Running Off At The Keyboard

A FEW THOUGHTS ABOUT THE MATERIAL I'VE BEEN POSTING... What does Michael Bertiaux, an ordained Anglican priest, accomplish in his apartment above the streets of Chicago, dressed in ceremonial robes, using ceremonial implements borrowed from the faith that claims to hold the fullness of truth? It's easy to dismiss him.� To say he accomplishes nothing at all.� To believe he merely holds a costume party for one.� Yet a Catholic knows that Mass makes a difference.� That liturgy has enternal meaning.� That Christ meant what He said the night before He died. The Martinists tell us there is danger in magick.� That there is power in it.� That energy is involved.� They travel in realms beyond the veil, or tell us that they do.� If there were nothing to it, why would we have the First Commandment?� Why would we be told to leave clairvoyance alone?� Why would God speak of "strange gods" if He knew there were no such things?� To speak to a different age?� To shepherd an ignorant people?� Some make these claims.� But the First Commandment is a measure of the fullness of truth.� There is a reason why it comes first, why it holds the place of greatest importance.� Those who would grasp the Creative Source, intending to make a tool of it that will enable them to effect their will upon the material world, believe they can do it.� And we believe the Source, the Trinity, is there, unseen, longed for, prayed to.� We believe in miracles when the Source reaches through the veil in answer to our prayers, to touch us with a never-ending love. We have reached the season for cut-out cookies.� Christmas trees and reindeers, stars and angels, placed on the cookie sheet to bake.� What's left on the cutting board?� An outline.� A space where the cookie is not, that tells us as much about the cookie as the cookie sheet does.� It tells us by way of absence.� By what isn't there.� By what it lacks.� An emptiness where the fullness of cookie once was a part of the larger whole.� The shape of what is missing is crystal clear.� We know what has been removed.� We can see what has been subtracted. Looking at the occult world is much like looking at the dough after the cookie has been removed.� In the occult world, too, we know what's missing.� The hole in a doctrine of faith speaks of what is gone. Those details of the cookie left on the cutting board are fragile in the empty outline.� Not a single crumb can be tampered with.� If the dough is moved it will distort and lose its meaning.� Unlike the cookie in the oven which grows and browns and comes to rest on a cookie plate, the outline is static.� It has no life.� It is nothing but a poor imitation.� It is frozen in time and space, and there is no life in it.� It can't be eaten.� It can't even be moved.� It has no value except to speak of that which it has lost.� That which once filled its empty space. That empty space is what the occult world shows us.� On every page in every book the missing Christ speaks to us by His absence.� The imitation must resemble the Original in all of its details.� Even that which rejects the truth must define itself by the very truth that it rejects, like the outline of the cookie dough remaining on the counter while the cookie bakes.� The imitation cries out for what it has lost as the occultist seeks to produce that which he has rejected.� He longs for what is just beyond his grasp because he can't bring himself to make the sacrifice.� He seeks power to affect the world--to have it his way.� To shape the world to his own conceptions of right and wrong.� The occultist rejects the sacrifice of will that makes it possible to belong on the cookie plate, to be shaped instead of to do the shaping. When the cookies are all cut...when the baking is completed and the mess cleaned up...the outline of the cookie is gone.� It is utterly destroyed.� It is no more.� The outline of the cookie is frozen in time.� It is subject to distortion.� It is cast into the trash.� But the cookie, shaped by an unseen hand, molded in ways over which it had no control, becomes sweet food.� It delights the eye.� It fills a hungry body.� The cookie, unlike the outline, gives life, and has a story of its own. And now, if there is going to be a Christmas celebration at my house, there has to be a preparation.� I can't put it off much longer.� Which means that other activities must be put on hold until after the holidays. I hope all of my faithful readers will have a joyful season.� May you each find Christ's peace despite the commercialism and busyness surrounding His birthday, and may He bless you abundantly now and always. CarrieTomko@aol.com

A STORY FROM THIS MORNING'S HOMILY While surfing the web, a devoted Catholic found a website named "Talk to God." Curiosity drove him to ask a question. He typed across the computer screen: "God, what is a million years to you?" Much to his surprise the answer flashed across his computer screen in moments: "My son, a million years is a minute to me...just a minute." This was almost too good to be true, the Catholic thought. He could really talk to God, and God would really answer. He could even print it out and save the answer. He thought he would ask another question: "Well then, God, what is a million dollars to you?" Quickly the answer flashed across the screen: "A million dollars is nothing but a penny to Me, my son." A penny. The Catholic thought about this for a while, saying nothing. Finally God asked, "Is there anything else you want to know, My son?" The Catholic hesitated, then typed and deleted his question. Finally he typed it again and hit "send." "Yes, God, there is one more question. Do you suppose that it would be possible that I could have a penny?" God smiled knowingly and shook His head. "You want one of my pennies, do you? Well...let Me think about that for a minute." CarrieTomko@aol.com

VATICAN SECURITY INCREASED AFTER THREAT ROME (Reuters) - Italian police will close the main road leading to the Vatican every night during the Christmas holidays as part of measures to boost security after warnings of an attack on Christian sites, a local official said Sunday. The decision comes after newspaper La Repubblica reported that the Israeli secret services had warned of a "probable attack in Italy" against a major Christian symbol at Christmas. A spokesman for the Italian Interior Ministry declined to comment on the report but less than 24 hours after the article was published, police said security was being stepped up at the Vatican, which is home to Pope John Paul. CarrieTomko@aol.com

MEDICAL CONSEQUENCES OF WHAT HOMOSEXUALS DO from the Family Research Institute, based on several scientific studies. CarrieTomko@aol.com