Via DoLorosa ...

Stations of the Cross (1st) : Jesus is condemned to death ...

Stations of the Cross (2nd) : Jesus carries His cross

Stations of the Cross (3rd) : Jesus falls for the first time



This post has been edited by khool: Mar 30 2018, 12:37 PM

Stations of the Cross (4th) : Jesus meets His mother



This post has been edited by khool: Mar 30 2018, 12:39 PM

Stations of the Cross (5th): Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus to carry his cross



Stations of the Cross (6th): Veronica wipes the face of Jesus



Stations of the Cross (7th): Jesus falls the second time



Stations of the Cross (8th): Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem

Stations of the Cross (9th): Jesus falls a third time



Stations of the Cross (10th): Jesus clothes are taken away



Stations of the Cross (11th): Jesus is nailed to the cross

Stations of the Cross (12th): Jesus dies on the cross



Stations of the Cross (13th): The body of Jesus is taken down from the cross



Stations of the Cross (14th): Jesus is laid in the tomb

Monday in the Octave of Easter
Lectionary: 261



Reading 1 (Acts 2:14, 22-33)

On the day of Pentecost, Peter stood up with the Eleven,
raised his voice, and proclaimed:
“You who are Jews, indeed all of you staying in Jerusalem.
Let this be known to you, and listen to my words.

“You who are children of Israel, hear these words.
Jesus the Nazorean was a man commended to you by God
with mighty deeds, wonders, and signs,
which God worked through him in your midst, as you yourselves know.
This man, delivered up by the set plan and foreknowledge of God,
you killed, using lawless men to crucify him.
But God raised him up, releasing him from the throes of death,
because it was impossible for him to be held by it.
For David says of him:

I saw the Lord ever before me,
with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.
Therefore my heart has been glad and my tongue has exulted;
my flesh, too, will dwell in hope,
because you will not abandon my soul to the nether world,
nor will you suffer your holy one to see corruption.
You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence.

My brothers, one can confidently say to you
about the patriarch David that he died and was buried,
and his tomb is in our midst to this day.
But since he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn an oath to him
that he would set one of his descendants upon his throne,
he foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ,
that neither was he abandoned to the netherworld
nor did his flesh see corruption.
God raised this Jesus;
of this we are all witnesses.
Exalted at the right hand of God,
he poured forth the promise of the Holy Spirit
that he received from the Father, as you both see and hear.”

Responsorial Psalm (ps 16:1-2a and 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11)

R. Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Keep me, O God, for in you I take refuge;
I say to the LORD, "My Lord are you."
O LORD, my allotted portion and my cup,
you it is who hold fast my lot.
R. Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope.
or:
R. Alleluia.

I bless the LORD who counsels me;
even in the night my heart exhorts me.
I set the LORD ever before me;
with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.
R. Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices,
my body, too, abides in confidence;
Because you will not abandon my soul to the nether world,
nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo corruption.
R. Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope.
or:
R. Alleluia.

You will show me the path to life,
fullness of joys in your presence,
the delights at your right hand forever.
R. Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Allelluia (Ps 118:24)

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
This is the day the LORD has made;
let us be glad and rejoice in it.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel (Mt 28:8-15)

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went away quickly from the tomb,
fearful yet overjoyed,
and ran to announce the news to his disciples.
And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them.
They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage.
Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid.
Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee,
and there they will see me."

While they were going, some of the guard went into the city
and told the chief priests all that had happened.
The chief priests assembled with the elders and took counsel;
then they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers,
telling them, "You are to say,
'His disciples came by night and stole him while we were asleep.'
And if this gets to the ears of the governor,
we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble."
The soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed.
And this story has circulated among the Jews to the present day.



REFLECTIONS: WORD Today



Yesterday Sunday, the first day of the week, we celebrated Easter, the Resurrection of our Lord. It is the grandest and happiest feast in all Christianity, greater even than Christmas, for it is the victory of Christ over death, when He snatched us from the grip of Satan and gave us freedom from the slavery of sin.

Today Monday is the second day of the week and we now go back to our routines and worries of daily life. And today Satan starts snatching us back from the Lord! Remember when God the Father rescued the Israelites from slavery in Egypt? The Pharaoh chased them, to catch them and bring them back. So does Satan want us back!

