Friday, September 29, 2006

Who is this - "Manuel II Paleologus emperor of Byzantium"?

(Byzantine emperor Manuel II Palaeologus)

I spent a lunch-time searching the web for information on this fellow. I wanted to learn a little more about him and maybe the context in which he made the now infamous statement quoted by B16.

It's part of what is called the "Twenty-six Dialogues with a Persian".

Manuel II was the second to last emperor of Byzantium. It would soon fall to the Ottoman Empire... so he would know a little about Islam. They were knocking on his back door for heaven's sake.

Here's a brief summary and timeline of what appears to be the chaotic life of this Byzantine Emperor .

This is a more lengthy piece on Manuel II Palaiologas (1391-1425 A.D.) for those who want to dig a little deeper.

I wish the Media would invest in a little deeper study on the context of this 14th century emperor. It appears to me that he knew what he was talking about.

I'll keep digging...

The L.A. Times/AP Give Us a Church History Lesson

Carl Olsen from InsightScoop gives a great review (" A history lesson from the L.A. Times/AP") of an article in the Los Angeles Times about B16 view of Catholicism... go figure.

Anyways, it's with a read

What the...?




This guy just doesn't get.
Now he wants B16 to join him!

...to make matter worse the 4 married bishops (small 'b', they're excommunicated as well) he installed are all from the United States.

George Augustus Stallings of Washington, Patrick Trujillo of New Jersey, Peter Paul Brennan of New York and Joseph Gouthro of Nevada.

Read More...

Let's pray he doesn't spread his confusion.

Start Page

If your Start Page (The screen that comes up when you bring up your internet) is AOL, MSN, Google, Yahoo or someother secular start page, you my be aware of the many links made available that you DON'T want to go to.

While these start pages are very useful, it's not necessarily where I want to start my internet session.

You might want to consider an alternative.

Catholic Exchange is one that I use on all my computers at home. I have two PC's that my kids use all the time (assuming I log them in...they don't know the password) and a Macbook that my wife and I use, and we have this as our Start Page.

It has links to the Daily Readings, as well as the latest news and some good faith articles.

At the very minimum, it's a mental reminder to me and my children that we should be careful where we go on our internet visit.

There are many dark and dangerous avenues to avoid.....

Feast Day: Michael, Gabriel & Raphael, Archangels



Come, let us worship the lord in the company of his angel.....

This is the antiphon at the beginning of the Office of Readings in today's 'Liturgy of the Hours'. It is the Feast Day of the Archangels.

I love angels, they never cease to amaze me. There's something about their mystic nature, true servants of God that draws me to wanting to know more about them. They are God's personal messengers.

When my wife and I were first married, we really didn't have a place in our lives (so we thought) for God. Though I was born Catholic, I didn't practice the faith in my life much. My new bride was an off and on church goer. We at first, would switch off Sunday's going once to her Christian church and maybe the next Sunday going to a local Catholic Church. After a while we stopped attending all together.

A few years into our marriage, and a couple of kids later, we felt a sort of yearning, I don't know, like something was missing.

I wanted the kids to be brought up in the Catholic faith and my wife went along with that.

We would go as a family to church every Sunday, but she didn't much participate and frankly I didn't explain things to her very much. I was just happy that we were attending Church again. Soon our first child was in CCD (Sunday School) and received her first communion.

It became a nagging thought of my wife, while seeing my children and I going to communion, that she couldn't receive with us.

I don't know how it actually happened, but I think we were at a local bookstore (my wife and I are avid readers) and she bought a book on Angels (Angel and Demons: What Do We Really Know About Them?).


That was it...after that my wife's faith journey was on fire! She read every thing she could get here hands on Angels.
God's angels bringing His message to my wife...

Another book she read as 'Where Angels Walk' by Joan Wester Anderson'

In the book of Tobit or Tobias (Tb 11:7-15) we read about ArchangelRaphael talking to Tobias.

My favorite is in the book of Revelations (Rev 12:7-9), Michaels battle with Satan and the Annunciation in the Gospel of Luke (Lk1:26-38).

You can read more on the Churches teaches of Angels in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 328-354).
Prayer to St. Michael a the Archangel
Saint Michael the Archangel,defend us in battle.Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.May God rebuke him, we humbly pray;and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host -by the Divine Power of God -cast into hell, satan and all the evil spirits,who roam throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen.





Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Crusade Myths




Crusade - That word seems to be coming up a lot lately. I thought I'd read up a little in case questions arise at work.

The MSM (Main Stream Media) doesn't seem to have their act together either. Their knowledge of the Crusades is all over the map.

Here's a short article entitled 'Crusade Myths'. Take a coffee break and peruse this read.

It's Official...


Archbishop Milingo finally over stepped his bounds, one time too many.

The Vatican today formally announced his excommunication for Ordaining 4 married bishops all of course without permission. The 4 married bishops are also excommunicated.

Can. 1382 A bishop who consecrates some one a bishop without a pontifical mandate and the person who receives the consecration from him incur a latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See.

You may remember the Archbishop who himself married a woman from China.

Read it at Catholic World News

Mind Games

A friend of mine just emailed this to me and I thought I'd share it with the world.

This is weird:

You really can read this..Give it a try

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too >>>Cna yuo raed tihs? OLNY 55% of pleope can... i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

thnak you Alyaa for sneding tihs... :-)

The History of Islam



I keep hearing in the news that if we only had kept to ourselves we wouldn't be in the mess we're in. If only we had left the Muslim terrorist alone (not all Muslim people, although the peaceful ones sure are Silent nowadays) they wouldn't feel the need to gather force.

I think it's time for a little history review.

Hilaire Belloc was a 19th Century Catholic Historian. His writings are prolific, however one particular book he wrote seems most appropriate at this time.

The Great Heresies, as the title would suggest, outlines a list of heresies the church and the world has encountered throughout the ages. This is one book we need to circulate in our reading circles.

Chapter 4 - 'The Great and Enduring Heresy of Mohammed' is the chapter everyone should read. Hilaire gives a brief history of Islam, it's founding, it's growth, and it's influence in the world.

Hilaire warns that although Islam, at that time in the 19th Century was not highly visable in the world (as it is in today's headlines), there is a danger of a resurgence of it's influence and world dominance as in the Middle Ages. If Islam ever regains that military might of old (like maybe obtaining the A-Bomb today perhaps?) , watch out!

Now, no one knows what the future has in store for us and what God's plans are, however like driving at night in a car, it's best to keep the headlights on at all times.

Sunday, September 24, 2006

JP2 vs.B16






There's a great post over at Carl Olsen of Ignatius Press Blog - Scoop intitled "Hypocrisy and Pedantry" on how some in the Church as well as the Media are using the "Good Pope" verses "Bad Pope" scenario...

Sirius News


(Los Angeles traffic- welcome to my world)
Great news for Satellite Radio customers.

NEW YORK, Sept 21, 2006 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ -- The Archdiocese of New York and SIRIUS Satellite Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI) announced today that The Catholic Channel will debut Tuesday, September 26th exclusively on SIRIUS channel 159. The lifestyle radio channel will air nationally 7 days a week/24 hours a day, and will feature contemporary talk and live daily Mass from Saint Patrick's Cathedral in New York.

For the complete report read: Sirius News

Along with the EWTN channel 160, one will be able to listen to another Catholic radio channel (159).

I commute everyday about 100 miles to and from work (about 54 miles each way). That’s a long commute by any standards, however add California Freeway traffic and you’re looking at 2-hour commute at traffic hour. Add rain and/or a fender bender and you’re looking at some Sirius Radio time.

(I also have my iPod hooked up in my glove compartment loaded with my favorite Podcasts, Patrick Madrid debates, Scott Hahn and numerous Audible books.)

LEARNING CURVE

This is my second post and I'm up to my elbows in XHTML code. I'm on a steep learning curve and I've visited many "HOW TO" xhtml websites as well as numerous "Frappachino" visits to my local Borders and Barns and Noble stores.

I'm loving it however, it's frustrating when you have a picture of how you want your blog to look like and what it really looks like when one is done coding.

So....

Please be patient with me. I promise this Blog will get better...in content as well as appearances.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

September 20, 2006

Greetings from the West Coast... So. Cal. to be specific

Okay,
I've finally taken the plunge. I've been thinking about starting one of these for a very long time, I just couldn't come up with a good enough reason.

The more I visit my morning blog list, I've come to appreciate the different views and thoughts expressed in the blog community.

I hope to contribute to this unique world....and hopefully not make a fool of myself.

...but anyways...here we go!