Larry Peterson's Blog, page 24

The HOLOCAUST--We All Must Remember and We Must Teach Our Children

by Larry Peterson

January 27 marked the 69th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the most prolific and deadly of all the Nazi death camps.  The day is called International Holocaust Remembrance Day.  Interestingly, or might I say, unbelievably, this day was not officially "remembered" until November, 2005,  60 years after the Russian army liberated the camp.  This anniversary marks the beginning of the end of the reign of terror that had engulfed Europe and ultimately the entire world  under the demonic leadership of Adolf Hitler and his evil minions of Nazi followers.

There were over six million Jews and close to six million others who perished during this dark time.  It is hard to fathom the scope of this depravity and how it could have even happened.  But--it did.  Okay, to the point.

The word  "Holocaust" has a number of synonyms:  annihilation, extermination, carnage, genocide, and slaughter, might be a few.  But the word does not bring you to the very core of what it actually represents--- the victims of human evil.  They were just  people who became victims simply because they were perceived as being "different" and therefore unacceptable to the rest of society. Who decided such a thing?  The people in power, that's who.  They took that power to a level of unheralded arrogance deciding who should live and who should die.  We tend to think of the "millions' who perished but we rarely think of them as individuals unless some story grabs our attention like "The Diary of Anne Frank",  "The Devil's Arithmetic" and, of course, "Schindler's List".

Each and every one of the people who had their very God given existence taken away from them were like all of us.  They had their hopes and dreams.  They had mothers and fathers and wives and husbands and children and aunts and uncles and nieces and nephews and, of course, friends.  They loved, they worked, they played, they enjoyed holidays and walks in the park on a Sunday afternoon where the kids might feed the ducks or the squirrels.  They quietly embraced the dignity of their own selves, just as we all try to do. They were proud of their families and their jobs and professions.  And then they came. The other people. The ones in power. The ones who had the law on their side and the people following them willing to carry it out, no matter how heinous; even willing to commit torture and murder under the "rule of law".

Can you imagine having your very self  stripped away with such indifferent, arrogant disdain?  Can you imagine having your own children bludgeoned to death right in front of you as you are forced to watch, helpless to do a thing about it.  This treatment of human beings by other human beings went on for over 12 years.  And through all of the Godless depravity that filled the very hearts and souls of those carrying out this abhorrent treatment of their fellow human beings there were  many stories of the love and kindness and respect for life that had been embraced by the victims themselves.  Many who offered this Godly assistance to others were tortured and murdered for it. Let me tell you about one of them.

His name was Otto Neururer. He was from Austria and was a Catholic priest. Father Neururer was the very first priest to die in a Nazi concentration camp. What was his "crime"?  Well, he was a parish priest when a young woman came to him for advice about whether or not she should marry a divorced man.  The man had a shady past and Father Neururer advised her against the marriage.  The man reported the priest to his friend, who was a party leader in the area.  Father Neururer was promptly arrested and charged with "slander to the detriment of German marriage".  He was sent to Dachau, the first concentration camp established by the Nazis. From there he was sent to Buchenwald which was under the command of Martin Sommer aka "The Hangman of Buchenwald".

Father Neururer performed a "forbidden" baptism while at Buchenwald and was sent to the punishment block.  Martin Sommer had the priest hanged upside down and left him that way until he died on May 30, 1940---all for performing a baptism.  He was 58-years old.  Father Otto Neururer was beatified and declared Blessed Otto Neururer by Pope John Paul II in 1996.

Blessed Otto Neururer, thank you.  Please pray for us  asking God to hear our prayers and give us the resolve to teach our children  so that future generations may always be prepared to fight such evil before it rears its demonic head.

Book Review: A Man Born Again---A Novel Based on the Life of St. Thomas More

Book Review:
by Larry Peterson

A Man Born Again----
A Novel Based on the Life of St. Thomas More

by John E. Beahn

Originally published in 1954 by Bruce Publishing Co.
Re-published in 2013 by TAN Books for the TAN Legends Series

            TAN Books
Charlotte, North Carolina
  www.TANBooks.com


This book is absolutely mesmerizing. Author, John E. Beahn (1910-1990),  has managed to somehow crawl into the mind of the great Lord Chancellor of England and, writing in the first person, chaperons him right into your presence.  You meet Sir Thomas in the Tower of London where the author of "Utopia" awaits an unannounced yet obvious fate at the hands of his King, Henry VIII.  Thomas, looking down from behind his prison window, has you look with him and survey the city of London below.

