Telling--Trump's Favorite Scriptural Passage Is Lex Taliones

In a telling interview with a Rochester, New York radio station, Republican Presidential front-runner Donald Trump revealed the Bible passage which has most informed his thinking-- An Eye for an Eye.

Naturally,  Mr Trump did not spew out the exact scriptural reference, so for all he knew it was the Code of Hammurabi instead of the Book of  Levitucus 24:19-21.   It's not exactly something that one would hear about from Two Corinthians (sic). Nor did Trump appreciate how St. Augustine marked it as a controversial passage showing the vengeful nature of the Old Testament. 

An eye for an eye is known as the Lex Taliones (Latin for Law of the Talon)  for a law of retaliation which today has particular relevance in tort law, for translating non-economic losses into money.

Considering Trump's public persona, which craves flattery but lashes out when others' oppose him and his persistent pugilism, Trump's memory verse rings true.  Trump's candid scriptural citation certainly peers into what burnishes his soul. 

Elections certainly ought to be about vetting ideas of how to govern the polity.  But they can also act as a measure of a man's character.  To install a leader of the free world who swears by lex taliones may make being a pirate commonplace.

Cavaet emptor.  

Archbishop Charles Chaput on Planned Parenthood

h/t: Gary Varvel

Sketchy Takes on Forgiving Enemies

B.C. and A.D. on Good Friday

Johnny Hart was cartoonist who produced the comic strip B.C. from 1958 until his death at the drawing board in 2007.  After Hart's renewal of religious faith in 1977 in Presybyterianism, the comic strip often incorporated Christian themes into the pre-historic backdrop.

This was even more evident for pieces run during  Holy Week.

Some Jewish critics argued against a depiction of replacement theology.  But Hart  offered an apology "if I have offended any readers," but still thought the strip could increase "religious awareness" and claimed that he had meant the strip to be a tribute to both religions.

If one needs more traditional timber for the conveyance of scripture, one can certainly rely upon the charismatic current Archbishop of New York, Timothy Cardinal Dolan, to contextualize Good Friday.

h/t: Johnny Hart 

Myth Busting Blind Date

Sinead O'Connor

If it were true, this must have been an unusual blind date for Medusa as it was an occasion when her companion did not get stoned.  After her encounter with St. Paddy, she bears a striking resemblance to Sinead O'Connor.

For a less fanciful account of St. Patrick's life, here's a tongue-in-cheek animated hagiography.

h/t: Dan Piraro

Abortion War Casualties

Alas, it is the 41st anniversary of Roe v. Wade.  So the poignant political cartoon and the statistics of casualties of the judicially mandated imposition of abortion on demand are slightly out of date, but no less poignant.  

Yet politicians can demagogue about a "War on Women", yet forget about the children who are casualties, as well as sanction barbaric and illegal practices (ala Kermit Gosnell) which endanger womens' health so as nothing might endanger the so called "Right to Choose."  

h/t: Garyvarvel.com

Good Grief- Choosing to Understand a PC World Is Confusing

h/t: Dixon Diaz

Divine Evolution?

h/t: SwordofPeter

Mistaken Assumptions?

As the Catholic Church ends the Octave of the Assumption by commemorating the Memorial of the Queenship of the Virgin Mary, it seems apropos to end the Octave with a smile about "Mistaken Assumptions".

For me, this year's celebration of the Solemnity of the Assumption was special.  Not for the liturgy in a handspun parish in the "Wild and Wonderful" state.  Preparing for the Holy Day of Obligation sparked some "Reconsidering the Assumption".  The Orthodox traditions on the Dormition of the Theotokis enhanced my appreciation of the Solemnity reflecting Christ's resurrection.  Taylor Marshall's reflections gives context on the Queenship of Mary and power over Purgatory. 

