August 15, 2008
Holy Solitude
Holy Spirit:

You crave company. Your often lonely hearts cry out for human understanding and intimacy. 

Call it a Genre, if you will!

One I read which fit beautifully with our problems in the world and Church today was this:

“You must not furiously wrestle with evil: you must overcome evil  by good ….Good always triumphs in its time.” 

Thinking about my alleged messages from Jesus up here on the Blog under the title God Alone, and others I read, I was thinking one could speak of an actual genre of such books. 

They are not private revelation in the sense of being supernatural messages instructing the recipient to publicize these to the universal Church as is the case with messages at Lourdes, Fatima, or to St. Faustina about the Mercy spirituality.  But they are comforting, inspiriting and challenging just the same and should be read only because they match the truths Jesus and the Holy Spirit through the Church always teach.

I think I wrote on this blog that after years of thinking younger folk should do protests and rosary rallies in front of Abortion Clinics, I was now too old to do anything but teach great books against abortion such as Understanding Abortion by Schwarz and Latimer, and donating money to groups like 40 Days for Life and Priests for Life.

Then a fiercely pro-life priest here at the seminary persuaded me that he could overcome my oldness problems by putting a folding chair in his car, showing me the nearest public bathroom, etc. etc.

So this week off we went to the nearest Planned Parenthood protest. I was proud to go. 

The gas-station across the street would surely have a bathroom.  No, it didn’t.  Since the priest had promised to help me with this problem, he walked me next into a huge gym and, probably, because of his collar, they let me into the restroom even though I am not a member.  Can you imagine how humiliated I felt to have, in effect, jerked a priest out of the protest march and had him stand there at the counter of that gym, pleading for bathroom privileges for this woman, with her long grey hair, who could look like his witch wife!!!?

A note:  I do read any responses readers put up, but I just don’t have time to respond.  If you really want to reach me for a response go to my web www.rondachervin.com and e-mail me separately.

Here is a tribute to Joan Andrews Bell by Fr. Paul Nicholson:

In 1988 I was reading the prison letters of Joan Andrews, a young woman who had entered a Pensacola abortion chamber and disconnected it.  For this direct act of protest, Joan Andrews was imprisoned in a Florida jail.  She was given five years, solitary confinement.  Her prison became the source of an impassioned plea for the pro-life movement to “put its money where its mouth was”.  If we believed that little babies were dying, then we should act like it.  She, along with Joe Scheidler of the Pro-Life Action League of Chicago, John Cavanaugh O'Keefe of Maryland, Judie Brown of American Life League, and several others, began to argue the case for direct action at the abortion mills.  This direct action was to be non-violent “sit-ins”that would halt the killing for a day, flood the courts with grandmothers, and put pressure upon the conscience of the nation.
    Joan Andrews’ action alerted me first that something was terribly wrong.  She was the one who said in a soft, gentle way, that when the Roe v. Wade decision was affirmed January 22, 1973, she waited for the Church and her leaders to take to the street.  They didn't -- and she was thunderstruck.
    So Joan took to herself the incredibly heroic task of awakening the conscience of the Church.  She identified with the unborn child in all his helpless, defenceless state.  She went to the abortion chamber and attempted to stop the killing by standing between the assassin (the doctor) and the woman.  This effort merited for her an unheard of penalty of five years in solitary confinement.  
But she wrote those prison letters which were collected and eventually published by Ignatius Press.
Her witness inspired me and others to undertake the largest act of civil disobedience in American history in what became known as Operation Rescue. 

A friend commenting on my being always working as a teacher, writer, speaker, etc. said: Ronda, you just keep going like a Duracell battery.

Sept. 13,2015
A terrific homily from the deacon who, with his wife Ruth, wrote with me the book What the Saints Said about Heaven, and who reads this blog, said I could put up this homily of his that I thought very powerful.

