Remember man, that thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return.

Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of the solemn season of Lent.

Ash Wednesday is a day of fasting and abstinence. That means only one full meal and no meat today for healthy adult Catholics. Go ahead and try it if you have not taken your obligations seriously for a few years. It is amazing how even a little self-imposed privation focuses the mind and the soul.

You are under no obligation to keep your cross of ashes on your forehead all day, but go ahead and do it. It is a great conversation starter and who knows, you might interest someone in The One, True Faith.

But be careful, kiddies. Catholics publicly practicing The Faith really pisses some people off. Big time.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Season of Lent. It is a season of penance, reflection, and fasting which prepares us for Christ's Resurrection on Easter Sunday, through which we attain redemption.

Why we receive the ashes

Following the example of the Nine vites, who did penance in sackcloth and ashes, our foreheads are marked with ashes to humble our hearts and reminds us that life passes away on Earth. We remember this when we are told:

"Remember, Man is dust, and unto dust you shall return."

Ashes are a symbol of penance made sacramental by the blessing of the Church, and they help us develop a spirit of humility and sacrifice.

The distribution of ashes comes from a ceremony of ages past. Christians who had committed grave faults performed public penance. On Ash Wednesday, the Bishop blessed the hair shirts which they were to wear during the forty days of penance, and sprinkled over them ashes made from the palms from the previous year. Then, while the faithful recited the Seven Penitential Psalms, the penitents were turned out of the church because of their sins -- just as Adam, the first man, was turned out of Paradise because of his disobedience. The penitents did not enter the church again until Maundy Thursday after having won reconciliation by the toil of forty days' penance and sacramental absolution. Later, all Christians, whether public or secret penitents, came to receive ashes out of devotion. In earlier times, the distribution of ashes was followed by a penitential procession.

The Ashes

The ashes are made from the blessed palms used in the Palm Sunday celebration of the previous year. The ashes are christened with Holy Water and are scented by exposure to incense. While the ashes symbolize penance and contrition, they are also a reminder that God is gracious and merciful to those who call on Him with repentant hearts. His Divine mercy is of utmost importance during the season of Lent, and the Church calls on us to seek that mercy during the entire Lenten season with reflection, prayer and penance.

Fasting and Abstinence

It is a traditional doctrine of Christian spirituality that a constituent part of repentance, of turning away from sin and back to God, includes some form of penance, without which the Christian is unlikely to remain on the narrow path and be saved (Jer. 18:11, 25:5; Ez. 18:30, 33:11-15; Joel 2:12; Mt. 3:2; Mt. 4:17; Acts 2:38). Christ Himself said that His disciples would fast once He had departed (Lk. 5:35). The general law of penance, therefore, is part of the law of God for man.

The Church for her part has specified certain forms of penance, both to ensure that the Catholic will do something, as required by divine law, while making it easy for Catholics to fulfill the obligation. Thus, the 1983 Code of Canon Law specifies the obligations of Latin Rite Catholics [Eastern Rite Catholics have their own penitential practices as specified by the Code of Canons for the Eastern Churches].

Canon 1250
All Fridays through the year and the time of Lent are penitential days and times throughout the entire Church.

Canon 1251
Abstinence from eating meat or another food according to the prescriptions of the conference of bishops is to be observed on Fridays throughout the year unless they are solemnities; abstinence and fast are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and on the Friday of the Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Canon 1252
All persons who have completed their fourteenth year are bound by the law of abstinence; all adults are bound by the law of fast up to the beginning of their sixtieth year. Nevertheless, pastors and parents are to see to it that minors who are not bound by the law of fast and abstinence are educated in an authentic sense of penance.

Canon 1253
It is for the conference of bishops to determine more precisely the observance of fast and abstinence and to substitute in whole or in part for fast and abstinence other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety.

The Church, therefore, has two forms of official penitential practices - three if the Eucharistic fast of one hour before Communion is included.

Abstinence

The law of abstinence requires a Catholic 14 years of age until death to abstain from eating meat on Fridays in honor of the Passion of Jesus on Good Friday. Meat is considered to be the flesh and organs of mammals and fowl. Also forbidden are soups or gravies made from them. Salt and freshwater species of fish, amphibians, reptiles and shellfish are permitted, as are animal derived products such as margarine and gelatin which do not have any meat taste.

On the Fridays outside of Lent the U.S. bishops conference obtained the permission of the Holy See for Catholics in the US to substitute a penitential, or even a charitable, practice of their own choosing. They must do some penitential/charitable practice on these Fridays. For most people the easiest practice to consistently fulfill will be the traditional one, to abstain from meat on all Fridays of the year. During Lent abstinence from meat on Fridays is obligatory in the United States as elsewhere.

Fasting

The law of fasting requires a Catholic from the 18th Birthday [Canon 97] to the 59th Birthday [i.e. the beginning of the 60th year, a year which will be completed on the 60th birthday] to reduce the amount of food eaten from normal. The Church defines this as one meal a day, and two smaller meals which if added together would not exceed the main meal in quantity. Such fasting is obligatory on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. The fast is broken by eating between meals and by drinks which could be considered food (milk shakes, but not milk). Alcoholic beverages do not break the fast; however, they seem to be contrary to the spirit of doing penance.

Those who are excused from fast or abstinence

Besides those outside the age limits, those of unsound mind, the sick, the frail, pregnant or nursing women according to need for meat or nourishment, manual laborers according to need, guests at a meal who cannot excuse themselves without giving great offense or causing enmity and other situations of moral or physical impossibility to observe the penitential discipline.

Aside from these minimum penitential requirements Catholics are encouraged to impose some personal penance on themselves at other times. It could be modeled after abstinence and fasting. A person could, for example, multiply the number of days they abstain. Some people give up meat entirely for religious motives (as opposed to those who give it up for health or other motives). Some religious orders, as a penance, never eat meat. Similarly, one could multiply the number of days that one fasted. The early Church had a practice of a Wednesday and Saturday fast. This fast could be the same as the Church's law (one main meal and two smaller ones) or stricter, even bread and water. Such freely chosen fasting could also consist in giving up something one enjoys - candy, soft drinks, smoking, that cocktail before supper, and so on. This is left to the individual.

One final consideration. Before all else we are obliged to perform the duties of our state in life. Any deprivation that would seriously hinder us in carrying out our work, as students, employees or parents would be contrary to the will of God.

---- Colin B. Donovan, STL

Saint of the Day and daily Mass readings.

Today is Ash Wednesday. Today is also the Feast of St. Rudesind, Benedictine abbot and bishop. Pray for us, all you angels and saints.


Today's first reading for Ash Wednesday is Joel 2:12-18.
Today's second reading is 2 Corinthians 5:20; 6:2.
Today's Responsorial Psalm is Psalms 51:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14, 17.
Today's Gospel reading is Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18.


[Links to the readings will be from the NAB until I can find another chapter and verse searchable Douay-Rheims Bible on-line.]


Everyday links:

The Blessed Virgin Mary
The Rosary
Our Mother of Perpetual Help
Prayers from EWTN
National Coalition of Clergy and Laity (dedicated to action for a genuine Catholic Restoration)
The Catholic Calendar Page for Today


Just in case you are wondering what exactly Catholics believe, here is

The Apostles Creed

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son Our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.He descended into Hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Amen.


Memorare

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that any one who fled to thy protection, implored thy help or sought thy intercession,was left unaided.Inspired with this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins my Mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful; O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy clemency hear and answer me. Amen.


St. Joseph, her most chaste spouse, pray for us.


Prayer to St. Anthony, Martyr of Desire

Dear St. Anthony, you became a Franciscan with the hope of shedding your blood for Christ. In God's plan for you, your thirst for martyrdom was never to be satisfied. St. Anthony, Martyr of Desire, pray that I may become less afraid to stand up and be counted as a follower of the Lord Jesus. Intercede also for my other intentions. (Name them.)


