The Unprofitable Servant: What is Going On?

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

What is Going On?

I won't be posting on this topic again, but I am truly concerned about Father Z and his fascination with guns. I am getting an increasingly uneasy feeling that makes me wonder what has happened to this man. Posting the outline of a human form riddled with bullet holes is not something I expect to see on a blog whose motto is "Save the liturgy, save the world."

About a year or so before his fall, I began to have some uneasiness about another priest who was in the same ordination class as Father Z. Do not think I am implying that a preoccupation with firearms and the Second Amendment in any way approaches that which the other priest is alleged to have done. I'm simply saying that my gut tells me Father is in need of prayers, and prayers he shall get.

Kudos to those who posted comments on his blog expressing their sadness and disappointment. I can't imagine that a priest would post not a word of sorrow or lament for the victims of Sandy Hook but instead has dug in his heels about the right to bear arms.

Saint Padre Pio is pictured here with his weapon.

St. Bernadette of Lourdes revealed that during her apparitions in the grotto, the Blessed Virgin Mary carried a Rosary that she prayed with Bernadette. Based on Bernadette's recollection of that image, Our Lady of Lourdes is often depicted with a Rosary draped over her arm.

At Fatima, Our Lady beckoned the children to pray her Rosary for world peace.

Get that Father? Not a machine-gun belt, or, to humor you further, a sword - but a Rosary.

Prayers for Father Z.

That's all.

5 comments:

DanielJanuary 16, 2013 at 8:46 PM
Honestly, I do think that Father Z. is doing some good in some of his posts. I admit, it is oddly off topic for him, but he is doing something to clarify a lot of misconceptions about firearms, misconceptions that are very common right now when everyone is panicking and insisting that we must do something so fervently that we aren't even thinking straight about what this "something" will be. It is important that we be informed on such issues.

Do I think he went too far showing the picture of that target? Yes. It is one thing to advocate for the second amendment, it is another to post that. It has led to some scandal, and unless he was somehow ignorant of that possibility he should have been more cautious. However, is it totally wrong for a priest to use firearms? I don't know. Canon law once forbade it, but on the other hand we recently had For Greater Glory in which one of the main characters was a priest wearing two bullet belts over his cassock, and he was hardly the only priest fighting for the Cristeros. Not to mention, there were the many warrior-priests who fought for the Church in the Middle Ages (sometimes justly, sometimes not). They may have used swords rather than guns, but the principle is the same. Some of the chivalric orders to which they belonged exist to this day within the Church. Some of these priests are even canonized. St. John of Capistrano, a Franciscan, led men into battle against the Turks.

Also, I can't say that I really disagree with the second amendment. Possession of weapons can be misused, but it can be used for good. Certainly one is not morally obligated to fight in self defense (many martyrs did not), but nor is one in the wrong for doing so.

Perhaps Father Z. is going astray with writing about firearms as much as he recently has, but I don't think it necessarily wrong for him to write about them at all. It is an important issue in our country, Fr. Z writes primarily to an American audience, and so he discusses this issue.

Joyce, since you seem to have been scandalized by Fr. Z's actions, I do hope that a seminarian writing a semi-defense of them doesn't cause additional scandal.
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Terry NelsonJanuary 16, 2013 at 9:40 PM
I also have an uneasy feeling - I know I post silly things about him and his personality quirks, but his latest posts are the strangest yet. I'm happy people are voicing their objections but some of the replies have been condescending, if not arrogant.

God bless you for showing St. Pio's only weapon, the rosary.
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Mary, Queen of Peace

