The birth of Jesus, which we celebrate today, was prophesied centuries before the event, most notably by the prophet Isaiah. According to Wikipedia: :The oldest surviving manuscripts of Isaiah are two scrolls found among the Dead Sea Scrolls; dating from about a century before the time of Jesus, but those manuscripts have been dated to as far back as 408 B.C. There are two well known and relevant quotes from Isaiah about today.
Here's the first:
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel.
The second will be recognized from George Frideric Handel's Magnus opus, Messiah.
Here's the quote:
For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Pope Paul VI, wrote a landmark encyclical, which was promulgated on July 25,1968. It was entitled: Humanae Vitae. It was perhaps the greatest, and clearest (not to mention timely) encyclical written in my lifetime. Unfortunately, it went mostly unread, and almost totally unheeded, thanks in large part to a failure on the part of clerics to fully support it. There was a joke making the rounds at the time about an old Italian woman listening as the Pope discussed his encyclical from his balcony at the Vatican. The woman supposedly spoke rather loudly: "He no playa da game; he no maka da rules." She never obviously considered that the rules were not coming from him, and neither, apparently, did any of the clerics who disagreed with him.
Breaking from the usual format of providing one or two relevant quotes, herewith is a short summary of the Prophecies of Humanae Vitae, originally published by Fr. Paul Marx, OSB, on the Blog of The Population Research Institute.
"On July 25, 1968, Pope Paul VI’s Humanae Vitae re-affirmed the Catholic teaching on life, love and human sexuality. In that document, he listed the consequences of life lived outside Catholic teaching.
"He predicted that:
1. Contraception would lead to conjugal infidelity.
2. Contraceptive practice would lead to a “general lowering of morality.”
3. Contraception would lead men to cease respecting woman in their totality and would cause them to treat women as “mere instruments of selfish enjoyment” rather than as cherished partners.
4. And finally, widespread acceptance of contraception by couples would lead to a massive imposition of contraception by unscrupulous governments.
"In other words, Pope Paul VI predicted that contraception would evolve from “a lifestyle choice” into a weapon of mass destruction. How dreadfully his prophecy has been vindicated by population control and coercive sterilization programs, fertility reduction quotas and the promotion of abortion literally everywhere in the world.
"Contraception’s destruction of the integrity of the marital act—as unitive and procreative—has dire consequences for society and for our souls. Contraception, in other words, is a rejection of God’s view of reality. It is a wedge driven into the most intimate sphere of communion known to man outside of the Holy Sacrament of the Mass. It is a degrading poison that withers life and love both in marriage and in society.
"By breaking the natural and divinely ordained connection between sex and procreation, women and men—but especially men—would focus on the hedonistic possibilities of sex. People would cease seeing sex as something that was intrinsically linked to new life and to the sacrament of marriage.
"Does anyone doubt that this is where we find ourselves today?"
I read recently (wish I could remember where) that we have entered an age of hedonistic narcissism. Can't argue with that. The Bellarmine Forumis running a Campaign for Humanae Vitae on their Blog site, and you can sign the petition on the website. You can also listen to a Podcast by Dr. Christopher Manion of the Bellarmine Forum discussing the failure on the part of many clerics (including Cardinal Timothy Dolan) to address Humanae Vitae since its promulgation, by clicking Here.
Allan David Bloom (September 14, 1930 – October 7, 1992), one of our great professors, philosophers, and classicists, is most famous for his magnus opus: The Closing of the American Mind. His first book was a collection of three essays on Shakespeare's plays, entitled: Shakespeare's Politics (1964), and today's relevant quote is taken from that work. Bloom is countering the idea that the family is not the most important aspect of politics (an idea espoused by Plato and others, who believed more in the "just city"). The quote is in his essay on "Richard II":
Here's the quote:
"…the exquisitely refined souls do not belong in the best political men."
