MikeLigalig.com

Quote from: Mulligan on August 30, 2011, 09:45:40 PM
Belated happy bday bai Bran.

Kabalik na inyo kurente diha sa new jersey? Murag badly hit ra ba inyo lugar diha sa hurricane.

Kamusta Bedo!

Salamat kaayo sa Diyos nga wala gi igo ang balay diri sa New Jersey. Ning revert man ang hurricane into tropical storm. Salamat intawn sa Ginoo...

Thanks sa belated bday wish, bai bedo!

Oy, naa na ka diri sa USA? Asa man ka na based na? NYC?

Quote from: Mulligan on August 30, 2011, 09:57:37 PM
Ang mga arab brothers nato ang kabalo mag-ampo. Kita mag ampo hangad man langit. Sila halok ug magtuwad tuwad sa yuta.  Ang resulta tagaan sila ug oil.   Ang ato tubig ug ulan ra     

ha, ha, ha! nice!

Quote from: david on August 29, 2011, 08:11:23 PM
pilinas na lang kono ang nasod nga gapabilin ang mga tawo sa ka bogo-an ni liwat sa mga pari og mga obispo

bai david, dili pood tanan mga pari og obispo ing ana. do not let the actions of the corrupted few generalize the innocent majority.
pariho ra pood god sa pilipinas. naay ubang taw sa gawas mo ingon nga naay daghang pikpoketers sa pilipinas. tinuod ba na? o gayod, naa bitaw pikpoketers sa syudad. pero tinuod ba nga tanan mga pilipino ay pikpoketers? dili pod. pariho ra pod na sa situwasyon sang Simbahan Katoliko.
Kinsa god nga walay sala? Wa Jamo. Ang mga pari og obispo, maka sala sila kai taw god pood na sila. The flesh is weak. Pero instead of putting them down, maayo pa i-ampohan lang sila kai sila man mo ampo para nato sa kalibotan.



God Bless!

Quote from: islander on August 02, 2011, 11:37:24 PM
hangak ra pod.  first, there's the contentious rh bill.  then there's the divorce bill.  is same-sex marriage not far behind?   

At this point, mo dayon sigoro pood nang klasehang movement.

Tres Miguelians performing in Valencia, Bohol:

Dancing With The Beat(VALENCIA, BOHOL)

Bolanon Kaaju,

Ako naa ko diri sa America, pero ma suko gayud ko og maka dungog ko sa mga malis sa among pinanggang yutang na tawhan. Ma suko pood ko kai ahong amigo , si Jan Palaca, ang usang tawo nga mo organize sa Feast of Senor Santo Nino diri sa New Jersey , gi bu-ang-buangon ra sa administrasyon didto sa Valencia. (Dili siya tagaan og tubig sa piping kai ning oppose ni siya sa adtong time-a)

Ma suko gayud ko sa mga politiko nga baga og nawong , mo use ra ilang daghang kuwarta so i-buy-out nila ang votes sa among taga-lungsod. Maayo lang og dili sila biased sa obang mga opposition.

Naka bisita baya ko sa inyong lungsod sa Inabanga kai ning drive-around man ko sa Bohol at least 5 times. Nindot bitaw inyong lungsod kai puro og basak ! Ampo lang ta that ang mga politiko dinha sa inyong lungsod ma guol pood sila sa ilang gi buhat nga bati kaayo.

Trust in Christ, who can make the coldest and hardest of hearts feel sympathy....


Best,
Lorenzo

Quote from: Lorenzo on August 29, 2011, 03:08:47 PM
For your ways are in full view of the LORD, and he examines all your paths.

â€" Proverbs 5:21

There is no such thing as hidden sin. God not only sees what we do, but He sees why we do it! When we realize that nothing escapes God’s view, the need to cry out for mercy becomes real, for we need a Savior. Without that realization, we are still held captive to our sin, for we are not aware of our true need. Jesus Christ came to set captives free, but the chains that come off are the ones that we are willing to admit that we have.

For your ways are in full view of the LORD, and he examines all your paths.

â€" Proverbs 5:21

Quote from: Lorenzo on August 29, 2011, 03:04:30 PM
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.

â€" 1 Timothy 6:17

Why does God bless us? It’s not for our own purposes. As we see in this Scripture, God wants us to enjoy things, but He doesn’t want us to put our hope in the things that He gives us. Wealth, status, and power are all uncertain â€" they can disappear in an instant, but God remains steadfast above it all. Don’t base your joy upon what you have (or your disappointment upon what you don’t have). Look to the One who gives all of us the breath of life. Rejoice in the One who provides everything for us.

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.

â€" 1 Timothy 6:17

Og naa kay complaint, maayo pa og mo report ka sa Department of Interior and Local Government sa Bohol.

Bolanon Kaaju,

Maayo bitaw ni sila i report sa Human Rights Commission. Kining ila gi buhat, mao ning ehemplo sa saying, "Taking Advantage of One's Power". Naa koy amigo nga taga Valencia. Because he ran in the opposition of then-mayor Conching Lim, his entire house in Valencia has not received water.

When I went back to Valencia last year (2010), ning bisita ko sa iyang balay kai gi invite ko niya, na surprised intawn ko kai daku man sad iyang balay pero wala siya access to the town's water system. Mo palit siya og tubig instead.

When I talked to the former Mayor Plinio Lim (different camp ni siya, dili ni siya supportado ni Dra. Conching Lim) about this situation (kai amigo man si former Mayor Plinio Lim sa aong amigo nga gi denied sa tubig), ang response ni Mayor Lim gave the tone that the current administration does not take opposition too lightly.

Luoy kaajo ning situwasyon kai mao man sigoro ni ang situwasyon sa tibuok Bohol. Political dynastical rule breeds political abuse!

