'God was Man in Palestine, and lives Today in Bread and Wine'

 

Birth of Jesus. Medieval Fresco located at Neppendorf, Sibiu, Romania.     Image by Fergal of Claddach.


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'Christmas at the Office' – Joy Falkner (1978)

The industrious clerk

meticulous and slow

made out wage packets

for the higher echelons

and his own

meagre but sufficient.

Enough to keep his bicycle

behind the opulent cars

and cycle home

to wash the dishes

change the sheets

and cook a dinner

for the half-crazed woman

querulous invalid

bed-ridden these two years

the fractious faded phantom

of the flower-wife

of 1949.

 

He packs his books

and leaves his desk immaculate

as drinks go round

the disco signalling

the start of celebrations

“I’m going now Sir”

“Ah - not staying for the party?”

 

We do not see him cross the room

only the door opening on the dark

and chorus “Merry Christmas Lou”.

                                    Joy Falkner –‘Is anybody there’

 

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'Christmas' - John Betjeman

 

The bells of waiting Advent ring,

The Tortoise stove is lit again

And lamp-oil light across the night

Has caught the streaks of winter rain

In many a stained -glass window sheen

From Crimson Lake to Hookers Green.

 

The holly in the windy hedge

And round the Manor House the yew

Will soon be stripped to deck the ledge,

The altar, font, and arch and pew,

So that the villagers can say

“The church looks nice” on Christmas Day.

 

Provincial public houses blaze

And Corporation tramcars clang,

On lighted tenements I gaze

Where paper decorations hang,

And bunting in the red Town Hall

Says “Merry Christmas to you all.”

 

And London shops on Christmas Eve

Are strung with silver bells and flowers,

As hurrying clerks the City leave

To pigeon-haunted classic towers,

And marbled clouds go scudding by

The many-steepled London sky.

 

And girls in slacks remember Dad,

And oafish louts remember Mum,

And sleepless children’s hearts are glad,

And Christmas -morning bells say “Come!”

Even to shining ones who dwell

Safe in the Dorchester Hotel.

 

And is it true?  And is it true,

This most tremendous tale of all,

Seen in a stained-glass window’s hue,

A Baby in an ox’s stall?

He Maker of the stars and sea

Become a Child on earth for me?

 

And is it true?  For if it is,

No loving fingers tying strings

Around those tissued fripperies,

The sweet and silly Christmas things,

Bath salts and inexpensive scent

And hideous tie so kindly meant.

 

No love that in a family dwells,

No carolling in frosty air,

Nor all the steeple-shaking bells,

Can with this single Truth compare ---

That God was Man in Palestine

And lives today in Bread and Wine.

 

John Betjeman - Collected Poems, ‘A few late chrysanthemums’- 1954

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'God, Who is unchangeable, would appear now as a child in a stable, now as a boy in a workshop, now as a criminal on a scaffold, and now as bread upon the altar.  In these various guises Jesus chose to exhibit Himself to us;  but whatever character He assumed, it was always the character of a lover'

Thoughts from St Alphonsus Liguori

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       'Wishing one and all a happy and blessed New Year'

Freemasonry - the sinister reality

'Freemasonry' is one of those subjects about which many people know little or nothing.
Popular conception sees it as a business/social organisation for men, existing for the mutual support of its members and as charitable benefactors to society.

I have just watched a long, but fascinating and informative video on Freemasonry, presented by Michael Voris, which reveals the sinister reality behind this  myth, showing the rejection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, by Freemasonry, with the stated aim of destroying the Catholic Church - primarily by infiltration, and replacing it with a one-world religion.

Video can be seen here.  Strongly recommended.

http://youtu.be/s9dW6_qjrCs

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'The flesh desires what the spirit dislikes; and the spirit pants for what the flesh abhors.The false love of the flesh destroys the true charity we owe to ourselves; inordinate compassion towards the body is full of cruelty because by indulging the flesh it kills the soul'
'Thoughts from St Alphonsus'

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'Holy Mary, Mother of God and mother of mercy, pray for the Holy Father and all the Church, especially the faithful departed.'

'Blessed are They that Hunger and Thirst after Justice, for they shall have their Fill'

   

                                                Sermon  on the Mount (Carl Bloch)

