Happy New Year!*
O Lord, my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot in your hands (Ps 16:5)
The background of this Psalm verse is the ancient image of the cup containing the lots of each man, and God holding these lots. Yet in this image two different conceptions about the meaning and challenge of time collide, conceptions that even nowadays still determine our struggle for the future.
The pagan world was also familiar with the image of the lots, but with entirely different premises: the world is a game of luck governed by one rule – blind chance. Time, altogether blind, spews out the lots, of this kind and that.
The Bible has fundamentally transformed this frightening image. Indeed, there is the cup with lots, containing winners and losers. But this cup is held “in your hands”, in the hands of eternal Wisdom and eternal Love. This is the indispensible premise that alone can provide for man any hope at all. Because the cup is in his hands, the only losing lot would be the refusal to accept at all the lot from his hands.
The Latin translation of the Bible has conferred on this inexhaustible Psalm verse still greater depth: In your hands, there rests my time. In purely linguistic terms we could also translate: In your hands there rests my temple.
Thus an image arises of ourselves entrusting our head, our temples, to God’s good hands. It also becomes evident that man’s time is not the time reckoned by the revolutions of the sun, the earth, or the moon. Far from it! With man a new center of the world has appeared, a new unit of calculation: a heartbeat, constituting the measure of his existence, even the new measure of all being as such, and the new center of the world.
To draw our existence out of this time, to acknowledge this time as our true time, and out of this awareness to model this world – such is the call of this Psalm verse. The time of the heart is transformed into sunlit time by the fact that our heart does not beat in a vacuum: our heart, conferring rhythm also on our brain and our mind, finds true timing of its beat by putting itself into the hands of him who holds all our time in his hands – into the hands of eternal Wisdom, which is eternal Love and so our only Hope.
And so then, we put this New Year, the new time and our future, into the hands of God: Lord, do accept us, and grant us your blessing!
*Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Co-Workers of the Truth, Meditations for Every Day of the Year, Dec. 31st
Website – http://cinopbegoneblogspot.com or cinops be gone or George H. Kubeck – Dec. 31, 2011
P.S. “The book of Revelation ends with an urgent request: “Come, Lord Jesus!” In a world of problems, persecutions, evil, and immorality, Christ calls us to endure in our faith... “The Best of the Bible – 365 Must-Read Bible Passages – Dec. 31st - Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Wheaton, Illinois, 1996 – The Livingston Corporation.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Friday, December 30, 2011
# 5 of 5 - A Critical Analysis of Just/Faith
#5 of 5 – A Critical Analysis of Just/Faith
The relentless pursuit of the truth – website - cinops be gone – Friday, December 30, 2011
We continue and finish the classic article by William A. Borst in the Mindszenty Report – V. LIII – No. II.
“The Tender Road to Death: cont’d – When married to social justice, notions of equality tilt the playing field in favor of the poor and dissident. Charity quickly becomes the business of politics and not religion. ONE NEED ONLY REFER TO LYNDON JOHNSON’S 1964 WAR ON POVERTY, WHICH VIRTUALLY DESTROYED THE BLACK AMERICAN FAMILY. SINCE 1973 ONE THIRD OF THE NATION’S 50 MILLION ABORTIONS WERE PERFORMED ON BLACK WOMEN.
“Church leaders have cast aside any notions of private property by trumping them with modernist ideas of equality, fairness, and diversity: Social justice has become a government policy that has redistributed resources confiscated from the wealthy who earned them and given to those who did nothing to deserve them in exchange for votes. The Church made no mention of these wholesale violations of the 7th Commandment.
“A Product of the Sixties: A simple knowledge of Church history requires that any Christian articulation of social justice that seeks to hand the poor over to government for dependency and control in antithetical to the concept of justice and the common good. In Quadragesimo Anno, Pius XI related social justice to the necessary set of conditions where each person makes free, non-government-coerced contributions to the common good.