Blessed Be Your Name - Robin Mark

Blessed Be Your Name (worship video w/ lyrics)

Bolanon kaaju,

Salamat Kaayo sa imong testimonyo kai wala man kami kahibalo ang situwasyon sa Inabanga. Pariho ra pood diay ang situwasyon sa mga obang constituents didto sa Valencia. Naay ubang tawo didto sa Valencia nga kontra sa current administration og gi denied sila og electricity og tubig ! Luoy pood atong mga igsoon nga gi taken advantaged of lang. Mo ampo ta that ma fixed na ang situwasyon dinha sa Inabanga. Again, salamat kaayo sa testimonyo nimo.

Open The Eyes of My Heart - Paul Baloche

If Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation, and the Church is his Body on Earth, we can understand why the Church fathers often declared: "Outside the Church there is no salvation." Or to put it another way: "All salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his body." (Catechism 846).

The Second Vatican Council made the following affirmations about the possibility of salvation for those outside the Catholic Church:


1. Those who know that God founded the Catholic Church through Christ as the necessary means to salvation, yet still refuse to enter it or remain in it, cannot be saved. (Lumen Gentium 14)

2. Those who , through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience -- those too may achieve eternal salvation." (Lumen Gentium 16).

3. The Church has an obligation and sacred right to evangelize ALL men (Ad Gentes 7)

Today was a good day, I took my new puppy "Pippa" out for a stroll after cleaning up the apartment. Getting my files and paper work ready for another intensive week. I'm not going to try to overstress myself with work, the secret to balancing work and study is finding that balance.

Ingon si Tito Roger nako, "Toto, okey sang hinay hinay basta kanunay..."

Quote from: bolanon kaaju on August 25, 2011, 09:22:39 PM
nganong way makapildi sa mga nagdumala sa Inabanga: maayo bang modala o maayong manlimbong?

bolanon kaaju,

can you elaborate on the deficiencies of the current administration of Inabanga?

Gwapo gid sang syudad Iloilo...

Iloilo City may not have as many high rises as those in Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Metro Cebu or Metro Manila, but "The Rose of Iloilo" has defined the skyline of Iloilo City for years -- The Molo Church Bell Towers...

Beach view...

Lleonor Faunillo

Quote from: Lorenzo on August 29, 2011, 01:37:40 PM

Nadaine Broniola

Gauapa lagi ni si Nadaine. Very beautiful features..

Nadaine Broniola

    Miss Dinagyang 2011 Candidate 1 Gretchen Grandeza

hehehe, daghang mestiza lagi sang Iloilo.

The beautiful Miss Iloilo Dinagyang 2011



Samantha Marie Amparo (West Visayas State University) â€" Miss Dinagyang 2011



Addendum: Gwapa ka gid, 'day!

"All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt!
        --Lucy Van Pelt


   

   "Experience is what you have after you've forgotten her name.
        --Milton Berle


             

"But love is blind... and lovers cannot see what petty follies they themselves commit.
        --William Shakespeare

"Follow your heart... but take your brains along, too."

Quote from: Lorenzo on June 06, 2011, 02:38:49 PM
Don't defend the wrong side out of stubbornness, just because your opponent happened to get there first and choose the best.

You will go into battle already defeated, and go down in disgrace. Bad is no match for good. It was cunning of your opponent to anticipate the best, and it would be stupid of you to defend the worst. Those obstinate in deeds are in greater danger than those obstinate in words, for there is greater risk in doing than in saying. The vulgar ignorance of stubborn people makes them prefer contradiction to truth and contention to utility. Prudent people are on the side of reason, not passion, whether because they foresaw it from the first, or because they improved their position later. If your opponent is a fool, his foolishness will make him change course, switch sides, and worsen his position. To expel him from the best, embrace it yourself. His foolishness will make him abandon it and his own obstinacy will cast him down.

-Baltasar Gracian

Awesome...!

Temperance is one of the four cardinal virtues. As such, it can be practiced by anyone; unlike the theological virtues, the cardinal virtues are the outgrowth of habit rather than the gifts of God through grace.

Temperance, as the Catholic Encylopedia notes, "is concerned with what is difficult for a man, not in so far as he is a rational being precisely, but rather in so far as he is an animal." It is the control of the desire for pleasure. In this sense, as Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J., notes in his Modern Catholic Dictionary, it corresponds to fortitude, which restrains our fears, physical as well as spiritual.

St. Thomas Aquinas ranked temperance as the fourth of the cardinal virtues, because it serves prudence, justice, and fortitude. The moderation of our own desires is essential to acting rightly (prudence), giving each man his due (justice), and standing strong in the face of adversity (fortitude). Temperance is that virtue which attempts to overcome the human condition that "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Mark 14:38).

When we practice the virtue of temperance, we call it by different names, depending upon the physical desire that we are restraining. The desire for food is natural and good; but when we develop an inordinate desire for food, we call that the vice of gluttony. Likewise, the inordinate indulgence in wine or other alcoholic beverages is called drunkenness, and both gluttony and drunkenness are combated by abstinence, which is temperance applied to our desire for food and drink.

Similarly, we receive pleasure from sexual intercourse, but the desire for that pleasure outside of its proper bounds--that is, outside of marriage, or even inside marriage, when we are not open to the possibility of procreation--is called lust. The practice of temperance regarding sexual pleasure is called chastity.

Temperance is primarily concerned with the control of the desires of the flesh, but when it manifests itself as modesty, it can also restrain the desires of the spirit, such as pride. In all cases, the practice of temperance requires the balancing of legitimate goods against an inordinate desire for them.

http://catholicism.about.com/od/beliefsteachings/p/Temperance.htm

Justice is one of the four cardinal virtues. As such, it is a virtue that can be practiced by anyone, unlike the theological virtues, which are the gifts of God through grace. The cardinal virtues are developed and perfected through habit. While Christians can grow in the cardinal virtues through sanctifying grace, justice, as practiced by humans, can never be supernatural but is always bound by our natural rights and obligations to one another.