Bishop Venerable Fulton Sheen believed that the very foundation of humor is the ability to "see through things."  While Jason Bach's cartoon brought a smile to my face, it helped me see through humor a better understanding the the Assumption.

h/t: JasonBachCartoons.com

Energized by the Empty Tomb

Pope Francis' homily for the Easter Vigil considered the surprise and salvation associated with finding the empty tomb:

 In the Gospel of this radiant night of the Easter Vigil, we first meet the women who go the tomb of Jesus with spices to anoint his body (cf. Lk 24:1-3). They go to perform an act of compassion, a traditional act of affection and love for a dear departed person, just as we would. They had followed Jesus, they had listened to his words, they had felt understood by him in their dignity and they had accompanied him to the very end, to Calvary and to the moment when he was taken down from the cross. We can imagine their feelings as they make their way to the tomb: a certain sadness, sorrow that Jesus had left them, he had died, his life had come to an end. Life would now go on as before. Yet the women continued to feel love, the love for Jesus which now led them to his tomb. But at this point, something completely new and unexpected happens, something which upsets their hearts and their plans, something which will upset their whole life: they see the stone removed from before the tomb, they draw near and they do not find the Lord’s body.  

It is an event which leaves them perplexed, hesitant, full of questions: “What happened?”, “What is the meaning of all this?” (cf. Lk 24:4). Doesn’t the same thing also happen to us when something completely new occurs in our everyday life? We stop short, we don’t understand, we don’t know what to do. Newness often makes us fearful, including the newness which God brings us, the newness which God asks of us. We are like the Apostles in the Gospel: often we would prefer to hold on to our own security, to stand in front of a tomb, to think about someone who has died, someone who ultimately lives on only as a memory, like the great historical figures from the past. We are afraid of God’s surprises; we are afraid of God’s surprises! He always surprises us!

Dear brothers and sisters, let us not be closed to the newness that God wants to bring into our lives! Are we often weary, disheartened and sad? Do we feel weighed down by our sins? Do we think that we won’t be able to cope? Let us not close our hearts, let us not lose confidence, let us never give up: there are no situations which God cannot change, there is no sin which he cannot forgive if only we open ourselves to him.
But let us return to the Gospel, to the women, and take one step further. They find the tomb empty, the body of Jesus is not there, something new has happened, but all this still doesn’t tell them anything certain: it raises questions; it leaves them confused, without offering an answer. And suddenly there are two men in dazzling clothes who say: “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; but has risen” (Lk 24:5-6).

 What was a simple act, done surely out of love – going to the tomb – has now turned into an event, a truly life-changing event. Nothing remains as it was before, not only in the lives of those women, but also in our own lives and in the history of mankind. Jesus is not dead, he has risen, he is alive! He does not simply return to life; rather, he is life itself, because he is the Son of God, the living God (cf. Num 14:21-28; Deut 5:26; Josh 3:10). Jesus no longer belongs to the past, but lives in the present and is projected towards the future; he is the everlasting “today” of God. This is how the newness of God appears to the women, the disciples and all of us: as victory over sin, evil and death, over everything that crushes life and makes it seem less human. And this is a message meant for me and for you, dear sister, dear brother. 

 How often does Love have to tell us: Why do you look for the living among the dead? Our daily problems and worries can wrap us up in ourselves, in sadness and bitterness... and that is where death is. That is not the place to look for the One who is alive! Let the risen Jesus enter your life, welcome him as a friend, with trust: he is life! If up till now you have kept him at a distance, step forward. He will receive you with open arms. If you have been indifferent, take a risk: you won’t be disappointed. If following him seems difficult, don’t be afraid, trust him, be confident that he is close to you, he is with you and he will give you the peace you are looking for and the strength to live as he would have you do.

 There is one last little element that I would like to emphasize in the Gospel for this Easter Vigil. The women encounter the newness of God. Jesus has risen, he is alive! But faced with empty tomb and the two men in brilliant clothes, their first reaction is one of fear: “they were terrified and bowed their faced to the ground”, Saint Luke tells us – they didn’t even have courage to look. But when they hear the message of the Resurrection, they accept it in faith. And the two men in dazzling clothes tell them something of crucial importance: “Remember what he told you when he was still in Galilee… And they remembered his words” (Lk 24:6,8). They are asked to remember their encounter with Jesus, to remember his words, his actions, his life; and it is precisely this loving remembrance of their experience with the Master that enables the women to master their fear and to bring the message of the Resurrection to the Apostles and all the others (cf. Lk 24:9). To remember what God has done and continues to do for me, for us, to remember the road we have travelled; this is what opens our hearts to hope for the future. May we learn to remember everything that God has done in our lives. 