Just like that you are walking with Sir Thomas down Milk Street and he shows you where he was born.  You pass by St. Anthony's on Threadneedle St. and he shows you where he first went to school.  Suddenly you are walking across a bridge and John More, Sir Thomas' father, is walking with you.  Thomas explains that he is being taken by his dad to Lambert Place to meet the Lord Chancellor of England, Archbishop Morton.  You watch as the Archbishop accepts 12-year old Thomas as a page.  Why not?   Thomas is already versed in Latin and English and rhetoric and mathematics. You do notice though, that the young Thomas More is quite taken with the things of the world more so than those esteemed by God.

Filled with a false pride at his superb intelligence and  against his father's wishes, Thomas agrees with Archbishop Morton that he should go to Oxford.  His father objects and wants him  to study law at New Inn.  The Lord Chancellor has his way and Thomas  begins preparations to leave for Oxford.  His father becomes distanced from him but Thomas does not seem to care.  He is being treated as a young man of "importance" by his acquaintances and other students and even people in the street. He relishes the popularity.  His climb up the ladder of success has begun and it is moving quickly.  He tells you  at Charterhouse that he is "determined to be a saint just like all the Carthusians."   You, as the reader, already know better but are anxious to see how his sudden "call to sanctity" develops.

You now follow along with Sir Thomas and observe as he becomes a fine lawyer and a  sought after lecturer. He rejects the idea of the priesthood and marries  Jane Colt, has four children, becomes widowed when Jane dies from illness, marries Alice Middleton and pursues his dream of being a writer.  He does gain notoriety with his book, Utopia, and is suddenly under the watchful  eye of Cardinal Wolsey and King Henry VIII.

Suffice it to say that once again the primary of the seven deadly sins, Pride, reared its ugly head and consumed the King of England.  Infatuated with Anne Boleyn he wanted to divorce Catherine and marry Anne.  He also wanted Pope Leo to annul his marriage to Catherine.  This the Pope refused to do.  Known as King Henry's "Great Matter", the King was not about to defer to the Pope.  He took over the church in England and demanded oaths of fidelity to the realm.  You now travel with a humble Thomas More who confides in  you that "God permitted me to sink into that blackness of spirit and to the darkness about myself. And when I could endure no more, He returned to me."  Thomas More refused to reject his faith and his church and his God. He was canonized a martyred saint on May 19, 1935 by Pope Pius XI.

One final thing, treat yourself and read this book. You might find a new friend albeit someone a bit older than you. His name is Saint Thomas More.

January 22,1973 The United States Supreme Court Gave Birth to Twins: "Roe & Doe"

by Larry Peterson

 This coming Wednesday the annual March for Life will take place in Washington, D.C.  It is the 41st anniversary of Roe vs Wade.  Thousands upon thousands of "Pro-Life" advocates will  brave the freezing weather in defense of the unborn.  Millions more across the country will gather at state capitols, cities and small towns  lending their support to the most defenseless of the defenseless.  The hopes and prayers of all these folks are for the High Court to overturn Roe vs Wade.  As for me, I am  a "pro-life" person who had an "up close and personal" experience with the miracle of life and the pain of death all on the same day.  If I had harbored any doubt whatsoever about the "viability of a fetus" that doubt was vanquished  forever 35 years ago.

At the beginning of the sixth month of pregnancy our fourth child, a daughter, was stillborn.  She was our child and was a gift from God.  She was baptized and buried with my parents. We had  prepared for the arrival but it came earlier than expected.  No matter, she was a real person who lived and died.  Her name is on a tombstone. It is Theresa Mary. Her birthday and date of death were Sept 6, 1978. She was not simply a "fetus".  She was not "products of conception". She was not an "annoyance", an extra pair of shoes to worry about or another "sleepless night". She did not mean  less money in the bank.  No, Theresa Mary was worth far more than any of that multiplied a thousand times over.  Nothing can change the fact that she did exist, albeit for the briefest of moments. In God's world there is no "time" as we know it. HE lives in the "Eternal Now".  Theresa Mary now lives there with HIM..

