The True Passion of Christ.

The Catholic Liturgical Calendar this week has entered into the second Sunday in Lent which started on Ash Wednesday, 17^th February 2010. Roman Catholics are required to observe fasting and abstinence during the Lenten period.

Pope Benedict XVI likened the season of Lent to a "long retreat," a period of spiritual combat.

At his Angelus audience on the first Sunday of Lent on February 21, the Pope commented on the day's Gospel which recounted Christ's temptation in the desert. The Pope remarked that Jesus taught not merely by example but by actions, "by struggling personally with the Tempter, all the way to the Cross."

Stations Of The Cross, or Way of the Cross, or Via Dolorosa refers to the depiction of the final hours (or Passion) of Jesus, and the devotion commemorating the Passion. It is being observed once a week on Fridays. In the Roman Catholic tradition, the meditation is often performed in a spirit of reparation for the sufferings and insults that Jesus endured during His Passion.

The Passion cannot be more cruelly depicted than what has been shown in the film “The Passion of the Christ’.

The Passion of the Christ is a 2004 religious film directed, co-written and co-produced by Mel Gibson. It is based on the New Testament accounts of the arrest, trial, torture, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. (Source: Wikipedia).

In early December 2003, (the late) Pope John Paul II had seen the film before it was released for public viewing, and he was reported to have commented on the film: "It is as it was."

Mel Gibsons Passion of the Christ depicts only the physical suffering that Jesus endured for us, but what Christ actually did endure was beyond physical comprehension.

The film is about the last 12 hours of Christ’s ministry while he was still on earth. These last few hours, before the most profound victory in the earth’s history, were the most strenuous in Jesus’ ministry. It focused on the physical suffering of Christ prior to His crucifixion and death.

The salvation of the human race was dependent on the outcome of these last hours.

Where then was Christ’s true Passion depicted?

I would like to share with you this video “The True Passion of the Christ" (below) which is befitting for every Catholic Christian to watch during this Lenten period.

To my surprise, little did I realize that there is a profound deeper meaning of Christ’s sufferings and death on the cross than what has been depicted in the film "The Passion of the Christ".

St. Juan Diego's tilma: "completely outside" science

MONDAY, AUGUST 24, 2009

In the middle of marking two feasts of the Blessed Mother -- the Assumption and the Queenship of Mary -- Zenit has published a report on one of the great unsolved mysteries of the Virgin: Juan Diego's tilma.

Take a look:

A physicist who has spent years researching the tilma bearing the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is affirming that there is no scientific explanation for the phenomenon.

Adolfo Orozco stated this in a presentation given at an International Marian Congress that took place Aug. 6-8 in Phoenix.

The congress, sponsored by the Knights of Columbus, the Phoenix Diocese and the Institute of Guadalupan Studies, was dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Orozco gave a presentation on the image of the Virgin imprinted on St. Juan Diego's tilma, stating that it is "completely outside" any scientific explanation.

He explained that due to the humid, salty environment around the basilica where the tilma is kept in Mexico City, the cloak material should have decomposed years ago.

In fact, the researcher noted, this is what happened to a painted copy of the image that was made in 1789, on a material similar to the original tilma.

Although the copy was preserved behind glass, like the original, it had to be discarded eight years later because it was falling apart and the painting was fading, the physicist reported.

The original image, however, which was imprinted on the cloak when the Blessed Virgin appeared to the saint, remains intact after 478 years.

Orozco told his audience that this phenomenon is heightened by the fact that it should have been destroyed twice, once when nitric acid was accidentally spilled on a section of the cloth, and another time when a bomb exploded close to it.

He affirmed that there is no natural explanation for how the image has survived undamaged through time and potentially destructive events such as these.

You can find more at the Zenit link. H/T Googling God.

An Insight of a German's View of Islam

This is an email sent to me by Pious Pius. By far this is the best explanation of the Muslim terrorist situation I have ever read. His references to past history are accurate and clear. Not long, easy to understand, and well worth to read.

The author of this email is said to be Dr. Emanuel Tanay, a well known and well respected psychiatrist.

“A man, whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War II, owned a number of large industries and estates. When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism. 'Very few people were true Nazis,' he said, 'but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories.

We are told again and again by 'experts' and 'talking heads' that Islam is the religion of peace, and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the spectra of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam.

Fanaticism

The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history. It is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honor-kill. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals. It is the fanatics who teach their young to kill and to become suicide bombers.

The hard quantifiable fact is that the peaceful majority, the 'silent majority,' is cowed and extraneous.

War Victims

Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant.

China's huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.

The average Japanese individual prior to World War II was not a warmongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet.

And, who can forget Rwanda, which collapsed into butchery. Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were 'peace loving'?

