I have been disturbed by this for a long time. It is a serpent and not even subtle. And this in the center of the Catholic heart of the world. “Symbolism will be their downfall.” This purification may require a total scrubbing of the entire foul mess. Top to bottom inside and out. What will remain? Jesus and the Mystical Body. But all the accretions of the last 100/150 years may be swept away. Horrible monstrous building.
Yes the imagery certainly seems grotesque and evil! I am wondering however whether there is any relevance here to the staff of Moses? I once heard [I think it was Bishop Fulton Sheen] explain in one of his videos the reference to the serpent and how it could be related to Our Lord; Bishop Sheen was referring to Moses who held a staff that had an image of a serpent on the staff, and everyone who looked on the serpent was healed. I'll have to look this up! I personally believe that the majority of people today, especially the youth do not realise how much they are loved by God!, nor do they know what they are called to do to respond to that Love and receive the graces necessary to remain faithful to that calling. This is sad and this serpent imagery is not helpful. The youth are saturated with images of satan and evil today, they don't need anymore! They are yearning and longing for truth! They need to know that God loves them so much that He became man and He died a torturous death for love of them! The burdens and yokes of the youth today are heavy and hard! Because they don’t understand that eternal life is theirs, if they take upon themselves Our Lords burden and His Yoke which is easy and light! I am finding all this arty farty stuff very confusing. Maybe it can be seen to somehow connect to Jesus, but it all seems to skirt too close to evil in my opinion. I believe it is definitely not helpful for the majority of people, especially the youth! who are hungry for the truth of God’s immense Love for them. Dearest Mother Mary, Mother of Our Lord Jesus, be a mother to the youth of today. Oh Blessed Virgin, as they search for the answer, who is your Divine Son "Jesus", the Lord of Lords and King of Kings, mother them. Dearest Queen of Heaven, Mother especially those, who are in need of His Mercy who are crying out for His consoling Love. Amen
My guess would be , if it was possible to do it this way, that a future Pope would have to excommunicate at once, right from the start thousands upon thousands of Cardinals, bishops and priests and supress hundreds of religious orders. and Universities.. and that's not even starting with the nuns...and in doing this he would be just getting warmed up. It reminds me of the story of Hercules and the Augean Stables. I mean one of the very first things he would have to do is drop the folks Francis raised up, people like Cupich and Tobin and Farrell..and of course he's put people like this in right round the world. Not just dropping them but throwing them all totally out.
1 Corinthians 5 9I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister c but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people. 12What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.”
God bless you, too, Ann! Someday! All will be well again! We cannot give up! Keep going! It'll be worth it! I know it!
Thank you Gracia, these posts are an inspiration and God has granted you so much Faith, Hope, and Charity. I am awed by it to be quite honest. Hold fast to it to the end. The promise of your reward is beyond measure. You know that you are not alone. Although we are not in hiding my family and my wife's have been openly hostile to both the Church and my family since God woke us up to the Truth and we were catechized and confirmed. Not a single person has supported us and instead we are insulted constantly, even on the day of our Marriage convalidation. I have a small understanding now of the words Jesus spoke when He said; Forgive them Father for they know not what they do. I was hoping that over time this would decrease but instead it has increased. I struggle because I do not wish to offend them with my words as I hope that some day God will call them also and we might play a part in this in some way. There have been glimmers of hope in this regard. Both our families have tried to turn us against one another and then when this was fruitless turned their attention to dividing us in more creative ways. This of course hurts but knowing the hostility and anguish let alone persecution that Christ suffered has been a comfort to us both and an affirmation that we are on the right path. In fact, the suffering on our part is little now when in times past it was a great burden. It has brought us much closer as Husband and wife. We will continue to gladly suffer their slights and offer up prayers for their conversion. Love will win in the end.
Prayers, Don! It is often toughest with family. And fighting the urge to just have it out with them already. I hear that. But your silence does more, I think, than a bust up ever would. Sometimes silence is a good thing. Especially with prayer.
