Presidential Revival Meeting

I'm not sure if this is a Jimmy Swaggert good ol' Camp Meetin' or a presidential campaign stop.


      


[Note: Not to necessarily pick on Mr Cruz, but this kind of thing makes one cringe.]

[If I was able to ever ask Mr Cruz a question I would ask him: "After your appearance last Monday at the AIPAC meeting I was confused if you were running for president of Israel or the USA?"

It was hard to tell.

Not that any of the other candidates at that meeting with the Sanhedrin were any better, mind you.]

Archbishop Goodier on Pontius Pilate

Telly Savalas as Pontius Pilate

An excerpt from Archbishop Alban Goodier's The Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

"We look back on the life of Jesus and notice but few occasions when He has come in contact with the ruling Romans; yet always there has been a deference, a friendliness, which cannot be mistaken.  The second miracle recorded at Cana, the cure of the official's son, may well have been wrought on the son of a Roman.  In Capharnum, after the Sermon on the Mount, He had healed the servant of a Roman soldier, and on that occasion had broken out in praise of the Roman's faith.  He had said that many would come after, from East and West, and would enter the Kingdom when the natural heirs would be cast out.  He had been the friend of the tax-collectors, men disliked because of their service of Rome; one of them He had made a chosen disciple.  When His enemies had come tempting Him about the tribute, He had taken in His hand a Roman coin, and had bidden men give to the Roman Emperor his due.  They had tempted Him again, because of a slaughter by Roman arrows in the Temple court.  But Jesus had said not a word against the Romans; He had only turned the occasion to speak to the Jews themselves.  In His parables He had spoken of princes and kings, of merchants and foreign powers; He had always spoken of them with respect.  Only at the Supper that night had He warned His disciples, the future princes of His own kingdom, that their standards were not to be as were the standards of other rulers; but even then He spoke with no word of complaint or criticism.

"Now, when we find Him before Pilate, from beginning to end His attitude is the same.  He treats Pilate always with respect; He calls upon him no woe; He will warn him, but He will not blame him; in His manner throughout there is a consideration for Pilate which would have made one more sensitive to the truth realize that he was dealing, not with a criminal on his trial, but with a friend.  Indeed one might think Pilate himself realized it.  What Roman governor, with a despicable Jew, a Jewish criminal, before him, would have condescended to such lengths as Pilate condescended in his conversation with Jesus that day?  Yet as the hours of the morning dragged on, the Judge and the Criminal became only the more intimate.  At first Pilate had before him just a Jew for whom he cared nothing; at the end he passed sentence on One who had won not only his esteem but a place in his heart.  But a little more courage, a little further response to the affection stirred within him, and not Pilate and Herod, but Pilate and Jesus might have been intimate friends from that day.  Such, even under this ordeal, was the heart of Jesus Christ."

(Alban Goodier, SJ, The Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ, PJ Kenedy & Sons, New York, pp 243-244.)

Max von Sydow as Jesus Christus

Christus Resurrexit! Vere Resurrexit!

A Blessed Easter to all the readers if The Eye Witness, and their families.

Rembrandt: The Supper at Emmaus

March 25th: From Adam to the Cross

Peter Denies Christ by Rembrandt

Author William Fall reminded me of this the other day:


Incidentally, we know by tradition that the anniversary date for Our Lord's crucifixion is March 25th, the same day on which He was conceived in the womb of the Blessed Virgin, and also on which Adam was created.  This year, Good Friday happens to fall on March 25th -- it does not happen very often.


I had been long aware of this charming and interesting tradition.  It most certainly was passed down from generation to generation, going back to the earliest years of the Church.  A touching thought as we contemplate the sufferings of Our Lord on Good Friday, 2016.

Gustave Dore: The Darkness of the Crucixion

Roberto de Mattei on the upcoming Exhortation

Forgiving the usual wretched computer translation, the gist of de Mattei's article is here for all to see:

http://www.robertodemattei.it/2016/03/23/le-apprensioni-dei-cattolici-alla-vigilia-dellesortazione-post-sinodale/  [Nlote:  you may have to right click on the article to get the English version.]