Silence is sometimes not Golden.

History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points: Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence. Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don't speak up, because like my friend from Germany, they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun.

Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late.

As for us who watch it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts; the fanatics who threaten our way of life.

Lastly, anyone who doubts that the issue is serious and just deletes this email without sending it on, is contributing to the passiveness that allows the problems to expand. So, extend yourself a bit and send this on and on and on! Let us hope that thousands, world wide, read this and think about it, and send it on - before it's too late."

Emanuel Tanay, M.D.

Christians Arrested on Conversion Claim in Malaysia

(15 July 09 - RV) Malaysian police have arrested nine Christians accused of trying to convert Muslim university students.

The news comes as Malaysian authorities investigate two Muslims who sparked complaints after they pretended to be Christians and attended a church service to research rumors of Muslims converting to Christianity. Father Lawrence Andrew is the editor of Malaysia’s Catholic Weekly, Herald. He says that religious conversion for Muslims in Malaysia is against the law – a law that Christians are adamant to respect.

Meanwhile, AP reported that Annou Xavier, who is representing the suspects, says they have denied the allegation.

Proselytizing of Muslims by members of other religions is a serious crime punishable by prison in this Muslim-majority country, though the reverse is allowed. Muslims are not legally able to change religion.

Xavier says police detained the nine in a university hostel room near Kuala Lumpur late Tuesday.

Xavier said Wednesday they were visiting friends, but a Muslim student apparently filed a police complaint accusing them of trying to convert Muslims.

CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER - COMMUNION CONTROVERSY

Prime Minister Stephen Harper had a private audience and exchanged gifts with Pope Benedict XVI July 11, 2009 at the Vatican.

JULY 15, 2009

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has blamed the controversy of his recent reception of Holy Communion on “people who want to cause embarrassment in religion and drive a wedge between Protestants and Catholics.”

“While I’m not theologically a Catholic, in my judgment, the Catholic Church is a critical bulwark of worldwide Christianity,” Harper added. “The Pope is an important moral and spiritual leader generally and for Christians generally, even though I’m not a Catholic.”

Source: Catholic Culture

It was reported earlier that the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper accepted and ate a communion wafer at a Catholic mass and didn't pocket it as critics have alleged, according to his spokesman.

Harper, a devout Protestant, attended last week's state funeral for Canada's former governor general, Romeo LeBlanc, during which a Catholic priest offered him a communion host. READ HERE

Papal 'Hint! Hint!' to Obama

Sunday, 12 July 2009

Obama: "...so, in conclusion then, that is why you can now see that all of those Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah, were in fact referring to me. I know its hard to believe, but, heck, when I realised I could hardly believe it myself! Also, do us a favour and cover up that image of the Resurrection will you?"

Pope Benedict XVI: "May I give you some light reading?"

Pope Benedict XVI gave a warm and charitable reception to the Obama couple on Friday. Obama, who has courted the most controversy in US political history in the context of abortion and life issues, was given Dignitas Personae as a Papal gift which reaffirms clearly the fundamental right to life of every human being.

The Holy See released the following statement:

“This afternoon, Friday 10 July 2009, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI received in Audience the President of the United States of America, His Excellency Mr. Barack H. Obama. Prior to the Audience, the President met His Eminence Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary of State, and also His Excellency Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, Secretary for Relations with States.

“In the course of their cordial exchanges the conversation turned first of all to questions which are in the interests of all and which constitute a great challenge for the future of every nation and for the true progress of peoples, such as the defense and promotion of life and the right to abide by one’s conscience.

“Reference was also made to immigration with particular attention to the matter of reuniting families. “The meeting focused as well upon matters of international politics, especially in light of the outcome of the G8 Summit. The conversation also dealt with the peace process in the Middle East, on which there was general agreement, and with other regional situations. Certain current issues were then considered, such as dialogue between cultures and religions, the global economic crisis and its ethical implications, food security, development aid especially for Africa and Latin America, and the problem of drug trafficking. Finally, the importance of educating young people everywhere in the value of tolerance was highlighted.”

However, the real story was broken by Cindy Wooden of the Catholic News Service. It appeared on theCNS blog. She reported that Pope Benedict XVI gave his own gift to the U.S. President, a copy of the extraordinary document entitled “Dignitas Personae” (”The Dignity of a Person”). This instruction was released by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on September 8, 2008. It is a passionate defense of the dignity of every single human life from the moment of conception until natural death.

Deacon Keith Fournier takes up the story here on Cathtolic Online ...

Canadian PM lauds Pope's leadership after meeting at Vatican

Prime Minister Stephen Harper had a private audience and exchanged gifts with Pope Benedict XVI July 11, 2009 at the Vatican.