St. Thomas Aquinas ranked justice as the second of the cardinal virtues, behind prudence, but before fortitude and temperance. Prudence is the perfection of the intellect ("right reason applied to practice"), while justice, as Fr. John A. Hardon notes in his Modern Catholic Dictionary, is an "habitual inclination of the will." It is "the constant and permanent determination to give everyone his or her rightful due." While the theological virtue of charity emphasizes our duty to our fellow man because he is our fellow, justice is concerned with what we owe someone else precisely because he is not us.

http://catholicism.about.com/od/beliefsteachings/p/Justice.htm

Prudence is one of the four cardinal virtues. Like the other three, it is a virtue that can be practiced by anyone; unlike the theological virtues, the cardinal virtues are not, in themselves, the gifts of God through grace but the outgrowth of habit. However, Christians can grow in the cardinal virtues through sanctifying grace, and thus prudence can take on a supernatural dimension as well as a natural one.

Aristotle was closer to the truth. As the Catholic Encyclopedia notes, he defined prudence as recta ratio agibilium, "right reason applied to practice." The emphasis on "right" is important. We cannot simply make a decision and then describe it as a "prudential judgment." Prudence requires us to distinguish between what is right and what is wrong. Thus, as Father Hardon writes, "It is the intellectual virtue whereby a human being recognizes in any matter at hand what is good and what is evil." If we mistake the evil for the good, we are not exercising prudenceâ€"in fact, we are showing our lack of it.

http://catholicism.about.com/od/beliefsteachings/p/Prudence.htm

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that ending the life of a pre-embryo, embryo or fetus cannot be allowed, except in very rare cases where a life-saving operation on the woman results in the unintended death of the embryo or fetus. Individual Roman Catholics often take a position that is more liberal than the official stance of the Church. Conservative Protestants differ in their stance on abortion access. Some permit it in cases where the pregnancy was initiated through rape or incest. At the other extreme, some believe that abortion is never warranted, even to save the life of the woman.

Source: Catholic Encyclopedia

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.


1 Timothy 6:6-10

Quote from: insurectus on August 26, 2011, 08:17:29 PM
taga tagbilaran daw to ang crew member nga namatay nitabang pa to siya og rescue
sa mga pasahero

buotan kaayo sila, noh? May God grant their souls entry into the Kingdom of Heaven.

Quote from: kitt962000 on August 26, 2011, 08:41:14 AM
          Libya war seems to be end. opposition start preparing for country's election. But the country's fate remain unstable because gaddafi and his sons remain at large. malaki pa rin yung influence ni gaddafi sa libya kung mag election man galing. Pero ang NATO ug US nag paramdam na sa taga libya sa ilang expenses sa military operation which costs millions of dollars. But the big question is, Is the libyans remain loyal sa NATO or US. In Iraq base on intelligence report that most insurgents encounter by US troops are libyans. plastikan lng. Pretending to good ang libyans sa NATO kay daku man tabang ang NATO sa military operation. ang NATO sad pretending ra sad na good unya ingon pa na, there main concern is protecting civilians. Pero the truth is they all need on the wealth and oil of libya.
          ANG NATO UG US BOAYA KAAU. balita naku na maghimo ug permanent military base sa libya.

Geopolitics lagi gehapon, kitt. Where there is wealth, there are ears and eyes.

Kagura dance

Powerful Kagura dance - Nanazumai - Culture of Japan

Japanese Victory Dance in Nanjing

Favored by God    


Mary was favored by God more than all of creation in that she was chosen to mother, love, and collaborate with the mission of her Son as he did the Father’s will in the love of the Holy Spirit.

Still, even when we avoid the trap of one of the two extremes, discernment amidst the tension between loving acceptance and prophetic rejection seems ripe for error, if not abuse.  There is no easy place to stand here.  We will continue to be faced with these thorny questions of suffering.  Suffering may be an expression of love as we accept new responsibilities for an infirm parent in need of daily care.  Suffering may be a result of injustice when exploited workers are crushed by sinful economic arrangements.  How much of our own suffering is appropriate in response to a world with seemingly endless needs?  The answers must come from a moral discernment within our multi-gifted community that is rooted in a vision of the reign of God.  Day after day we must be disciplined, like Peter, to see the world not as human beings do, but as God does.

These are familiar questions.  Sometimes we end up feeling like Jeremiah, being played and even preyed upon by God.  Yet, it is important to remember that as we discern a moral response to suffering, the rightly-ordered impulses to acceptance as well as rejection have in common a desire for the fulfillment of the reign of God.  There are real dangers in adopting an exclusive position for either a complete surrender to suffering or complete elimination of it.  In a recent post by Charlie Camosy, we can see how an overeager rejection of suffering can lead to the destruction of physically and mentally-challenged members of our community.  Such attempts to improve the lives of families have become unhinged from the reign of God, in which dignity and solidarity are non-negotiables.

Peter is not alone on this one.  Suffering presents a distinctive obstacle for human moral discernment.  Indeed, in the First Reading, we encounter the prophet Jeremiah whose raw, impassioned complaint demonstrates how affliction can seem to put us and God at odds with one another: “You duped me, O LORD, and I let myself be duped; you were too strong for me, and you triumphed” (Jer 20:7).

How ought we to approach suffering, specifically as a moral response to our relations with one another and ultimately God?  When does suffering bring us closer to the good of God’s kingdom and when is it an outrage to the goodness of creation?  How can we reconcile the self-emptying of the cross with prophetic words and deeds that rail against poverty and oppression?