PRAYER TO SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil; may God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the divine power, thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

The Theology of the Body: 44. Gospel Values and Duties of the Human Heart

In his General Audience of 15 October 1980, the Holy Father continued his analysis of "adultery in the heart" by distinguishing condemnation of lust from a condemnation of the body.



Gospel Values and Duties of the Human Heart

On Wednesday, 15 October, the Holy Father delivered the following message to the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square for the weekly audience.


1. During our Wednesday meetings, we have analyzed in detail the words of the Sermon on the Mount, in which Christ referred to the human heart. As we now know, his words are exacting. Christ said: "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Mt 5:27-28). This reference to the heart throws light on the dimension of human interiority, the dimension of the inner man, characteristic of ethics, and even more of the theology of the body. Desire rises in the sphere of the lust of the flesh. It is at the same time an interior and theological reality, which is experienced, in a way, by every "historical" man. And it is precisely this man—even if he does not know the words of Christ—who continually asks himself the question about his own heart. Christ's words make this question especially explicit: is the heart accused, or is it called to good? Toward the end of our reflections and analyses we now intend to consider this question, connected with the sentence of the Gospel, so concise and yet categorical at the same time, so pregnant with theological, anthropological, and ethical content.

A second question goes hand in hand with it, a more practical one: how can and must he act, the man who accepts Christ's words in the Sermon on the Mount, the man who accepts the ethos of the Gospel, and, in particular, accepts it in this field?

Ethos of human practice

2. This man finds in the considerations made up to now the answer, at least an indirect one, to two questions. How can he act, that is, on what can he rely in his inner self, at the source of his interior or exterior acts? Furthermore, how should he act, that is, in what way do the values known according to the scale revealed in the Sermon on the Mount constitute a duty of his will and his heart, of his desires and his choices? In what way are they binding on him in action and behavior, if, accepted by means of knowledge, they already commit him in thinking and, in a certain way, in feeling? These questions are significant for human praxis, and indicate an organic connection of praxis itself with those. Lived morality is always the ethos of human practice.

Moral sensitivity

3. It is possible to answer the aforesaid questions in various ways. In fact, various answers are given, both in the past and today. This is confirmed by an ample literature. In addition to the answers we find in it, it is necessary to consider the infinite number of answers that concrete man gives to these questions by himself, the ones that his conscience, his awareness and moral sensitivity give repeatedly, in the life of everyone. In this sphere an interpenetration of ethos and praxis is carried out. Here the individual principles live their own life (not exclusively "theoretical"). This not only concerns the norms of morality with their motivations which are worked out and made known by moralists. It also concerns the ones worked out—certainly not without a link with the work of moralists and scientists—by individual men, as authors and direct subjects of real morality, as co-authors of its history. On this the level of morality itself also depends, its progress or its decadence. All this reconfirms, everywhere and always, that historical man to whom Christ once spoke. He proclaimed the good news of the Gospel with the Sermon on the Mount, where he said among other things: "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Mt 5:27-28).

Need for further analyses

4. Matthew's enunciation is stupendously concise in comparison with everything that has been written on this subject in secular literature. Perhaps its power in the history of ethos consists precisely in this. At the same time it must be realized that the history of ethos flows in a multiform bed, in which the individual currents draw nearer to, or move further away from, one another in turn. Historical man always evaluates his own heart in his own way, just as he also judges his own body. So he passes from the pole of pessimism to the pole of optimism, from puritan severity to modern permissiveness. It is necessary to realize this, in order that the ethos of the Sermon on the Mount may always have due transparency with regard to human actions and behavior. For this purpose it is necessary to make some more analyses.

Words misunderstood

5. Our reflections on the meaning of the words of Christ according to Matthew 5:27-28 would not be complete if they did not dwell—at least briefly—on what can be called the echo of these words in the history of human thought and of the evaluation of ethos. The echo is always a transformation of the voice and of the words that the voice expresses. We know from experience that this transformation is sometimes full of mysterious fascination. In the case in question, the opposite happened. Christ's words have been stripped of their simplicity and depth. A meaning has been conferred far removed from the one expressed in them, a meaning that even contradicts them. We have in mind here all that happened outside Christianity under the name of Manichaeism,(1) and that also tried to enter the ground of Christianity as regards theology itself and the ethos of the body. Manichaeism arose in the East outside the biblical environment and sprang from Mazdeistic dualism. It is well known that, in its original form, Manichaeism saw the source of evil in matter, in the body, and therefore condemned everything that is corporeal in man. Since corporeity is manifested in man mainly through sex, the condemnation was extended to marriage and to conjugal life, as well as to other spheres of being and acting in which corporeity is expressed.

Affirmation of the body

6. To an unaccustomed ear, the evident severity of that system might seem in harmony with the severe words of Matthew 5:29-30, in which Christ spoke of "plucking out one's eye" or "cutting off one's hand," if these members were the cause of scandal. Through the purely material interpretation of these expressions, it was also possible to obtain a Manichaean view of Christ's enunciation, in which he spoke of a man who has "committed adultery in his heart...by looking at a woman lustfully." In this case, too, the Manichaean interpretation aims at condemning the body, as the real source of evil, since the ontological principle of evil, according to Manichaeism, is concealed and at the same time manifested in it. The attempt was made, therefore, to see this condemnation in the Gospel, and sometimes it was perceived, where actually only a particular requirement addressed to the human spirit had been expressed.

Note that the condemnation might—and may always be—a loophole to avoid the requirements set in the Gospel by him who "knew what was in man" (Jn 2:25). History has no lack of proofs. We have already partially had the opportunity (and we will certainly have it again) to show to what extent such a requirement may arise solely from an affirmation—and not from a denial or a condemnation—if it has to lead to an affirmation that is even more mature and deep, objectively and subjectively. The words of Christ according to Matthew 5:27-28 must lead to such an affirmation of the femininity and masculinity of the human being, as the personal dimension of "being a body." This is the right ethical meaning of these words. They impress on the pages of the Gospel a peculiar dimension of ethos in order to impress it subsequently on human life.

We will try to take up this subject again in our further reflections.

NOTE

1) Manichaeism contains and brings to maturation the characteristic elements of all gnosis, that is, the dualism of two coeternal and radically opposed principles and the concept of a salvation which is realized only through knowledge (gnosis) or self-understanding. In the whole Manichaean myth there is only one hero and only one situation which is always repeated: the fallen soul is imprisoned in matter and is liberated by knowledge.

The present historical situation is negative for man, because it is a provisional and abnormal mixture of spirit and matter, good and evil, which presupposes a prior, original state, in which the two substances were separate and independent. There are, therefore, three "Times": initium, or the original separation; the medium, that is, the present mixture; and the finis, which consists in return to the original division, in salvation, implying a complete break between Spirit and Matter.

Matter is, fundamentally, concupiscence, an evil instinct for pleasure, the instinct of death, comparable, if not identical, with sexual desire, libido. It is a force that tries to attack Light; it is disorderly movement, bestial, brutal and semiconscious desire.

Adam and Eve were begotten by two demons; our species was born from a series of repelling acts of cannibalism and sexuality and keeps signs of this diabolical origin, which are the body, which is the animal form of the "Archons of hell" and libido, which drives man to copulate and reproduce himself, that is, to keep his luminous soul always in prison.

If he wants to be saved, man must try to liberate his "living self" (nous) from the flesh and from the body. Since Matter has its supreme expression in concupiscence, the capital sin lies in sexual union (fornication), which is brutality and bestiality, and makes men instruments and accomplices of Evil for procreation.

