Patrocinii St. Joseph Confessoris Sponsi B.M.V. Confessoris

The feast of St Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church, was originally called “the Patronage of St Joseph,” and fixed to the Third Sunday after Easter. It was kept by a great many dioceses and religious orders, particularly promoted by the Carmelites, before it was extended to the universal Church by Bl. Pope Pius IX in 1847, and later granted an octave. When the custom of fixing feasts to particular Sundays was abolished as part of the Breviary reform of Pope St Pius X, it was anticipated to the previous Wednesday, the day of the week traditionally dedicated to Patron Saints. It was removed from the general Calendar in 1955 and replaced by the feast of St Joseph the Worker, one of the least fortunate aspects of the pre-Conciliar liturgical changes; the new feast itself was then downgraded from the highest of three grades (first class) in the 1962 Missal to the lowest of four (optional memorial) in 1970.

https://newliturgicalmovement.org/2024/04/the-solemnity-of-st-joseph-patron-of.html?

Inside the horrifying world of transgender surgery

 

FAITH KUZMA

 April 05, 2024  4 Mins Read  1 Reaction 

WPATH, or the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, is respected as the peak body for transgender medicine. Its “standards of care” (SOC) were once regarded as a benchmark for ethical and effective treatment for minors and adults. The eighth edition (SOC8) , which was released in 2022, has been translated into ten languages. 

Its prestige, however, has been tarnished by the leak of hundreds of posts from an internal messaging forum. These are evidence of doctors basing their surgery, even on young people, on trial and error, not on medical research. The internet went wild over the leak. The Times of London called WPATH quack medicine, and Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology Lauren Schwartz, MDstated: “WPATH has evolved into one of the most egregious disfigurements of medical practice our profession has ever encountered.” 

However, the real scandal emerges not just in leaks of confidential discussions but in what is publicly known about WPATH’s authorized procedures. The word “kinky” comes to mind over and over again. I wonder if President Joe Biden had these in mind in his message to the trans community on Easter Sunday: “You are loved.  You are heard.  You are understood.  You belong.  You are America, and my entire Administration and I have your back.” 

The President of the United States has endorsed what is effectively a nationwide program of sexual lobotomies. This is completely nuts. 

Here are some of the fetish-appeasing surgeries that WPATH is pushing. 

Non-binary 

Chapter 8 in SOC8 is devoted to treatment of non-binary people, who desire to appear neither male nor female. WPATH surgeons are ready to comply with their demands. One problem is that there is no agreed definition of what “non-binary” means – and therefore of what treatment may be needed. In fact SOC8 acknowledges that “At times, nonbinary people find themselves educating the provider from whom they are seeking services despite the inappropriateness of providers relying primarily on their patients for education.” 

Is this medicine or is it making it up as you go along? 

Prior to the latest WPATH guidance, “bottom surgeries” were limited to binary surgical options such as vaginoplasty (creating an open wound to be used as a vaginal canal) or phalloplasty (constructing a non-functional penis). However, WPATH shifted to accommodate the emerging trend of individuals who prefer a “queer” identity that does not conform to either male or female biological sex classifications. These surgeries cannot remotely be construed as medically necessary. Gender-queer “identities” can include eunuchs, gendervoids, demi boys, pangender etc, etc. There are customized surgeries for them all. 

Eunuchs 

Chapter 9 in SOC8 is devoted to eunuchs. Eunuchs? You might have thought that the last eunuch died when the last Turkish sultan closed his harem. But no, some fetishists want to be castrated. WPATH doesn’t regard this as a psychological problem. 

SOC8 welcomes eunuchs under its “gender diverse umbrella”. This kind of surgery is deemed legitimate because otherwise clients will engage in sado-masochistic “actions that may cause them great harm,” ie, self-castration. There are apparently two types of eunuch surgery: one removes the testicles (bilateral orchiectomy) and the other eliminates the penis (penectomy).  

Speculating on the inclusion of the infamous eunuch chapter, Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson, in conversation with journalist Michael Schellenberger, who released the files, suggests sadism very likely provided the impetus. 

Nullifications

An even more radical variety of non-binary surgery is nullification, which results in an absence of external primary sexual organs.” This “Barbi smoothie” surgery entails “amputating genitals for a smooth, sexless appearance.”  The idea is to achieve a “flat front” or genital-free torso preserving only urethral and anal openings.  

After a double mastectomy, females identifying as nonbinary typically request the skin nipple grafts be destroyed, modified, or moved out of normal alignment. Additionally, they may request some portion of breast mound tissue be retained to allow for day-to-day “fluid” shifts in gender moods. Nullification surgery for a female sacrifices her vagina together with the clitoris and labia.