A quote from the article:

What are these "innovative practices"? The key word in the document is " integration ." Those who are in an irregular situation will be "integrated" in the community may become catechists, liturgical animators, godfathers christening or confirmation, wedding witnesses, and so on. All activities that the traditional practice of the Church to this day forbids them because of public sinners situation.

If de Mattei is correct, and the Pope allows the Bishops to decide on a case-by-case basis what sinful relationships can be excused by the Church then we have the proverbial "Camel's nose in the tent" scenario. First it will be rare, then more common and then finally accepted.

The inch-by-inch whittling away of the doctrinal edifice of the Church continues apace.

Go to Joseph, protector of Holy Church, in the month dedicated to him.

A Mrs Clinton email, and the annihilation of Christians

The reason for the destruction of Syria and its Christians - not to mention its hapless innocent non-Christians - is now laid before us thanks to Wikileaks which has released one of Hillary Clinton's notorious emails.

It explains much why Christians and its remnants in the Middle East are facing obliteration.

I return to this subject often here for the purpose of helping my fellow citizens and fellow Christians understand how a once relatively peaceful Middle East has turned into a chaotic stew of murdered civilians, destroyed churches, escaping people and civilizational catastrophe.  It has always been with one goal in mind that these crimes have been committed, and now that goal has, once again, been exposed.

http://www.fort-russ.com/2016/03/wikileaks-reveals-clintons-plan-to.html

Not that this is any big secret.  The fanatical neocons in Washington have made it abundantly clear who they are backing in this, some of them too stupid to realize that the horse they are backing is responsible for all this mayhem and death, and some of them knowing full well what they are doing as they carefully examine which side of their bread the butter is on.

Clinton is hardly alone in this degrading and slavish support of those who manipulate events so that more innocents are killed.  Nearly every congressman, senator, presidential candidate, major news outlet, major Catholic news outlet, every Dispensationalist so-called Christian has been almost literally bought off either with money, offers of prestige or religious ignorance to support the destroyers.

I don't understand it.

It would seem that every time some new atrocity boils to the surface a new Catholic voice appears either in the mainstream media or on the internet getting the story completely backward, not daring to look at "that man behind the curtain", not wanting to "go there" and, as such, staying uninformed about the true nature of the suffering in that unhappy land.  The only explanation I can find for this unwillingness to face reality is the seventy years of continuous non-stop propaganda that has been drummed into our consciousness by one side only of the struggle, the side with the most influence, money and power.

This aversion to the reality of the Middle East conflict by my fellow Christians will prove fatal, not only for the souls in the Middle East but very possibly our own.

Bits and Pieces

Governor Jerry Brown of California says that if Trump wins he will build a wall around California.  No need to, Jerry.  There is a place with walls you can go and live right now without spending a nickel.  And those walls have nice padding all around them.

CDF head Cardinal Muller says that Pope Francis is not a "professional theologian".  Your Eminence, I believe we have understood that for the last three trying years.

Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood has endorsed Hillary Clinton.  So has the Boston Strangler.

The Vatican has "gone dark" for one hour on March 19th in a fit of ecological awareness.  I would suggest the Vatican has been in the dark for a lot longer than one hour.

The Vatican is also planning a sort of super compost pile as a show of solidarity with the earth worshipers.  I can think of quite a few ecclesiastical mutterings from the Vatican that could fit comfortably in a compost pile.

Saintly Hollywood has produced a film about Catholic child abuse.  For some reason, Corey Haim was not included in the production, nor was it produced by David Geffen.

The Catholic Church continues to collapse worldwide in attendance, teaching and living the Faith.  But fear not: prominent Cardinals are going after guys who grill hamburgers on a Weber grill in their back yards.

Fat, jolly Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Clown Prince of the Catholic Church, is extremely concerned about child abuse.  But not so concerned about the homosexual child molesters with clerical collars in his diocese.

The world loves Pope Francis and delights in his every word, offering him huzzas, prizes and adulatory prose.  I do seem to recall some words from Jesus Christ about the world liking you a little too much.

If the Republicans succeed in taking out Mr Trump and denying him the nomination, one way or the other, with the help of George Soros of course, your next president will be Hillary Clinton.