I  think of the millions of little people like Theresa Mary who have been put to death  in heinous fashion because they are unwanted, because they might cost money or might interfere with a career.  How many have been eradicated simply because people take no responsibility for having sex, getting pregnant, and deciding that this "thing" has to go before it "ruins" their lives. You know, having sex is NOT the same thing as breathing, eating, and sleeping.  Those bodily functions are instinctive and necessary for us to live. We do NOT have to have sex to live. We won't die if we say NO.  Many people actually choose to live a life of celibacy.  It is OKAY to do so. And make no mistake, none of them die from NOT doing "it".

January 22nd  will be the 41st anniversary of the Supreme Court's ruling known as "Roe vs Wade".  Simply put, the court, by a 7 to 2 majority, said that abortion is a citizen's fundamental right under the United States Constitution.  You are all familiar with how that ruling  has torn our nation apart.  What many people do not seem to be aware of is the other ruling that took place on that very same day.  It provided the proverbial  "double whammy" to the abortion issue. That  ruling is called "Doe Vs Bolton".  Once again, it was a 7 to 2 majority vote affirming the ruling.  The US Supreme Court had given birth to the "Roe & Doe" twins.

The ruling in the "Doe Vs Bolton" case is summed up here:
The Court's opinion in Doe v. Bolton stated that a woman may obtain an abortion after viability, if necessary to protect her health. The Court defined "health" as follows:“Whether, in the words of the Georgia statute, "an abortion is necessary" is a professional judgment that the Georgia physician will be called upon to make routinely. We agree with the District Court, 319 F. Supp., at 1058, that the medical judgment may be exercised in the light of all factors - physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman's age - relevant to the well-being of the patient. All these factors may relate to health.  
Amazing as it is,  if Roe vs Wade was ever overturned, Doe vs Bolton would take its place.  Doe vs Bolton allows for abortion "after viability" for almost any conceivable reason. Read the excerpt above closely. According to Doe vs Bolton,  an  abortion could be permitted at full term because a baby's crying might cause too much stress for someone in the house who has a psychological problem. Far fetched?  Not really. Who needs Roe vs Wade when you have its twin, Doe vs Bolton?  God help us.

Satan Smiles as Political Correctness Conquers the Church of England

by Larry Peterson

 In the traditional form of baptism the Church of England has always asked the parents and godparents to "reject the devil".  Now, in keeping with the sophisticated and upscale politically correct world of the 21st century there is a new format for the ceremony.  An optional, alternative text has been introduced that allows for the name of Satan to be eliminated so no-one is "offended", including the Demon in Chief.  Oh yeah, they kind of left the word "sin" out of the new format too.  Fascinating stuff, don't you think.  If you think there is no devil and that "evil" is just some abstract concept based on what we as individuals think is right or wrong, you do not have to mention any of that at the Baptismal ceremony.  Golly gee, we must not hurt anyone's feelings, including our own and  especially Beelzebub's.  (I'm not sure if this is true but I heard that some satanist told the Church of England's hierarchy that his boss, Asmodeus,  had a whole bunch of  lawyers ready to go to court to sue if the church kept using his name without authorization.)  I cannot help but wonder if John the Baptist had people come up to him before he dunked them in the river Jordan and first ask if they could forget the "Satan and sin" thing and only worry about committing the sin of NOT recycling used newspaper?" I would think not.

I think I am being somewhat flippant here because this seems to me to be so out of whack with reality.  As a Catholic I know for sure that in the Rite of Baptism and in the renewal of Baptismal vows the following words are used: "Do you renounce Satan?"   The answer is, "I do."  "And all his works?"----"I do."  "And all his empty show (promises)?"----"I do."   This is cut in stone. The traditional form for the Church of England uses the words, "reject the devil". The person answering does not say, "Uh, well, I'm not sure" or "Um, Nah, I don't think so."  When you are baptized, whether in a Catholic church or in another christian church, you accept God, His Son, Jesus, and reject Satan.  End of story.  Using the new, alternative text  all  the person has to do is "reject evil". It is up to the person. But what is evil?

I was always under the impression that the Bible was used as the pathway to what is good and evil and right and wrong. Remember Moses and those tablets God gave him on Mount Sinai? How about  Jesus giving us the two GREAT commandments about "loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself" and that other one about "turning the other cheek". Things like that were used as the basis for our moral compass and the churches were the universities that disseminated this information to their spiritually ignorant pupils.