Now for something completely different

The idea of a “sex change” is essentially binary and therefore old-fashioned. There are only two sexes, so there are only two possible sex changes – male to female and female to male. A gender fluid world opens up a whole spectrum of possibilities. Let me quote this paragraph from SOC8: 

“Additional surgical requests for nonbinary people [assigned male at birth] include penile-preserving vaginoplasty, vaginoplasty with preservation of the testicle(s), and procedures resulting in an absence of external primary sexual characteristics (i.e., penectomy, scrotectomy, orchiectomy, etc.).” 

WPATH Surgeon Dr. Thomas Satterwhite brags in the leaked files of his willingness to undertake these kinky surgeries: 

“I’ve performed mastectomies without nipples, or have created chests with varying degrees of remaining breast tissue, or created incision patterns specific to my patient’s wishes. For bottom surgery, I’ve performed minimal-depth vaginoplasties(vulvoplasties), phallus-preserving vaginoplasties, and nullificationprocedures. I’m quite comfortable tailoring my operations to serve the needs of each patient.”  

In other words, you can have bespoke genitalia. A particularly repugnant example is bigenital surgery (penile-preserving vaginoplasty). Yes, this is a Thing. Some folks want both male and female sex organs.

Read the rest: 

https://www.mercatornet.com/inside_the_horrifying_world_of_transgender_surgery

J. K. Rowling’s courageous stand for truth

 Not a fan of her books but her persevering resistance to true moral and cultural bullies of our day is commendable- FrC

KURT MAHLBURG

 April 05, 2024  2 Mins Read  3 Reactions

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This year’s was a particularly memorable April Fools’ Day.

First, Scotland’s new Hate Crime and Public Order Act came into force, making it illegal to “stir up hatred” against people based on their age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity or other protected characteristics.

It’s a fool’s errand to try to police hatred— a subjective and internalised feeling if ever there was one — not to mention the even more ambiguous “crime” of stirring up hatred.

But fools rush in, and thanks to the new woke law, anyone found guilty of sufficiently hurting another person’s feelings in Scotland, even in their private residence or online, will face up to seven years in prison. A fool’s paradise indeed.

Into the breach

In response to all this foolishness, bestselling author J. K. Rowling, who calls Scotland home, shared her own April Fools’ joke in the form of a lengthy X thread.

“Scotland’s Hate Crime Act comes into effect today,” she began. “Women gain no additional protections, of course, but well-known trans activist Beth Douglas, darling of prominent Scottish politicians, falls within a protected category. Phew!”

Rowling’s words captioned two screenshots of social media posts made by Douglas that show the trans activist wielding knives and axes, and stating that “direct action gets the goods” and “you can take the change by force”.

But Rowling wasn’t done.

“Lovely Scottish lass and convicted double rapist Isla Bryson found her true authentic female self shortly before she was due to be sentenced,” wrote Rowling, posting photos of an evidently male criminal who apparently hoped for lighter sentencing with a newfound trans identity.

“Misgendering is hate, so respect Isla’s pronouns, please,” Rowling added sarcastically.

Eight more tweets followed, cataloguing an assortment of sporting opportunists, undeserving women’s rights appointees, and convicted criminals.

Then for the punchline:

“April Fools!” Rowling declared.

“Only kidding. Obviously, the people mentioned in the above tweets aren’t women at all, but men, every last one of them.”

She ended her post with a thoughtful critique of the new law, which, she argues, prioritises male self-identification over the rights of actual women, and that will inevitably hurt girls, incentivise abuse, scramble crime data, silence dissent and outlaw biology.

Read the rest: 

https://www.mercatornet.com/j_k_rowling_stand_for_truth

“ The Stone Rejected By the Builders”

By Father Kevin M Cusick

“Jesus said to them: ‘Have you never read in the Scriptures: The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner? By the Lord this has been done; and it is wonderful in our eyes.’” (Matthew 21, 42)

Through the paschal mystery we celebrate in this Easter season the meaning of these words of our Lord is fully revealed. The risen Lord is the source and summit of the Church in thesacrament His Body and Blood of the Eucharist. Thus truly present, from Him flows all that saves us and toward Him is drawn the whole world. Lifted up on the Cross and, risen, now at the right hand of the Father. He is the foundation, the indispensable cornerstone without which the entire structure of His Mystical Body would fall in ruin.

Time and time again, in connection with Vatican II, we hear the cry for removal of any least obstacle to Protestants. As matter of fact, Protestants were invited to be present at the Council which led to the new Rite.