In today's Gospel, the authorities who had Jesus killed Jesus were told of His Resurrection. Their reaction as agents of Satan was to immediately start spreading lies that Christ's Body was stolen from the grave, not risen. But Jesus would not allow that lie! He appeared to a group of women who were returning from the empty tomb. His appearance filled them with joy and strengthened their faith. In turn the women told the apostles and strengthened their faith.

In the First Reading, the Spirit and faith-filled apostles are hard at work, preaching the Good News of Christ's Resurrection and our salvation. "I see that the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me. No wonder my heart is glad, and my tongue shouts his praises!" (Acts 2:25-26 NLT)

Jesus' apostolic Church continues today this work of strengthening our faith by celebrating the Resurrection not just for one day but as an 8-day super fiesta. The Octave of Easter runs from yesterday to next Sunday (Feast of Divine Mercy). This is our Savior's wisdom and mercy. He knows that Satan will keep trying to put off the weak flames of our faith by flooding us back with life's worries and the pursuit of pleasure so that we will doubt our salvation, forget Jesus, and eventually chain us back to sin.

"Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope." (Responsorial Psalm)

O Lord protect us from Satan! Let us make extra effort as an offering to attend Mass after work this whole week. At the Octave Mass, we see the Risen Body of Christ. His Real Presence increases our faith, hope and love - and we continue delighting in the joy of our salvation.

HE IS RISEN


Source: https://www.facebook.com/CatholicMassReflec...858376307793459

To Clergy, Religious and Lay Faithful

CLARIFICATION ON MASS OFFERINGS

In response to queries about the Holy Father’s comment that the Mass is free (“the Mass is not paid for,
redemption is free. If you want to make an offering okay, but the Mass cannot be paid for.” General Audience, 7th
March 2018), we would like to clarify that the practice of accepting mass offerings does not in any way contradict
the above statement.

The Mass or the Eucharist re-presents (makes present) the sacrifice of the cross (CCC 1366). In terms of the
“price” for such sacrifice, it has already been paid by our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. In terms of us being the
beneficiaries of that great sacrifice, it comes unmerited and without any further payment on our part. Thus, Pope
Francis is right to highlight that the mass, which is the sacrifice of Christ, has been and is always “free” in that we
need not and cannot possibly make any additional ‘payment’ to that one eternal sacrifice of Christ on the cross.
The Church cannot and will not impose any “entrance fee” for assisting at mass.

The practice of Mass offerings, which is an ancient one that dates back to the early Church, does not constitute
“paying” for the mass. It is not a “fee” for the mass, which is always free. According to Canon 945§1 of the Code
of Canon Law, “any priest celebrating or concelebrating is permitted to receive an offering to apply the Mass for a
specific intention.”

The purpose of mass offerings stated in Canon Law (Canon 946) is: “The Christian faithful who give an offering
to apply the Mass for their intention contribute to the good of the Church and by that offering share its concern to
support its ministers and works.” According to Pope Paul VI’s Motu Propio, Firma in traditione, the
donors of Mass offerings “associate themselves more closely with Christ’s act of offering himself as victim and in
so doing experience its effects more fully.”

The final and most important note is to remember that you are not paying for the graces from God (which are of
infinite value and cannot be paid for). With that in mind it makes much more sense and is not something that
should cause scandal.

Mass intentions are a great treasure of the Church and have a spiritual weight that is incalculable. For this
reason, the bishops of Peninsular Malaysia would like to recommend to Catholics to continue this laudable
practice, although we must constantly and judiciously be on guard against abuse.

Rt. Rev. Sebastian Francis, D.D
Bishop of Penang

Most Rev. Julian Leow, D.D.
Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur

Rt. Rev. Bernard Paul, D.D.
Bishop of Malacca-Johore

Jeremiah 18 (the potter) & John 3 (Nicodemus) plox

Tnks. GB.

Sorry, what are u trying to convey here?

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of Malaysia has written a Pastoral Letter to the People of God on 24 April, 2018.

MAKE YOUR VOTE COUNT FOR THE COMMON GOOD OF OUR NATION

All citizens should be mindful of the right and also the duty to use their vote freely to further the common good. ('Gaudium et spes' Church in the Modern World, n.75).