But now we live in a new, secular world where "relatavism" rules. In this world "good and evil" are reversed. "Good" is anything that satisfies your natural appetites. "Evil" is anything that tells you NO. "Evil" also attempts to lay waste to a hated word that keeps trying to stay in its world.  That word is morality.  Oh, religion promotes that word, doesn't it? Why, the nerve of that sanctimonious institution.  In the "goodworld of evil" Satan (aka Lucifer, Mammon, Leviathan, and others mentioned) is a mythological character dreamed up to keep folks under control and living in fear, and the Bible is a bunch of outdated rants written by former slaves and sheepherders without any education. Even some modern-day pundits and TV personalities have called Christians, "idiots" for believing all that "nonsense". But we Christians (and Jews too) have always had our churches and synagogues as our guides, our lighthouses if you will,  guiding us through the stormy seas of  "good and evil". We knew what "good and evil" was and we could choose which way to navigate our personal ship. The light shined brightly and the more one followed it the brighter it became.

But now, a Christian church has folded. It has been swallowed up by the powerful seas of pride and ego. The secular fools who approved this and who think they "know best" have been duped by the empty promises of self-gratification. They would rather avoid hurting someone's feelings than stand true to the church they are supposed to represent and defend. They are cowards.  They have allowed the  light from their beacon to be extinguished. Satan smiles. Even he did not think it would be this easy.

The War by the "Worldly" is Secular Abuse Against the Very Heart of Christianity

by Larry Peterson

It was a brutally cold winter night in 1839 when Jeanne Jugan brought  the sick, blind, homeless woman into her home.  All she wanted to do was help the poor woman.  She had no agenda.  She wanted nothing.  She simply wanted to do what God’s graces had asked her to do, “Love her neighbor”.   Jeanne never planned to have people begin to follow her example.  She never dreamed that she would become the founder of an organization  called the Little Sisters of the Poor.  Jeanne Jugan could not in her wildest dreams foresee the order she had founded serving the elderly poor in 31 countries around the world.  She must have had tears of joy streaming down her saintly face when Pope Benedict XVI canonized her in 2009.Today she,  and many others with her in the heavenly realm, must be so ashamed and saddened by the members of the secular world who, disguised in a mask of counterfeit virtue, are determined to lay waste to  Christianity.  Make no mistake, we Catholic/Christians are at war;  and the Worldly, including many who claim to be with us, are waging this war against us.  Their primary weapon is the Affordable Care Act aka “Obamacare”.  Where does this weapon of mass secularity have its sights trained?  Where else but on  St. Jeanne Jugan’s order, The Little Sisters of the Poor.  Are you kidding me?  The government of the United States of America, under the control of the Worldly, is after  The Little Sisters.  The order must be considered an easy target because, after granting exemptions to other groups, the Worldly refused to grant an exemption to The Little Sisters of the Poor.  Supreme Court Justice  Sonia Sotomayor, an appointee of the Worldly in power, granted the Little Sisters a temporary injunction against the mandate.  Undeterred in their mission of spreading their all-knowing  secularity, the Worldy immediately responded and asked the court to drop the appeal.  Now we wait.  We wait to see if the First Amendment of the Constitution is to be upheld. As a  writer and a Catholic I have unexpectedly found myself blogging more and more about subjects that pertain to things “Catholic”.  I never began writing with that in mind. My novel, “The Priest and the Peaches”,  deals with a Catholic family and a priest but it is not considered religious.  Rather, it is classified as ‘historical fiction’.  My children’s book  is not religious either.  I had  been working on the sequel to TP & TP but I have had that on hold for almost six months as I blog about things and people that pertain to my faith.  I do this because my faith is under attack.  I never thought I would live to see the day when the power of  our government would be used by those we have empowered to demand we violate our religious principles?   Our faith does not just take place INSIDE a church.  It takes place within our very hearts and minds. We are supposed to LIVE our faith and, though many of us often fail, it is our CHOICE to fail.  It is no one’s business.  The government of the United States of America does not have the right to enter into our “hearts and minds” and tell us what to believe the same as it does not belong inside our churches.We, as a church, a faith community, and as individuals who are part of it and believe in it are being abused and are under attack. The Little Sisters of the Poor and communities like them need our voices to ring out.  So do the almost 10 million folks who are able to turn to almost 1400  charitable organizations run by the Catholic church every year. So do the people, mostly volunteers, who staff  the 600,000 plus soup kitchens feeding folks everyday and distribute food from the two million food banks and pantries. If you factor in all the other religious and charitable organizations in the United States there is a veritable population of “goodness and kindness and giving” spread across this entire nation. Most are folks  who ask nothing in return  for sharing their time,  their hearts and their love with those less fortunate. It seems to me that the Worldly need to start minding their own damn business. 