IN THE SPRING OF 2004, MEL GIBSON’S MOVIE TITLED “THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST” WAS RELEASED. MANY OF YOU HAVE NO DOUBT SEEN IT. THIS FILM PORTRAYS THE LAST 12 HOURS OF THE LIFE OF JESUS. THE MOVIE, HOWEVER, WAS NOT WITHOUT CONTROVERSY, BECAUSE IT GIVES A VERY REALISTIC PORTRAYAL OF THE CRUCIFIXION. IT IS A VERY BLOODY FILM, A PORTRAYAL OF OUR LORD’S SUFFERING THAT CAN ONLY BE DESCRIBED AS GRUESOME. IT DOESN’T WHITEWASH THE DETAILS. RATHER, IT TELLS IT LIKE IT IS, IN ALL OF ITS UGLY DREADFULNESS. AND THAT IS PRECISELY WHAT MAKES SOME PEOPLE UNCOMFORTABLE WITH THIS FILM. THEY DON’T LIKE THE REALISM; THE REALISM OF DEATH BY CRUCIFIXION. UNDOUBTEDLY, THAT IS WHAT UPSET THE DISCIPLES IN TODAY’S GOSPEL AS WELL. WE ARE TOLD THAT, IN THE COURSE OF THEIR JOURNEY, JESUS BEGAN TO TEACH THE DISCIPLES THAT HE MUST SUFFER GREATLY, AND BE REJECTED, AND BE KILLED. THIS WAS UPSETTING NEWS, AND THESE DETAILS WERE MORE THAN PETER COULD STAND. SO, PETER TOOK JESUS ASIDE AND BEGAN TO REBUKE HIM. NOW, THE DICTIONARY SAYS THAT TO REBUKE SOMEONE IS TO SPEAK TO THEM IN AN ANGRY AND CRITICAL WAY. IT WAS LIKE PETER WAS SAYING TO JESUS; “ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?” CRUCIFIXION? YOU MUST BE CRAZY! WE DIDN’T SIGN UP TO TAKE PART IN ANYTHING LIKE THAT!” AND UPON HEARING THESE WORDS, JESUS TURNED THE TABLES AND REBUKED PETER AND SAID, “GET BEHIND ME, SATAN. YOU ARE THINKING NOT AS GOD DOES, BUT AS HUMAN BEINGS DO.” FOR “WHOEVER WISHES TO COME AFTER ME MUST DENY HIMSELF, TAKE UP HIS CROSS, AND FOLLOW ME.”

WOW! THAT’S POWERFUL STUFF. THAT’S CHRISTIANITY 101 IN A NUT SHELL. AND SO, IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH ABOU MERELY WATCHING A PORTRAYAL OF THE CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS IN A FILM, LIKE THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST, THEN LET THESE WORDS OF OUR LORD SINK IN A LITTLE BIT. BECAUSE, ACCORDING TO THE GOSPEL, IT’S NOT JUST TO JESUS THAT THIS KIND OF STUFF IS SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN, BUT WE, HIS FOLLOWERS, CAN EXPECT TO SHARE IN THAT SORT OF TREATMENT AS WELL. BUT CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIANS DON’T SEEM TO EXPECT IT. BECAUSE, OVER THE CENTURIES, AND ESPECIALLY IN THE MODERN ERA IN WHICH WE LIVE - THE WANING DAYS OF INSTITUTIONALIZED CHRISTENDOM - THE DEMANDS OF FOLLOWING CHRIST, OF TAKING UP ONE’S CROSS, HAVE BEEN GREATLY DIMINISHED AND DILUTED IN COMPARISON WITH THIS GOSPEL MANDATE, SO THAT PEOPLE DON’T OBJECT LIKE PETER DID. SUCH IS PARTICULARLY TRUE IN THE SO-CALLED ADVANCED WESTERN NATIONS OF THE WORLD, LIKE THE UNITED STATES. IN SUCH PLACES AS THESE, QUITE OFTEN CHRISTIANITY HAS BEEN SO DOMESTICATED THAT IT RESEMBLES LITTLE MORE THAN A SOCIAL CLUB, A GATHERING OF LIKE MINDED PEOPLE WHOSE PRIMARY PURPOSE WOULD APPEAR TO BE TO MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE IN WHICH TO LIVE. THIS IS NOTHING NEW, HOWEVER. DECADES AGO THE FAMOUS THEOLOGIAN H. RICHARD NIEBHUR CRITICIZED THE LIBERAL SOCIAL GOSPEL, DESCRIBING ITS MESSAGE AS, "A GOD WITHOUT WRATH, BRINGING MEN WITHOUT SIN, INTO A KINGDOM WITHOUT JUDGMENT, THROUGH THE MINISTRATIONS OF A CHRIST WITHOUT A CROSS.” THAT DESCRIPTION DOESN’T MUCH SOUND LIKE THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH TO ME. IT SOUNDS MORE LIKE A SOCIETY OF SOCIAL WORKERS. IT IS PRECISELY THIS CONFUSED, COMPLACENT, SELF-SATISFIED, AND UNCONCERNED SITUATION IN WHICH VAST STRETCHES OF WHAT PASSES AS CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIANITY FINDS ITSELF TODAY: DRAINED OF THE BLOOD OF CHRIST UNTIL IT IS SPIRITUALLY ANEMIC, AND DEVOID OF ANY REAL CONVICTION OF FOLLOWING JESUS IN THE WAY OF THE CROSS. HOW DIFFERENT THIS IS FROM THE EARLY CHURCH. THEY HAD NO SUCH CONFUSION, NO SUCH COMPLACENCY, NO SUCH LETHARGY. THEY KNEW THAT IF THEY WANTED TO BE AUTHENTIC FOLLOWERS OF JESUS, THEY HAD TO COMPLETELY DEDICATE THEMSELVES TO THE GOSPEL. THEY KNEW THAT IF THEY WANTED TO BE GENUINE FOLLOWERS OF JESUS THEY HAD TO WILLINGLY TAKE UPON THEMSELVES THE PERSECUTIONS AND TRIALS OF THEIR LIVES THAT RESULTED FROM THAT DEDICATION, AND ULTIMATELY BE WILLING TO GIVE THEMSELVES IN SACRIFICE FOR THE CROSS OF THEIR LORD.

