Christmas Anticipation Prayer

To be said fifteen times a day from St Andrew's feast day until Christmas Eve.

Having a humble opinion of self, Thomas a Kempis

Having a Humble Opinion of Self

Every man naturally desires knowledge; but what good is knowledge without fear of God? Indeed a humble rustic who serves God is better than a proud intellectual who neglects his soul to study the course of the stars. He who knows himself well becomes mean in his own eyes and is not happy when praised by men.

If I knew all things in the world and had not charity, what would it profit me before God Who will judge me by my deeds?

Shun too great a desire for knowledge, for in it there is much fretting and delusion. Intellectuals like to appear learned and to be called wise. Yet there are many things the knowledge of which does little or no good to the soul, and he who concerns himself about other things than those which lead to salvation is very unwise.

Many words do not satisfy the soul; but a good life eases the mind and a clean conscience inspires great trust in God.

The more you know and the better you understand, the more severely will you be judged, unless your life is also the more holy. Do not be proud, therefore, because of your learning or skill. Rather, fear because of the talent given you. If you think you know many things and understand them well enough, realize at the same time that there is much you do not know. Hence, do not affect wisdom, but admit your ignorance. Why prefer yourself to anyone else when many are more learned, more cultured than you?

If you wish to learn and appreciate something worth while, then love to be unknown and considered as nothing. Truly to know and despise self is the best and most perfect counsel. To think of oneself as nothing, and always to think well and highly of others is the best and most perfect wisdom. Wherefore, if you see another sin openly or commit a serious crime, do not consider yourself better, for you do not know how long you can remain in good estate. All men are frail, but you must admit that none is more frail than yourself.

Imitation of Christ

St Philip Neri on forgiveness (2)

Sex-selective abortion vs gender fluidity

Professor Wendy Savage, of the British Medical Association, reckons that "... if a woman does not want to have a foetus who is one sex or the other, forcing her (to go through with the pregnancy) is not going to be good for the eventual child, and it's not going to be good for (the mother's) mental health." (Story here.)

What's this? "[O]ne sex or the other"? As we all know, there are many more than two sexes! And, furthermore, we now know that one's sex isn't settled until, well, ever.

And yet Professor Savage is angry that "... some places won't tell the woman the sex of the foetus, which is outrageous." 

Maybe they're unwilling to assign sexes to babies based on antediluvian pseudoscience about anatomy.

Prospective parents who still, in 2017, follow such outdated opinions, should realise that a baby's physical characteristics no longer have the last word on what it will be.

Only after the child has made its selection should the parents consider termination...

Seeing more good in others, Thomas a Kempis

"If there is good in you, see more good in others, so that you may remain humble. It does no harm to esteem yourself less than anyone else, but it is very harmful to think yourself better than even one."

Imitation of Christ

Archbishop Sheen predicts

"The modern world, which denies personal guilt and admits only social crimes, which has no place for personal repentance but only public reforms, has divorced Christ from His Cross; the Bridegroom and Bride have been pulled apart. What God hath joined together, men have torn asunder. As a result, to the left is the Cross; to the right is Christ. Each has awaited new partners who will pick them up in a kind of second and adulterous union. Communism comes along and picks up the meaningless Cross; Western post-Christian civilization chooses the unscarred Christ.

"Communism has chosen the Cross in the sense that it has brought back to an egotistic world a sense of discipline, self-abnegation, surrender, hard work, study, and dedication to supra-individual goals. But the Cross without Christ is sacrifice without love. Hence, Communism has produced a society that is authoritarian, cruel, oppressive of human freedom, filled with concentration camps, firing squads, and brain-washings.

"The Western post-Christian civilization has picked up the Christ without His Cross. But a Christ without a sacrifice that reconciles the world to God is a cheap, feminized, colorless, itinerant preacher who deserves to be popular for His great Sermon on the Mount, but also merits unpopularity for what He said about His Divinity on the one hand, and divorce, judgment, and hell on the other. This sentimental Christ is patched together with a thousand commonplaces, sustained sometimes by academic etymologists who cannot see the Word for the letters, or distorted beyond personal recognition by a dogmatic principle that anything which is Divine must necessarily be a myth. Without His Cross, He becomes nothing more than a sultry precursor of democracy or a humanitarian who taught brotherhood without tears.

"The problem now is: Will the Cross, which Communism holds in its hands, find Christ before the sentimental Christ of the Western world finds the Cross? It is our belief that Russia will find the Christ before the Western world unites Christ with His Redemptive Cross."

- Archbishop Fulton Sheen (from the preface to "Life of Christ" 1958)

Self-identification II

Further to this post about the goose who thought he was a duck, or rather, an actual duck, since that was what he believed. (Or was he a gander who thought he was a drake?)

... He thought he was a duck. So why does the BBC report persist in calling him a goose? Is that any way to honour his memory?...

Now we have a new case of people (some of whom should surely know better on account of their chosen identities) refusing to respect a man's self-identification:

If that's how he self-identifies, we must respect it, and to refuse to is surely bigotry.

The transfertile

There is a growing trend for people who are healthy and fertile to find doctors who will agree to render them infertile, perhaps with drugs or surgery. These are the transfertile. Infertile people trapped in a fertile body. Practices such as sterilisation, vasectomy, and taking a drug known informally as "The Pill" are shockingly widespread. We probably all know someone who is transfertile. And, amazingly, it is not difficult to find doctors who will facilitate these people's dreams.

Whereas doctors are meant to work towards healing people, now most are willing to do the opposite, and disable a perfectly healthy function.

There is a condition known as Body Integrity Identity Disorder, where "an otherwise healthy individual feels that they are meant to be disabled". Are sterilisation and contraception any different?

(Yes, I've written about this kind of thing before.)