Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost—13 October AD 2019
Ave Maria!
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Ordinary of the Mass
Mass Text - Latin
Mass Text - English
Decorum (.doc)
One of the great questions in human thought is: “where do things come from?—what is the origin of the world?—what is the origin of life?” For those who lack divine revelation it is tempting to claim that the entire universe and everything in it just existed from eternity. But this “solves” the problem almost by not asking the question! It also introduces some scientific problems. Everything in our experience—every chemical or nuclear reaction eventually ends—reactions proceed to completion; radium turns to lead, hydrogen to helium; the Sun will one day burn itself out—an eternal universe would be a dark and dead universe after all these eons! An eternal universe would have had more than enough time to become a run‑down universe.
But, fortunately for us, God Himself has answered our question about the origin of things. He has revealed reality to us:
In the beginning God created heaven, and earth. And the earth was void and empty, and darkness was upon the face of the deep;
and the spirit of God moved over the waters. ... And God said: Be light made. And light was made. ...[1]God’s universe is a creation of matter, energy, space, and time, all out of nothing. Compared with the fictional, eternal universe, the real universe is relatively new and vital.
God has also revealed the cooperation of His divine Son (called “the Word” or “Logos—λόγος” in Saint John’s Gospel):
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…. All things were made by Him:
and without Him was made nothing that was made.[2]Knowing the origin of all created things in God makes it plain to see that we are utterly dependent on Him—we would have nothing, not even our own selves, if God had not been good enough to create us (and to keep us in existence). With the knowledge of this dependence, God’s Commandment Thou shalt not have strange gods before me,” becomes perfectly reasonable.[3]
But, those who do not know God will find it equally reasonable to be deluded into believing that the universe, with all its power and wonder is divine—they are most likely to mistake creation for its Creator. Indeed, they are likely to imagine divinity in every existing thing (e.g. you, me, the table, the chair, and so on)—this is called “pantheism,” meaning that “all things are ‘god.’” Even more likely, they will make “gods” out of the more visible and wondrous aspects of creation (e.g. the sun; the moon; the earth; the fertility of animals, plants, and people, and so forth). Even the most well intentioned of the un—informed will be drawn to having false “gods” before the true God.
In our own time, liberals have advanced crack-pot ecological theories revolving about the worship of the Earth—as though mother Earth (Gaia—Γαῖα they call her) was a “goddess” equal to God Himself. Indeed Gaia is placed far above the true God, and above man whom God made in His “image and likeness [having] dominion over the fishes … the fowls … the beasts … the creeping creatures that move upon the earth and the whole earth” itself.[4]
Catholics are rightly scandalized that the Vatican opened its “Synod on the Amazon,” precisely with a fertility rite celebrating Gaia (or Pachamama as the “goddess” is known in the Peruvian Amazon! There is about an hour of video.[5] Indeed, all logical people should be scandalized that, simultaneously, the ideological brethren of these ecological crackpots demand that we “save the planet” by restricting the number of our children[6]—or even by eating our children instead of CO2 producing cattle!!![7] They don’t even know if they want fertility or infertility!
The idea of eating your children is most likely a satirical ploy dreamed up here in the U.S. But there is an infanticide problem in the Amazon:
The working document for the “Synod on the Amazon,” portrays the natives as an idyllic people—a people “in touch with the cosmos,” whose culture is as much a source of divine revelation as the Holy Scriptures—a people even without original sin—a people whose difficulties all come from exposure to Western culture.
The truth is quite different! In an article by Edward Pentin, tribal chief, Jonas Marcolino Macux, the chief of the Macuxí tribe holds that the “primitivism” of the tribes is more curse than blessing. The ecology people have made it difficult for the tribes to exploit their local resources for their own economic development. While they have overcome the tradition of cannibalism, poverty has made it more difficult to overcome infanticide—without resources, poor families allow sickly or defective infants to starve to death. Rather than being told how wonderful their condition, the tribes must be let alone so that they can develop a somewhat more modern economy and culture. The tribe’s chief spoke of a “dictatorship” of missionary workers teaching liberation theology that sought to prevent development in the region. [8]
More serious than Western meddling in the Amazon is the possibility that the Synod will make impossible doctrinal alterations for the Amazon people—introducing pagan customs into their liturgy and doctrine, and allowing these modifications to be allowed into Western countries. Allowing the ordination of village elders is doctrinally permissible—ordaining their shaman wives, adopting their ritual, or assimilating their doctrine is absolutely not! It surely must not be spread to other regions!
When the early missionaries came to the Amazon, they encountered people who did not know God or His revelation. They were like the Galatians to whom Paul wrote: “But then indeed, not knowing God, you served them, who, by nature, are not gods.”[9] They went to their false “gods,” but were excused by their ignorance. But many of these people have been exposed to God’s truth and God’s Church—the priestess in the video made the Sign of the Cross when presented to the Pope—they no longer have the excuse of ignorance. Yet, they are not guilty, alone, for their pagan practices—men in red cassocks, and even one in white, encouraged them to deny God’s revelation and holy law.
The Psalmist, King David, wrote: “For all the gods of the Gentiles are devils: but the Lord made the heavens.”[10] “The gods of the Gentiles are devils”—it is our solemn responsibility; the solemn responsibility of all Catholics—to avoid the devil; to avoid those who go to the devil; and, above all, to avoid all those who encourage the worship of the devil!
NOTES:
[1] Genesis i: 1-3 http://www.drbo.org/cgi-bin/d?b=drl&bk=1&ch=1&l=1-#x
[2] John i: 1, 3 http://www.drbo.org/cgi-bin/d?b=drl&bk=50&ch=1&l=1-#x
[3] Exodus xx: 3 http://www.drbo.org/cgi-bin/d?b=drl&bk=2&ch=20&l=3-#x
[4] Genesis i: 26 http://www.drbo.org/cgi-bin/d?b=drl&bk=1&ch=1&l=26-#x
[5] https://www.traditioninaction.org/RevolutionPhotos/A853-Pach.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=26&v=1wioisaIU2I Vatican video
Fertility rite begins about 8:00; Pope receives rings, idols, etc about 13:00[7] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HULW-ODeqLg Probably a spoof, but all satire depends on reality. You can’t make this stuff up ! ! !
[8] http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/amazon-tribal-chief-hopes-the-synod-will-curtail-the-ideology-of-primitivis
[9] Galatians iv:8 http://www.drbo.org/cgi-bin/d?b=drb&bk=55&ch=4&l=8-#x
