30 March 2018

What the hell..!

Recently, Pope Francis seemed to fall into the deep well of dogma over a statement that he was purported to have made to an atheist journalist. The journalist claims Pope Francis stated that there is no Hell, and the journalist went on to make a big deal about this. What the Pope was trying to say is, that whether you burn in eternal hellfire or not is beside the point. What really matters is that if you choose Hell over God (and yes it is your choice) you become inconsequential and because all life comes from God Himself it is quite likely that you may at some point cease to exist entirely, as though you never lived.

God has given mankind a free will to either accept or reject Him. The famous German mathematician Gottfried Leibniz once said, that because of free will we live in the best of all possible worlds. Liebniz wrote, "I do not believe that a world without evil, preferable in order to ours, is possible; otherwise it would have been preferred. It is necessary to believe that the mixture of evil has produced the greatest possible good: otherwise the evil would not have been permitted." 

The Word of God, in the person of Jesus Christ, speaks to all those who believe in Him and are one with Him in the Mystical Body of Christ, i.e., "Those who love the Lord their God with all their heart and with all their soul and with all their mind, and who love their neighbor as themselves (Matt. 22:37-39)." The sinners who turn their backs on God, trespass against their own souls. They are not "sent" to Hell, according to Pope Francis. They "choose" Hell on their own accord.

At this Eastertide it is the perfect opportunity to forget speculation and quibbling over hellfire and damnation, "For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Romans 10:13).”

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened Matt 7:7-8)."

May God bless with eternal life in union with Himself, His Son, and His Holy Spirit, all who have ears to hear and who heed His message. Amen!

26 March 2018

Soul to Soul

I see a tree as movement. It must surely be alive.
There is sap that flows up and down the sturdy trunk,
A sucking of the roots, and a breathing of the leaves.
The constant exchange of earth, air, and water.
The slow growth of the trunk and limbs ring by ring.
I am drawn into it. I and the tree are united in life.
Does the tree feel the same? I think it must be so.
The tree gives fruit and shade to me and my brothers,
The birds and the bees, the ants and the squirrels,
And yes, the termites too, quite indiscriminately.
Is the tree self conscious? Am I always conscious?
Our communication is through the Holy Spirit of God.
Soul to soul we commune through the Creator of all.
God bless every living soul with whom I communicate.

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19 March 2018

Long live Shiphrah and Puah!

In the story of the Jewish Exodus from the land of Egypt, about 3,400 years ago, we have history's first recorded case of civil disobedience in defense of a moral cause, and it just so happen that it was initiated by women.

Prior to the Exodus the population of the Israelite people living in Egypt had grown so large and potentially powerful that it posed a threat to the reigning Pharaoh. Accordingly, the Pharaoh used a form of state slavery to impose forced labor upon the male population for a long and indefinite terms of service under degrading and brutal conditions in order to control and even reduce the population. The plan did not work, however, and Hebrew people continued to thrive, to the great consternation of the Pharaoh.

The Pharaoh decided that he would use infanticide to slow the population growth. So the Pharaoh said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live." The midwives, however, feared God, and did not do what the Pharaoh had told them to do; they let the boys live. Then the Pharaoh summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?” The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.” So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own. (From Exodus 1:15-21)

The motivation for civil disobedience is a moral one, that, like the midwives Shiphrah and Puah, places fear of God over the laws of men that are established with a political or arbitrary authoritarian bias. It is the moral and ethical difference between right and wrong. It is the same fear of God that keeps us from mocking the handicapped or placing a stumbling block in front of a blind person, or keeps us from torturing animals. The fear of God "trumps" the law of men. It is the consciousness or subconsciousness of the existence of a higher law that makes demands upon human beings and constitutes the ultimate restraint on evildoers and provides the higher moral incentive for choosing to do what is right and just.

All of the power of the state, the outward magnificence of the regime, and the prowess of its leader, are illusionary and ephemeral, and in the ultimate reckoning they are insignificant, and turn to dust because they rest on foundations empty of moral content.

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08 March 2018

Hooray for Women's Day!

On this International Women's Day of 2018 it is good for us to realize that the Lord acknowledged the rights of women at least 2300 years ago. When the Israelis had reached the promised land Moses knew that he would die before they crossed the Jordan into the land of milk and honey so he began to lay out a plan as to how the land would be apportioned to the Children of Israel. There were five sisters who spoke up regarding their rights to an inheritance and Moses asked the Lord what he should do. The Lord decided that the women were right. Later when Moses died and his successor, Joshua, led the people across the Jordan to take possession of the land, the daughters stepped up again and reminded Joshua of their inheritance. Hooray for women who speak up. Don't be timid, speak your piece. It's the squeaky wheel that gets the grease!

The plea of the daughters: Numbers 27:1-8

Then drew near the daughters of Zelophehad the son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, from the clans of Manasseh the son of Joseph. The names of his daughters were: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.
And they stood before Moses and before Eleazar the priest and before the chiefs and all the congregation, at the entrance of the tent of meeting, saying,
“Our father died in the wilderness. He was not among the company of those who gathered themselves together against the LORD in the company of Korah, but died for his own sin. And he had no sons.
Why should the name of our father be taken away from his clan because he had no son? Give to us a possession among our father’s brothers.”
Moses brought their case before the LORD.
And the LORD said to Moses,
“The daughters of Zelophehad are right. You shall give them possession of an inheritance among their father’s brothers and transfer the inheritance of their father to them.
And you shall speak to the people of Israel, saying, ‘If a man dies and has no son, then you shall transfer his inheritance to his daughter.'"

The reminder to Joshua: Joshua 17:3-4

Now Zelophehad the son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, had no sons, but only daughters, and these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.
They approached Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun and the leaders and said, “The LORD commanded Moses to give us an inheritance along with our brothers.” So according to the mouth of the LORD he gave them an inheritance among the brothers of their father.

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04 March 2018

Thy will be done.

In the Old Testament, the unnamed servant of Abraham who was sent to Haran to find a wife for Isaac is the first person that the Bible records who prayed for personal divine guidance at a critical moment in his life. He did not ask for a miracle but he prayed that his exercise of discretion might be in accordance with God's will (Genesis 24:12-15). In the New Testament Jesus commissions us to pray in a similar manner; "Our Father Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven." Each answered prayer is a miracle in itself in that we can talk to God and that he hears us. The essence of the word "miraculous" is that a single individual in good faith can experience a distinct feeling of constant nearness to the Creator of Heaven and Earth and approach Our Lord with a simple pious prayer and expect results.

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02 March 2018

A double parody

Ill fares the promised land, a prey to avarice,
Where wealth accumulates, and wealthy men decay.
Presidents and Congresses may flourish, or may fade;
A vote can make them, and a vote can take them;
When gobbledygook accumulates and ideas decay
And galloping fears stalk the land.

My parody of James Thurber's parody of Oliver Goldsmith's "The Deserted Village"

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I was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. I have been living in Mexico since January 6th, 1999. I am continually studying to improve my knowledge of the Spanish language and Mexican history and culture. I am also a student of Mandarin Chinese.