The elect constitute the group of the perfect, whose virtue has an ascetic characteristic, practicing the abstinence commanded by the three "seals": the "seal of the mouth" forbids all blasphemy and also commands fasting, and abstention from meat, blood, wine and all alcoholic drinks; the "seal of the hands" commands respect of the life (the "Light") enclosed in bodies, in seeds, in trees, and forbids the gathering of fruit, the tearing up of plants, the taking of the life of men and of animals; the "seal of the womb" prescribes total continence.
Cf. H. Ch. Puech: Le Manicheisme; son fondateur—sa doctrine (Paris: Musée Guimet, LVI, 1949), pp. 73-88; H. Ch. Puech, Le Manichéisme, "Histoire des Religions," Encyclopédie de la Pleiade II (Gallimard: 1972), pp. 522-645; J. Ties, "Manichéisme," Catholicisme hier, aujourd'hui, demain, Vol. 34 (Lille: Letouzey-Ané, 1977), pp. 314-320).

The Theology of the Body: 43. Interpreting the Concept of Concupiscence

In his General Audience of 8 October 1980, the Holy Father concluded his analysis of adultery in the heart, by observing that it is an attitude of a man toward a woman (or vice versa) which reduces the communion of persons to satisfaction of an instinct. One may be guilty of this attitude towards one's own spouse.


Interpreting the Concept of Concupiscence

During the weekly General Audience in St. Peter's Square, on 8 October, the Holy Father concluded his treatment of the theme of "adultery in the heart".



1. Today I wish to conclude the analysis of the words spoken by Christ in the Sermon on the Mount about adultery and lust, and especially the last element of this enunciation, in which "lust of the eyes" is defined specifically as "adultery committed in the heart."

We have already seen that the above-mentioned words are usually understood as desire for another's wife (that is, according to the spirit of the ninth commandment of the Decalogue). However, it seems that this interpretation—a more restrictive one—can and must be widened in the light of the total context. The moral evaluation of lust (of looking lustfully), which Christ called adultery committed in the heart, seems to depend above all on the personal dignity itself of man and of woman. This holds true both for those who are not united in marriage, and—perhaps even more—for those who are husband and wife.

Need to amplify

2. The analysis which we have made so far of Matthew 5:27-28 indicates the necessity of amplifying and above all deepening the interpretation presented previously, with regard to the ethical meaning that this enunciation contains. "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Let us dwell on the situation described by the Master, a situation in which the one who commits adultery in his heart by means of an interior act of lust (expressed by the look) is the man. It is significant that in speaking of the object of this act, Christ did not stress that it is "another man's wife," or a woman who is not his own wife, but says generically, a woman. Adultery committed in the heart is not circumscribed in the limits of the interpersonal relationship which make it possible to determine adultery committed in the body. It is not these limits that decide exclusively and essentially about adultery committed in the heart, but the very nature of lust. It is expressed in this case by a look, that is, by the fact that that man—of whom Christ speaks, for the sake of example—looks lustfully. Adultery in the heart is committed not only because man looks in this way at a woman who is not his wife, but precisely because he looks at a woman in this way. Even if he looked in this way at the woman who is his wife, he could likewise commit adultery in his heart.

To satisfy his own instinct

3. This interpretation seems to take into consideratiion more amply what has been said about lust in these analyses as a whole, and primarily about the lust of the flesh as a permanent element of man's sinfulness (status naturae lapsae). The lust which, as an interior act, springs from this basis (as we tried to indicate in the preceding analyses) changes the very intentionality of the woman's existence "for" man. It reduces the riches of the perennial call to the communion of persons, the riches of the deep attractiveness of masculinity and femininity, to mere satisfaction of the sexual need of the body (the concept of "instinct" seems to be linked more closely with this). As a result of this reduction, the person (in this case, the woman) becomes for the other person (the man) mainly the object of the potential satisfaction of his own sexual need. In this way, that mutual "for" is distorted, losing its character of communion of persons in favor of the utilitarian function. A man who looks in this way, as Matthew 5:27-28 indicates, uses the woman, her femininity, to satisfy his own instinct. Although he does not do so with an exterior act, he has already assumed this attitude deep down, inwardly deciding in this way with regard to a given woman. This is what adultery committed in the heart consists of. Man can commit this adultery in the heart also with regard to his own wife, if he treats her only as an object to satisfy instinct.

Better interpretation

4. It is not possible to arrive at the second interpretation of Matthew 5:27-28, if we confine ourselves to the purely psychological interpretation of lust without taking into account what constitutes its specific theological character, that is, the organic relationship between lust (as an act) and the lust of the flesh as a permanent disposition derived from man's sinfulness. The purely psychological (or "sexological") interpretation of lust does not seem to constitute a sufficient basis to understand the text of the Sermon on the Mount in question. On the other hand, if we refer to the theological interpretation—without underestimating what remains unchangeable in the first interpretation (the psychological one)—the second interpretation (the theological one) appears to us as more complete. Thanks to it, the ethical meaning of the key enunciation of the Sermon on the Mount, to which we owe the adequate dimension of the ethos of the Gospel, becomes clearer.

Fulfillment in the heart

5. Sketching this dimension, Christ remains faithful to the law: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them" (Mt 5:17). Consequently he shows how deep down it is necessary to go, how the recesses of the human heart must be thoroughly revealed, in order that this heart may become a place of "fulfillment" of the law. The enunciation of Matthew 5:27-28, which makes manifest the interior perspective of adultery committed in the heart—and in this perspective points out the right ways to fulfill the commandment: "Do not commit adultery"—is an extraordinary argument of it. This enunciation (Mt 5:27-28) refers, in fact, to the sphere which especially concerns purity of heart (cf. Mt 5:8) (an expression which—.as is known—has a wide meaning in the Bible). Elsewhere, too, we will consider in what way the commandment "Do not commit adultery"—which, as regards the way in which it is expressed and the content, is a univocal and severe prohibition (like the commandment, "You shall not covet your neighbor's wife", Ex 20:17)—is carried out precisely by means of purity of heart. The severity and strength of the prohibition are testified to directly by the following words of the Sermon on the Mount, in which Christ spoke figuratively of "plucking out one's eye" and "cutting off one's hand," if these members were the cause of sin (cf. Mt 5:29-30). We have already seen that the legislation of the Old Testament, though abounding in severe punishments, did not contribute to "fulfill the law," because its casuistry was marked by many compromises with the lust of the flesh. On the contrary, Christ taught that the commandment is carried out through purity of heart. This is not given to man except at the cost of firmness with regard to everything that springs from the lust of the flesh. Whoever is able to demand consistently from his heart and from his body, acquires purity of heart.

Two become one flesh

6. The commandment "Do not commit adultery" finds its rightful motivation in the indissolubility of marriage. In it, man and woman, by virtue of the original plan of the Creator, unite in such a way that "the two become one flesh" (cf. Gn 2:24). By its essence, adultery conflicts with this unity, in the sense in which this unity corresponds to the dignity of persons. Christ not only confirms this essential ethical meaning of the commandment, but aims at strengthening it in the depth of the human person. The new dimension of ethos is always connected with the revelation of that depth, which is called "heart," and with its liberation from lust. This is in order that man, male and female, in all the interior truth of the mutual "for," may shine forth more fully in that heart. Freed from the constraint and from the impairment of the spirit that the lust of the flesh brings with it, the human being, male and female, finds himself mutually in the freedom of the gift. This gift is the condition of all life together in truth, and, in particular, in the freedom of mutual giving. Both husband and wife must form the sacramental unity willed, as Genesis 2:24 says, by the Creator himself .

Mutual relationship

7. As is plain, the necessity which, in the Sermon on the Mount, Christ placed on all his actual and potential listeners, belongs to the interior space in which man—precisely the one who is listening to him—must perceive anew the lost fullness of his humanity, and want to regain it. That fullness in the mutual relationship of persons, of the man and of the woman, was claimed by the Master in Matthew 5:27-28. He had in mind above all the indissolubility of marriage, but also every other form of the common life of men and women, that common life which constitutes the pure and simple fabric of existence. By its nature, human life is "coeducative." Its dignity and balance depend, at every moment of history and at every point of geographical longitude and latitude, on who she will be for him, and he for her.