Dear People of God,

The upcoming 14th General Election presents us, once again, with an opportunity to participate and exercise our democratic right to vote and choose our leaders. Every General Election rekindles in each of us expectations, aspirations and a desire to help shape our nation not just for us but also for the generations to come.

DISCERN
The Church calls on her members to exercise conscientiously the right and duty to vote for the common good of all. Therefore, as Christians, we have a civic and moral duty to engage and participate in the democratic processes of our beloved country. As responsible stewards, there is no room for attitudes of indifference or apathy towards the good governance of our country. Every vote helps set the direction of our country and society for the next five years and it is only proper that we ask for divine assistance and guidance in our choices in order to allow our nation to flourish and continue to prosper.

Every registered voter must "turn up and vote" because it is here that we exercise our responsibility and, once again, stake our claim in securing the future of our country by choosing our leaders. We need to choose leaders who truly care for all the 'rakyat', promote justice and equality, stand up for principles with integrity and work for the common good of citizens and strive to build a cohesive, harmonious and prosperous nation.

REFLECT
Every election is also an opportunity for self-appraisal not only as a nation but more importantly for us as citizens of this country. Therefore, as citizens, we ought to desire the best possible political leaders who are free of corruption so as to help us achieve the common good, and we have a responsibility to participate in the political process by voting. We must cast our vote through prayerful consideration and in accordance with our conscience formed by the Catholic faith.

We, as Catholic citizens, must inform and form our consciences in accordance with the principles of Catholic social teaching. The first and most essential principle of our social teaching is the dignity of every human person and each one's basic right to life from conception to natural death.

Respect for human dignity is the basis for the fundamental right to life. This is a non-negotiable principle that is supported by our beliefs. Many non-Catholics, too, think a society dedicated to the common good should protect its weakest members. Other principles include the call to community and participation, the centrality of the family, the dignity of work and rights of workers, the principles of solidarity and subsidiarity and the commitment to stewardship of the environment.

ACT
What can I do?

- Exercise my moral duty to vote according to my conscience.
- Encourage my family and friends to also vote.
- Educate myself on issues at hand and be informed of the track record of all candidates and political parties.
- Ensure free and fair elections; volunteer to be a Polling and/or Counting Agent.
- Extend a helping hand to provide transportation to the polling station and whatever assistance needed for the differently abled and other needful individuals, to ensure they have the opportunity to exercise their votes.

PRAY

- Pray for a peaceful and clean election.
- Observe the Day of Prayer and Fasting for the GE14 as declared by the Bishops' Conference of Malaysia on the date/time as specified by your respective dioceses and parishes.
- Respond to and participate in the Call to Prayer being observed by our Christian brothers and sisters of the denominational churches: NECF Malaysia: A Call for 21.21.21. Time of Prayer and Fasting for the Church and our Beloved Nation
- Pray without ceasing throughout this Election period.
- Pray that all candidates/political parties/leaders will respect the outcome of the GE14.

May the Holy Spirit, grant us the wisdom and fortitude we need in choosing those who will represent and lead us in our national and state governments. Therefore, we urge you, stand up, uphold the common good of our nation, choose wisely, and your vote will be a blessing for our nation.

We place our country unto the hands of Mother Mary to always guide, protect and bring us abundant graces.
May God bless you all and our country, Malaysia.

Yours devotedly in Christ,
+ Most Reverend Julian Leow,
Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur
President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Malaysia

24 April, 2018

Source: https://archkl.org/index.php/en/news-events...d-of-our-nation


This post has been edited by khool: Apr 25 2018, 10:04 AM

2 Timothy 4:7-8

" ... I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing. ... "

Amen ... Alleluia!

Have patience, give Pakatan govt time, Malaysians told

MALAYSIANS should be patient with the new Pakatan Harapan government as it works to fulfil its pledges in its first 100 days in office, a Catholic priest told a forum last night.

Reverend Father Clarence Devadass, director at the Catholic Research Centre in Kuala Lumpur also told Christians who had backed PH not to gloat over the historic GE14 win, reminding them that now was the time for "reconciliation, restoration and rejuvenation".