“Social justice according to Pius XI referenced the necessity of private property against the tenets of socialistic thinking because the right of private ownership not only enabled individuals to provide for themselves and their families but also that the goods which the Creator destined for the entire family of mankind…
It mentioned the importance of wealth creation in providing a basis for charity. It warned against arbitrary wage demands, which a business cannot stand without its ruin and consequent calamity to the workers. Pius XI’s definition of social justice included the importance of subsidiary and a return to the moral formation so that people would not confuse freedom to accomplish with passions that have been disordered because of original sin.
“These ideas have apparently been revised. According to Frank Morriss of the Wanderer, the Catholic Church is fast becoming a product of the sixties. He laments the fact that The Catholic Church does not exist to solve your problems. And neither does the government. It is already clear that the U.S. is not going to be able to meet the obligations that it has assumed well into the future.
“There is going to be a great crisis of social democracy in the next 10 years in this country. The proverbial sword of Damocles hangs by an even more frayed thread in Europe. One does not have to be a weatherman to notice that the winds of social change that has been blowing through the Catholic Church’s open windows this past half century have been arguably pushing the Church off its divinely-oriented course.” Contact William A. Borst, Ph.D. at BBPROF@sbcglobal.net
George H. Kubeck
The relentless pursuit of the truth – website - cinops be gone – Friday, December 30, 2011
We continue and finish the classic article by William A. Borst in the Mindszenty Report – V. LIII – No. II.
“The Tender Road to Death: cont’d – When married to social justice, notions of equality tilt the playing field in favor of the poor and dissident. Charity quickly becomes the business of politics and not religion. ONE NEED ONLY REFER TO LYNDON JOHNSON’S 1964 WAR ON POVERTY, WHICH VIRTUALLY DESTROYED THE BLACK AMERICAN FAMILY. SINCE 1973 ONE THIRD OF THE NATION’S 50 MILLION ABORTIONS WERE PERFORMED ON BLACK WOMEN.
“Church leaders have cast aside any notions of private property by trumping them with modernist ideas of equality, fairness, and diversity: Social justice has become a government policy that has redistributed resources confiscated from the wealthy who earned them and given to those who did nothing to deserve them in exchange for votes. The Church made no mention of these wholesale violations of the 7th Commandment.
“A Product of the Sixties: A simple knowledge of Church history requires that any Christian articulation of social justice that seeks to hand the poor over to government for dependency and control in antithetical to the concept of justice and the common good. In Quadragesimo Anno, Pius XI related social justice to the necessary set of conditions where each person makes free, non-government-coerced contributions to the common good.
“Social justice according to Pius XI referenced the necessity of private property against the tenets of socialistic thinking because the right of private ownership not only enabled individuals to provide for themselves and their families but also that the goods which the Creator destined for the entire family of mankind…
It mentioned the importance of wealth creation in providing a basis for charity. It warned against arbitrary wage demands, which a business cannot stand without its ruin and consequent calamity to the workers. Pius XI’s definition of social justice included the importance of subsidiary and a return to the moral formation so that people would not confuse freedom to accomplish with passions that have been disordered because of original sin.
“These ideas have apparently been revised. According to Frank Morriss of the Wanderer, the Catholic Church is fast becoming a product of the sixties. He laments the fact that The Catholic Church does not exist to solve your problems. And neither does the government. It is already clear that the U.S. is not going to be able to meet the obligations that it has assumed well into the future.
“There is going to be a great crisis of social democracy in the next 10 years in this country. The proverbial sword of Damocles hangs by an even more frayed thread in Europe. One does not have to be a weatherman to notice that the winds of social change that has been blowing through the Catholic Church’s open windows this past half century have been arguably pushing the Church off its divinely-oriented course.” Contact William A. Borst, Ph.D. at BBPROF@sbcglobal.net
George H. Kubeck
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Catholic Eye's Disturbing New Analysis
Catholic Eye’s Disturbing News Analysis
In pursuit of the truth – website cinops be gone – Thursday, December 29, 2011
Ref. Catholic Eye is published monthly by the National Committee of Catholic Laymen, Inc. This is issue November 30, 2011, Number # 310. “Last month, HHS again sought to curb religious “overreaching” by abruptly cutting off what had been a five-year funding stream for a national program overseen by the Bishops Conference to aid foreign victims of human trafficking.