The words spoken by Christ in the Sermon on the Mount have certainly this universal and at the same time profound significance. Only in this way can they be understood in the mouth of him who knew thoroughly "what was in man," and who, at the same time, bore within him the mystery of the "redemption of the body," as St. Paul puts it. Are we to fear the severity of these words, or rather have confidence in their salvific content, in their power?

In any case, the analysis carried out of the words spoken by Christ in the Sermon on the Mount opens the way to further indispensable reflections in order to reach full awareness of historical man, and above all of modern man: of his conscience and he for her.

24's Body Count Update.

From Right Wing Nuthouse:

BODY COUNT

Jack was shut out this week but, good news! I counted 10 dead at the mall but Jack was kind enough to inform us that the actual death toll was 11 so add one more there. Plus, the terrorists took out 2 cops and 2 SS (That's Secret Service, kiddies. Not Schutzstaffel. - F.G.) men while Aaron shot one terrorist and immolated the other.

Yeah, what was the deal with the flamethrower? Are they portraying those who hate the Russians as dopes?

JACK: 12
SHOW: 60

By: Rick Moran at 11:01 am

The Religion of Peace and Love opens yet another front in The Great Cartoon War of '06.

ABOVE: Pro-Semite propaganda. (So let me get this straight. If Jerry is the clever Jew, does that make the bumbling Tom Sgt. Schultz? Or maybe...Uncle Tom!)

BELOW: Tom and Jerry in happier times.



Walt Disney was Jewish? Oy vey!

Anyway, don't these goat-rapists have anything better to do? Like blow themselves up, for instance.

And how sick do you have to be to see evil plots in kiddies' cartoons?

Nota Bene: All italics below are mine. They are there to help you spot the looney.

Tom and Jewry
The jihad against cartoons of the prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, was only the start. The Middle East Media Research Institute transcribes a lecture by Hasan Bolkhari, "a cultural advisor to the Iranian Education Ministry," that appeared on Iranian television:


There is a cartoon that children like. They like it very much, and so do adults--"Tom and Jerry." . . .

Some say that this creation by Walt Disney [sic] will be remembered forever. The Jewish Walt Disney Co. gained international fame with this cartoon. It is still shown throughout the world. This cartoon maintains its status because of the cute antics of the cat and mouse--especially the mouse.

Some say that the main reason for making this very appealing cartoon was to erase a certain derogatory term that was prevalent in Europe. . . .

If you study European history, you will see who was the main power in hoarding money and wealth in the 19th century. In most cases, it is the Jews. Perhaps that was one of the reasons which caused Hitler to begin the anti-Semitic trend, and then the extensive propaganda about the crematoria began. . . . Some of this is true. We do not deny all of it.

Watch "Schindler's List." Every Jew was forced to wear yellow star on his clothing. The Jews were degraded and termed "dirty mice." "Tom and Jerry" was made in order to change the Europeans' perception of mice. . . .

It should be noted that mice are very cunning . . . and dirty. . . .

No ethnic group or people operates in such a clandestine manner as the Jews. . . .

Read the history of the Jews in Europe. This ultimately led to Hitler's hatred and resentment. . . .

"Tom and Jerry" was made in order to display the exact opposite image. If you happen to watch this cartoon tomorrow, bear in mind the points I have just raised, and watch it from this perspective. The mouse is very clever and smart. Everything he does is so cute. He kicks the poor cat's ass. Yet this cruelty does not make you despise the mouse. He looks so nice, and he is so clever. . . . This is exactly why some say it was meant to erase this image of mice from the minds of European children, and to show that the mouse is not dirty and has these traits. Unfortunately, we have many such cases in Hollywood shows.


One wonders what he would make of "The Ducktators." (Thanks to BotWT for the heads up.)

Yet another "Jacques Brel is dead and in Hell"* moment from the looney left.

Death Becomes Her

Bernard-Henri Lévy, a left-wing though philo-American French author, pens "A Letter to the American Left," which appears in The Nation. Blogger Thomas Lifson notes this Lévy plaint:


Why haven't we heard from more intellectuals like Susan Sontag . . .?


The answer, of course, is the same reason we haven't heard from dead white males like Plato, Shakespeare and Tocqueville. Susan Sontag died in 2004. (Thanks to Best of the Web Today for the heads up.)

* Huh?

You wouldn't understand. It's a black thing.

From Best of the Web Today:

At Least Their Robes Are Black
Here's a curious observation from an article in the Toronto Globe and Mail about the U.S. Supreme Court's taking up a partial-birth abortion case:


Activists who oppose abortion rights are hoping Mr. Bush's choice of two conservative, white, middle-aged male jurists--John Roberts, the court's new Chief Justice, and Samuel Alito, who replaced the centrist, swing-voter Sandra Day O'Connor--will herald the end to all legal forms of abortion in the United States.


The mention of Roberts's and Alito's age and sex is odd enough, but what could their race possibly have to do with abortion?

If the Globe and Mail knew that abortion is de facto black genocide from the left, there might be some twisted racist answer. My guess? In Globe and Mail Land, Bush is pure evil.

Lies, damned lies, "statistics", and the antique media.

The Good News Is the Bad News Is Wrong
Have you noticed how, at least when a Republican is in the White House, economic news almost always seems to be bad news? When in doubt, it seems, the journalists just make stuff up. This is from a Reuters dispatch last week:


Employers are having difficulty finding the right people to fill jobs despite high unemployment in Europe and the United States, a survey by U.S.-based staffing firm Manpower showed Tuesday.


In fact, unemployment in the U.S. was just 4.7% in January, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, whereas rates in Western Europe routinely run twice that. Meanwhile, check out this Associated Press dispatch:


After the booming 1990s when incomes and stock prices were soaring, this decade has been less of a thrill ride for most American families.

Average incomes after adjusting for inflation actually fell from 2001 to 2004, and the growth in net worth was the weakest in a decade, the Federal Reserve reported Thursday. . . .

The median family income, the point where half the families made more and half made less, rose a tiny 1.6 percent to $43,200 in 2004 compared with 2001.


But if the average income fell while the median income rose, that almost certainly means that incomes were falling at the top while rising at the bottom. If the opposite had happened, of course, the AP would doubtless have told an alarming story of increasing income inequality. (Thanks to Best of the Web Today for the heads up. All italics are mine and are used to separate the wheat from the chaff.)

The War on Wal-Mart continues apace.

Who suffers when Wal-Mart is forced to raise prices by left-fascists? The poor and working class folks who shop there. (News Flash! Leftists drive SUVs and shop at Ikea.)

From Brendan Miniter at OpinionJournal:

With the war on Wal-Mart now heating up in nearly three dozen state legislatures, I put a call in to someone who was in on the ground floor in pushing to force the retailer to spend more on health care for its employees. What Maryland's Delegate James Hubbard, a Democrat from Prince George's County, had to say was revealing of both why he backed his state's "Wal-Mart bill" and what this fight is really about: expanding Medicaid and other taxpayer-funded health-care entitlements.

Let's first understand that the drive to enact anti-Wal-Mart legislation has very little to do with the retail giant except in two respects: dipping into its very deep pockets, and using the controversy surrounding the company to mask the larger agenda of expanding already-bankrupt entitlement programs. Of course, in this war legislators have a ready made ally in the AFL-CIO, which has its own reasons for going after the nonunionized company.

With that, let's turn to Mr. Hubbard. He began our conversation by pointing out that the Wal-Mart bill--which forces companies with more than 10,000 employees to spend at least 8% of their payroll on health care or pay the state the difference--was always intended to be just the first step. Four years ago, he made his intentions clear by introducing legislation to increase cigarette taxes and to use the tax code to compel employers to provide health insurance. Under his legislation the revenue from these taxes would be dumped into a new state fund that would then be used to expand Medicaid eligibility to families with incomes up to 300% of the poverty line (up from 200% now). But even in a legislature with large Democratic majorities, his bill stalled.