By: Kathryn Getek Soltis



Readings for Sunday, August 28, 2011

Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time:  Jer 20:7-9; Ps 63: 2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9; Rom 12:1-2; Mt 16:21-27

The challenges posed by suffering can be addressed pastorally or they might be treated in a purely philosophical vein.  Yet, the readings for this coming Sunday show that the question of suffering is always a moral challenge as well. In particular, suffering calls us to a complex moral discernment about our response to the reign of God.

In Paul’s letter to the Romans, moral discernment appears as a way in which we worship God:

   . . . offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship. Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.  (Rom 12:1-2)

To be a “living sacrifice” means to seek ways to constantly refer our lives to God.  In the verses of Romans immediately following those of the Second Reading, we find the varied gifts given to the community (united as many parts of the Body of Christ) that enable our seeing, judging, and acting in the pursuit of truth and goodness.  Whether prophecy, teaching, acts of mercy, or exhortation, the gifts within our community make it possible to engage in moral discernment as a service and offering to God.

That all sounds nice and tidy, but the Gospel provides a stark reminder of how very difficult it is to discern the path of our moral lives.  After a self-esteem-building moment for Peter last Sunday (“you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church….I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven,” Mt 16:18-19a), this Sunday Peter is reminded of his weakness and limited moral perception.  After Jesus explains that he will suffer and be killed, Peter exclaims: “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you,” (Mt 16:22).  While wanting to avoid another’s suffering seems altogether reasonable, Peter is “thinking not as God does, but as human beings do” (16:23).

hehehe, kuyawa ! 

"pa, pa, tanawa oh, pariha lagi ni sa imoha"

Christ Be Our Light

1. Longing for light, we wait in darkness.
Longing for truth, we turn to you.
Make us your own, your holy people,
light for the world to see.

Refrain
Christ, be our light! Shine in our hearts.
Shine through the darkness.
Christ, be our light!
Shine in your church gathered today.

2. Longing for peace, our world is troubled.
Longing for hope, many despair.
Your word alone has powr to save us.
Make us your living voice.

3. Longing for food, many are hungry.
Longing for water, many still thirst.
Make us your bread, broken for others,
shared until all are fed.

4. Longing for shelter, many are homeless.
Longing for warmth, many are cold.
Make us your building, sheltering others,
walls made of living stone.

5. Many the gifts, many the people,
many the hearts that yearn to belong.
Let us be servants to one another,
making your kingdom come.

Christ Be Our Light

Table of Plenty

Shepherd Me O God - Psalm 23

Catholic Hymns, Gregorian Chant - Adoremus in Aeternum

Traditional Catholic Latin Mass of the Angels

Building Up The Culture of Life

On the important mission of the University, Pope Benedict states:

    In truth, the University has always been, and is always called to be, the
    “house” where one seeks the truth proper to the human person. Consequently it
    was not by accident that the Church promoted the universities, for Christian
    faith speaks to us of Christ as the Word through whom all things were made (cf.
    Jn 1:3) and of men and women as made in the image and likeness of God. The
    Gospel message perceives a rationality inherent in creation and considers man as
    a creature participating in, and capable of attaining to, an understanding of
    this rationality. The University thus embodies an ideal which must not be
    attenuated or compromised, whether by ideologies closed to reasoned dialogue or
    by truckling to a purely utilitarian and economic conception which would view
    man solely as a consumer.

In an age where pragmatism and utility reigns, Pope Benedict reminds us of the primary role of the university is not simply to prepare professionals but to actively inspire and support students search for truth and wisdom.

    Young people need authentic teachers: persons open to the fullness of truth in
    the various branches of knowledge, persons who listen to and experience in own
    hearts that interdisciplinary dialogue; persons who, above all, are convinced of
    our human capacity to advance along the path of truth. Youth is a privileged
    time for seeking and encountering truth. As Plato said: “Seek truth while you
    are young, for if you do not, it will later escape your grasp” (Parmenides, 135d). This lofty aspiration is
    the most precious gift which you can give to your students, personally and by
    example. It is more important than mere technical know-how, or cold and purely
    functional data

As our parents and grandparents often remind us, wisdom comes with age and experience â€" but there is something special in the eagerness and energy of youth. This energy and inspiration provides us with the habits we seek to sustain through life. In particular, I find the quote from Plato’s Parmenides quite poetic.

And, in the conversations surrounding Fr. Weinandy’s controversial (and in my opinion polemical) speech, the Pope’s speech has an important lesson for all of us. He reminds us of the connection between goodness and truth, faith and reason; and beyond that â€" the  need for humiltiy in our pursuits.

    we need to recognize that truth itself will always lie beyond our grasp. We can
    seek it and draw near to it, but we cannot completely possess it; or put better,
    truth possesses us and inspires us. In intellectual and educational activity the
    virtue of humility is also indispensable, since it protects us from the pride
    which bars the way to truth. We must not draw students to ourselves, but set
    them on the path toward the truth which we seek together. The Lord will help you
    in this, for he asks you to be plain and effective like salt, or like the lamp
    which quietly lights the room (cf. Mt 5:13).


http://catholicmoraltheology.com/pope-benedict-xvis-message-to-university-professors/

Are not some of the positions you’ve taken “liberal”? No. While we find ourselves in agreement with many modern liberals on such subjects as real food versus industrialized food, just wages for workers, and the evils of mercenary capitalism, our objections and assertions are based upon tradition, not novelty. As such, they are inherently “conservative,” for they conserve something good from the past. That this question can be asked by a reasonable reader is further proof that the labels “conservative” and “liberal” have been all but drained of any proper meaning.