God of Resurrection and new life,

you whose dear Son, Jesus

broke open the tomb

and the clutches of death

help us to hear

today's Good News

with the enthusiasm of Mary Magdalene,

Peter, and the Beloved Disciple.

May we too run with energy,

pause with prayerful reflection,

and then believe as they did.

Help us hear "rumors of Resurrection"

everywhere we go -- and spread them.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ,

your Son, who lives and reigns with you

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

One God for ever and ever.

Amen.

h/t: Rich McKee
     Vatican Radio

B XVI Lenten Discipline?

Well, if you've got to give up something....

Reflections From the Epiphany

Three Kings came riding from far away,

Melchior and Gaspar and Baltasar;

Three Wise Men out of the East were they,

And they travelled by night and they slept by day,

For their guide was a beautiful, wonderful star.

The star was so beautiful, large and clear,

That all the other stars of the sky

Became a white mist in the atmosphere,

And by this they knew that the coming was near

Of the Prince foretold in the prophecy.

Three caskets they bore on their saddle-bows,

Three caskets of gold with golden keys;

Their robes were of crimson silk with rows

Of bells and pomegranates and furbelows,

Their turbans like blossoming almond-trees.

And so the Three Kings rode into the West,

Through the dusk of the night, over hill and dell,

And sometimes they nodded with beard on breast,

And sometimes talked, as they paused to rest,

With the people they met at some wayside well.

"Of the child that is born," said Baltasar,

"Good people, I pray you, tell us the news;

For we in the East have seen his star,

And have ridden fast, and have ridden far,

To find and worship the King of the Jews."

And the people answered, "You ask in vain;

We know of no King but Herod the Great!"

They thought the Wise Men were men insane,

As they spurred their horses across the plain,

Like riders in haste, who cannot wait.

And when they came to Jerusalem,

Herod the Great, who had heard this thing,

Sent for the Wise Men and questioned them;

And said, "Go down unto Bethlehem,

And bring me tidings of this new king."

So they rode away; and the star stood still,

The only one in the grey of morn;

Yes, it stopped --it stood still of its own free will,

Right over Bethlehem on the hill,

The city of David, where Christ was born.

And the Three Kings rode through the gate and the guard,

Through the silent street, till their horses turned

And neighed as they entered the great inn-yard;

But the windows were closed, and the doors were barred,

And only a light in the stable burned.

And cradled there in the scented hay,

In the air made sweet by the breath of kine,

The little child in the manger lay,

The child, that would be king one day

Of a kingdom not human, but divine.

His mother Mary of Nazareth

Sat watching beside his place of rest,

Watching the even flow of his breath,

For the joy of life and the terror of death

Were mingled together in her breast.

They laid their offerings at his feet:

The gold was their tribute to a King,

The frankincense, with its odor sweet,

Was for the Priest, the Paraclete,

The myrrh for the body's burying.

And the mother wondered and bowed her head,

And sat as still as a statue of stone,

Her heart was troubled yet comforted,

Remembering what the Angel had said

Of an endless reign and of David's throne.

Then the Kings rode out of the city gate,

With a clatter of hoofs in proud array;

But they went not back to Herod the Great,

For they knew his malice and feared his hate,

And returned to their homes by another way.

    ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

h/t:  Randy Bish

Angry Love

Now and Zen

Sometimes we try too hard to imitate intimate essence of nature in a dry landscape garden.

h/t: Bizarrocomics

Cloistered Humor

Now that's something to write about (sic).