So Mr. Hubbard and others settled on a new approach--pushing through smaller, bite-sized pieces. The first piece was the Wal-Mart bill. It passed last year and was enacted last month, when the Legislature overrode Gov. Robert Ehrlich's veto. Two weeks ago Mr. Hubbard was at it again, this time introducing a new bill to mandate that companies with at least 1,000 employees spend 4.5% of their payroll on health care or pay the state the difference. Once this piece is in place, Mr. Hubbard told me, the next step will be to create a similar mandate--perhaps 2% or 3%--for companies with fewer than 1,000 employees. Each year, Mr. Hubbard hopes to expand the mandate to include ever smaller companies with the ultimate goal of "health coverage for all Marylanders."

Mr. Hubbard noted how effective splitting the difference can be in moving legislation toward a larger goal. "If you give up 80% of what you want to get 20%," he said, "after five years you will have nothing left to give up." Mr. Hubbard also noted a quirk in the system that made raising taxes and expanding the Medicaid rolls attractive. With the federal government paying half or more of every dollar spent on Medicaid, states were essentially leaving federal dollars on the table by not expanding the program.

If the folks at Wal-Mart were smart, they would claim the NSA is listening to their phone calls.

The War on Jews in France.

From Nidra Poller in OpinionJournal:

Two weeks ago a 23-year-old man initially identified as "Ilan" was found by a passerby stumbling in a field near the railroad tracks in the Essonne region south of Paris. Handcuffed, naked, with four-fifths of his body covered with bruises, stab wounds and serious burns, Ilan died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.

Soon after, police provided more details. The victim had been kidnapped Jan. 20 and held for 24 days by a gang from the banlieues, the poor suburban projects that ring the French capital, who eluded capture while repeatedly contacting Ilan's family with ransom demands. The police suspect the group was involved in other kidnapping attempts in the past two months that used young women as bait. Several of the targeted men worked, as Ilan did, in the small cell phone shops along Boulevard Voltaire in the mixed 11th arrondissement of Paris. In another case, a suspicious father replaced his son for a meeting with a girl who claimed to be a singer, and fell into the hands of masked men who tried to capture him but ran away when someone called the police.

Throughout Ilan's disappearance, the police handled his case as a straightforward kidnap for ransom. The discovery of his body, bearing signs of barbaric torture over an extended period of time, raised serious doubts about this hypothesis. Later, a policeman admitted to the press that he and his colleagues were baffled by the gang's erratic behavior. Ransom demands went up to 400,000 euros, dropped to 100,000 euros one day, 5,000 euros another. The kidnappers called off several pickup arrangements, acting like amateurs, but were highly sophisticated in using untraceable emails and cell phones.

Yet one detail was consistently played down by the investigators and missing from the early media reporting on the killing. The victim, whose full name is Ilan Halimi, was Jewish. Most of the men targeted in other kidnapping attempts were Jewish. Most members of the gang who allegedly carried out the crime are Muslims, whose families come from the Maghreb or sub-Saharan Africa and live in the very sort of neighborhoods that went up in flames during three weeks of nationwide rioting last fall.

From The Death of Art Department: Sobran on Pollocks. (Fake and faker)

ABOVE: "Lavender Mist". (Apparently, that Pollock guy was quite the joker.) None dare call it kafkaesque.


(Note: The link above will take you to Joe's current on-line column. The archive is here. Not all of his past columns are available in the archive.)

LEFT: "Genius at work"? or "Oops, that's gonna leave a stain"?

A new controversy is rocking the art world to its foundations. Using sophisticated computer analysis, a physicist has concluded that some paintings attributed to Jackson Pollock are fakes.

The very concept of a fake Pollock is mind-boggling. It boggles my mind, anyway, and my mind is pretty hard to boggle. Many have tried, and a few have startled or puzzled it briefly, but few have actually boggled it.

I believe it was an original Pollock, one of those freestyle drip jobs he became famous for, that first inspired the philistine comment, “My kindergartner can do better than that!” This brings us to the nub of the problem. Can sophisticated computer analysis distinguish between a genuine Pollock and the product of a kindergartner?

Heehee.

A devilishly difficult question. Before you answer it, consider that Pollock, assuming he was right-handed, may have done some of his work with his left hand, just to confound the critics and future computer analysts. But for convenience, let’s posit that all his genuine works were done with the same hand. Let’s also posit that distinguishing between his genuine works and fakes isn’t just a waste of time.

Despite his towering reputation in the art world, I think even his most ardent admirers would concede that draftsmanship wasn’t Pollock’s long suit. Like many others, he may have chosen to pursue a career in serious art only after reluctantly realizing he lacked the skill to succeed as a cartoonist.

If so, it may have been a fortunate decision. Just when computer graphics seemed to be making the cartoon obsolete, this venerable art form is causing more riots than all the great Parisian artists put together. Nobody ever says of a cartoon, “My kindergartner could inspire bigger riots than that!” And when it comes to rioting, kindergartners are no slouches.

All too true.

And of course if Pollock had ever painted anything that looked like anything, he would have been ignored and forgotten like so many other talented artists. But he fortunately understood that he occupied a curious niche in the world of art: he was that rare individual who lacked any artistic ability whatsoever, but was able to spell his own name. The world was his oyster.

Heehee.

Modern art criticism is remarkable for the disappearance of a word that used to dominate the discussion of art: skill. It was more or less taken for granted that an artist needed the elementary skill to draw a catlike cat. If he could draw a naked woman, so much the better.

Pollock got into the art business at a time of radical change, when even nudity was out of fashion. In the age of photography, Rubens would be unemployed, not to mention Cezanne. Innovative artists had to come up with something fresher than such tired themes as unclad women and bowls of ripe fruit.

Pollock came up with a hot one: action painting. The artist no longer had to sit down and copy something with approximate accuracy; no models were necessary. He could still meet girls and achieve celebrity, but painting ceased to be a sedentary activity. All you needed was enough vigor to splash paint on the canvas. Theoretically, even a blind man could do it.

In an important sense, then, Pollock was an artist for the era of equal opportunity. Anyone could sneer, “My kindergartner can do better than that!” But considering Pollock’s success, a more thoughtful response to his work would be, “I’m in the wrong business!”

Democratic art! (Small "d", kiddies.)

Pollock’s work is a standing rebuke to any fool who has finished college, acquired useful skills, gotten a job, and shown up for work day after day, year after year, in constant dread of displeasing the boss and getting fired. An action painter needs far less ability than, say, a house painter. I’ve never heard of a struggling young house painter in a garret, but even the most successful house painters don’t win international fame, enjoy posthumous glory, and have movies made about them.

Exactly right. Personally, I have too much pride to become an action painter. I'm going to win the lottery and achieve the same thing, albeit with my dignity intact.

To the naked eye, an action painting, in contrast to a painting of a naked woman, may not appear self-explanatory. This perhaps is why Pollock seems to have put more thought into the titles of his works than into the works themselves. As we honor his achievements today, we can be grateful that he didn’t title any of his paintings “Mohammed.”

Supreme Court Sides With Pro-Life Demonstrators!

It's about time. The attempted corruption of the RICO statute by Big Babykilling is over. RICO can now be used as it was intended - to put my idiot criminal Italian cousins (and other racketeers) behind bars.

(CNSNews.com) - A law designed to combat drug dealers and organized crime may not be used against peaceful protesters on public property near abortion clinics, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday.

The justices ruled unanimously (Can it be, kiddies? Is there really hope for Ginsburg and Stevens? Nah. I'm guessing blind squirrel and broken watch. - F.G.) that the actions of pro-life demonstrators fall outside the scope of the federal Hobbs Act -- and therefore, the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statute cannot be used against them.

"This is a major victory for the pro-life community and removes a cloud that has been hanging over pro-life demonstrators for years," said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), which represented Operation Rescue, the defendant in one of the racketeering cases brought by the National Organization for Women.
Full Story

Introducing Senator Token.

