Perspectives of a Wanderer

Another posting that I would not normally make, but it is too important to pass up.

On a well known Catholic Forum, there was a thread on what Obama carries in his pockets.  Two items of not stood out.  The first seem to be a Miraculous Medal and the second seem to be a metal of the Virgin Mary holding the Infant Jesus.

One caution, the web site quoted in the thread is of specious origin due to what they promote but the picture is from the French magazine Paris Match.

However, if these are what they seem to be, we may have a weapon (yes, I know it is not a good choice of words, but another term escapes me at this time) for the conversion of Obama. That weapon is the Miraculous Metal Novena. If we can get enough people to say a perpetual novena for the conversion of not only Obama, but his family, we could go a long way in fighting the Culture of Death he so epitomizes.

I will be contacting some on this and will be posting this in other places. The sooner we can get this started, the sooner we will be able to save many from the policies of the Culture of Death. Pray that this takes off and succeeds.

Usually I do not do posts like this, but this the exception.

Due to losing my cell phone over the weekend, I got my new iPhone a couple of weeks before I was going to.   The thing that clinched getting the iPhone was the endorsement of iBreviary by the Pope.

The first thing I did after buying the iPhone and updating the firmware was to download iBreviary.  Since it only cost 99 cents USD, I figured if it was not what I wanted, it was not much of a price to pay.  Saying that, it has exceeded my expectations.

Yes the hymns and Psalm Prayers are not there, but everything else for Morning, Evening, and Night Prayers.  It even has the alternate prayers for certain Saints (even though you cannot choose to do the regular prayers as an option), Office Readings, Mid-Day Prayers, Daily Mass Readings, and other important prayers.

For me, it is easier than reading the 4 volume set of the Liturgy of of Hours which it is based on since only a small portion of the prayers are visible at one time and I can concentrate on that one small area.

It has been a boon to my prayer life which has been suffering due to work and other obligations.  Since getting iBrevary and setting my iCalendar for prayer times, I have only missed one Prayer time (and that was mid-day because I was in a meeting).

Now if I can find a way to get my other prayers that I want to do on the phone.

Global Capital has once again failed and has moved towards Socialistic Capitalism.

In the headlines today, it was reported that the US Government has taken a stake in two of the largest banks (including one I use to bank with) in the country, if not the world.   This just show that global capitalism has made some companies “too big to fail”.

Maybe it is time to let them fail and split the assets, and liabilities, of these banks up in to regional, state, and local entities (the more local the better) that are more responsive to the local populace and conditions.  In addition, this will allow the stronger entities stand on their own while making it easier to either recapitalize or dissolve the weaker entities since it would involve less resources.

Furthermore, we should not just stop at banks.  Energy (especially oil), food (both production and processing), and retail should be broken up as small as feasible and as fast as possible.

One last thing breakup should also be looked at and that is governmental (both literal and quazi) breakup.   Yes, I am again talking about breaking up the United States and European Unions, and the dissolving of the United Nations.

I turned on Catholic Radio today and thought I heard the person on (who I will not name since they are well known) liken abortion to burning God in effigy. Mind you, I was driving in snow that was getting worse and I turned it on part way through the program However, this actually makes sense if you consider that an effigy is the likeness of a person and we are made in the likeness of God (Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness [Gen 1:26 RSV]).

The murder of the unborn (as is any murder) the deliberate destruction of a human life. The burning of the effigy is the deliberate destruction of the likeness of the person.  Linking the two acts as similar is not that far of a reach.

Now consider the following:

And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.” (Mt 22: 35-40 RSV)

Abortion, (as would any type of murder, would fail both these commandments.  We would not want to be treated as the aborted baby and we sure would not be loving God by destroying his likeness.

Take the following headline:

Russian gas flow halted through Ukraine to Europe

This is proof that we must move away from “globalization” and back to local economies when possible.  Whether it is food, energy, or other necessities, we must develop and maintain a local supply of goods.

Most necessities can be produced locally once the infrastructure is in place.   This includes energy due to the emerging technologies (i.e. Fuels from algae, waste, wind, and the likes). This  does mean that we will have to go without certain things during parts of the year, but that is how it was done in the past.

Another advantage is that local economies will be more insulated from the wild swings caused by the “global economy”.

This does not mean we cannot import goods.  Far from it.  What it means is that those goods should be considered only after local sources are exhausted or for certain luxury items.

Materialism is one of the main ravages of civilization.  Global reliance on goods only fuels this plague.  We must move away from globalism when all possible and go back to a simpler way of life.  Yes, it will be hard at first. But, we will be better off in the long run.

After months of speculation, Bishop Allen H. Vigneron of the Diocese of Oakland has been named Arch-Bishop of the Arch-Diocese of Detroit.  From what I have been reading, this is very good news for the Arch-Diocese.

Lets pray that he lives up to the expectations.

No, I am not talking about the real New Year which started with the first week of Advent.  I am talking about the secular “New Year” that starts January 1.

People love making “resolutions” that, for the most part, are broken almost immediately.  I have, for the past number of years, made no resolutions since they are essentially empty and superficial.  I prefer to make mine at the beginning of Advent and direct them towards what is most important.  That is my spiritual grown and working towards the ultimate goal of life with Christ in Heaven.

Therefore, I am resolve not to make any resolutions this year.  Opps!!! I already broke that one again.