Yes, what they have done to art is heart breaking truth be told. Modern art is cold and without merit, leaving one to reflect on the ugliness of form over the majesty and beauty of all things God created. Very deliberate IMO, they wish to destroy Hope in the heart of mankind. Symbolism is their forte. It is also a sign post to all who understand that these places are not what they seem. I also see it as a way to tell when the influence of men who do not love God or worship Him began to exert their power openly although still in hidden ways.
Yes! Yes. Especially about the sign post. "What is going on here is not of God. It is pagan. Be on guard." I feel that is especially the case with this Youth Synod and the creepily pagan symbolism. Pope as wizard, blessing gay marriages. Pretty much. That's the main point. Nothing Christian there. Nothing at all. Please keep praying for this Pope. Be on guard, but please don't stop praying!
Yes exactly. In fact, God has granted me a boatload of Grace in this regard whereas in the past I could NOT hold my tongue with them in the least. Yes, everyday!
Thank you for this Don. If only your family knew how God has blessed them by placing you in the midst of them. A sign he has not given up on them. Your prayers are the slender silver thread that holds them up just out of the devil’s final reach. By God's Grace some day they will be thanking you with tears for interceding for them. (I thought just now it must have been very like this in pagan times—terrible persecution from one’s own family) Christus vincit!!!!
My friend and I were just talking about silence this morning after Adoration. I was telling her how I long to tell my husband all these things he is so deaf to but that God bids me stay silent. As if he is saying “hold your fire and keep your powder dry”—sort of a weird image but that is how it came to me. Like General Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans saying “don’t fire til you see the whites of their eyes.” My friend reminded me it is the Feast of St Bruno who founded the Cistercian who take a vow of silence. So your comments seem very germane.
I understand this, 100% and can relate entirely to longing to tell one's husband all these awesome, wonderful, true things. But for some reason, God wants us to be quiet. God knows what He's doing, so, we just keep quiet and wait! It'll come some day.
There are many opportunists involved, who are the least sinful, that make a very good living doing the diametrical opposite of purveying pearls unto swine. They profit by selling cheapest swill to swine. It is the apotheosis of the Emperor's new clothes. The fools stand on one anothers's necks to buy or proclaim the most valueless of these creations as the most precious. It inevitably leads to record prices for the most base and mundane of 'artworks'. I would think that anyone, except perhaps those unfortunate enough to suffer kidney failure, might endeavour to place a statue of Our Lord in a container of urine. This is what passes for genius nowadays. Dante, Shakespeare, Michaelangelo, Leonardo, Dostoevsky, eat your hearts out.
There's another fount of interesting information from the 'extreme' Ann Barnhardt (extreme is the new moderate). In her latest post, she reveals the goods on the corpulent US Cardinal Tobin. Note that this involves a film about John the Baptist, one of only three human beings born without original sin (along with Our Lord and Our Lady) and who was decapitated for defending right-ordered human sexual relations-the many-headed beast is invading everywhere. To view, type barnhardt.biz in your browser (I think that's the trendy way to describe it-I'm such a techy). May the Lord God have mercy on us all (not the Frankie-mercy, the Real Thing).
And the demons laugh. What a joke on these blinded “artists” who channel the blasphemy of the diabolical. God always has the last word. I remember my father telling me about some famous atheist who would stand in public places and blaspheme God and then he’d say “see. No lightning. No striking me dead. God doesn’t exist.” Some years later he died a terrifying painful disgusting death. My father said with great gravity “God is not mocked.” Obviously God operates on His own timeline. When mercy is exhausted justice falls. Blessed be God and blessed be His Holy Name.
Gracia, I have been mulling over your posts. Admittedly, I don't know your full situation, but I am disturbed by what you have said. If you are freely choosing not to become a Catholic yet, it does not sound right to me to say that God is allowing you to remain in this situation, and that it is good. The Cost of Following Jesus Luke 9: 57As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” 59He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 60Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 61Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” 62Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