Even if he champions Blasphemy, Buggery, and 'Bortion, Mr. "Osama Obama" (Thanks to Senator Murder for that one.) doesn't have a chance of winning the Democrass nomination for president anytime soon. Want a reason that doesn't rhyme with "spitlery"? It is helpful for the Ds to have a black US Senator so all the white US Senators in their party can be photographed taking him seriously.

Want another? Check out the following story. It appears he wants to be thought of as an "idea" politician. Not a smart move when you live on the lockstep plantation.


Democrat Advocates National Energy Independence
In News This Hour from CNSNews.com:

Sen. Barack Obama, the Illinois Democrat who was mentioned as a someday-presidential-hopeful as soon as he was elected to the Senate, plans to deliver a "major speech on energy" on Tuesday. Obama will address the Governors' Ethanol Coalition at the winter meeting of the National Governors Association. His speech will "focus on a plan to make America independent of risky foreign sources of oil," a press release said. Obama's remarks will follow those of U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman. Obama is advocating a national project to achieve energy independence within a decade, as outlined by the Apollo Alliance, a coalition of business, labor, community and environmental leaders.

Meanwhile, at the sight of another future war...

Taiwanese Leader Scraps 'China Unification' Committee
(CNSNews.com) - Taiwan's president has scrapped a committee set up 16 years ago to work towards the island nation's eventual reunification with the communist mainland. Chinese media predicted the move would "fuel tensions" across the Taiwan Strait. Full Story

Teaport Dome Scandal Update.

Dubai Ports Company Boycotts Israel
(CNSNews.com) - The parent company of Dubai Ports World participates in the Arab boycott against Israel, the Jerusalem Post reported on Tuesday. US law bars firms from cooperating with attempts by Arab governments to boycott Israel. Read News on the Web

Democrats Use Port Deal to Strike Back at Republicans
(CNSNews.com) - Democrats are now suggesting that the Bush administration is weak on national security for approving a deal that would allow a Dubai-owned company to manage some of the terminals at six major U.S. ports. Full Story

From Drudge:

WIRE: Opposition to UAE port firm takeover seen as racist...

Cohen: Pay attention: W right on Dubai...

Bush: Ports deal not a security threat...

COAST GUARD RAISED CONCERNS ABOUT PORTS DEAL...


Two from Pat Buchanan:
Should we discriminate on ports deal? You bet!

"This Dubai port deal has unleashed a kind of collective mania we haven't seen in decades ... a xenophobic tsunami," wails a keening David Brooks. "A nativist, isolationist mass hysteria is ... here."

The New York Times columnist obviously regards the nation's splenetic response to news that control of our East Coast ports had been sold to Arab sheiks as wildly irrational. In witness whereof, he quotes Philip Damas of Drewry Shipping Consultants: "The location of a company in the age of globalism is irrelevant."

Dumbass. "Let them eat globalism".

But irrelevant to whom?

Why is it irrelevant, in a war against Arab and Islamic terrorists, to question the transfer of control of our East Coast ports from Great Britain to the United Arab Emirates?

I'm pretty sure Pat knows the answer to this one. If you refuse to fight it like a war, is it really a war?

Our cosmopolitan Brooks lives in another country. He has left the America of blood and soil, shaken the dust from his sandals, to enter the new Davos world of the Global Economy, where nationality does not matter, and where fundamentalists and flag-wavers of all faiths are the real enemies of progress toward the wonderful future these globalists have in store for us.
"God must love Hamas and Moktada Al-Sadr," snorts Brooks. "He has given them the America First brigades of Capitol Hill."

To Brooks, there is little distinction between Islamic mobs burning Danish consulates and America First patriots protesting some insider's deal to surrender control of American ports to Arab sheiks.

But the reflexive recoil to this transaction between transnationals is a manifestation of national mental health. The American people have not yet been over-educated into the higher stupidity. Common sense still trumps ideology here. Globalism has not yet triumphed over patriotism. Rather than take risks with national security, Americans will accept a pinch of racial profiling. Yep, the old America lives.


When Bush-worlds collide
While the father remained ever skeptical of "the vision thing," the son has several visions to guide his presidency.

The first might be called Davos World.

Icky. And you thought EuroDisney was bad....

It is a globalist and utopian vision. In it, mankind, following the Bush principles and policies of free trade and open borders, advances inexorably to the new world of interconnectedness and interdependence. It is a world where the old concerns about rust belts and trade deficits do not matter. For it makes no difference where goods are produced, as we are all integrating into a Global Economy.

The second vision is grimmer. It might be called Neocon World.

This is the world we entered on Sept. 11, a world of good vs. evil, where "Islamofascism" threatens us all and "Axis of Evil" nations endlessly pursue weapons of mass destruction to give al-Qaida to attack us. It is a world where a "mushroom cloud" hangs over our cities and a "war president" needs the Patriot Act and the right to eavesdrop on overseas phone calls and e-mails to protect us from shoe bombers, subway bombers, mall bombers. It is a world of color-coded terror alerts and eternal vigilance, for we are in the "long war" that may last 70 years, the end of which must be "to end tyranny on the earth." For only then can America be secure.

What is wrong with these visions is that neither is rooted wholly in reality.
Both are based in part on a preconceived ideology. Both are intellectual constructs. Moreover, they collide. And there is no place where they collide more directly than at America's borders.

In Davos World, it makes no difference if Dubai sheiks buy the British business that runs U.S. ports. But to Middle Americans, who believe all those warnings about mushroom clouds, the idea that U.S. ports would be run by Arabs seems to border on insanity.

EXACTLY! Amen to that, Brother!

Website of the Day.

It's jcsgirls.com, a Christian attempt to reach folks in the employ of Big Masturbation and the men who are its customers. Their mission:

Our whole goal when we began was simply to get the message out to people in the sex industry that when they are ready to come to God, he will not turn his back on them. This is still our goal…so this means that even if a girl never enters the door of a church, a huge accomplishment has been achieved in helping her get the message that God forgives no matter what she has done! God is using us to get this message out way faster than we anticipated.

The girls went to the AVN show (For you good little boys and girls out there who wouldn't know.) in Las Vegas:

WE survived Vegas!
01-09-2006

OK, the weekend was so Great. It is hard for me to expain just how great it was. It really showed me that God was in control because I just could not have asked for a better experience. We gave out over 200 bibles that we wrapped inside t-shirts that said holyhottie, these where all personally brought up by us girls to the porn stars. We told the girls who we were and then told them that we would like to help them find a church where they could go and not feel judged while they began to explore a relationship with God. The girls where so nice and supportive of our ministry. We did not have one bad experience NOT one! We even decided to walk over to the gay section and give out t-shirts and bibles to the guys. They were so exited and we ended up needing to take another trip because they wanted more bibles. Then they found our booth and told us that they wanted more because not everyone recieved a bible in there section :) We where brought over to booths by male pornstars who wanted us to give bibles to the female stars. Everything that happend was so shocking to be honast because I just didnt expect such huge a support. Once again God has blown my mind! Ok now I can talk about media..WOW , we were swamped between canadian tv,german tv, CNN, The London Observer, and of course our favorite film maker Bill Day, we also were doing many interviews for the people in the industry that would approch us and ask us for a interveiw. So if you here me on the radio or see me on T.V. and I sound like a man dont worry I have not had a sex change I just lost my voice. I really want to thank all of you for all of your prayers I know that God did a amazing thing this weekend and all of you that were praying were such a huge part of that. To all the new friends that we made this weekend WE LOVE YOU ! God Bless ! ! Heather

This is an excellent approach to dismantling Big Masturbation, attacking it from both the supply and the demand side. Getting these people to "a church" is only a first step. Eventually, people caught up in this nonsense (from either end) must be confronted with the fact that what they are doing is sinful.