The problem with this approach however, is the words of Christ Himself. It turns out the perfect revelation of God in Christ Jesus is by necessity a stumbling stone, rejected even by the “builders”. This means that even those who have no role in construction will also, in some measure, reject Him as a scandal. But, also, that even this rejection is part of God’s mysterious plan of salvation.

Scandal, or stumbling stone, must be understood in two senses.One is scandal in the negative, or evil, sense, as in the case of Peter who, himself scandalized by the Lord’s prediction of His own suffering, attempts to turn Christ away from the will of the Father and the Sacrifice of the Cross.

"Who turning, said to Peter: “Go behind me, Satan, thou art a scandal unto me: because thou savourest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men.’”
(Matthew 16:23)

Our Lord here distinguishes between those stones which make souls stumble on their path to God over against the stone which He will become through His suffering and death on the Cross.This, of course, is scandal in its positive sense. Seeing and judging from the perspective of God, seeing all of reality in light of the Father and His will, is the standard for that which conforms to Christ. On the other hand, seeing things only from man’s limited and faulty perspective, skewed by the blindness resulting from original sin, is the kernel of all that frustrates and rejects the Father’s plan.

“And blessed is he that shall not be scandalized in me.”(Matthew 11, 6) All the words and works of Christ, revealed by means of Scripture and Tradition, must be handed on, lest we find ourselves guilty of the sin of scandal against Christ, that scandal which he condemned in Peter. The rejection of suffering made necessary by obedience is diabolic, divides man from God who seeks to unite Himself with man once again in Christ. The suffering Servant, lifted up on the Cross, draws all men to Himself. (John 12, 32).

The Father and Christ are One. Christ’s oneness with the Father is reflected in His obedience, particularly through His death on the Cross. Perfectly united to the will of the Father, Christ promises to restore our identity as children of God if we unite ourselves, through obedience, with Him. This is one aspect of the command and promise that we cannot enter the Kingdom of God unless we convert and become like “little children”.(Matthew 18,3)

Children readily obey all that their parents command in order to receive all the good things that can come only through those who love them most in the world.

“For let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

“Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:  But emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and in habit found as a man.  He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross.  For which cause God also hath exalted him, and hath given him a name which is above all names: That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth…” (Philippians 2, 5-10)

The self-emptying of Christ repulses human nature as a kind of annihilation, the opposite of the instinct to preserve and protect life. But it is the only way to make the full journey to the Resurrection, which brings the fulfillment of all human desire.

Risen and victorious, Christ is the keystone of the whole structure which is His Body, the Church. All that is truth and that can save souls is to be built upon Him. The lies of the Evil One are a mockery and counterfeit of Christ. This is the essence of the scandal in the pejorative sense.

Back to the intentions of some prelates present at the Second Vatican Council. Was their intention to remove what Protestants consider an obstacle to becoming Catholic a good or even necessary agenda? It resulted in the New Mass. That which had been handed down was subject to surgery, a good bit of amputation, and some transplants.

How, a reasonable person may ask, does taking out elements that have always made prayers Catholic encourage someone who is not Catholic to become so? Did allowing those who do not share our Faith to stand in judgment over it come from a proper sense of “scandal”, or not?

Is the attempt to remove all which is judged to be scandal for those outside the Church a reflection of Peter or Judas in the Church today? Who decides what is a scandal to be removed?

History repeats itself. The “builders” who reject the cornerstone today are the new pharisees, those who decide which parts of the Catholic Faith and life need to be lopped off for the false irenicism of never offending anyone. One of the ways in which Christ describes Himself is precisely that: offensive to unbelievers. His grace is what they need to overcome this proper and salutary sense of scandal resulting from an encounter with truth.

The seeming good of removing scandal, in the hands of scholars or committees, can go astray. It is as well a potential stumbling block for those outside the Church. All that Christ gave the Church for our salvation must be preserved and handed on. We do not stand as judges over God and His plan, lest we fall into the sin of Peter, condemned by Our Lord.

In the past we turned to popes who filled in the vacuums or ambiguities which were claimed to be part of the ecclesial innovation of a “pastoral” council. That period of assurance is now over. Now we have changes to practice spelled out in documents issued from the top together with assurance that teaching is unaffected. But what does teaching, rooted in truth, mean if it does not command obedience? It is a dead letter.

Again, Christ gives us the answer. Faith and obedience is the vision which we need. The scandal which needs removing is the sin of hypocrisy:

“Or how canst thou say to thy brother: ‘Brother, let me pull the mote out of thy eye, when thou thyself seest not the beam in thy own eye?’ Hypocrite, cast first the beam out of thy own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to take out the mote from thy brother's eye.” (Luke 6, 42).