Ever glorious and blessed Mary, Queen of Virgins, Mother of Mercy, hope and comfort of dejected and desolate souls, through that sword of sorrow which pierced thy tender heart whilst thine only Son, Christ Jesus, our Lord, suffered death and ignominy on the cross; through that filial tenderness and pure love He had for thee, grieving in thy grief, whilst from His cross He recommended thee to the care and protection of His beloved disciple, St. John, take pity, I beseech thee, on my poverty and necessities; have compassion on my anxieties and cares; assist and comfort me in all my infirmities and miseries, of every kind whatsoever. Thou art the Mother of Mercies, the sweet comforter and only refuge of the needy and the orphan, of the desolate and afflicted. Cast, therefore, an eye of pity on a miserable, forlorn child of Eve, and hear my prayer; for since, in just punishment of my sins, I find myself encompassed by a multitude of evils, and oppressed with much anguish of spirit, wither can I fly for more secure shelter, O amiable Mother of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, than under the wings of thy maternal protection? Attend, therefore, I beseech thee, with an ear of pity and compassion, to my humble and earnest request. I ask it, through the bowels of mercy of thy dear Son; Through that love and condescension wherewith He embraced our nature, when, in compliance with the divine Will, thou gavest thy consent, and whom, after the expiration of nine months thou didst bring forth from the chaste enclosure of thy womb, to visit the world, and bless it with His presence. I ask it, through that anguish of mind wherewith thy beloved Son, our dear Saviour, was overwhelmed on the Mount of Olives, when He besought His eternal Father to remove from Him, if possible, the bitter chalice of His future passion. I ask it, through the threefold repetition of His prayers in the garden, whence afterwards, with dolorous steps and mournful tears, thou didst accompany Him to the doleful theatre of His death and sufferings. I ask it, through the welts and bruises of His virginal flesh, occasioned by the cords and whips wherewith He was bound and scourged, when stripped of His seamless garment, for which His executioners afterwards cast lots. I ask it, through the scoffs and ignominies by which He was insulted; the false accusations and unjust sentence by which He was condemned to death, and which He bore with heavenly patience. I ask it, through His bitter tears and bloody sweat; His silence and resignation; His sadness and grief of heart. I ask it, through the blood which trickled from His royal and Sacred Head, when struck with the sceptre of a reed and pierced with His crown of thorns. I ask it, through the excruciating torments He suffered, when His hands and feet were fastened with gross nails to the tree of the cross. I ask it, through His vehement thirst, and bitter potion of vinegar and gall. I ask it, through His dereliction on the cross when He exclaimed, "My God! my God! why hast Thou forsaken me?" I ask it, through His mercy extended to the good thief, and through His recommending His precious soul and spirit into the hands of His eternal Father before He expired, saying, "It is consummated." I ask it, through the blood mixed with water, which issued from His Sacred Side when pierced with a lance, and whence a flood of grace and mercy has flowed to us. I ask it, through His immaculate life, bitter passion and ignominious death on the cross, at which nature itself was thrown into convulsions, by the bursting of rocks, rending of the veil of the Temple, the earthquake, and the darkness of the sun and moon. I ask it, through His descent into hell, where He confronted the Saints of the old law with His presence, and led the captivity captive. I ask it, through His glorious victory over death, when He arose again to life on the third day, and through the joy which His appearance for forty days after gave thee, His blessed Mother, His Apostles, and the rest of His Disciples; when in thine and their presence He miraculously ascended into heaven. I ask it, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, infused into the hearts of His Disciples, when He descended upon them in the form of fiery tongues, and by which they were inspired with zeal in the conversion of the world, when they went to preach the gospel. I ask it, through the awful appearance of thy Son, at the last dreadful day, when He shall come to judge the living and the dead, and the world, by fire. I ask it, through the compassion He bore thee in His life, and the unspeakable joy thou didst feel at thine assumption into heaven, where thou art eternally absorbed in the sweet contemplation of His divine perfections. O glorious and ever blessed Virgin! comfort the heart of thy supplicant, by obtaining for me, (Mention your prayer intention here...) And as I am persuaded my Divine Saviour doth honour thee as His beloved Mother, to whom He refuses nothing, because thou asketh nothing contrary to His honour, so let me speedily experience the efficacy of thy powerful intercession, according to the tenderness of thy maternal affection, and His filial loving heart, who mercifully granteth the requests and complieth with the desires of those that love and fear Him. Wherefore, O most blessed Virgin, beside the object of my present petition, and whatever else I may stand in need of, obtain for me also of thy dear Son, our Lord and our God, a lively faith, firm hope, perfect charity, true contrition of heart, unfeigned tears of compunction, sincere confession, condign satisfaction, abstinence from sin, love of God and my neighbour, contempt of the world, patience to suffer affronts and ignominies, nay, even, if necessary, an opprobrious death itself, for love of thy Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Obtain likewise for me, O sacred Mother of God, perseverance in good works, performance of good resolutions, mortification of self-will, a pious conversation through life, and, at my last moments, strong and sincere repentance, accompanied by such a lively and attentive presence of mind, as may enable me to receive the last Sacrament of the Church worthily, and die in thy friendship and favour. Lastly, obtain through thy Son, I beseech thee, for the souls of my parents, brethren, relatives and benefactors, both living and dead, life everlasting, from the only Giver of every good and perfect gift, the Lord God Almighty, to Whom be all power now and forever. Amen.

Prayer of St. Bonaventure

Pierce, O most sweet Lord Jesus, my inmost soul with the most joyous and healthful wound of Thy love, and with true, calm and most holy apostolic charity, that my soul may ever languish and melt with entire love and longing for Thee, may yearn for Thee and for thy courts, may long to be dissolved and to be with Thee.
Grant that my soul may hunger after Thee, the Bread of Angels, the refreshment of holy souls, our daily and super substantial bread, having all sweetness and savor and every delightful taste.
May my heart ever hunger after and feed upon Thee, Whom the angels desire to look upon, and may my inmost soul be filled with the sweetness of Thy savor; may it ever thirst for Thee, the fountain of life, the fountain of wisdom and knowledge, the fountain of eternal light, the torrent of pleasure, the fullness of the house of God;
may it ever compass Thee, seek Thee, find Thee, run to Thee, come up to Thee, meditate on Thee, speak of Thee, and do all for the praise and glory of Thy name, with humility and discretion, with love and delight, with ease and affection, with perseverance to the end; and be Thou alone ever my hope, my entire confidence, my riches, my delight, my pleasure, my joy, my rest and tranquility, my peace, my sweetness, my food, my refreshment, my refuge, my help, my wisdom, my portion, my possession, my treasure; in Whom may my mind and my heart be ever fixed and firm and rooted immovably. Amen.

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The Unprofitable Servant

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

What is Going On?

5 comments:

Mary, Queen of Peace

St Michael the Archangel

St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi

St. Teresa Benedicta of The Cross