Do you reject all development and progress? No. We’re Catholic, not Amish. As I wrote above, even the Church’s traditional liturgy undergoes “organic development.” This truth is a fact of history and is accepted by all traditionalists. But when organic development gives way to radical replacement, things are amiss. While the application of this principle to every facet of life I’ve touched upon might be tricky, still the principle holds true. Prudent uses of new technologies can be beneficial (such as the laptop I’m presently using). But the intellectual error of neglecting ends (purpose) and attending exclusively to means (methods, technologies) must be strictly resisted. So, too, must greed, which leads to so many of the destructive novelties I’ve highlighted above, from birth-control, to unjust wages, to political chicanery, to cheap unhealthy food, to the destruction of Catholic morals.

There it is, my “grand unified theory.” It will do nothing to advance the cause of quantum physics, but I hope it helps you to live well, and to pass on a salutary love of tradition to your loved ones.


http://catholicism.org/ad-rem-no-133.html

By way of a quick apologetic, I proffer the fact that the great papal encyclicals on marriage, family, social order, and economics came out after the industrial revolution, when these things were tampered with disastrously.

The different lifestyles adopted in modern times have made us pale images of our ancestors. And the trade-off? Big industry, big government, and big banking make sure to maintain their bottom line, while the little guy is robbed of his health, his dignity, and, eventually, his liberties. Yes, I know that his salvation is paramount. And there’s the real issue. As that great apostle of social justice and Christian order, Father Denis Fahey points out, most men need the help of society to aid them in their salvation. The anti-traditional society I accuse here is a hindrance to one’s salvation.

Here ends my brief catalog of a few areas where “Tradition is good for you” rings true. I could add others, like warfare (where traditionally, combatants and non-combatants were distinguished, and the just war doctrine was at least nominally respected), the arts, and literature. As it stands, I anticipate that many questions will arise from the points I’ve made. I will answer two:

Labor â€" Mothers should be in the home and fathers should be able to provide for their families on a single income. Traditionally, they could. Now, it is all but impossible. This has a long history. When the industrial revolution took men out of traditional crafts, sending them to work for long hours in mines, factories, and the like, men became viewed as means of production for salable goods, while big banking looked at such goods as means of making money. The human being ended up at the bottom of the economic totem pole, whereas Christian societies traditionally saw him at the top. Raw, unbridled capitalism denied the humanity of the worker, the quality of the product, and the necessity of a man to provide a living wage for his family. (The evil of Communism also betrayed the worker, turning him into a cog in the statist machine, but mercenary capitalism did something nearly the same. Blind “market forces” are not the way to run an economy and treat people’s lives. Remember, economics, too, is part of the discipline of ethics.) Later, the industrial revolution also invented “agribusiness” and destroyed the family farm, thus producing the terrible, cheaply mass-produced food mentioned above; the loss of one of the stablest elements of society, the farmer; and a flight into the cities, where people whose forebears were robust outdoor laborers have become flabby salesman of cheap cellphones made by factory slaves in communist China.

There is so much more to family life than what I’ve touched upon here. The family is the very repository of tradition. Even in religious matters, parents are the primary educators of their offspring and have the happy duty to rear Christians and populate Heaven. For that to happen, communication between parents and children is essential so that what is good, holy, and virtuous can be handed down. That very communication is halted by televisions, “smart phones,” video games, and other recreational technologies that have the family members listening and talking to microchips instead of each other. The family’s dysfunctional communion is adversely affecting the “communion of saints” that is God’s Church. We need to recover the idea of the family home as “the domestic Church.”

The unnatural, immoral practices of divorce and remarriage, homosexuality, pornography, and other such ills have riven families and impaired people’s mental, physical, and moral health. Even before AIDS was a reality, homosexuals were subject to terrible diseases resulting from their disgusting practices. Why should this fact be hidden or dimmed down? And in consuming birth control drugs and utilizing devices for that purpose, some women put chemicals and contraptions in their bodies they wouldn’t want cast into a swamp lest it pollute the environment and endanger an innocent bullfrog. Yet, in their mania to divorce sex from procreation, they are willing to pollute their own environments, spiritually as well as physically. From the beginning, it was not so.

Traditionally, humans produced offspring. But ours is a demographically dying culture precisely for the reason listed above. Sex is “recreation, not procreation.” Economists are even declaring plainly that Europe (whose birth rate is lower than ours) will have great difficulty recovering from its economic woes due to its demographic atrophy.

Family Life â€" The natural law and God’s revelations teach us that marriage is an institution bonding one man to one woman for the primary purpose of rearing and educating children. For the purposes of this section, I set aside the theory of some Catholic moralists that polygamy is not contrary to the natural law while polyandry is. Suffice it to say that there are obvious differences between the two, and that the supreme lawgiver â€" Christ himself â€" made sure this practice of certain of the Old Testament patriarchs was clearly abrogated, based, be it noted, on tradition: “But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female. For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother; and shall cleave to his wife. And they two shall be in one flesh” (Mark 10:6-8).

One last note on this subject: GMO’s are apparently being used to force birth control on unsuspecting consumers in the poorer (mostly Catholic) nations. The kindly philanthropist, Bill Gates, is said to be behind this effort to turn corn into a prophylactic.

Regarding diet and health, I recommend to readers Christine Bryan’s few articles on this subject, which give valuable references for those desiring to know more.

I also recommend God’s endorsement of herbal medicine:

The most High hath created medicines out of the earth, and a wise man will not abhor them. … The virtue of these things is come to the knowledge of men, and the most High hath given knowledge to men, that he may be honoured in his wonders. By these he shall cure and shall allay their pains, and of these the apothecary shall make sweet confections, and shall make up ointments of health, and of his works there shall be no end. (Ecclus 38:5-7).