Yes, ladies, Jesus is Love. But he is also Justice. On the whole, it is best not to wait until you are on your deathbed (or until your looks fail you, for that matter) to repent and confess.

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, a Day of Fasting and Abstinence.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Season of Lent. It is a season of penance, reflection, and fasting which prepares us for Christ's Resurrection on Easter Sunday, through which we attain redemption.

Why we receive the ashes

Following the example of the Nine vites, who did penance in sackcloth and ashes, our foreheads are marked with ashes to humble our hearts and reminds us that life passes away on Earth. We remember this when we are told:

"Remember, Man is dust, and unto dust you shall return."

Ashes are a symbol of penance made sacramental by the blessing of the Church, and they help us develop a spirit of humility and sacrifice.

The distribution of ashes comes from a ceremony of ages past. Christians who had committed grave faults performed public penance. On Ash Wednesday, the Bishop blessed the hair shirts which they were to wear during the forty days of penance, and sprinkled over them ashes made from the palms from the previous year. Then, while the faithful recited the Seven Penitential Psalms, the penitents were turned out of the church because of their sins -- just as Adam, the first man, was turned out of Paradise because of his disobedience. The penitents did not enter the church again until Maundy Thursday after having won reconciliation by the toil of forty days' penance and sacramental absolution. Later, all Christians, whether public or secret penitents, came to receive ashes out of devotion. In earlier times, the distribution of ashes was followed by a penitential procession.

The Ashes

The ashes are made from the blessed palms used in the Palm Sunday celebration of the previous year. The ashes are christened with Holy Water and are scented by exposure to incense. While the ashes symbolize penance and contrition, they are also a reminder that God is gracious and merciful to those who call on Him with repentant hearts. His Divine mercy is of utmost importance during the season of Lent, and the Church calls on us to seek that mercy during the entire Lenten season with reflection, prayer and penance.

Fasting and Abstinence

It is a traditional doctrine of Christian spirituality that a constituent part of repentance, of turning away from sin and back to God, includes some form of penance, without which the Christian is unlikely to remain on the narrow path and be saved (Jer. 18:11, 25:5; Ez. 18:30, 33:11-15; Joel 2:12; Mt. 3:2; Mt. 4:17; Acts 2:38). Christ Himself said that His disciples would fast once He had departed (Lk. 5:35). The general law of penance, therefore, is part of the law of God for man.

The Church for her part has specified certain forms of penance, both to ensure that the Catholic will do something, as required by divine law, while making it easy for Catholics to fulfill the obligation. Thus, the 1983 Code of Canon Law specifies the obligations of Latin Rite Catholics [Eastern Rite Catholics have their own penitential practices as specified by the Code of Canons for the Eastern Churches].


Canon 1250
All Fridays through the year and the time of Lent are penitential days and times throughout the entire Church.

Canon 1251
Abstinence from eating meat or another food according to the prescriptions of the conference of bishops is to be observed on Fridays throughout the year unless they are solemnities; abstinence and fast are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and on the Friday of the Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Canon 1252
All persons who have completed their fourteenth year are bound by the law of abstinence; all adults are bound by the law of fast up to the beginning of their sixtieth year. Nevertheless, pastors and parents are to see to it that minors who are not bound by the law of fast and abstinence are educated in an authentic sense of penance.

Canon 1253
It is for the conference of bishops to determine more precisely the observance of fast and abstinence and to substitute in whole or in part for fast and abstinence other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety.


The Church, therefore, has two forms of official penitential practices - three if the Eucharistic fast of one hour before Communion is included.

Abstinence

The law of abstinence requires a Catholic 14 years of age until death to abstain from eating meat on Fridays in honor of the Passion of Jesus on Good Friday. Meat is considered to be the flesh and organs of mammals and fowl. Also forbidden are soups or gravies made from them. Salt and freshwater species of fish, amphibians, reptiles and shellfish are permitted, as are animal derived products such as margarine and gelatin which do not have any meat taste.

On the Fridays outside of Lent the U.S. bishops conference obtained the permission of the Holy See for Catholics in the US to substitute a penitential, or even a charitable, practice of their own choosing. They must do some penitential/charitable practice on these Fridays. For most people the easiest practice to consistently fulfill will be the traditional one, to abstain from meat on all Fridays of the year. During Lent abstinence from meat on Fridays is obligatory in the United States as elsewhere.

Fasting

The law of fasting requires a Catholic from the 18th Birthday [Canon 97] to the 59th Birthday [i.e. the beginning of the 60th year, a year which will be completed on the 60th birthday] to reduce the amount of food eaten from normal. The Church defines this as one meal a day, and two smaller meals which if added together would not exceed the main meal in quantity. Such fasting is obligatory on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. The fast is broken by eating between meals and by drinks which could be considered food (milk shakes, but not milk). Alcoholic beverages do not break the fast; however, they seem to be contrary to the spirit of doing penance.

Those who are excused from fast or abstinence

Besides those outside the age limits, those of unsound mind, the sick, the frail, pregnant or nursing women according to need for meat or nourishment, manual laborers according to need, guests at a meal who cannot excuse themselves without giving great offense or causing enmity and other situations of moral or physical impossibility to observe the penitential discipline.

Aside from these minimum penitential requirements Catholics are encouraged to impose some personal penance on themselves at other times. It could be modeled after abstinence and fasting. A person could, for example, multiply the number of days they abstain. Some people give up meat entirely for religious motives (as opposed to those who give it up for health or other motives). Some religious orders, as a penance, never eat meat. Similarly, one could multiply the number of days that one fasted. The early Church had a practice of a Wednesday and Saturday fast. This fast could be the same as the Church's law (one main meal and two smaller ones) or stricter, even bread and water. Such freely chosen fasting could also consist in giving up something one enjoys - candy, soft drinks, smoking, that cocktail before supper, and so on. This is left to the individual.

One final consideration. Before all else we are obliged to perform the duties of our state in life. Any deprivation that would seriously hinder us in carrying out our work, as students, employees or parents would be contrary to the will of God.

---- Colin B. Donovan, STL

Those folks on the Gulf Coast are our neighbors. You know what to do.

First, last, and always, PRAY. Pray for the survivors. Pray for the repose of the souls of those who were killed. Pray for the families and friends. Pray for the relief workers, the cops, the firemen, the troops, and the technicians. Pray for the volunteers.

It is time to step up once again, kiddies. "Do unto others", "I was naked and you clothed me", et cetera.

As time passes, the memory of these disasters will fade for those of us fortunate enough to live outside the devastated areas, but recovery and restoration will take years.

Please, whatever you do, don't become a cynic. (I know, I know. But I just play one on the computer.) Of course there will be more horror stories like the abuse of the debit cards and that $250-odd billion federal package will produce insane amounts of corruption, but our fellow Americans will be suffering from Katrina for a long time.

True charity, (News Flash! Taxes ARE NOT charity.) like the money you donate to Catholic Charities will help the truly needy and will not foster dependency.

Catholic Charities USA is collecting financial donations to Catholic Charities agencies’ emergency and long-term recovery efforts in the wake of both Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita. Catholic Charities USA is consistently ranked among the highest and most efficient organizations across the country. Approximately 96 percent of contributions made to the 2005 Hurricane Relief Fund will be used for emergency response and recovery efforts.

Mail Checks To:
Catholic Charities USA
2005 Hurricane Relief Fund
PO Box 25168
Alexandria, VA 22313-9788

Call:(800) 919-9338

Contribute Now Online


News
2/22/2006 — Catholic Charities Network Helps 300,000 Victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita
2/21/2006 — Volunteers with Catholic Charities’ Operation Helping Hands Clean Up Homes of Hurricane Victims in New Orleans
More news...