Two groups that applied for federal money but had lower scores than USCCB (and another with higher scores) got grants because they provide, HHS put it, the “full range of legally permissible gynecological and obstetric are” – read contraception and abortion… According to the DC Post, since 2006 the USCCB program has received “more than $19 million” (Health, abortion issues split Obama administration and Catholic groups,” Oct. 31).
“Is the Obama Administration ‘At War” with Catholics?” Not really, says Amy Sullivan, the reporter who penned a November 18 Time magazine story bannering that question. The “Adminstration’s relationship with Catholics,” she writes, “seems to suffer more from mismanagement than from any malice.” HHS mismanaged?
One of several self-proclaimed Demo-Catholics who give the Obama government religious cover, [CINOP] Kathleen Sebelius delivered the keynote speech at the 17th Annual Chicago Power Choice luncheon last month. Speaking of political who object to such as her new insurance mandates and reproductive “care” edicts, she had this to say, “They don’t just want to go after the last 18 months, they want to roll back the last 50 years in progress women have made in comprehensive health care in America, We’ve come a long way in women’s health over the last few decades, but we are war. Time should have bannered, “Is President Obama at War with Secretary Sebelius?”
“On November 8, Obama had an Oval Office tete-a-tete with Archbishop Dolan. News of the “private” meeting was leaked to Michael Sean Winter, who reported that “a White House official who spoke with NCR on background ... noted that the Obama administration has robust partnerships with organizations such as Catholic Relief Services and Catholic Charities USA,” and “looks forward to continuing these critical partnerships in the future” (“Obama meets quietly with head of U.S. bishops,” Nov. 12).
“Winters didn’t supply figures but the DC Post story we quoted earlier did: “Catholic groups,” it said, “have received at least $800 million in HHS funding to provide social services since the mid-1990s, including $348 million to the bishops’ conference.” On whose terms, eye wonders, will these “critical partnerships” On whose terms, eye wonders, will these “critical partnerships” be maintained? How long before contraceptive and abortion “care” are required of any federally funded group that aids disaster victims? No way should that have been a “quiet” meeting. [Note the monies involved and how it can influence bishops’ decisions.]
“During a news conference at the opening of the bishops’ annual fall gathering in Baltimore this month (Nov. 14-16) Archbishop Dolan, after telling reporters “we see in our “we see in our culture a drive to neuter religion,” and “well-financed, well-oiled sectors” wanting “to push religion back into the sacristy”- again, pretty muscular rhetoric – spoke of his encounter with Obama… “I write with a growing sense of urgency,” Dolan’s Sept. 20 missive to Obama began “about recent actions taken by your Administration that both escalate the threat to marriage and imperial the religious freedom of those who promote and defend marriage.”*…
George H. Kubeck, *This is one of the topics on the agenda when we meet on the 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month (Jan. 5th - 19th) at McDonald’s Restaurant – 9-10 AM – Valley View below Ball Rd., Cypress, California.
In pursuit of the truth – website cinops be gone – Thursday, December 29, 2011
Ref. Catholic Eye is published monthly by the National Committee of Catholic Laymen, Inc. This is issue November 30, 2011, Number # 310. “Last month, HHS again sought to curb religious “overreaching” by abruptly cutting off what had been a five-year funding stream for a national program overseen by the Bishops Conference to aid foreign victims of human trafficking.
Two groups that applied for federal money but had lower scores than USCCB (and another with higher scores) got grants because they provide, HHS put it, the “full range of legally permissible gynecological and obstetric are” – read contraception and abortion… According to the DC Post, since 2006 the USCCB program has received “more than $19 million” (Health, abortion issues split Obama administration and Catholic groups,” Oct. 31).
“Is the Obama Administration ‘At War” with Catholics?” Not really, says Amy Sullivan, the reporter who penned a November 18 Time magazine story bannering that question. The “Adminstration’s relationship with Catholics,” she writes, “seems to suffer more from mismanagement than from any malice.” HHS mismanaged?