H.L. Mencken (1880 - 1956), the "Sage of Baltimore," was a journalist, satirist, critic, and Democrat. He wrote many editorials while working for the Baltimore Evening Sun, nearly every one of which is a classic.
Today's quote is from the July 26, 1920 edition of the Baltimore Evening Sun and, although written and published 93 years ago, it could not be more relevant to our present time (and administration).
Here's the quote:
"As democracy is perfected, the office of the President represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be occupied by a downright fool and complete narcissistic moron."
Gerhart Niemeyer (with his friend William F. Buckley, Jr.), was one of the greatest minds of our time, as attested by some of the other great minds of our time. Dr. Christopher Manion mentioned him today in a post at The Bellarmine Forum, entitled: "Hope in the Rearview Mirror."
One of those other great minds of our time, Angelo Codevilla, wrote a tribute to his former teacher on The University Bookman after Niemeyer died, in which he said the following: "Niemeyer’s life embodied the Platonic lesson he passed on to us—that to grow in understanding is to grow closer to God."
There are too many relevant quotes of Niemeyer provided by Dr. Manion in his referenced post to choose just one, so herewith more than one:
"...not only Communists but all other varieties of progressive have raised hope as the flag around which their supporters rally.”
“Christian hope is for things imperishable, not confined to this world – things promised by God and secured by Jesus Christ. With a view to this imperishable glory, the entire Christian life is illumined and transfigured by hope. Hope thus is an enduring quality of a Christian life, together with faith and charity.”
But the true believers on the Left:
"have drawn their secular hopes not from Christian sources but from futuristic ideologies."
On this the 150th anniversary of President Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, it's fitting to remember that the main speaker at Gettysburg that day was former secretary of state Edward Everett, who spoke for two hours on the events of the day. Lincoln was asked only to say a few words to close the program. He did that and much more. His closing remarks: two hundred and seventy-two words, delivered in a littler more than two minutes, have gone down in history as one of the greatest political speeches ever delivered. Members of our current administration, who did not pick up on the clear lesson imparted by President Lincoln that day, should pay heed to something else he said that is extremely relevant today.
Here's the quote:
"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and to remove all doubt."
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI began speaking out against what he called "The Dictatorship of Relativism" even before he was elected Pope on April 19, 2005. He spoke of it often, and even Progressive Catholics understood what he meant even if they did not agree with him on the severity of the problem. During his papacy, he related how relativism tended toward political correctness and thereafter to intolerance.
Here's the quote:
“In recent years I find myself noting,” how the more relativism becomes the generally accepted way of thinking, the more it tends toward intolerance. Political correctness … seeks to establish the domain of a single way of thinking and speaking. Its relativism creates the illusion that it has reached greater heights than the loftiest philosophical achievements of the past. It presents itself as the only way to think and speak — if, that is, one wishes to stay in fashion. … I think it is vital that we oppose this imposition of a new pseudo-enlightenment, which threatens freedom of thought as well as freedom of religion.”
Pope Francis, on the other hand, has given unscripted interviews recently that have some members of the Church scratching their heads and wondering how the current pontiff feels about relativism. There have been a number of interpretations rendered by various Catholic pundits on what the Pope actually meant when he said certain things, but what he actually said seems to indicate that he feels less inclined than his predecessor to encourage the faithful to guard against the cult of relativism so pervasive in our culture. Those hoping for an acceptance by the Church of fundamental changes in Catholic doctrine, however, have been disappointed at every turn (so far) when Pope Francis confirms that doctrine at every opportunity. They still, though, cling to certain utterances that give them hope. Here's the quote:
"When I meet a gay person, I have to distinguish between their being gay and being part of a lobby. If they accept the Lord and have goodwill, who am I to judge them? They shouldn't be marginalized. The tendency (to homosexuality) is not the problem ... they're our brothers."
Apparently some of our brothers take the absence of the word "repentance," and the failure to mention what we've always been taught: "Love the sinner; hate the sin," as an encouraging sign that Pope Francis is dismissing any such admonishments. They shouldn't do that.