Repost: New Year's Day & The Blessed Virgin Mary

by Larry Peterson

This is a redux of last years New Year's blog  that won the "Frankie" Award  ( named after St. Francis de Sales) as the best catholic spirituality blog of  2013.


JANUARY 1, 2013  (and 2014)New Year's Day & The Blessed Virgin MaryA little about Catholics (myself included)  and the Blessed Virgin Mary.

We Catholics have adorned our Blessed Mother with many titles (47 different ones I believe) and she is the greatest of all saints. We believe that she has been spared from original sin and was taken into heaven body and soul never having to die in this world. But, before she left here she lived here, as a woman, a mom and a housewife.  I think we do not pay enough attention to the earthly life of our spiritual Mom. January 1st of each year we Catholics honor her  with a day we call the Solemnity of Mary; the Mother of God. In the catholic world today is a Holy day of Obligation and, just like on Sundays, going to mass is required. This woman is worthy of and deserves this special day of honor..Remember that Mary  had already survived the possibility of execution by stoning  because she was pregnant prior to her marriage. You can’t tell me that she did not think about the potential consequences of her pregnancy. (Even her Son, the God Man, broke into a sweat in the Garden of Eden thinking about what was coming. Why wouldn't  Mary be worried?) She knew she was pregnant, she knew this was an extreme violation of Jewish law and she knew the penalty.  Her life was out of her hands and her fate thrust into  the hands of another, a man named Joseph, her betrothed. Fortunately, he was the best fiancé ever, married her, took her in and accepted her child as his.Then, at full term in her pregnancy,  she has to travel with her husband over 80 miles on a donkey to be counted in a census.  She survives the four or five day journey (no rest-rooms between Nazareth and Bethlehem)and the countless contractions she must have had along the way to discover that her frantic husband cannot find a place for them to stay.  She winds up giving  birth in a stable with smelly animals,  lots of straw, no running water and who knows how clean those swaddling clothes were. She was probably all of 14 years old.Let’s not forget that after  awhile word comes to them that Herod wants to kill their baby. Hey, all you moms and dads, how would you like to know the head of the government has authorized your child’s execution? Can you imagine? So, this poor young mom  is forced to make a 300+ mile journey to Egypt, hiding her child as best she can, while  all the time hoping her carpenter husband can elude the soldiers searching for them. Talk about  anxiety. Talk about fear. Talk about having Faith and praying like you never prayed before.It probably was a year or two before the family made it back to Nazareth. Here they probably lived in a  typical baked clay and straw brick house. Each day Mary would have to sweep the beaten clay floor, go to the cistern for water, travel outside the town walls for daily necessities such as spices and grain which she would have to grind  into flour to bake fresh bread (no preservatives in those days) . Of course, there was the laundry.  Trust me, there were no laundromats and there were no detergents. There were also no diapers or Pampers or band-aids or cough syrups or baby powder or microwave chicken nuggets or McDonald's either.  Her husband would be in his shop doing his carpentry chores and her boy, Jesus, would be with His dad or maybe helping His mom. And life would go on, day after day after day. The years go by and  she is witness to  his horrendous execution. No mom should ever have to witness her child being butchered. She was there for His first breath and His very last.

In conclusion, He came here for us and she gave birth to Him for us. She wiped His runny nose, changed His dirty diaper and watched Him grow up and be killed for us. That is why we call her MOM too. We believe that she is still watching out for us, her other kids. Ultimately, this  transposes into the Greatest Story Ever Told. Jesus was the leading Man and Mary, the leading woman . You have to LOVE this story and its two main characters, from Beginning to Never-Ending.

"Silent Night"-- when Humility crushes Pride

by Larry Peterson

Peace on earth? Where is it? Is it in Syria? How about Pakistan? Maybe Sudan or Iraq? It is definitely not hanging out in Afghanistan or Iran. How about Cuba?  What does "Peace on Earth" mean? It is not a cease fire between warring factions. It is not a complicated or even simple agreement between nations. True Peace on Earth can only come about by the destruction of the great demon, Pride, (aka Lucifer) and there is only one true weapon that can go head-to-head with Pride and crush it. That weapon is more powerful than all the weapons in all of the arsenals in the world put together. That weapon is Humility.