"They (the voters) want to transcend fear and corruption and we Christians should build on that," Devadass told about 200 people in the Church of St Francis Xavier in Petaling Jaya last night.

"There is a moral reawakening in Malaysia. Their conscience was pricked and they responded. Ethnicity is no longer an issue.

"But people are looking for quick fixes. My fear is that people will become impatient. Pakatan gave themselves 100 days... and if you don't see results, people will start getting impatient and pessimism will come back again."

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia political scientist Helen Ting and Kairos Dialogue Network exco Eugene Yapp were the other speakers at last night's forum, Hope, Realities and the Road Ahead – Post-GE14 Christian Reflections.

Devadass said reforms could mean "going back to our traditions to work towards a new Malaysia that our forefathers dreamt of."

"The key to getting all this right is patience. We need to be patient and give our leaders space and support them. I think we all have a role to play, every one of us, no matter what age or ethnicity.

To a question from the floor regarding opposition to the appointment of Maszlee Malik as education minister, Devadass said Christians should not engage in character assassination.

Some have called Maszlee an Islamist who allegedly supports controversial preacher Dr Zakir Naik.

"We shouldn't take the moral high ground now and start judging other people. Whatever position he takes, let's give him a chance to prove himself," said Devadass.

"What is important is not to be engrossed in little issues because new freedom will come with new responsibilities and we need to take ownership of this country."

He is heartened to see citizens raising money to help with the country's RM1 trillion debt: "You never hear of citizens chipping in to help the government. These are signs of great hope."

Among the pledges PH says it will make good in its first 100 days are to abolish the goods and services tax, reintroduce fuel subsidies, audit scandal-ridden institutions, and review mega projects. – May 31, 2018.

Source: https://www.themalaysianinsight.com/s/51208

The Irish Abortion Referendum: But How?

What Oliver Cromwell could not do, what an Gorta Mór (the Great Hunger) could not do, what hundreds of years of Anglo-Protestant persecution could not do to the Irish Catholic people — namely, rob them of their faith and morals — the one-two punch of the sexual revolution and the doctrinal-liturgical revolution in the Church have accomplished, with the more-or-less enthusiastic complicity of the Irish people themselves, clergy and laity.

We speak here of a nation that was a Catholic powerhouse since its conversion by Saint Patrick in the fifth century. A nation where, at one time, one out of four men was a monk, she sent missionaries abroad: Saint Columbkille († 597) to Scotland, and Saint Columbán († 615) to the European mainland, where he and his fellow Irish monks helped restore and extend the Church after the social chaos caused by the collapse of the Western Empire in 476. Abbeys like Bobbio (Italy), Luxeuil (France), and St. Gall (Switzerland) remain monuments of his and their accomplishments.

In the high Middle Ages, the Dominicans and Franciscans established themselves in Ireland.

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Erin produced numerous martyrs (thanks to Oliver Cromwell* and his associates), like Saint Oliver Plunkett, whose severed head one may venerate at Saint Peter’s Church in Drogheda.

In more recent times, the Emerald Isle gave us great Catholic educators like Blessed Edmund Rice, founder of the (Irish) Christian Brothers, who should not be confused with the (French) Christian Brothers of Saint Jean-Baptiste de la Salle. She also continued to send out foreign missionaries as members, e.g., of such missionary congregations as the Holy Ghost Fathers and the Society of African Missions. Here in America, the lilting Mayo brogue of Venerable Patrick Peyton taught millions to pray the Rosary. This Holy Cross Father, affectionately known as “the Rosary Priest,” always told his audiences that “the family that prays together stays together.”

And how could we forget Frank Duff, whose lay organization, the Legion of Mary sanctified so many of the faithful and helped advance the mission of the Church in so many places, including Africa and China?

With such a glorious past that we have only summarized in the scantiest detail, how did Éire come to suffer these late troubles?

Let us begin to answer that question by going back to an episode in the Old Testament, all the way back to the Book of Numbers. It involves one of the “dark passages” of the Bible, specifically, that related in Numbers 31, which narrates the war against the Madianites. In this war of God’s own vengeance against Madian (vs. 2-3), when the victorious Israelite army of 12,000 slew only the men, Moses was angered and ordered the slaying of all the male children and all the women who were not virgins, whereas the virgins were allowed to live (vs. 17-18).