In watching the soon-to-be-completed meeting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, I was reminded of something C. S. Lewis said in his great work: The Abolition of Man. His prescient observations struck me in particular when the incoming USCCB president, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, was interviewed last night by Colleen Carroll Campbell, on EWTN, about the infamous HHS mandate. Sadly, he sounded more like a politician ( a pretty secular one) when attempting to answer her inquiry as to what the bishops intended to do when the mandate becomes binding. He spoke blandly about the court cases (which he expects will find their way to the Supreme Court) and expressed the hope that they will, eventually, be resolved in our favor. I kept waiting for him to say as forcefully as a bishop might (think St. Peter or Andrew), "In any case, regardless of the outcome of these civil maneuverings, WE CANNOT and WILL NOT COMPLY," but that would not be nice.
That is what brought to mind this relevant quote from C.S. Lewis.
Here's the quote:
"The operation of The Green Book and its kind is to produce what may be called Men without Chests. It is an outrage that they should be commonly spoken of as intellectuals. This gives then the chance to say that he who attacks them attacks intelligence. It is not so...It is not excess of thought but defect of fertile and generous emotion that marks them out. Their heads are no bigger than the ordinary: it is the atrophy of the chest beneath that makes them seem so."
In the midst of all the media spin over recent candid interviews by our current pontiff, it might be instructive to go back to one of the lions of the Catholic Church for a clear understanding of the Church's position on socialism.
In his encyclical, QUOD APOSTOLICI MUNERIS (On Socialism), promulgated on 28 December 1878, Pope Leo XIII denounced socialism as "a Satanic counterfeit of the Gospel." He had much more to say about it, but one particular quote stood out.
Here's the quote:
“...they assail the right of property sanctioned by natural law; and by a scheme of horrible wickedness, while they seem desirous of caring for the needs and satisfying the desires of all men, they strive to seize and hold in common whatever has been acquired either by title of lawful inheritance, or by labor of brain and hands, or by thrift in one's mode of life. . . .But the boldness of these bad men, which day by day more and more threatens civil society with destruction, and strikes the souls of all with anxiety and fear, finds its cause and origin in those poisonous doctrines which, spread abroad in former times among the people, like evil seed bore in due time such fatal fruit.”
The oft quoted C.S. Lewis (29 November 1898 - 22 November 1963)
provides for us today one that is perhaps the most relevant of all his aphorisms. It is especially relevant to those among us most negatively effected by the policies of our current administration.
Here's the quote:
“I live in the Managerial Age, in a world of "Admin." The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid "dens of crime" that Dickens loved to paint. It is not done even in concentration camps and labour camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices. Hence, naturally enough, my symbol for Hell is something like the bureaucracy of a police state or the office of a thoroughly nasty business concern."
Believe it or not, that's Vladimir Putin, president of Russia and Russian Patriarch Kirill I, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, with whom he has become quite friendly.
The following is from the Moynihan Report, Letter #94:
On September 19, Putin spoke at an annual gathering to discuss Russia's future in Valdai, Russia (near Novgorod).
"Putin urges Russians to return to values of religion," was the title of an AP report by Neil Buckley, present at the meeting.
"Vladimir Putin called on Russians to strengthen a new national identity based on conservative and traditional values such as the Orthodox church, warning that the West was facing a moral crisis."
This is amazing stuff, and much of what Putin said at that gathering was extremely relevant here in the United States, but some of it hit like a ton of bricks.
Here's the quote:
“A policy is being conducted of putting on the same level multi-child families and single-sex partnerships, belief in God and belief in Satan. The excesses of political correctness are leading to the point where people are talking seriously about registering parties whose goal is legalizing the propaganda of pedophilia. People in many European countries are ashamed, and are afraid of talking about their religious convictions. [Religious] holidays are being taken away or called something else, shamefully hiding the essence of the holiday.”