H/t: Glenn McCoy

Linus Van Pelt on Life

Terrifying Knowledge

Malala Yousafzai is a ninth grade girl from Pakistan  who so vexed the Taliban that her attack on a school bus caused her to be medivaced to Britain because of the seriousness of her injuries. 

This is all because Malala is being educated and can be branded with "Western Values" (like being an educated woman). 

Malala's attack shocked sensibilities throughout the world.  Alas, Madonna used Malala's attack as a cause celebre for the 53 year old Material Girl to strip tease "in honor" of the injured Pashtun teen.  Alas, terrifying carnal knowledge was on display at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

May Malala heal from her injuries  and may those who hurt her eventually recover from their cranial rectal inversions.  

h/t: Pat Bagley 

America's New State Religion?

In the wake of the Obama Administration’s HHS Qualified Health Plan Mandate (a.k.a. the Contraception Mandate), mainline churches have to come to terms with a Federal government which narrowly construes the First Amendment Freedom of Religious Expression.

While the Obama Administration exempts parishes from these objectionable regulations, no such leeway is given to religiously affiliated organizations, like Catholic colleges, religious orders, Catholic Insurers etc.  from paying for abortions, sterilizations and abortifacients.  But such groups were given a year’s reprieve from complying. As New York Archbishop Timothy Cardinal Dolan quipped that they were given an extra year to figure out how to violate their consciences.

President Obama claimed a work around which would force a farce that insurers would give away these services so religious organizations would not have to pay.  Of course, this is a ruse as insurers would simply raise their premiums to everyone to cover these free services.  But Obama’s announcement came on the same day that the Federal Register published the original rules unchanged, so the ameliorations were a rhetorical chimera.

This move by the Obama Administration has awakened a sleeping giant.  This summer, the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops promoted the “Fortnight for Freedom”,  a coordinated nation-wide effort of prayer, fasting and educating American Catholics on the importance of preserving Americans’ First Amendment rights to the unfettered exercise of religious beliefs.

Some pastors have picked up this mantle to drive this crucial point home.  On the “Pastor’s Page of St. John the Evangelist of St. Paul (MN), Fr. George Welzbacher published this thought piece on the establishment of a nationwide first state religion–secular humanism.

It would seem that, for the first time in the history of our republic, we are witnessing here in the U.S.A. the establishment of a state religion, a religion so crafted as to delight the heart of a secularist, a religion with clearly defined dogmas, compliance with whose demands is to be enforced with all of the coercive powers at the disposal of the federal     government.  Here are the dogmas of this new faith. 

Dogma #1: A woman has the right, the unrestricted right, to make arrangements for the killing of her unborn child whenever such course of action is convenient.
Dogma #2: The chief purpose served by the institution of marriage is the securing of social recognition for romantic attraction, together with the panoply of benefits accruing to such recognition. The begetting of children, together with such subsequent upbringing as will equip them to contribute responsibly to the society in which they will spend their lives, can be dismissed as of  marginal importance. Thus every man, should this be his bent, has the right to marry another man, just as every woman, should she be so disposed, has the right to marry a woman. To suggest otherwise, to imply, for example, that a man's realigning of his reproductive powers to adapt to another man's digestive tract is in any way abnormal is to be guilty of a hate crime, in exculpation of which no appeal to the rights of conscience shall be allowed,  this being an intolerable crime, properly punishable with fines and/or imprisonment.
Dogma #3: The sovereign pontiff in this new state religion is the people's hero, Barack Hussein, now reigning gloriously in the White House.

Dogma #4: Enemy Number One of the new state religion is, by and large, the Christian faith and, with special intransigence, the Catholic Church. Measures must accordingly be taken to compel the recusant authorities of the Roman Catholic faith to genuflect at the new religion's altar. (Thus the new Health and Human Services mandate).

 All of this represents at least one way of looking at President Obama's arrogant trampling upon the First Amendment, not to mention his repudiation of God's Commandments.

If this is the case, I hope that I’m losing that religion come the first Tuesday in November.

h/t: Jerry Breen

Divine Double Vision

Sometimes we ought to appreciate the bigger picture.

C.S. Lewis on Atheism