VATICAN CITY – Prime Minister Stephen Harper praised Pope Benedict XVI as a moral and humanitarian leader after a private audience at the Vatican yesterday.

"It was an honour to meet Pope Benedict and hear his perspective on a number of important issues, including human rights and an ethical response to the global economic crisis," Harper said in a written release.

"I expressed my deep appreciation for the Holy Father's moral and humanitarian leadership as an advocate of human dignity, peace and religious liberty, and for the spiritual leadership he provides to Catholics in Canada and throughout the world."

Harper's wife, Laureen, and his children Ben and Rachel joined the Prime Minister and the pontiff after the private audience. The family later viewed the tomb of John Paul II and the ancient tomb of St. Peter.

It was reported earlier that the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper accepted and ate a communion wafer at a Catholic mass and didn't pocket it as critics have alleged, according to his spokesman.

Harper, a devout Protestant, attended last week's state funeral for Canada's former governor general, Romeo LeBlanc, during which a Catholic priest offered him a communion host.

Television images, some of which have been posted on YouTube, showed Harper receiving the host. The camera remained on the premier for several seconds but it did not show him actually place the wafer into his mouth.

A priest holds a Holy Communion wafer

"At the end of the service, he was offered communion. He accepted communion and he consumed it," Dimitri Soudas said Wednesday, quoted by Canadian media.

AUSTRIAN FEMALE 'BISHOP' SEIZES EUCHARIST

CC, July 10, 2009. An Austrian woman who identified herself as a Catholic bishop snatched the Blessed Sacrament from a ciborium after she was refused Communion at a Mass in Linz. Bishop Ludwig Schwarz had declined to administer the Eucharist to Christine Mayr-Lumetzberger, who has been excommunicated because of her participation in a feminist "ordination" ceremony.

Excommunicated Female "Bishop", Christine Mayr-Lumetzberger seizes Communion.

The Sunday worship celebration in the Parish of St. Peter in Linz did not make the excommunicated "Bishop" Christine Mayr-Lumetzberger as happy as she would have wished. Bishop Ludwig Schwarz refused her communion with the Host. Then she took the wafer herself.

400 people joined the celebration of Mass in the Parish of St. Peter on 28June.. It was held in honour of the church's patron, St. Peter. Among them, high-ranking politicians. But few noticed what happened during the Communion.

Christine Mayr-Lumetzberger was dressed as a Bishop when she appeared at the Mass in official dress with a large pectoral Cross. During the Communion she chose, consciously or unconsciously, the row in which the Diocesan Bishop Ludwig Schwarz distributed communion. The bishop suggested to her that she should not come, because he could not give her Communion. But Mayr-Lumetzberger would not stop. When it came to her, she was not given the Host. According to ecclesiastical law,someone excommunicated may not receive communion.

Mayr-Lumetzberger took the host herself from the ciborium. "I was there for all men and women in a similar situation in life," she says in discussion with OÖN. Is it normal to receive the Host like this? "There are different models of the Communion," she says. What did she feel? "In the first moment, nothing. But now I feel hurt and angry, like a woman who has been beaten for the first time by a man, "says Mayr-Lumetzberger.

Had she expected to receive Communion?" Yes. The Gospel is a higher authority than canon law. "Mayr-Lumetzberger is excommunicated since according to Canon Law ordination of priestesses is prohibited. It had however never happened that she did not receive the Host. The Church of St. Peter is her home parish. "I know Christine a long time. For me, she has never come for Communion. She knows what situation this would put me in "says Parish Priest Franz Zeiger. This Sunday, she came dressed as a Bishop to the Mass.

Do she wish to provoke and did she want to attract attention? "I cannot judge. But dress codes, I cannot enforce on anybody, "says Pastor Zeiger. Did he understand the attitude of Bishop Ludwig Schwarz? "Yes. in canon law he cannot. " Observers had the impression that the situation during the Mass was painful for Bishop Ludwig Schwarz.

When we meet Him, 10 things God won't ask on that day.

When we meet Him ...

... but He will ask if you have done His will while here on earth. Trust God in everything you have now and do His Will. " ... Your Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven."

Wafer controversy: Did Canada's PM take communion?

OTTAWA (AFP) — Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper accepted and ate a communion wafer at a Catholic mass and didn't pocket it as critics have alleged, according to his spokesman.

Harper, a devout Protestant, attended last week's state funeral for Canada's former governor general, Romeo LeBlanc, during which a Catholic priest offered him a communion host.

Television images, some of which have been posted on YouTube, showed Harper receiving the host. The camera remained on the premier for several seconds but it did not show him actually place the wafer into his mouth.

A priest holds a Holy Communion wafer

"At the end of the service, he was offered communion. He accepted communion and he consumed it," Dimitri Soudas said Wednesday, quoted by Canadian media.