Here's an earlier post on Russian Patriarch Kirill I on "gay marriage" and political correctness:
And: Today, November 7, 2013, it was announced that Pope Francis will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Vatican City, on November 25.
Blessed John Paul The Great, who reigned as Pope John Paul II from 1978 to 2005, was a prolific writer and speaker. He has been credited by many (along with Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher) for bringing about the dissolution of Soviet Communism and its Evil Empire. His relevant quotes could fill volumes, but one particularly stands out for us today.
Here's the quote:
"We are standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has ever experienced. I do not think the wide circle of the American Society, or the wide circle of the Christian Community realize this fully. We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-church, between the Gospel and the anti-gospel, between Christ and the antichrist. This confrontation lies within the plans of Divine Providence. It is, therefore, in God's Plan, and it must be a trial which the Church must take up, and face courageously..."
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky (1821-1861), Russian writer and philosopher (and one of the favorite authors of Pope Francis), was wont to share his philosophy of life through his characters.
In one of his best novels: The Idiot, which he wrote in 1869, Dostoyevsky speaking through his character, Evgenie Pavlovitch, imparts some of his personal philosophy that certainly bears relevance to what we are faced with today.
Here's the quote:
“This hatred of Russia has been mistaken by some of our ‘Russian Liberals’ for sincere love of their country, and they boast that they see better than their neighbors what real love of one’s country should consist in.But of late they have grown more candid and are ashamed of the expression ‘love of country’ and have annihilated the very spirit of the words as something injurious and petty and undignified.”
In the wake of the horrific event at The Navy Yard in Southeast Washington D.C., this past Monday, prepare yourself for the clarion calls from liberals for yet more restrictive laws against guns - laws that will be obeyed by the already defenseless law-abiding citizens, some of whom will be the future victims of these idiotic laws.
Niccolo Machiavelli, writing 600 years ago, penned words of relevance that are ignored by legislators at every opportunity in order not be labeled as something other than "compassionate" for the victims of gun violence. We can pray that some day soon they (and the leadership in the Pentagon) will do the right thing and, at the very least, afford members of our military (whose job is using weapons to defend our liberty) to openly carry weapons at their place of work, and not depend on (less qualified) civilian police to come to their aid and assistance well after the fact. Both quotes below are from The Prince.
Here are the quotes:
“To govern more securely some Princes have disarmed their subjects...but by disarming, you at once give offence, since you show your subjects that you distrust them, either by doubting their courage, or as doubting their fidelity, each of which imputations begets hatred against you.”
Today's quote is from Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's Magnus opus, The Gulag Archipelago, and must be read as perhaps the most relevant collection of words to our present time, given what happened before, during, and especially after the tragedy in Benghazi (what difference does it make?).
Here's the quote:
“It is unthinkable in the twentieth century to fail to distinguish between what constitutes an abominable atrocity that must be prosecuted and what constitutes that "past" which "ought not to be stirred up.”
John F. Kennedy gave the strongest speech of his young presidency in 1962 during The Cuban Missile Crisis. You can read the whole speech Here.
After the disastrous "Bay of Pigs" affair, Kennedy's credibility was in need of repair, but there was no feeling on the part of the American public that his speech, or the plans he outlined that night, were in any way political or self-serving. The speech was full of memorable lines, some very powerful.
Here's the quote:
"We will not prematurely or unnecessarily risk the costs of worldwide nuclear war in which even the fruits of victory would be ashes in our mouth; but neither will we shrink from that risk at any time it must be faced...
"It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union."
Ronald Reagan gave one of the most memorable of his speeches at The Berlin Wall in 1987. You can read the whole speech HERE.
One short admonition in that speech (written by Peter Robinson), was taken out and put back in by White House staff more than once, until finally President Reagan insisted that it stay in.