The weapon of Humility came to us in the form of a newborn baby on Christmas.  This story is so amazing that our simple common sense will tell us it was never fabricated or made up. The most creative writers who ever lived could not have conjured up such a preposterous tale. Imagine, a king being born in a smelly, dirty animal stall to a simple teenage girl whose husband was a struggling carpenter with no money. Then the couple would have to take the baby King and run for their lives because the reigning king, Herod, feared the baby might grow up and overthrow him. Herod's Pride seizes him so he sends his soldiers to kill the baby King. You are  familiar with the rest of the story. As preposterous as it seems more than a billion people believe in this baby and His story. For two thousand years the belief in this baby has continued to transform the world. Millions upon millions of us  celebrated His birth the world over the other night. How can that be? It is due to that great intangible we call FAITH. You can't see it, you can't touch it and you cannot  smell it. However, if you open yourself up to it, it can grab you in a life-long embrace that might take your breath away.

Peace without love is an illusion. It cannot exist. It can never come from our own agenda. That is because the deadly toxin, Pride, gets inside us and drips its venom into our hearts filling our egos so much that they sometimes explode with hatred. This hatred is quite visible in the Middle East where Christians are being killed and tortured every day because they believe in this baby and who He grew up to be. The Good News is we have been given the antidote. It is Humility.

Our greatest of all gifts, FAITH, allows us to  believe that God, the Creator of all that is, shared Himself with us through  His Son and, in so doing,  humbled Himself in the most profound act of selflessness that was and will ever be. This was God become man for us. He came as a helpless, innocent newborn, barely able to grasp the finger of his Mom. He allowed himself to be born amidst  the squalor and filth of a stable. Poor shepherds from the hillside were His first visitors. Humility lay in a pile of straw and  looked up into the beautiful face of His weary Mom. A few small pot fires provided enough light for the man of the family, Joseph, to see the two people that he had to care for and protect. No bells were ringing...no trumpets blaring ...no cymbals were smashing. The deafening quiet made this the greatest of Silent Nights.  Thirty-three years later, booming thunder would echo His death and three days after that brilliant sunshine would announce our redemption. It is the most beautiful of all truths.

Seventy-three years ago the story of Our Lady of Lourdes was presented in the movies under the title "The Song of Bernadette". Franz Werfel, the author, had a prologue appear on screen before the movie began. It said, "For those who believe, no explanation is necessary; for those who do not believe no explanation is possible."  That is not exactly true. FAITH is a gift that many non-believers have seen fit to grab onto. They have responded to God's graces and listened. They have grabbed the 'brass ring'. Many more cannot escape the all consuming Pride that keeps telling them they are so much smarter than all those 'believers'. All they have to do is reach out and allow that little hand to squeeze their finger, just  for a moment. I guarantee, it will not hurt.

THANK YOU Lord, for Christmas

by Larry Peterson

 We Catholics have our "Catholic Hall of Fame" (I call it that) which is filled with people we call saints. The Blessed Virgin Mary is undoubtedly the greatest of all saints and, as the Mother of God, she is highly honored above all others.  But it is important to remember that when they were alive  they did not walk around with glowing orbs wrapped around their heads for all to see. They walked and talked and ate and slept and got sick and even woke up "on the wrong side of the bed" at times...just like the rest of us. They were people like we are. But they had made a choice to open their hearts to God's grace and once they did  there was no turning back.  No matter what they were confronted with, whatever hardship, obstacle, injustice or whatever it might have been, they were determined to serve God before all else even if it meant giving up their very lives. This is how certain people are able to rip their "pride filled egos" from inside themselves and leave it  in the pile of dust of what once was.

Christmas and the great lessons it teaches in giving of oneself to others is once again upon us. A young girl named Mary would listen to a message from the Angel Gabriel and unhesitatingly accept  being  the Mother of God. She would now be pregnant and unmarried. She did not understand any of it. She knew that under Jewish law this could mean her possible execution when people found out. It did not matter. Filled with the grace of God she gave all of her being to Him. She trusted Him completely. Her espoused, Joseph of Nazareth, a carpenter and "righteous" Jew,  kicked  his manly pride to the dusty curb and accepted the  pregnant woman as his wife. He would love her with all  his heart, protect her, provide her a home and be her best friend until the day he died. This was, indeed, a Holy Family.