Health and Diet â€" You don’t read this column to get advice on health, I know. Yet, let me point out that the novelties of processed food, the bogus “food pyramid,” sodas and soft drinks with this strange thing we call high-fructose corn syrup, industrialized farming, McDonalds, chemical additives, GMO’s and other such modern culinary evils have contributed to our obesity as a society, as well as to our moral and intellectual torpor. Besides, all this has destroyed the traditional lifestyle of small farmers, who have been savaged by mercenary capitalists whose bottom line is more important than whether the fodder you imbibe is food or not. This would also introduce the subject of pharmaceuticals versus natural health curatives. Without getting into details, let me speak from my limited experience as a caretaker for two very old men â€" and myself â€" which shows that traditional medicine can work wonders where pharmaceuticals fail. I watched our 92-year-old chaplain virtually come back to life with a better diet, a few enzymes, and probiotics. The brothers have a regular supplier of herbal cold and flu remedies that work, and this same wonderful lady makes an ointment out of plants in her backyard that cures skin afflictions and eye infections very quickly. I know; I’ve used it with great success. She’s even sold it to nurses who use it on the sly because none of their drugs can do what it does.

As Catholics, of course, we should respect that very traditional form of polity: monarchy, the form of government most fitted to man’s nature, and one that, with rare exception, was the way Catholic nations were governed in the ages of the Faith. Let us recall how many saints were kings and queens. To think that modernity has upstaged Christendom in the ages of Faith is madness.

In this nation’s foundation, we have remnants of the Christian social order given us by English Common Law, which itself is a product, be it noted, of Catholic social thought. Mind you, those traditions, even in the early foundation of the nation, were admixed with Lockean and Masonic principles born of the Enlightenment, but they were not completely eradicated, nor was the light of the natural law extinguished altogether. Great American political thinkers sought to preserve them. Indeed, any American “conservatism” worthy of the name is  founded precisely on this principle.

Politics â€" Believe it or not, politics, like economics, is part of the philosophical discipline of ethics. The natural law, the study of good philosophy, principles of Catholic moral theology, and experience have given us certain political traditions that are salubrious, traditions that are “good for you” in the sense that they establish sound modalities by which to govern a society. And would you believe that pagan philosophers taught that men came together in a society so as to “live virtuously”? “Modern progress” has helped us transcend that old idea, for how many politicians today care about virtue â€" not only personally, but politically as well?

So, in the matter of religion, “Tradition is good for you.” Even the local traditions which safeguard the Catholic identity of a nation or region are beneficial; for example, the Lithuanian matrimonial customs involving the newlyweds reverencing a Crucifix and pledging to carry the cross of their marriage together. To slight or diminish these little hedges that safeguard our Catholicity, and to replace them with novelty will ultimately have a corrosive effect. Eventually, as the saying goes, “nothing is sacred.”

Within Catholicism, of course, the word “tradition” has various applications or shades of meaning. Christian doctrine is the meaning I gave it in the preceding paragraph. This is that tradition which binds all the baptized because it is revealed by God. Aside from that meaning, Polish Catholics have their own unique traditions pertaining to Christmas, as do Mexicans Catholics, etc. There are “traditions” relating to the life of the Blessed Virgin that are not dogmatic. In liturgy, there are traditional rites and newer ones, most notably the traditional Roman Mass (“extraordinary form”) and the Novus Ordo (“ordinary form”). The latter rite was once called, by the currently reigning Roman Pontiff “a banal, on-the-spot product.” The traditional rite has the advantages of organic development over the centuries (as opposed to being invented by a committee), a greater clarity of doctrinal content, and rituals more firmly rooted in the practice of the faith when the Church’s life was more robust. Here, while we are not dealing with the essential tradition of dogma, we are dealing with the gravely important question of liturgical traditions that more adequately express that dogma, and (even more importantly when considered in itself), which give greater glory to God by way of a better expressed adoration, thanksgiving, reparation, and petition.

Religion â€" In this area, there is a special application of the theory, for religious matters are not a human domain, but a divine one. There are many religious “traditions” that are false, so we need to go by the one tradition handed over (tradere, whence comes “tradition”) by God himself to man, and then passed down (again, tradere) through successive generations. The One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church is the repository of that sacred deposit, which encompasses the written tradition of Scripture and the oral tradition also taught by Jesus to the Apostles, and by them, to successive generations. It is a tradition she alone, as God’s chosen and infallible teacher, has the authority to guard, keep, and proclaim. It is also a tradition necessary for salvation.

I will propose my own “grand unified theory,” or “theory of everything,” not one that has anything to do with physics, but one pertaining to the art and science of living well. This is my grand unified theory of life â€" embracing Faith, morals, politics, health and diet, family life, and labor: “Tradition is good for you.”

Here is a summary of a few of the several applications of this theory, beginning with the one that is clearly the most important, as it pertains not just to living, but to eternal life:

by Brother André Marie 



For years, physicists have been on an Arthurian quest for what they call the “grand unified theory.” Far be it from me to bore readers with an explanation of this theory that they can find elsewhere, but the gist of it is an attempt at quantifying the three fundamental interactions of physics â€" strong, electromagnetic, and weak â€" with a single principle when they operate at some very high energy. Add to this blend the force of gravity, and the attempted explanation is called a “theory of everything.”

Crossroads pro-lifers outside Notre Dame Basilica

by Brian Kelly




So, the maxim, “the corruption of the best is the worst,” proves true again — this time, with the Sulpicians of Montreal, pathetically so.  Montreal would have never survived were it not for the Sulpician priests who came to the island settlement in 1657. I am waiting for Monsignor Olier, the friend of saints and founder of the Society of Saint Sulpice, to rally his holy troops in heaven and punish the Judases who would so coldly dishonor Notre Dame de Montréal at the front door of her basilica. Yes, she is dishonored in other ways at this renowned shrine. I have seen it myself when I visited there many years ago. I speak of the virtual absence of a dress code. Tourists today pay ten dollars to stroll into the basilica, often in immodest attire, snapping pictures and chatting about with less restraint than they would if they were in a museum.