THEY KNEW ALL OF THIS, FOR AFTER ALL, THEY WERE THE CHURCH OF THE MARTYRS. THEY DID NOT COMPROMISE, NOR DID THEY BECOME SELF-SATISFIED AND UNCONCERNED. AND NOT JUST THEM, BUT THROUGHOUT THE CENTURIES WHENEVER THE CHURCH AND THE TRUE FAITH HAS BEEN ATTACKED - FROM WITHIN OR FROM WITHOUT - THERE HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE FAITHFUL REMNANT WHO WOULD NOT BEND THE KNEE TO CAESAR, BUT WHO WILLINGLY DENIED THEMSELVES, TOOK UP THE CROSS, AND FOLLOWED AFTER THEIR LORD. MY FRIENDS, I AM NOT A PROPHET. I HAVE NO CRYSTAL BALL AND NO PARTICULAR GIFT TO LOOK INTO THE FUTURE AND TELL YOU WHAT IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN. MY INSIGHTS ARE SIMPLY MY OWN AND NOT ANYONE ELSES. BUT IF WHAT I FEEL IS ACCURATE, TO PARAPHRASE BETTE DAVIS, “FASTEN YOUR SEAT BELTS, IT’S GOING TO BE A BUMPY RIDE!” YOU SEE, I FEEL THAT THE TIME IN WHICH WE ARE LIVING - THIS VERY AGE - IS A CRITICAL, CRUCIAL ERA FOR THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH AND FOR CHRISTIANITY IN GENERAL. AS SOMEONE RECENTLY SAID: “THE WORLD TODAY IS A HUGE WHITE AND RED MARTYRDOM FACTORY!”

THE TRUTH OF THAT STATEMENT IS READILY APPARENT. ONE EXAMPLE IS THE DEMONIC WORK OF ISIS IN THE MIDDLE EAST - WITH THE RED MARTYRDOM OF SCORES OF CHRISTIANS; THE FORCED EXPULSION OF CHRISTIANS FROM THEIR HOMES; THE DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT CHRISTIAN HOLY PLACES, AND THE SEXUAL RAPE AND SERVITUDE OF COUNTLESS OTHERS. THESE ARE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. BUT WE DON’T NEED TO GO THAT FAR AFIELD TO FIND SUCH SIGNS. HERE AT HOME, THE IMPOSITION OF SO-CALLED HOMOSEXUAL MARRIAGE UPON THE NATION, THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE RADICAL GAY AGENDA, AND THE ACCOMPANYING DESTRUCTION OF TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE AND FAMILY VALUES IS ANOTHER EXAMPLE. THEN THERE IS THE PERSECUTION - THERE IS NO OTHER WORD FOR IT - OF CHRISTIAN ORGANIZATIONS FOR REFUSING TO PROVIDE THEIR EMPLOYEES ARTIFICIAL CONTRACEPTION AGAINST THEIR RELIGIOUS BELIEFS; AND, OF COURSE, THERE IS THE CONTINUING MURDER OF NOW OVER 60 MILLION UNBORN CHILDREN BY ABORTION, ALONG WITH THE RECENT REVELATION OF THE BARBARIC PRACTICES OF PLANNED PARENTHOOD; AND THE LIST COULD GO ON AND ON. ALL OF THIS POINTS TO A TIME OF TRIAL, A TIME OF TESTING AND TRAVAIL THAT IS COMING UPON THE CHURCH AND UPON FAITHFUL CHRISTIANS. AND IF THIS IS NOT THE ACTUAL END TIMES, EVEN IF THE END DOES NOT OCCUR FOR ANOTHER THOUSAND YEARS, THERE IS STILL THE REALITY OF OUR OWN APPROACHING END. EACH ONE OF US WILL ONE DAY MEET OUR OWN PARTICULAR JUDGMENT AT THE TIME OF OUR DEATH, AND FOR MANY OF US THAT MAY BE SOONER RATHER THAN LATER.