We Christians believe that the infant born on that first Christmas night so long ago was and is the Son of God. The Creator Himself  sent His only Son to teach us and to save us. What did He have to teach us? He had to first and  foremost teach us how to love one another. Then we needed to learn that Pride leads to all sin. It is the parent of jealousy and greed, envy and anger, lust and gluttony. We needed  to know how to conquer the great sin of pride. So the baby grew and became the Man that preached love and forgiveness. He was kind and caring and cured sick people. He taught us about the evils of "pride". After He finished teaching us how did He save us? He allowed us to kill Him. His Mom was there, watching and feeling the searing pain of Simeon's  prophesied sword pierce her tender, loving heart. She gave Him to the world and watched as the world took Him away from her.

Jesus died for us. He poured out every last drop of His blood so we could once again have access to heaven. He did this out of pure love for each and every person that ever lived or will live. "We come to know and believe that God is Love and he who abides in Love abides in God and God in him"   1 John 4:16

Christmas begins the "Greatest story ever told". It is about love and forgiveness and kindness and sharing. It is about peace and joy. For children it can be about a man in a red suit with a "broad face and a little round belly, that shakes when he laughs like a bowl full of jelly---". It is a beautiful thing, Christmas, a beautiful thing. How can you not love the goodness and peace it represents.  God IS Love.  I would like to join the millions of others around the world and say THANK YOU Lord for Christmas and all it represents.

Happy Birthday, Irving Schul--I'm Sorry We Never Met

by Larry Peterson

Isidore (Irving) Schul was born on December 18, 1889.  He died in 1965 in New York City, alone and without family. That is so sad because he had family. Today is his birthday.

I have written many times  about the fact that all of the first Christians were Jewish people. Jesus was a Jew and preached in the temple. His dad, Joseph, was a Jewish man faithful to the law of Moses. His mom, Mary, was a Jewish woman who lived true to the law of Moses. This coming Christmas celebration was made possible by Jews. The apostles were Jewish and the first pope was Jewish.  The words Judeo-Christian are forever linked. They cannot be separated. The Old testament was written by Hebrews. The New Testament was written by Christians who were former Hebrews. So, I write this for a man named Isidore (Irving) Schul, a Hebrew man from Krakow, Austria (today Poland)  who  arrived in America on August 17, 1907. I always knew this man existed but I never knew a thing about him until September of 2012. That is when I learned that Irving Schul was my grandfather. Truly, I am a Judeo-Christian man.

I am a "cradle-Catholic".  I was baptized Catholic as a baby, I received First Communion as a first grader, Confirmation as a third grader (which made me a 'spiritual adult' qualified to be a good little soldier and defend the faith) and spent a total of 12 years in Catholic school. Here is the thing with me. I have been blessed. It all "stuck". I love my faith.  Today, as a senior citizen, I have come to understand the simplicity of this faith. I have sifted  through the pile of confusing theology and have come to the realization that if you follow Jesus and truly try to  "Love your neighbor" as He taught, everything else will fall in place. We won't be lying to each other, killing each other, stealing from each other, having 'affairs', or even stealing stuff. If you "love your neighbor" you won't be doing any of that.  And you won't be passing judgment on others because of their race, creed, politics, or whatever else you might pompously deem offensive to your worldview.(Just think about the possibilities.) This applies to a group that Catholic/Christians have had a hard time accepting over the centuries. I am talking about the Jewish people.

When you are a child your world consists of your home and the people in it. My brothers, sister and I had Mom, Dad and Grandma. We were one big 'happy' family living in an apartment in the Bronx. None of us ever thought to ask about a Grandpa. Why would we?  We were young kids and our world  view did not extend very far outside of our apartment building.  Our parents and Grandma died over a period of a few years when we were young. That was when we started asking questions about our family.  One of them was, "What happened to Grandma's husband, our grandfather?" It was too late. There was no one who could answer the question.

My cousin, Vicki, doing an intense genealogy investigation, finally discovered our grandfather. It is all documented and factual. We have the "paper work". Her dad, (my uncle) had passed away ten years earlier and never talked about his father.  My mom or dad never mentioned him either. My dad's parents had passed away. We all knew that. But it was like Mom's dad had never existed...but he had. Why we never knew of him, why he and my devout catholic grandmother married in 1919, how any of that transpired, none of us will ever know. The ones who knew those answers are all gone and have taken their stories with them. Thank you, Vicki, for doing the work. You found our 'missing link'. God bless you for that.