One of several self-proclaimed Demo-Catholics who give the Obama government religious cover, [CINOP] Kathleen Sebelius delivered the keynote speech at the 17th Annual Chicago Power Choice luncheon last month. Speaking of political who object to such as her new insurance mandates and reproductive “care” edicts, she had this to say, “They don’t just want to go after the last 18 months, they want to roll back the last 50 years in progress women have made in comprehensive health care in America, We’ve come a long way in women’s health over the last few decades, but we are war. Time should have bannered, “Is President Obama at War with Secretary Sebelius?”
“On November 8, Obama had an Oval Office tete-a-tete with Archbishop Dolan. News of the “private” meeting was leaked to Michael Sean Winter, who reported that “a White House official who spoke with NCR on background ... noted that the Obama administration has robust partnerships with organizations such as Catholic Relief Services and Catholic Charities USA,” and “looks forward to continuing these critical partnerships in the future” (“Obama meets quietly with head of U.S. bishops,” Nov. 12).
“Winters didn’t supply figures but the DC Post story we quoted earlier did: “Catholic groups,” it said, “have received at least $800 million in HHS funding to provide social services since the mid-1990s, including $348 million to the bishops’ conference.” On whose terms, eye wonders, will these “critical partnerships” On whose terms, eye wonders, will these “critical partnerships” be maintained? How long before contraceptive and abortion “care” are required of any federally funded group that aids disaster victims? No way should that have been a “quiet” meeting. [Note the monies involved and how it can influence bishops’ decisions.]
“During a news conference at the opening of the bishops’ annual fall gathering in Baltimore this month (Nov. 14-16) Archbishop Dolan, after telling reporters “we see in our “we see in our culture a drive to neuter religion,” and “well-financed, well-oiled sectors” wanting “to push religion back into the sacristy”- again, pretty muscular rhetoric – spoke of his encounter with Obama… “I write with a growing sense of urgency,” Dolan’s Sept. 20 missive to Obama began “about recent actions taken by your Administration that both escalate the threat to marriage and imperial the religious freedom of those who promote and defend marriage.”*…
George H. Kubeck, *This is one of the topics on the agenda when we meet on the 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month (Jan. 5th - 19th) at McDonald’s Restaurant – 9-10 AM – Valley View below Ball Rd., Cypress, California.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
The Gospel of Life against the Culture of Death*
The Gospel of Life against the Culture of Death*
Relentless pursuit of the truth – website - cinops be gone – Feast of the Holy Innocents – 12-28-2011
From “Fr. Broom’s Blog”* – Becoming the Voice of the Unborn!!!!!! – Thursday, October 20, 2011
“The unborn child in the womb of the pregnant woman has a right to life, just as anyone of us outside the womb because life begins at the moment of conception. It is Almighty God, the origin and author of life, who has the right to give and the right to end life. Human life, indeed, is sacred from the moment of conception until natural death.
“Pope John Paul II presents a modern Ignatian two standards: the Culture of Death (Satan) and the Gospel of Life. (Jesus, Our Lord and King). Let us stand with courage under the standard of Jesus Our King and defend the unborn life. Let us be the “Voice” of the child, who in the womb cannot be heard. The following are ways to defend the child:
1.) PRAYER! We must storm heaven with our daily prayers. The Hail Mary is especially powerful…
2.) STUDY! As followers of Christ, we should be well-informed by serious study of the topic. The excellent website PRIESTSFORLIFE@org.COM is a superb website with extensive information on abortion and the Pro-life movement. Try it out!
3.) PRAYER IN FRONT OF ABORTION MILLS. Find out where the nearest abortion clinic [site, facility] is to your home and silently protest by praying the Rosary in front. Your prayers might make the difference in enlightening a confused woman to turn around and have her baby.
4.) A PRO-LIFE LICENSE PLATE. Buy a pro-life license plate, with some catchy phrase like: IT IS NOT A CHOICE, IT IS A CHILD.
5.) VOTING. Remember the non-negotiables when you cast your vote at the poll. “Non-negotiable” means these are always intrinsically wrong and immoral. These are Homosexuality, Euthanasia, Contraception, Embryonic experimentation, and ABORTION…
6.) CHASTITY TEACHING! Parents please teach your children the importance of the virtue of chastity. “Blessed are the pure of heart, they will see God.” (Mt. 5:8) Unwanted teen pregnancies, all too often culminate in abortion! …
7.) ADOPTION NOT ABORTION. In cases where a pregnant woman is overwhelmed with the pregnancy and honestly believes that is beyond her capacity to raise the child, then encourage her as a valid option the possibility of ADOPTION. Many good couples, who for painful reason could not have a child, are very serious to adopt a child.