Soudas spoke in L'Aquila, Italy, where Harper was attending a G8 meeting.

A Catholic official, vicar general Brian Henneberry, raised the controversy by openly wondering what Harper had done with the wafer.

Henneberry, who is chancellor of Saint John in New Brunswick where the funeral took place, said it would be scandalous had the prime minister put it in his pocket.

The speaker of Canada's Senate, Noel Kinsella, rushed to Harper's defense.

"I would like to state that I personally witnessed Prime Minister Harper consume the host that was given to him by Archbishop Andre Richard," Kinsella said in a statement.

"As a Catholic, I was therefore pleased to see the prime minister of Canada express his solidarity and communion with all those present in the sanctuary."

After the G8 summit, Harper is due at the weekend to have an audience with Pope Benedict.

According to Catholic tradition, the host is a representation of the body of Jesus Christ, and some critics of Harper's actions point out that church law dictates that non-Catholics abstain from receiving communion.

Related Article on non-Cathlic receiving Holy Communion.

MUSLIM MEN SPYING IN CATHOLIC CHURCHES

The following article was written by Joachim Francis Xavier & Sudhagaran Stanley and published in m2day.

We are deeply concerned that two Muslim men acting on false information that the Catholic Church was converting Muslims into Christians had recently entered a Catholic Church service for the purpose of gathering information as to whether this was occurring.

They were also investigating whether the word 'Allah' was being used in church services. These men participated in the church service and even took part in the rituals that are strictly for Catholics and in doing so violated the sanctity of what Catholics hold very sacred. These men later wrote about their experience in an article entitled "Tinjaun Al Islam Dalam Gereja:Mencari Kesahihan Remaja Murtad" which was published in the May 2009 issue or the Al Islam magazine.

This is the actual consecration of the wine by a Priest in a Catholic ritual. The ordinary wine is transformed supernaturally into Blood of Jesus Christ.

The men had consumed the 'communion' which is a white wafer which is blessed by the Priest in a Catholic ritual that dates back 2000 years. Via this ritual the 'white wafer' is supernaturally transformed into what Catholics believe to be Jesus Christ and when consumed allows Catholics to experience life after death. The 'communion' is held with great reverence and cannot in any way be mishandled or with a lack of respect. Even Catholics are not allowed to take home the 'communion' but are instructed to consume it immediately during the service. Catholics go through an elaborate process of preparing themselves to receive this 'communion' worthily and those who have not done so are advised to refrain from receiving it.

As such we are outraged that these Muslim men consumed it only to spit it out later, have it photographed and have its image published in the Al-Islam magazine. The total disrespect shown to what Catholics hold in closest to their hearts and believe to be most Holy strikes deep into our hearts and invokes much anger. While we are resolved not to allow anger to guide our actions and instead pray that these ignorant will be forgiven by the Allah, we want to know what has become of this most holy 'communion' and demand its immediate return to the church authorities.

We are further outraged that these Muslim men have violated our sense of privacy to freely worship. Would these men tolerate non-Muslims entering the mosque and violating the sanctity and holiness of their worship? We believe that all places of worship and the form of worship practiced in these places must be respected with the greatest sensitivity and reverence be they the church, mosque, temple or gurdwaras. Entering these premises with the intention to spy and worse to violate the sanctity of the worship only serves to incite anger and hatred that could lead to potentially dangerous consequences that would tear this country apart.

As such, as concerned Catholics, we have made a police report at the Patani Road Police Station on 8th July 2009 and thereafter held a press conference at the same place. We requested that the poloce investigate this matter with great urgency and bring to books those responsible for acting to incite hate and resentment among the Catholic Community. We also call on the police to investigate both the Al-Islam Magazine and the writers of the article.

LINUNDUS COMMENTS ...

The U.S. bishops’ guidelines for receiving Communion state, "We also welcome to this celebration those who do not share our faith in Jesus Christ. While we cannot admit them to Communion, we ask them to offer their prayers for the peace and the unity of the human family."

Because they have not received baptism, the gateway to the other sacraments, non-Catholics cannot receive Communion. However, in emergency situations, they can be received into the Church via baptism, even if no priest is present, and an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion may bring them Communion as Viaticum.

Source: Non-Christian communion.

Since the Holy Eucharist is a spiritual food, it does for the soul what physical food does for the body.

When we eat physical food, it becomes united to us—it is changed into our own substance and becomes a part of us.

In Holy Communion something analogous happens to us spiritually, but with a great difference: in this case it is the individual who is united to the Food, not the Food to the individual. The lesser is united to the Greater.

We become one with Christ. Source: Union with the Lord.

Related Article: TheNutGraph.