WHAT DO THESE REALITIES SAY TO US, AND HOW DOES TODAY’S GOSPEL SPEAK TO THOSE REALITIES? IF IT SAYS ANYTHING, IT SAYS THAT THE TIME OF HALF MEASURES IS OVER. LUKEWARM, FEEL GOOD CHRISTIANITY SIMPLY WILL NOT DO. COMPLACENCY, SLOTHFULNESS IN THE FAITH, LETHARGY IN OUR RELIGIOUS LIVES, MUDDLING ALONG WITH A GO ALONG TO GET ALONG ATTITUDE, SIMPLY WILL NOT DO, NOT IF WE ARE TO STAND WHEN THE GOING GETS EVEN TOUGHER IN THE DAYS AND YEARS AHEAD. RATHER, WE MUST EXAMINE OUR HEARTS, AND MINDS, AND LIVES AND SEE WHAT IT REALLY IS THAT WE ARE LIVING FOR. IS IT FOR JESUS CHRIST AND THE ONE TRUE FAITH, OR IS IT FOR SOMETHING ELSE, SOMETHING LESSER? TRUE COMMITMENT, TRUE GRIT, IS WHAT IS CALLED FOR IN THESE DAYS, A RECOMMITMENT TO THE TRUTH AND TO LIVING THE TRUTH, COME WHAT MAY, IS WHAT IS NECESSARY IN THESE PERILOUS TIMES. IN OTHER WORDS, NOTHING LESS THAN DENYING OURSELVES, TAKING UP OUR CROSS, AND FOLLOWING IN THE FOOT STEPS OF JESUS WILL DO. NOTHING ELSE WILL SAVE US. NOTHING ELSE WILL BE OUR DEFENSE WHEN WE STAND BEFORE GOD AT THE END TO GIVE AN ACCOUNT OF OUR LIVES. AND SO, I LEAVE YOU WITH THIS ADMONITION: PRAY TO THE HOLY SPIRIT THAT HE WILL ILLUMINATE YOUR HEARTS AND MINDS TO SEE WHERE YOU MUST CHANGE IN ORDER TO BE A GENUINE FOLLOWER OF CHRIST. EXAMINE YOUR CONSCIENCE, AND BE BRUTALLY HONEST WITH YOURSELF. THEN GO TO THE SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION AND MAKE A GOOD CONFESSION, AND LEAVE THAT SACRAMENT RECOMMITTED TO THE CHURCH, TO THE MAGISTERIUM, TO THE EUCHARIST, TO THE WORD AND SACRAMENTS, TO PRAYER, TO THE ONE TRUE FAITH, AND TO THE TRUTH, DETERMINED TO LIVE IT OUT IN THOUGHT, WORD AND DEED NO MATTER THE COST, REMEMBERING THAT IT WAS JESUS, NOT DEACON BALLARD, WHO SAID: “WHOEVER WISHES TO COME AFTER ME MUST DENY HIMSELF, TAKE UP HIS CROSS, AND FOLLOW ME. FOR WHOEVER WISHES TO SAVE HIS LIFE WILL LOSE IT, BUT WHOEVER LOSES HIS LIFE FOR MY SAKE, AND THAT OF THE GOSPEL, WILL SAVE IT.” AMEN.

August 12, 2008
Saved
Holy Spirit:

You would like your every enterprise to be successful with a minimum of labor and a maximum of profit. Sometimes that happens, but rarely. You would like Your spiritual life to be successful with a minimum of struggle and a maximum of applause. Sometimes that happens, but rarely. More often the success of an enterprise requires enormous effort for even a minimum of profit.
More often holiness comes after terrible struggles with minutely achieved visible change.

More excerpts from GOD ALONE

August 10, 2008
Shock Waves
Holy Spirit:

Through advanced worldwide media coverage you can be shocked, not only by the evils in your immediate area, but those around the world. In a certain way you have in your times more of a God’s eye view of your world. In another way you are less aware.