Perhaps the hypocrisy we ought to fight in the Church today is that which says we can be Catholic while reserving to ourselves the decision as to which elements of the Faith we will accept or not. In such a case one is not obeying God but rather men, an inversion of the idea of Faith.

"But Peter and the apostles answering, said: We ought to obey God, rather than men.”
(Acts of Apostles 5:29)

Thank you for reading and praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever.

apriestlife.blogspot.com

 

 

“Pax vobis”

The Incredulity of Thomas, 11th century, mosaic, Hosios Loukas Monastery, Boeotia (photo: Byzantologist, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Léctio sancti Evangélii secúndum Lucam

Luc 24:36-47
In illo témpore: Stetit Jesus in médio discipulórum, et dicit eis: Pax vobis: ego sum, nolíte timére. Et réliqua.

Homily by St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan.
Bk. x Comm. on Luke xxiv
We see here the marvelous nature of the Lord's glorified Body. It could enter unseen, and then become seen. It could easily be touched, but Its nature is hard to understand. The disciples were affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And therefore the Lord, that He might show us the evidence of His Resurrection, said: Handle Me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see Me have. Therefore it was not by being in a disembodied state, but by the peculiar qualities of the risen and glorified Body that He had passed through closed doors. John xx. 19. For that which is touched or handled is a body.

We shall all rise again with our bodies. But it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. 1. Cor. xv. 44. The spiritual body is the finer, and the natural body is the grosser, besodden as yet by the corruption of earth. Was not That a real Body, wherein remained those marks of His Wounds, those holes of the nail-prints, which the Lord bade His disciples to handle? Hereby, also, He hath not only strengthened our faith, but also quickened our love, since we know that it has been His will to carry to heaven those Wounds which He bore for our sake, and wherewith He would not make away; but plainly showeth to His Eternal Father the price of our freedom. It is as marked with these Wounds and embracing the trophy of our salvation that the Father hath said to Him, Sit Thou at My right Hand: and it is, like Him, marked with their wounds, that He hath shown us that the Martyrs, whose Crown He is, are, and will be with Him there.

Holy Thursday: To Suffer at the Hands of the Wicked

“Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the sinner, * and out of the hand of the transgressor of the law and of the unjust.
For thou art my patience, O Lord: * my hope, O Lord, from my youth.” Psalm 70

Lesson from the book of Lamentations

Lam 1:1-5
1 Aleph. How doth the city sit solitary that was full of people! how is the mistress of the Gentiles become as a widow: the princes of provinces made tributary!
2 Beth. Weeping she hath wept in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: there is none to comfort her among all them that were dear to her: all her friends have despised her, and are become her enemies.
3 Ghimel. Juda hath removed her dwelling place because of her affliction, and the greatness of her bondage: she hath dwelt among the nations, and she hath found no rest: all her persecutors have taken her in the midst of straits.
4 Daleth. The ways of Sion mourn, because there are none that come to the solemn feast: all her gates are broken down: her priests sigh: her virgins are in affliction, and she is oppressed with bitterness.
5 He. Her adversaries are become her lords, her enemies are enriched: because the Lord hath spoken against her for the multitude of her iniquities: her children are led into captivity: before the face of the oppressor.

From the Treatise of St. Augustine, Bishop (of Hippo) Upon the Psalms

On Psalm liv, 1
Give ear to my prayer, O God, and despise not my supplication: attend unto me and hear me. These are the words of a man travailing, anxious, and troubled. He prayeth in the midst of much suffering, longing to be rid of his affliction. Our part is to see what that his affliction was, and when he hath told us, to acknowledge that we also suffer therefrom; that so, partaking in his trouble, we may take part also in his exercise, and am troubled. Wherein mourned he? Wherein was he troubled? He saith: In my exercise. In the next words he giveth us to know that his affliction was the oppression of the wicked, because of the voice of the enemy, and because of the oppression of the wicked, and this suffering which came upon him at the hands of wicked men, he hath called his exercise. Think not that wicked men are in this world for nothing, or that God doth no good with them. Every wicked man liveth, either to repent, or to exercise the righteous.

O God, from Whom Judas received the punishment of his guilt, and the thief the reward of his confession: grant unto us the full fruit of Thy clemency; that even as in His Passion our Lord Jesus Christ gave to each retribution according to his merits, so having cleared away our former guilt, He may bestow on us the grace of His Resurrection.