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May God rest the soul of Paul Johnson, and may the enemies of the innocent either repent or, as the Psalmist says, choke on their own blood.
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Let us not forget, however, that this is nothing compared to the Hitler-like treatment meted out to José Padilla.
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