I expect many have read or at least heard of the case of Fr Gordon Macrae sentenced to a term of life imprisonment in 1994 in New Hampshire, USA, for alleged assault and abuse of a minor in 1983.
During the past 20 years much has been written and spoken about the glaring inconsistencies and apparent injustices  in this case. Fr Macrae himself has always maintained his innocence, and over the years support for him has snowballed. In April 2005,  Pulitzer-Prize winning writer Dorothy Rabinowitz profiled the case of Fr. Gordon in two complementary articles in the Wall Street Journal, under the title 'A Priest's Story'. After months of studying Court documents and combing through testimonies, Rabinowitz concluded that Fr Macrae was clearly a victim of fraud and was wrongly convicted.  In May 2013, Rabinowitz followed this up with a further article in the Wall Street Journal, entitled 'The Trials of Father MacRae', in which she re-iterates her original conclusion.  
 In 2012  a book ‘Catholic Priests Falsely Accused – The Facts, The Fraud, The Stories’  by David F.Pierre, Jr. was published, and the case of Fr Macrae was particularly highlighted.
Recently it was announced on Fr Macrae’s website, ‘These Stone Walls', that an Appeal was to be taken to the Federal Court challenging the verdict in this case, with new evidence concerning both the facts of the case and the handling of the case in the original trial, casting real doubt over the judicial correctness of the original verdict .
 From the facts in the public domain, this is an Appeal which should be upheld.  It is about more than  one unjustly condemned priest receiving a fair hearing, although that alone would be more than an adequate reason, it is about justice being  done for  all those priests falsely accused of sexual crimes, who were never given the opportunity to defend themselves. Clearly and unfortunately, some allegations were based on truth, but an experienced lawyer  has been quoted as saying that in his opinion, anything up to two-thirds of all allegations made against priests are false in one degree or another. Such allegations were either driven by malice against the Church, or/and by greed, with huge civil settlements being paid out of court by  Diocesan authorities desperate to avoid Court publicity, and without any questions asked on the reliability or otherwise of the evidence. Many allegations referred to ‘incidents’ which had happened up to 30/40 years previously, and in many cases  the accused priest had since died.  This made no difference, settlements were still made and the good name and reputation of the priest concerned was effectively blackened. This post is not intended to portray the whole story, but I would urge you - if you are unaware of this case, or wish to refresh your memory, to connect to the link below:-

http://thesestonewalls.com/gordon-macrae/new-in-the-wall-street-journal-the-father-gordon-macrae-case/

As can be appreciated, there is a great need for help towards the cost of mounting this appeal, please see details on the following link:-

 

For Fr Gordon MacRae’s Appeal to Move Forward, Help Is   ............

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In his book 'Catholic Priests Falsely Accused', David Pierre includes an article on  Irishwoman Kathy O'Beirne, who in 2005 released a book, 'Kathy's Story: The True Story of a Childhood Hell Inside the Magdalene Laundries'. After apparently enduring harrowing abuse from her father, O'Beirne claims that aged 12, she was placed in the care of The Sisters of Our Lady of Charity at a Magdalene laundry. O'Beirne describes in frightening detail how she was repeatedly brutalised by the nuns, on one occasion suffering a broken pelvis. In addition she alleged that a priest raped her, and at age 13 she gave birth to a baby daughter who died 10 years later. With a torrent of clerical abuse allegations in the USA, and scandals brewing in the UK and Ireland, at that particular time, O'Beirne's harrowing tale found a fertile market. Her book reached no.3 on the UK's best seller list, with nearly 400,000 copies sold. Reviewers raved, the 'Irish Independent' castigated the Church, and 'She' magazine proclaimed, 'Her story is so horrific, it's almost unbelievable'. As things turned out this last reviewer was nearer the truth than she imagined, for in fact the whole of 'Kathy's Story' is complete fabrication. A year after the book was published, five of Kathy's brothers and sisters publicly addressed the media, declaring that her book was a 'hoax publication'. It transpires that Kathy was never in a Magdalene laundry or home, there is absolutely no record that she gave birth at age 14, and she was not raped by a priest.  Mary O'Beirne,  younger sister of Kathy, has this to say about her,  'Our sister has a self-admitted psychiatric and criminal history, and her perception of reality has always been flawed. She is very convincing though, and that is what makes her dangerous'. O'Beirne's co-author, a man by the name of Michael Sheridan, later admitted, 'There are no documents, and there is no evidence of Kathy in the two Magdalene laundries; there never was.'

                                                                             A Tissue of Lies

Veteran writer Hermann Kelly  investigated O'Beirne's claims, and found the whole story a virtual fraud. He recounted his findings in his own book, 'Kathy's Real Story'(Ireland Prefect Press 2007). Particularly upsetting to the O'Beirne family was Kathy's claim that their father was an abusive and terrifying man, an angry drunken thug. The reality was quite the opposite, 'My father never once lifted his hand to us. Never,' Mary O'Beirne has said. 'It was a normal happy childhood. He was a very proud, good man, and it breaks my heart to see the terrible lies Kathy has written about him'. Even after the author's credibility was destroyed, another publisher announced that it had won a bid to publish a sequel, and it was only as a result of action by the O'Beirne family, that the publisher announced that it was dropping the project because it had failed to resolve 'legal issues' with the author. In spite of everything the book continues to sell well in England and Wales, and unbelievably receives 5 star reviews on Amazon's UK site. 
I decided to mention this particular case because I'm sure that very many people would have been understandably scandalised when the story first came to light, and they may not be aware of the truth. As I remember, the media made great play of this story, with the Irish nuns depicted as cruel and unfeeling bullies with little or no thought for the well-being of the girls in their care. Yet it was a tissue of lies, but was the good name of the nuns restored? I do not remember much publicity from the media to put right the lies and innuendos that they had originally promoted. Maybe I missed something, but I must confess that I was ignorant of the outcome until I read David Pierre's book. The truth needs to be shouted from the housetops, and I don't think that we can rely on the media to do this.
(Ack. 'Catholic Priests Falsely Accused. The Facts, The Fraud, The Stories' by David F Pierre, Jr.
published 2012, Mass. USA)

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'Humiliation is the touchstone of sanctity.You will acquire more merit by meekly receiving an affront, than by fasting ten days on bread and water.'
(St Alphonsus de Liguori C.SS.R)

'May Our Blessed Lady guide and protect our Holy Father, Pope Francis'  Amen.