8.) ABORTION, MERCY AND RECONCILIATION. A woman who indeed has carried out an abortion should give in to despair! Rather TRUST in God’s infinite mercy. Confession, forgiveness and reconciliation are always possible. The loving arms of the Father of the Prodigal Son are always open to embrace…forgive.
9.) ULTRA SOUND. For pregnant women who are vacillating over not having the baby, encourage them to visit and have an ULTRASOUND and see the baby… Dr. B. Nathanson was converted by seeing the baby.
10.) THE GREATEST MIRACLE! The greatest miracle is HOLY MASS! Assist at HOLY MASS, participate in HOLY MASS. Offer the chalice and the Host for the unborn baby --- in reparation and prevention. In the Mass, the priest in the “person of Christ” offers the precious Body and Blood of Jesus for the innocent body and blood of the little baby! No greater prayer in the universe can compare to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass --- the “World’s Greatest Miracle”!”…
George H. Kubeck
Relentless pursuit of the truth – website - cinops be gone – Feast of the Holy Innocents – 12-28-2011
From “Fr. Broom’s Blog”* – Becoming the Voice of the Unborn!!!!!! – Thursday, October 20, 2011
“The unborn child in the womb of the pregnant woman has a right to life, just as anyone of us outside the womb because life begins at the moment of conception. It is Almighty God, the origin and author of life, who has the right to give and the right to end life. Human life, indeed, is sacred from the moment of conception until natural death.
“Pope John Paul II presents a modern Ignatian two standards: the Culture of Death (Satan) and the Gospel of Life. (Jesus, Our Lord and King). Let us stand with courage under the standard of Jesus Our King and defend the unborn life. Let us be the “Voice” of the child, who in the womb cannot be heard. The following are ways to defend the child:
1.) PRAYER! We must storm heaven with our daily prayers. The Hail Mary is especially powerful…
2.) STUDY! As followers of Christ, we should be well-informed by serious study of the topic. The excellent website PRIESTSFORLIFE@org.COM is a superb website with extensive information on abortion and the Pro-life movement. Try it out!
3.) PRAYER IN FRONT OF ABORTION MILLS. Find out where the nearest abortion clinic [site, facility] is to your home and silently protest by praying the Rosary in front. Your prayers might make the difference in enlightening a confused woman to turn around and have her baby.
4.) A PRO-LIFE LICENSE PLATE. Buy a pro-life license plate, with some catchy phrase like: IT IS NOT A CHOICE, IT IS A CHILD.
5.) VOTING. Remember the non-negotiables when you cast your vote at the poll. “Non-negotiable” means these are always intrinsically wrong and immoral. These are Homosexuality, Euthanasia, Contraception, Embryonic experimentation, and ABORTION…
6.) CHASTITY TEACHING! Parents please teach your children the importance of the virtue of chastity. “Blessed are the pure of heart, they will see God.” (Mt. 5:8) Unwanted teen pregnancies, all too often culminate in abortion! …
7.) ADOPTION NOT ABORTION. In cases where a pregnant woman is overwhelmed with the pregnancy and honestly believes that is beyond her capacity to raise the child, then encourage her as a valid option the possibility of ADOPTION. Many good couples, who for painful reason could not have a child, are very serious to adopt a child.
8.) ABORTION, MERCY AND RECONCILIATION. A woman who indeed has carried out an abortion should give in to despair! Rather TRUST in God’s infinite mercy. Confession, forgiveness and reconciliation are always possible. The loving arms of the Father of the Prodigal Son are always open to embrace…forgive.
9.) ULTRA SOUND. For pregnant women who are vacillating over not having the baby, encourage them to visit and have an ULTRASOUND and see the baby… Dr. B. Nathanson was converted by seeing the baby.