This desacralization is not unique to Notre Dame de Montréal by any means. But in this case it wasn’t a rowdy group of malfactors who were denied entrance, but a pious group of pro-life pilgrims who visit churches to pray and attend Mass as they march across Canada to protest abortion. I could be wrong. Perhaps Father Robert Gagne acted on his own without checking with his superiors. Perhaps he has been called in and reprimanded  already.

But this is the Society’s basilica; there’s a seminary there too, and  a phone call probably was made before the priest came to the support of the door man who initially barred the group’s entry. What, in my mind, was even worse was that Father Gagne then had the gutless temerity to lead the pilgrims to a side entrance into a private chapel where they could pray without being seen.

Well done, Father. Bravo! Politically correct. No one visiting the basilica was made uncomfortable by having to see a T-shirt that read “Pro Vie.” But, Father, you seem to have forgotten one thing: God sees everything.

Well said, Manny!

Quote from: buwadsanga on August 24, 2011, 01:43:33 PM
nice Dong!

I did not know about this, Bro, until I read this article by Br. Thomas Mary Sennott. Ning share lang pood ko ani kai daghan man pood tang mga Kristianong Katoliko nga wa kahibalo sa aning doctrine.

The said article was written by Br. Thomas Mary Sennott, M.I.C.M

http://catholicism.org/doctrinalsummary.html#3%29%20The%20Necessity%20of%20the%20Church

And finally here is Pope John XXIII in his homily to the Bishops and faithful assisting at his coronation on November 4, 1958:




   â€œThe Saviour Himself is the door of the sheepfold: ‘I am the door of the sheep.’ Into this fold of Jesus Christ, no man may enter unless he be led by the Sovereign Pontiff; and only if they be united to him can men be saved, for the Roman Pontiff is the Vicar of Christ and His personal representative on earth.” 54

At the Fifth Lateran Council (1512-1517) Pope Leo X reaffirmed the teaching of Boniface VIII:

    “Where the necessity of salvation is concerned all the faithful of Christ must be subject to the Roman Pontiff, as we are taught by Holy Scripture, the testimony of the holy fathers, and by that constitution of our predecessor of happy memory, Boniface VIII, which begins Unam Sanctam.” 52

Here is Pope Pius XII in his encyclical Mystici Corporis which appeared in 1943:

    “Nor against this may one argue that the primacy of jurisdiction established in the Church gives such a Mystical Body two heads. For Peter in virtue of his primacy is only Christ’s Vicar; so that there is only one chief Head of this Body, namely Christ, Who never ceases Himself to guide the Church invisible, though at the same time He rules it visibly, through him who is His representative on earth, after His glorious Ascension into heaven this Church rested not on Him alone, but on Peter too, its visible foundation stone. That Christ and His Vicar constitute one only Head is the solemn teaching of Our predecessor of immortal memory Boniface VIII in the Apostolic Letter Unam Sanctam; and his successors have never ceased to repeat the same.

    “They, therefore, walk in the path of dangerous errors who believe that they can accept Christ as the head of the Church, while not adhering loyally to His Vicar on earth. They have taken away the visible bonds of unity and left the Mystical Body of the Redeemer so obscured and so maimed, that those who are seeking the haven of eternal salvation can neither see it nor find it.” 53

“Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said to them, Ye princes of the people, and ancients hear: if we this day are examined concerning the good deed done to the infirm man, by what means he has been made whole: Be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Whom you crucified, Whom God hath raised from the dead, even by Him this man standeth before you whole: This is the stone which was rejected by you the builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:8-12)

The Testimony of Holy Scripture:


“And Jesus came into the quarters of Caesarea Philippi: and He asked His disciples, saying: Whom do men say that the Son of Man is? But they said: Some John the Baptist, and other some Elias, and others Jeremias, or one of the prophets. Jesus saith to them: But whom do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered and said: Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answering, said to him: Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is heaven. And I say to thee: Thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whosoever thou shalt loose on earth it shall be loosed also in heaven.” (Matthew 16:13-19)

Solemn Magisterium:


    “Indeed, there is but one universal Church of the faithful outside of which no one at all is saved.” 47

    “The holy Roman Church believes, professes, and preaches that no one remaining outside the Catholic Church, not just pagans, but also Jews or heretics or schismatics, can become partakers of eternal life; but they will go to the ‘everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels’ (Matt. 25:41), unless before the end of life they are joined to the Church. For the union with the body of the Church is of such importance that the sacraments of the Church are helpful to salvation only for those remaining in it; and fasts, almsgiving, other works of piety, and the exercise of Christian warfare bear eternal rewards for them alone. And no one can be saved, no matter how much alms he has given, even if he sheds his blood for the name of Christ, unless he remains in the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church.” 48



http://catholicism.org/doctrinalsummary.html#4.%20The%20Necessity%20of%20Submission%20to%20the%20Holy%20Father

Pope John XXIII:

    “And you, venerable brothers, will not fail, in your teaching, to recall to the flocks entrusted to you these grand and salutary truths; we cannot render to God the devotion that is due Him and that is pleasing to Him nor is it possible to be united to Him except through Jesus Christ; and it is not possible to be united to Jesus Christ except in the Church and through the Church, His Mystical Body, and, finally, it is not possible to belong to the Church except through the bishops, successors of the Apostles, united to the Supreme Pastor, the successor of Peter.” 44

Pope John Paul I:

    “According to the words of St. Augustine, who takes up an image dear to the ancient Fathers, the ship of the Church must not fear, because it is guided by Christ and by His Vicar. ‘Although the ship is tossed about, it is still a ship. It alone carries the disciples and receives Christ. Yes, it is tossed on the sea, but, without it, one would immediately perish.” (Sermon, 75,3; PL 28, 475) Only in the Church is salvation. ‘Without it one perishes.’ 45

Pope John Paul II:

    “The mystery of salvation is revealed to us and is continued and accomplished in the Church…and from this genuine and single source, like ‘humble, useful, precious and chaste’ water, it reaches the whole world. Dear young people and members of the faithful, like Brother Francis we have to be conscious and absorb this fundamental and revealed truth, consecrated by tradition: ‘There is no salvation outside the Church.’ From her alone there flows surely and fully the life-giving force destined in Christ and in His Spirit, to renew the whole of humanity, and therefore directing every human being to become a part of the Mystical Body of Christ.” 46

Pope Pius XI:

    “Furthermore, in this one Church of Christ no man can be or remain who does not accept, recognize and obey the authority and supremacy of Peter and his legitimate successors. Did not the ancestors of those who are now entangled in the errors of Photius and the reformers, obey the Bishop of Rome, the chief shepherd of souls? Alas their children left the home of their fathers, but it did not fall to the ground and perish for ever, for it was supported by God. Let them therefore return to their common Father, who, forgetting the insults previously heaped on the Apostolic See, will receive them in the most loving fashion. For if, as they continually state, they long to be united with Us and ours, why do they not hasten to enter the Church, ‘the Mother and mistress of all Christ’s faithful?’ Let them hear Lactantius crying out: ‘The Catholic Church is alone in keeping the true worship. This is the fount of truth, this is the house of Faith, this is the temple of God: if any man enter not here, or if any man go forth from it, he is a stranger to the hope of life and salvation. Let none delude himself with obstinate wrangling. For life and salvation are here concerned, which will be lost and entirely destroyed, unless their interests are carefully and assiduously kept in mind.’” 42

Pope Pius XII:

    “O Mary Mother of Mercy and Refuge of Sinners! We beseech thee to look with pitying eyes on poor heretics and schismatics. Do thou, who art the Seat of Wisdom, enlighten the minds wretchedly enfolded in the darkness of ignorance and sin, that they may clearly recognize the Holy, Catholic, Roman Church to be the only true Church of Jesus Christ, outside of which neither sanctity nor salvation can be found. Call them to the unity of the one fold, granting them the grace to believe every truth of our holy faith and to submit themselves to the Supreme Roman Pontiff, the Vicar of Jesus Christ on earth, that, thus being united with us by the sweet chains of charity, there may soon be but one fold under one and the same Shepherd; and may we all thus, O Glorious Virgin, exultantly sing forever: ‘Rejoice, O Virgin Mary! Thou alone hast destroyed all heresies in the whole world!’ Amen.” 43

Let me again cite some of the recent Popes from Leo XIII to John Paul II insisting on the necessity of the Catholic Church for salvation:

Leo XIII:

    “By the ministry of this Church so gloriously founded by Him, He willed to perpetuate the mission which He had Himself received from the Father; and on the one hand, having put within her all the means necessary for man’s salvation, on the other hand, He formally enjoined upon men the duty of obeying His Church as Himself, and religiously taking her as a guide of their whole lives. “He that heareth you, heareth Me; he that despiseth you, despiseth me.” (Luke 10:16) Therefore, it is from the Church alone that the law of Christ must be asked: and, consequently, if for man Christ is the way, the Church, too, is the way, the former of Himself and by His nature, the latter by delegation and communication of power. Consequently, all who wish to reach salvation outside the Church, are mistaken as to the way and are engaged in a vain effort.” 39

Leo XIII:

    “This is our last lesson to you: receive it, engrave it in your minds, all of you: by God’s commandment salvation is to be found nowhere but in the Church; the strong and effective instrument of salvation is none other than the Roman Pontificate.” 40

Pope St. Pius X:

    “Strong in this faith, unshakably established on this Peter, We turn the eyes of Our soul both to the heavy obligations of this holy primacy and at the same time to the strength divinely imparted to Our heart. In peace We wait for those to be silent who are loudly proclaiming that the Catholic Church has had her day, that her teaching is hopelessly reactionary, that she will soon be reduced either to conformity with the data of science and a civilization without God, or to withdrawal from the society of men. And while We wait, it is Our duty to recall to everyone, great and small, as the Holy Pontiff Gregory did in ages past, the absolute necessity which is ours to have recourse to this Church to effect our eternal salvation, to obtain peace, and even prosperity in our life here below.

    “That is why, to use the words of the Holy Pontiff, we say: “Make firm the progress of your souls, as you have begun to do, with the firmness of this rock: on it, as you know, Our Redeemer founded the Church throughout the world, so that sincere hearts, guiding their steps by her, would not stray on to the wrong road.” 41

The Testimony of Tradition:



Let me give just two of the Doctors of the Church on the necessity of the Church for salvation, first St. Augustine and then St. Thomas Aquinas:

    “A man cannot have salvation except in the Catholic Church. Outside the Catholic Church he can have everything except salvation. He can have honor, he can have Sacraments, he can sing Allelulia, he can answer Amen, he can possess the Gospel, he can preach faith in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: but never except in the Catholic Church will he be able to find salvation.” 37

    “But the unity of the Church exists primarily because of the unity of faith; for the Church is nothing else than the aggregate of the faithful. And because without faith it is impossible to please God, for this reason there is no room for salvation outside the Church. Now the salvation of the faithful is consummated through the sacraments of the Church, in which [sacraments] the power of the Passion of Christ is effective.” 38

Reference:

http://catholicism.org/category/outside-the-church-there-is-no-salvation