Suppose they actually made a movie in the beautiful medium of 70 mm film and nobody came?  Ask Quentin Tarantino.

Catholic Blogdom is outdoing itself in infantile exuberance by giving us such thought-provoking and intelligent posts such as "10 Unbelievably Awesome Acts of Mercy".

The Pope met with the Russian Patriarch.  May we hope that Kirill knocked some sense into him?

The Peeping Tom Community is thrilled with the actions of some US mayors in allowing them into the Ladies Room.  Could it have been much more twisted and absurd in Rome when it fell?

Do we now have to add the Peeping Tom Community to the list: LGBTQLSMFTPTXYZPUSOB?  Have they been officially recognized by the Supreme Court yet?

Blaise Cupich is the poor man's Rembert Weakland.

A psychopathic lesbian harridan has been put in charge of the US Northern Command.  The world and its wimpy men celebrate.  Russia snickers. Real women mourn.  (Real men mourn, too.)

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious: Mary Poppins reigns at St Cecilia Cathedral in Omaha.  Jesus Christ Our King, not so much.

Barack Obama announces his new pick to replace Scalia.  The announcement was not made in front of the president's favorite Bath House.

The National Health Scotland organization has discovered that fathers have something to do with raising children.

Tinpot Cardinal Kasper is so excited over this newest revolution in the Church that Francis is ushering in, one even groovier than Vatican II, that he is losing control.  Stock in adult diapers companies has just gone sky high.

Instead of releasing the Pope's exhortation on his Synod of Sodomy on the Feast of St Joseph, March 19, it is now announced that it will be released the first week in April.  Please God they will release it on April Fool's Day.

The Calm before The Storm

Putting away for a moment all the distractions that are besetting us just now - presidential races, scandals, chaos and the rest - I and many others are dreading what is soon to be coming from Rome, a Rome we can no longer trust.  I refer of course to the Pope's final word, if that it may be, on his horrifying Synod of Sodomy.

More than anything else, I believe, his final statement will define his papacy and lay out for all to see what he is planning for a wounded and in some areas dying Church.  If his statement is what so many of us fear then we know that God has decided to let us, like His Son on Good Friday, drink the cup to its dregs.

We are in Passion Week now, in the month of St Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church and Terror of Demons.  Passion week will conclude on St Joseph's feast day, the day we are supposed to hear the final Synod summation, or exhortation, from the Pope.  The portent of all this could not possibly be more significant.

Already that joke of a Cardinal, Walter Kasper, is crowing about the document, so we must expect the worst.  And the media is keeping suspiciously quiet about it even though they know full well it is planned for release on St Joseph's feast day.  If the exhortation from Francis is as bad as we expect it to be, and if the Vatican, in an in-your-face act of contempt, releases it on the feast day of the Head of the Holy Family then the current regime that controls Christ's Church will be spitting in St Joseph's face.

Frankly, I am simply not good enough a writer, or a Catholic, to write about this supreme insult that they are seemingly planning.  I lack the grit to write about it in the proper way; it is just too awful to contemplate that this could actually be happening.  I can only enter Holy Week, beginning after they release their document, and try to see that it is the Church hanging on that Cross now, as Christ once did.  This document, if it is what we expect, will be another nail spiked through Jesus' hand, and another jeering cry of malice towards Christ and His Church.

Perhaps Pope Francis is simply off his crumpet.  I just don't know.  That he is incoherent and inconsistent, yes. That he has the characteristics of a martinet, yes.  That he is capable of doing good if he so chooses, yes.  Yet if this document is what the execrable Kasper is hinting it will be, it - and all the other disastrous innovations of this papacy - will turn the average Catholic into the average protestant.  And it will be the end of conversions.

I wont say that my sins, my personal sins, did not contribute to God's anger,which is now being manifested in the crucifixion of His Church.

Portrait of a Blithering Idiot

The Peeping Tom Mayor of Seattle.

Keep doing this kind of stuff, great leaders of our cities.  The more you do it, the quicker your downfall.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/seattle-mayor-signs-executive-order-for-men-to-access-womens-bathrooms