10.) THE GREATEST MIRACLE! The greatest miracle is HOLY MASS! Assist at HOLY MASS, participate in HOLY MASS. Offer the chalice and the Host for the unborn baby --- in reparation and prevention. In the Mass, the priest in the “person of Christ” offers the precious Body and Blood of Jesus for the innocent body and blood of the little baby! No greater prayer in the universe can compare to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass --- the “World’s Greatest Miracle”!”…
George H. Kubeck
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
'Seizing the Center" Myth
‘Seizing the Center’ Myth
By Thomas Sowell, Orange County Register, Orange County, Calif., Wed., Nov. 30, 2011
Talk show host Michael Medved, for example, apparently thinks the Republicans need a centrist presidential candidate in 2012. He said, “Most political battles are won by seizing the center.” Moreover, he added: “Anyone who believes otherwise ignores the electoral experience of the last 50 years.”
But when did Ronald Reagan, with this two landslide election victories, “seize the center”? For that matter, when did Franklin D. Roosevelt, with a record four presidential election victories, “seize the center”?
There have been a long string of Republican presidential candidates who seized the center – and lost elections. Thomas E. Dewey, for examples, seized the center against Harry Truman in 1948. Even though Truman was so unpopular at the outset that the “New Republic” magazine urged him not to run, and polls consistently had Dewey ahead. Truman clearly stood for something… That turned out to be enough to beat Dewey, who simply stood in the center…
It is equally doubtful that most people who voted for Ronald Reagan in his two landslide victories agreed with all this positions. But they agreed with enough of them to put him in the White House to replace Jimmy Carter, who stood in the center, even if it was only a center of confusion.
President Gerald Ford, after narrowly beating off Ronald Reagan … seized the center in the general election – and lost to an initially almost totally unknown governor from Georgia…
More recently, we have seen two more Republican candidates who seized the center – Senators Bob Dole in 1996 and John McCain in 2008 – go down to defeat…
Michael Medved, however, reads history differently. To him, Barry Goldwater got clobbered in the 1964 elections because of his strong conservatism. But did his opponent, Lyndon Johnson, seize the center? Johnson was at least as far to the left as Goldwater was to the right…
Senator Goldwater was not crazy enough to start a nuclear war. But the way he talked sometimes made it seem as if he were. Ronald Reagan would later be elected and reelected taking positions essentially the same as those on which Barry Goldwater lost big time. Reagan was simply a lot better at articulating his beliefs.
Michael Medved uses the 2008 defeat of Tea Party candidates for the Senate, in 3 states where Democrats were Democrats were vulnerable, as another argument against those who do not court the center. But these were candidates whose political ineptness was the problem, not conservativism. Candidates should certainly reach out to a broad electorate. But the question is whether they reach out by promoting their own principles to others or by trying to be all things to all people.
George H. Kubeck, www.cinopsbegone.com – Tuesday, December 27, 2011
P.S. The respected writer Thomas Sowell is supporting Newt Gingrich. I may do likewise. I sent monies first to Michelle Bachmann and then to Herman Cain. Ideally, popular conservative & pro-life governor of Louisiana Bobby Jindal would beat Romney in most state primaries. He would set the base on fire.
By Thomas Sowell, Orange County Register, Orange County, Calif., Wed., Nov. 30, 2011
Talk show host Michael Medved, for example, apparently thinks the Republicans need a centrist presidential candidate in 2012. He said, “Most political battles are won by seizing the center.” Moreover, he added: “Anyone who believes otherwise ignores the electoral experience of the last 50 years.”
But when did Ronald Reagan, with this two landslide election victories, “seize the center”? For that matter, when did Franklin D. Roosevelt, with a record four presidential election victories, “seize the center”?
There have been a long string of Republican presidential candidates who seized the center – and lost elections. Thomas E. Dewey, for examples, seized the center against Harry Truman in 1948. Even though Truman was so unpopular at the outset that the “New Republic” magazine urged him not to run, and polls consistently had Dewey ahead. Truman clearly stood for something… That turned out to be enough to beat Dewey, who simply stood in the center…
It is equally doubtful that most people who voted for Ronald Reagan in his two landslide victories agreed with all this positions. But they agreed with enough of them to put him in the White House to replace Jimmy Carter, who stood in the center, even if it was only a center of confusion.