Here's the quote:
"General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
George W. Bush spoke to the crowd gathered at the site of the fallen World Trade Center Buildings, three days after that horrific event of 9/11. Here's the video of his short impromptu speech that rallied that crowd and the rest of the nation, a nation of which he was proud to be the president.
Barack Obama spoke to the nation, on September 10, 2013, to outline his plan to address the situation in Syria. You can read the whole speech HERE. There were many memorable quotes from that speech.
Here are a few:
"So even though I possess the authority to order military strikes, I believed it was right, in the absence of a direct or imminent threat to our security, to take this debate to Congress...
"My answer is simple: I will not put American boots on the ground in Syria. I will not pursue an open-ended action like Iraq or Afghanistan. I will not pursue a prolonged air campaign like Libya or Kosovo...
"However, over the last few days, we’ve seen some encouraging signs. In part because of the credible threat of U.S. military action, as well as constructive talks that I had with President Putin, the Russian government has indicated a willingness to join with the international community in pushing Assad to give up his chemical weapons...
"I have, therefore, asked the leaders of Congress to postpone a vote to authorize the use of force while we pursue this diplomatic path."
Today's possibly relevant quote is from The Holy Bible: Isaiah 17:1.
Here's the quote:
"An Oracle Against Damascus
'See, Damascus will no longer be a city but will become a heap of ruins. The cities of Aroer will be deserted and left to flocks, which will lie down, with no one to make them afraid. The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim, and the royal power from Damascus; the remnant of Aram will be like the glory of the Israelites,' declares the Lord Almighty."
Today's quote is from a pamphlet distributed by Planned Parenthood as far back as 1952 when they were pushing contraception and warning against the serious consequences of abortion. The pamphlet was entitled: "Plan Your Children for Health and Happiness." They've come a long way, and their position on abortion has obviously been mitigated to say the least. The words used by Planned Parenthood in their pamphlet are very clear, and were brought to our attention by Charles Rice, who taught at the Notre Dame Law School for over 30 years.
Professor Rice provides the exact wording of the pamphlet (p 72), words that the current leadership of Planned Parenthood, and the perfidious politicians who support them, should find relevant.
Here's the quote:
"An abortion kills the life of a baby after it has begun. It is dangerous to your life and health. It may make you sterile so that when you want a child, you cannot have it. Birth control merely postpones the beginning of life."
Today's quote is from a biography of the man closest to Ronald Reagan from his days as Governor of California to his two terms in the White House. That man is William P. Clark, and the title of the book is The Judge; William P. Clark, Ronald Reagan's Top Hand. You can order a copy for only $3.00 by clicking on the link.
After the death of President Reagan, the Left was obsessed with making us believe that were he still alive and of sound mind he would support funding for embryonic stem-cell research. Clark knew better, and to set the matter straight he penned a column for the New York Times entitled: "For Reagan, All Life Was Sacred."
This is from the New York Times piece:
Ronald Reagan's record reveals that no issue was of greater importance to him than the dignity and sanctity of all human life. ''My administration is dedicated to the preservation of America as a free land,'' he said in 1983. ''And there is no cause more important for preserving that freedom than affirming the transcendent right to life of all human beings, the right without which no other rights have any meaning.'' One of the things he regretted most at the completion of his presidency in 1989, he told me, was that politics and circumstances had prevented him from making more progress in restoring protection for unborn human life.
In the biography of Clark, there is an account of a speech given by Clark at the Center for Security Policy's "Keeper of the Flame" dinner in honor of Ronald Reagan, in 1995. In that speech Clark refers to President Reagan's strong opposition to Roe v. Wade, using Reagan's words as spoken to Clark.
Hers's the quote:
"Human life legislation ending this tragedy (Roe v. Wade) will someday pass Congress, and you and I must never rest until it does."
The aim of the Platonic philosophy was to raise us far above vulgar wants. The aim of the Baconian philosophy was to supply our vulgar wants. The former aim was laudable; but the latter was attainable.