Why was this?

We read in the Douay commentary for Numbers 31: “Women and children, ordinarily speaking, were not to be killed in war, Deut. 20. 14. But the great Lord of life and death was pleased to order it otherwise in the present case, in detestation of the wickedness of this people, who by the counsel of Balaam, had sent their women among the Israelites on purpose to draw them from God.” Balaam (of “Balaam’s Ass” fame) well knew that one way to gain victory over the Israelites was to send in the women, not as warriors obviously, but as seductresses who would morally and religiously corrupt Israelite men, as Jezebel would later corrupt Ahab. The wicked stratagem worked. As the relevant article at Fisheaters.com summarizes it: “Balaam later led Israel into idolatry by sending women to seduce the men of Israel away from the faith. God punished Israel for this by plague and war — a war in which Balaam got his comeuppance and was slain.” The matrons represented a threat to Israel, but clemency was shown to the virgins, who were not guilty of luring Israelite men into sin.

The heinousness of the fornication committed with the daughters of Moab lay in its admixture with the obscene worship of Beelphegor (or Baal-Peor), as related in Numbers 25:1-3, which the Rabbis tell us was not only impure, but grotesque as it involved also the worship of excrement. Saint John, Saint Peter, and Saint Jude all consider Balaam as something of an epitome of the false prophet who works for the sake of money (he was paid for his services).

False religion and apostasy from the true God seem to have been behaviorally and conceptually joined with evil sexual morality in the Old Testament, so much so that the expression “fornicating after strange gods” (Deut. 31:16) seems to include both these things: religious infidelity to God, and conjugal infidelity by way of sexual immorality.

What does all this have to do with Ireland?

Since the early twentieth century, if not before, elements inimical to Catholic morals have tried to revolutionize the public and private morality of the Irish people. For many years, an aggressive campaign from the EU, the UN, and the Council of Europe sought to loosen public morality in Ireland. The so-called “Church of Ireland,” something of a low-church species of Anglicanism has, since the Lambeth Conference of 1930, if not before, been a fifth-column within the Republic to accomplish this end. The Irish Times, the voice of liberal anti-Catholic ascendency, has also assisted the project, constantly reminding Irishmen of their backwardness and inferiority to more progressive nations of Europe and America.

All this proved effective. By the late 1960s, a feckless Irish administration relaxed the nation’s censorship laws, resulting in the importation of American and British pornography into Ireland. The spreading of pornography will certainly lead to a breakdown of public morality, so it is no surprise that in the succeeding decades, the prohibitions against contraception and divorce were gradually weakened.

But where was the Irish hierarchy? Sadly the weak resistance of the Irish bishops in the 2018 abortion referendum and the 2015 homosexual “marriage” referendum had earlier precedents, such as the supine resistance of their predecessors in the matter of the nation legalizing contraception in 1979. Prior to that, in 1972, the Irish hierarchy willingly embraced the repeal of Article 44 of the nation’s constitution, which acknowledged “the Holy, Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Church as the guardian of the Faith professed by the great majority of citizens.” While that wording was not strong enough for Father Denis Fahey, I doubt that the great Apostle of Christ the King would approve of its removal, which is what 84% of Ireland’s populace voted for in a 1972 referendum.

This dismantling of Ireland’s constitutional recognition of the Church would seem to have resulted from two things, first, Pope Paul VI’s policy of weakening the historical ties between Church and State in such places as Colombia, Spain, and the Swiss Cantons of Ticino and Valais, all in keeping with the novel doctrine of Dignitatis Humanae. Second, the Irish episcopacy did not attempt to defend Article 44 because it was proposed that North-South Irish political union could be achieved if the Republic dropped this constitutional acknowledgment of the Catholic Church. But that unity has never happened; in fact, the Catholic-versus-Protestant state of war in Northern Ireland (“the Troubles”) continued all the way till 1998. In short, the Irish were sold a bag of goods.