President Gerald Ford, after narrowly beating off Ronald Reagan … seized the center in the general election – and lost to an initially almost totally unknown governor from Georgia…
More recently, we have seen two more Republican candidates who seized the center – Senators Bob Dole in 1996 and John McCain in 2008 – go down to defeat…
Michael Medved, however, reads history differently. To him, Barry Goldwater got clobbered in the 1964 elections because of his strong conservatism. But did his opponent, Lyndon Johnson, seize the center? Johnson was at least as far to the left as Goldwater was to the right…
Senator Goldwater was not crazy enough to start a nuclear war. But the way he talked sometimes made it seem as if he were. Ronald Reagan would later be elected and reelected taking positions essentially the same as those on which Barry Goldwater lost big time. Reagan was simply a lot better at articulating his beliefs.
Michael Medved uses the 2008 defeat of Tea Party candidates for the Senate, in 3 states where Democrats were Democrats were vulnerable, as another argument against those who do not court the center. But these were candidates whose political ineptness was the problem, not conservativism. Candidates should certainly reach out to a broad electorate. But the question is whether they reach out by promoting their own principles to others or by trying to be all things to all people.
George H. Kubeck, www.cinopsbegone.com – Tuesday, December 27, 2011
P.S. The respected writer Thomas Sowell is supporting Newt Gingrich. I may do likewise. I sent monies first to Michelle Bachmann and then to Herman Cain. Ideally, popular conservative & pro-life governor of Louisiana Bobby Jindal would beat Romney in most state primaries. He would set the base on fire.
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Merry Christmas*
Merry Christmas*
The Word became flesh. Alongside this Johannine truth there has to be put also the Marian truth as rendered by Luke. God has become flesh. This is not only an immensely great and remote happening; it is something very close and human.
God became a child who needed a mother. He became a child, someone born with tears on his cheeks, whose first utterance is a cry for help, who first gesture consists in outstretched arms searching for protection. God became a child.
Nowadays we also hear it said, in contrast, that this, after all, would be nothing but a sentimentality better put aside. Yet the New Testament thinks differently.
For the Faith of the Bible and the Church, it is important that God desire to be such a creature who has to depend a mother, on the sheltering love of humans. He wished to be dependent in order in order to awaken in us love that purifies and redeems. God became a child, and every child is dependent.
To be a child thus contains already the theme of the search for shelter, the elementary motif of Christmas. And how many variations has this motif seen in our history! In our days we experience this anew and in disturbing ways: the child knocks on the doors of our world. The child is knocking. This search for shelter is profound.
There is indeed an atmosphere of hostility toward children, but is this not preceded by an attitude that altogether bars any child from entering this world because there would be no more room for him?
The child knocks. If we would receive him we are to rethink thoroughly our own attitude toward human life.
Here we are dealing with fundamentals, with our very concept of what it means to be human: to live in grandiose selfishness or in confident freedom that knows its vocation to be united in love, to be free to accept one another.
*Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, “Co-Workers of the Truth” – Dec. 24th – Meditations for Every Day of the Year, 1992, Ignatius Press, San Francisco
George H. Kubeck, Saturday, December 24, 2011 – www.cinopsbegone.com
The Word became flesh. Alongside this Johannine truth there has to be put also the Marian truth as rendered by Luke. God has become flesh. This is not only an immensely great and remote happening; it is something very close and human.
God became a child who needed a mother. He became a child, someone born with tears on his cheeks, whose first utterance is a cry for help, who first gesture consists in outstretched arms searching for protection. God became a child.
Nowadays we also hear it said, in contrast, that this, after all, would be nothing but a sentimentality better put aside. Yet the New Testament thinks differently.
For the Faith of the Bible and the Church, it is important that God desire to be such a creature who has to depend a mother, on the sheltering love of humans. He wished to be dependent in order in order to awaken in us love that purifies and redeems. God became a child, and every child is dependent.
To be a child thus contains already the theme of the search for shelter, the elementary motif of Christmas. And how many variations has this motif seen in our history! In our days we experience this anew and in disturbing ways: the child knocks on the doors of our world. The child is knocking. This search for shelter is profound.