FAQs
FAQ - Donations
FAQ - Hurricane Relief


Agencies Impacted:
Catholic Charities of Miami
Catholic Charities of New Orleans
Catholic Community Services of Baton Rouge
Catholic Social Services of Houma-Thibodaux
Catholic Social and Community Services of Biloxi, MS
Catholic Charities of Jackson, MS
Catholic Social Services of Mobile, AL

How you can help:
Unfortunately, Catholic Charities USA is unable to accept contributions of food, clothing, blankets and other relief supplies. Monetary donations will be used to provide for the emergency relief and long-term recovery of Katrina's and Rita's victims. Catholic Charities USA is consistently ranked among the highest and most efficient organizations across the country. Approximately 96 percent of contributions made to the 2005 Hurricane Relief Fund will be used for emergency response and recovery efforts.

About the Disaster Response Office
Catholic Charities USA, which has been commissioned by the U.S. Catholic Bishops to represent the Catholic community in times of domestic disaster, responds with emergency and long-term assistance as needed. Its Disaster Response Office connects the Church's social service agencies and disaster planning offices across the nation.

And, as always, give generously to the special collections for hurricance disaster relief in your local parish.

Saint of the Day and daily Mass readings.

Today is the Feast of St. Romanus of Condat, monk and hermit. Along with his brother, St. Lupicinus, and his sister, he founded abbeys and convents. Pray for us, all you angels and saints.

Today's reading is 1 Peter 1:10-16.
Today's Responsorial Psalm is Psalms 98:1, 2-3, 3-4.
Today's Gospel reading is Mark 10:28-31.


[Links to the readings will be from the NAB until I can find another chapter and verse searchable Douay-Rheims Bible on-line.]


Everyday links:

The Blessed Virgin Mary
The Rosary
Our Mother of Perpetual Help
Prayers from EWTN
National Coalition of Clergy and Laity (dedicated to action for a genuine Catholic Restoration)
The Catholic Calendar Page for Today


Just in case you are wondering what exactly Catholics believe, here is

The Apostles Creed

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son Our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.He descended into Hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Amen.


Memorare

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that any one who fled to thy protection, implored thy help or sought thy intercession,was left unaided.Inspired with this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins my Mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful; O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy clemency hear and answer me. Amen.


St. Joseph, her most chaste spouse, pray for us.


Prayer to St. Anthony, Martyr of Desire

Dear St. Anthony, you became a Franciscan with the hope of shedding your blood for Christ. In God's plan for you, your thirst for martyrdom was never to be satisfied. St. Anthony, Martyr of Desire, pray that I may become less afraid to stand up and be counted as a follower of the Lord Jesus. Intercede also for my other intentions. (Name them.)

PRAYER TO SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil; may God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the divine power, thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

Belated '24' Body Count Update.

I forgot last week's. So sue me.

From Right Wing Nuthouse:

BODY COUNT

A bad hour for terrorists and traitors. Ivan’s boys off two of Nathanson’s cohorts. Ivan himself gets whacked. Ditto Nathanson but not before taking one terrorist with him to hell. Jack adds two notches to the old gun.

JACK: 12
SHOW: 53

Long time reader Bill emailed me and pointed out I included the suicide of the baggage inspector in the body count from week one. Rather than take a body off our Blood-O-Meter, I have added two more suicides – Walt’s and the terrorist from last week.

It Takes A Village To Staff A Gestapo Unit Update.

Sen. Clinton says Rove 'obsesses' about her

And he keeps putting notes in her locker too!

Zamboni.

The I Wanna Drive A Zamboni Song by The Gear Daddies

Well I went down to the local arena
Asked to see the manager man
He came from his office, said, "Son can I help you?"
I looked at him and said, "Yes you can..."

I want to Drive the Zamboni...hey
I want to Drive the Zamboni...Yes I do!

Now ever since I was young it's been my dream
That I might drive a Zamboni machine
I'd get the ice just as slick as could be
And all the kids would look up to me

I want to drive the Zamboni...hey
I want to drive the Zamboni...Yes I do!

Now the manager said, "Son, I know it looks keen
But that right there is one expensive machine
And I've got Smokey who's been driving for years."
About that time I broke down in tears.

Cause I want to drive the Zamboni...hey
I want to drive the Zamboni...Yes I do!

How many of you kiddies have experienced this?

Whizzinator Update: McKeesport, PA.

From WTAE-TV 4 in Pittsburgh:

Fake Penis Nuked In GetGo

Now that's a headline.




Was it a severed penis or a prank?

That's the question police were asking on Thursday night when they were called to the GetGo on Fifth Avenue in McKeesport.

Police got a call about 5:30 p.m. that said a man walked into the GetGo bathroom, cut off his penis and then handed it to the cashier and asked for it to be heated up in the microwave.

The story quickly became the talk of the town.

"'Somebody took a penis to GetGo and asked them to microwave it,'" Loretta Bray, of McKeesport, said. "I said, 'You're out of your mind.'"
But McKeesport Police Chief Joseph Pero told Channel 4 Action News reporter Bob Mayo on Friday that the penis turned out to be a prop filled with urine.

Police said the woman was going to take a work-related drug test and she had a male companion fill the fake penis with his urine, which she planned to pass off as hers.

The woman and the man went to the GetGo to have the fake penis heated in the microwave so that the urine would feel body temperature, police said.

"It had to do with somebody getting a drug test. And there was a fake object that was brought with urine inside, and they were using the microwave to heat it before the drug test was given," said Pero.

Police said the man handed the teenage girl clerk something wrapped in a napkin to heat.

When it gave off a foul odor, the clerk opened it to find what looked like a penis, police said.

That's when police said the couple took it and fled.

Devices used to cheat on drug tests -- like the one in this case -- are sold on the Internet.

The biggest brand -- the Whizzinator -- has been the target of congressional hearings.

Vikings running back Onterrio Smith was detained at an airport when security found one in his luggage.

As for trace evidence left in the restroom, "there was a small amount of blood on some gauze, which also is pertaining to this as far as this person going for a job application, for a blood and urine test," Pero said.

Delayed Frazz reaction: It hurts 'cause it's true.

A couple of years ago, I heard Van Morrison's Natalia (from the Wavelength album) as I was perusing the deli section of a local grocery store. At first, I was overjoyed at hearing one of my favorite Morrison songs from one of his most obscure albums. Then I got depressed because one of what I considered rock's hidden gems was being blared all over the processed meat.

Sometime after that I grew up and realized it was just a song.

But then again, this weekend I heard Elvis Costello's Pump It Up on a gametap.com (I think) tv commercial. I then proceeded to pull out most of what was left of my thinning mohawk.

Saint of the Day and daily Mass readings.

Today is the Feast Of St. Anne Line, one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. She was hanged by the vile English heretics because she had protected priests from the same fate. Pray for us, all you angels and saints.

Today's reading is 1 Peter 1:3-9.
Today's Responsorial Psalm is Psalms 111:1-2, 5-6, 9, 10.
Today's Gospel reading is Mark 10:17-27.


[Links to the readings will be from the NAB until I can find another chapter and verse searchable Douay-Rheims Bible on-line.]


Everyday links:

The Blessed Virgin Mary
The Rosary
Our Mother of Perpetual Help
Prayers from EWTN
National Coalition of Clergy and Laity (dedicated to action for a genuine Catholic Restoration)
The Catholic Calendar Page for Today


Just in case you are wondering what exactly Catholics believe, here is

The Apostles Creed

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son Our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.He descended into Hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Amen.


Memorare

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that any one who fled to thy protection, implored thy help or sought thy intercession,was left unaided.Inspired with this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins my Mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful; O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy clemency hear and answer me. Amen.


St. Joseph, her most chaste spouse, pray for us.



Prayer to St. Anthony, Martyr of Desire

Dear St. Anthony, you became a Franciscan with the hope of shedding your blood for Christ. In God's plan for you, your thirst for martyrdom was never to be satisfied. St. Anthony, Martyr of Desire, pray that I may become less afraid to stand up and be counted as a follower of the Lord Jesus. Intercede also for my other intentions. (Name them.)


PRAYER TO SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil; may God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the divine power, thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.