Not surprisingly, the next year, Ireland began its gradual acceptance of contraception, by what seems to be the camel’s nose under the tent, in 1973, of allowing the use of contraceptives without allowing the sale of contraceptives. As contraception and abortion inevitably go together — morally, medically, legally, historically, and psychologically — the work of legalizing abortion had begun. There were Protestant “missionaries” who brought contraception with them to Ireland in their attempts to spread Protestantism in the Republic. A convert I know recently informed me that some of his own family members were among these missionaries.

As Baalam well knew, and as Dr. E. Michael Jones has throughly documented, sexual “liberation” is a means of political control, social manipulation, and religious breakdown (cf., Dr. Jones’ books Libido Dominandi and Degenerate Moderns, as well as the online article “Masters of Porn” if you dare to wade through some lurid documentary details). The Cultural Marxists have been well aware of this method as a helpful tool for deChristianizing Europe and America.

In bringing up Balaam in ancient Israel, and the Cultural Marxists of modern times, I am not claiming that Ireland’s selling of her Catholic birthright is the result exclusively of a conspiratorial plot from outside, though it certainly is true that the forces of organized naturalism, like George Soros, have helped:

Through his Open Society Foundations, the Hungarian-born Soros has already provided three pro-abortion groups in Ireland, including Amnesty International’s Irish branch, with a combined total of around $400,000 (£295,000). The other two groups are the Irish Family Planning Association and the Abortion Rights Campaign.

A leaked document from the Open Society Foundations revealed the reasons behind the funding. It said it was so that the three groups could “work collectively on a campaign to repeal Ireland’s constitutional amendment granting equal rights to an implanted embryo as the pregnant woman”.

It continued: “With one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world, a win there could impact other strongly Catholic countries in Europe, such as Poland, and provide much needed proof that change is possible, even in highly conservative places.”

While there have certainly been plots at work here, we need not make this the only explanation, nor ought we make the effort to weave it all into a grand coordinated conspiracy. But consider: If such diverse men as Baalam, Guiseppe Mazzini (“we corrupt in order to rule”), Willi Munzenberg, (“we will make the West so corrupt that it stinks”), György Lukács, and his fellow travelers at the Frankfurt School understood that “sexual liberation” undermined Old-Testament and Christian social order, doesn’t the devil know this too? I doubt that those guys are smarter than he is. The only “grand conspiracy” is the one that Satan himself implements, and all these people, however clever or brilliant, are merely his acolytes, his useful idiots.

All of which suggests that there is a war on. Ireland’s internal and infernal enemies have brought a new famine upon her, but a famine of a different sort: “Behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will send forth a famine into the land: not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water, but of hearing the word of the Lord” (Amos 8:11).

But it seems that Ireland’s churchmen are, for the most part, attempting to make peace with this apostasy — to “manage” the situation by rearguard actions at best, or joining the other side at worst.

Now that Ireland is once more mission territory, she, like the rest of the former Christendom, needs courageous Catholics who, believing that Catholic faith and morals are necessary for salvation, work to give the undiluted Religion to her children. Without fear of lawsuits, arrest, public humiliation, prison, or being shunned for their backwardness, the new Irish apostles need to recover the missionary spirit of Saints Patrick, Columbkille, Columbán, and all the rest. They, with innumerable multitudes of blessed Irish in heaven are looking down to see who will take up the cause.

“And therefore we also having so great a cloud of witnesses over our head, laying aside every weight and sin which surrounds us, let us run by patience to the fight proposed to us” (Heb. 12:1)

* * * * * * * * * * * *

* My friend, Joe Doyle, would no doubt want me to add that focusing on Cromwell too much lets the Anglicans and their monarchy off the hook, and they are able to portray Cromwell as an exception, an anomaly, and an outlier. Even Winston Churchill goes on about “the curse of Cromwell” in his History of the English Speaking Peoples. Catholic priests were executed, for being Catholic priests, under every English monarch (with the exceptions of Mary I and James II) from Henry VIII in 1534 to George III in 1766. The man-made famine under Elizabeth I killed nearly as many people as Cromwell. The Anglicans often say that it was Cromwell, not Cranmer, who smashed the altars and shattered the stained glass, and what a terrible iconoclast he was. It is all very convenient.

In the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
Brother André Marie, M.I.C.M.