 So...I just want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my Grandpa Irving and tell him I am sorry we never met. Hopefully, one day we will. Oh yeah, from your Catholic grandson to you, my Jewish grandfather,  Merry Christmas and belated Happy Hanukkah.

Evangelii Guadiam is about Dignity for ALL Men & Women; It Cares NOT for Politics

by Larry Peterson

When Pope Francis released his apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, he also  inadvertently released  a swarm of pseudo experts on Catholicism and the Papacy. Why even Rush Limbaugh, who acknowledged his own non-catholicity, has decided that the Pope  is nothing but a "pure Marxist". Those on the left have assumed that the Catholic Church's teachings on abortion,  contraception, women priests, and homosexual behavior and other issues are about to be changed. These folks, left & right,  are living in their own personal world of 'relatavism'. Caught up in the secular world of 'meism' they cannot grasp for one tiny moment that the primary purpose of the Catholic Church is the salvation of souls. First and foremost, the Church is here to guide ALL of us to an eternal life with God, our Creator. Jesus Christ, the Son of God,  founded the Church and appointed its first leader, the apostle Peter who was the first Pope. Pope Francis is #266. Their mission, which they graciously accepted, has always been the same, to lead the flock to Salvation. Nothing has changed.

Okay now, listen up all you clever pundits who have allowed yourselves to become  unknowing prisoners of the secular Age of Relatavism. Pope Francis has done no different than Pope Leo XIII who gave the world Rerum Novarum in 1891 and Pope Pius XI who gave us Quadragesimo Anno in 1931. These documents were papal encyclicals and they dealt with capitalism, socialism, labor, fair wages, working conditions etc. (Please feel free to see for yourself. Just 'google'). We need to remember that Catholic social doctrine deals with the DIGNITY of man/woman because they are made in the image and likeness of God.  Poor and rich alike have responsibility to each other because they are all part of the human equation. There is nothing evil in being rich. There is nothing wrong with workers wanting a better wage and improved conditions. Evil enters when the deadly sin of greed is embraced by people when  they begin thinking of themselves first instead of God. Consequently they want more for themselves at the expense of others. Employers and employees have a responsibility to each other to be fair and just at all times. As Leo XIII addressed the social order so did Pius XI wherein he wrote about the dangers of "unrestrained capitalism" and "totalitarian communism". John Paul II addressed the dignity of man in Centesimus Annus in1991 and  Benedict XVI followed with  Caritas in Veritate in 2009. Pope Francis has connected the dots with the Popes over the last 112 years. The dignity of all people from the lowest to the most exalted is considered. The Pope(s) wants all people to understand that justice must come from all of us not just from some of us.

The Catholic Church is primarily a ship navigating the turbulent and often times violent waters of pride and envy and greed. As the church forges through these deadly waters the ship's captain, (Pope), his officers, (bishops) and  crew (priests and religious)  are supposed to work together to  keep the ship safe and on a true course to Salvation . They are responsible for the millions of souls that are their passengers. They are supposed to be teaching them how to remain safe and secure as they travel along and how to be ready to confront any and all emergencies. Many times an experienced crew member ignore's his/her training. Often times untrained passengers do not listen. Sadly, they are lost. Pride, greed, envy, lust, anger, gluttony and even sloth combine to stretch their tentacles over the ship's railings and grab the indifferent pulling them over the side and down into the blackness. And to think, all they had to do was listen. In the meantime the ship's captain MUST stay the course even though at times he must adapt to changes in the weather. There is one thing he will not do, change the primary mission. No matter what, he will always move forward and never retreat from the goal of reaching the shores of Salvation.

I think we must remember that the Catholic Church is here to guide us to a reward greater than we can ever imagine. It is not here to make everyone feel good about indulging in their own "feel good" world. Just as a parent must say 'no" to their children the Church must say "NO" to ideas, behaviors and personal whims that violate the commandments. In today's world many people do not like being told NO. There seems to be an idea that if  "I'm not bothering you I can do what I want." Well, "NO"--none of us have that luxury. Pope Francis has embraced the people, the common people. It is a beautiful thing and God has done all of us a great favor in giving this man to the world. But make no mistake, he is the captain of the great ship and he is trying his best to guide it to "Salvation". That will always be his primary goal and the ship's ultimate destination.