There is indeed an atmosphere of hostility toward children, but is this not preceded by an attitude that altogether bars any child from entering this world because there would be no more room for him?
The child knocks. If we would receive him we are to rethink thoroughly our own attitude toward human life.
Here we are dealing with fundamentals, with our very concept of what it means to be human: to live in grandiose selfishness or in confident freedom that knows its vocation to be united in love, to be free to accept one another.
*Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, “Co-Workers of the Truth” – Dec. 24th – Meditations for Every Day of the Year, 1992, Ignatius Press, San Francisco
George H. Kubeck, Saturday, December 24, 2011 – www.cinopsbegone.com
Friday, December 23, 2011
Feast of the Holy Innocents (2)
Feast of the Holy Innocents (2)
Procession and Eucharistic Celebration
Please join us in Prayer for the Unborn at Two Locations
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
7 pm to 9 pm
1.)Our Lady of Guadalupe Church
900 W. La Habra Blvd. La Habra, 90631
7:00 pm – Candlelight Process. From City Hall, 221 E. La Habra (E. Euclid)
7:30 pm – Eucharistic Celebration at Our Lady of Guadalupe
*Celebrant: Bishop Dominic Luong -
8:30 pm - Refreshments in Msgr. Coleman Center
2.) Sacred Heart Church
43-775 Deep Canyon Rd., Palm Desert, California
7:00 pm - Candlelight Procession from Christ of the Desert Chapel
(Neuman Center) - 73-441 Fred Warning Dr.
7:30 pm - Eucharistic Celebration at Sacred Heart
8:30 pm - Refreshments in St. Theresa Meeting Room
For info: Bob Kurtz at 714-447-9281, Mecki 714-871-5382 or Jeanne 760-275-6543
In Memoriam: The late Illinois Congressman, Henry Hyde, a strong pro-life supporter said: “When the time comes, as it surely will, when we face that awesome moment, the final judgment, I’ve often thought, as Fulton Sheen wrote, that it is a terrible moment of loneliness. You have no advocates, you are there alone standing before God – and a terror will rip your soul like nothing you can imagine. But I really think that those in the pro-life movement will not be alone. I think there’ll be a chorus of voices that have never been heard in this world, but are heard beautifully and clearly in the next world – and they will plead for everyone who has been in this movement. They will say to God, “SPARE HIM, BECAUSE HE LOVED US.”
www.cinopsbegone.com - Friday, December 23, 2011
Procession and Eucharistic Celebration
Please join us in Prayer for the Unborn at Two Locations
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
7 pm to 9 pm
1.)Our Lady of Guadalupe Church
900 W. La Habra Blvd. La Habra, 90631
7:00 pm – Candlelight Process. From City Hall, 221 E. La Habra (E. Euclid)
7:30 pm – Eucharistic Celebration at Our Lady of Guadalupe
*Celebrant: Bishop Dominic Luong -
8:30 pm - Refreshments in Msgr. Coleman Center
2.) Sacred Heart Church
43-775 Deep Canyon Rd., Palm Desert, California
7:00 pm - Candlelight Procession from Christ of the Desert Chapel
(Neuman Center) - 73-441 Fred Warning Dr.
7:30 pm - Eucharistic Celebration at Sacred Heart
8:30 pm - Refreshments in St. Theresa Meeting Room
For info: Bob Kurtz at 714-447-9281, Mecki 714-871-5382 or Jeanne 760-275-6543
In Memoriam: The late Illinois Congressman, Henry Hyde, a strong pro-life supporter said: “When the time comes, as it surely will, when we face that awesome moment, the final judgment, I’ve often thought, as Fulton Sheen wrote, that it is a terrible moment of loneliness. You have no advocates, you are there alone standing before God – and a terror will rip your soul like nothing you can imagine. But I really think that those in the pro-life movement will not be alone. I think there’ll be a chorus of voices that have never been heard in this world, but are heard beautifully and clearly in the next world – and they will plead for everyone who has been in this movement. They will say to God, “SPARE HIM, BECAUSE HE LOVED US.”
www.cinopsbegone.com - Friday, December 23, 2011
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