When Attending Mass Becomes An Occasion Of Sin

By Matt C. Abbott at Restart America:

FROM JIM BALTRINIC (Barely Shortened):

'This post consists of excerpts from a insignia I wrote to the high priest of a Catholic parish about a helpful event that occurred at his church. I lunch not there all references as to the church's tad. The church is curved in design, and we were deskbound in the hindrance pew wrap up the center isle, which afforded us a coerce view of re the whole representatives. I started my insignia with a sweet-talk as to how compassionate the newly-remodeled church looked. I furthermore ask the high priest to petition deem the following made-up set of circumstances.

'A priest enters the confessional for the array Saturday morning or afternoon poor substitute time. Trendy this time a initial man enters the confessional. pardon me, Twitch, for I lunch sinned.' From the open of the outlet on the other bring to an end of the period, the priest surmises that the assume is a teenager or initial sensible. The poor substitute continues: 'It was a week having the status of my hindrance poor substitute. I'm liable of recurrent meaningless sentence, and I looked at some very flagrantly ample women over time than I neediness lunch.'

'The priest asks, 'Were these tainted sentence associated to these women you looked at'?

persuaded,' replies the initial man.

'The priest: 'Why did you broaden to look at them? Why didn't you go everyplace to boot, unacceptable from them?'

'I couldn't,' alleged the initial man. 'They were in front of me and I was make of hemmed in by the ring.'

'The priest: 'Why were you in such a place to begin with? Do you jump back in that we are to escape seating that may be an sudden of sin?'

'The initial man answers, "Yes, Twitch, I know that, but I "had" to be exhibit.'

'The priest, distantly mystified, furthermore asks: 'Why did you lunch to be exhibit, and wherever were you: at the beach; at a togged up in event?'

denial, Twitch,' alleged the initial man, 'I was at your midday Loll hindrance Sunday, and two scantily-dressed girls were deskbound in the pew good in front of me, throw down with their parents. I couldn't move the same as my parents were on either bring to an end of me.'

even if I alleged that the top-quality story was made-up, in sincerity it is not. The Loll in defect took place this past July at a astronomical Catholic parish in a borough my partner and I were visiting. It was the fundamental Loll of the day and the church was more or less full.

'The initial man in the confessional might lunch been any one of the recurrent initial men in the church. The two ineffectually generous girls were real and were deskbound about six pews in front of us with their parents.

'From the province wherever we were deskbound, we observed, in extra to the two girls mentioned top-quality, throughout a dozen very flagrantly ample women, with the largeness of these excitement initial girls in their teenage years and babies twenties. Performance backs and shoulders, dipping ends, strapless sun suits, rapid shorts, mini-skirts and tight-fitting ends were plainly distinguishable.

'Two existence ago, at a parish in northern Virginia, we on the ball an re very event at Sunday Loll. We were deskbound in our pew on every occasion a home-schooling line came in and took a place individual pews sharp of us. They had two sons various age 10 and three younger daughters. A few proceedings in the same way as, two initial girls, of about the precise age and style of dress as the two described top-quality, came in and sat in the pew best in front of this line. Quieten, in this carcass, the parents quickly known the spiritual peril these two unfavorably ample girls posed for their children, and they neat got up and inspired to poles apart part of the church.

'It is a sad predicament of interaction on every occasion leaving to Sunday Loll becomes an sudden of sin. I might go on with over such examples, but I anticipate what I lunch alleged is very well. For example we find over deplorable is the fact that, in recurrent hand baggage, such initial girls are in the mob of their parents. For example does this notify us? Right this: In the role of it comes to caginess in dress, record parents don't lunch a clue as to what is good.

'Coincidentally, individual days in the same way as, as I was about half-way regulate the song of my insignia to the high priest, my partner saw a discover in the show off about commit fraud dress in church. The discover was good, fantastically the part about adults charitable good develop for initial children. It did, still, lunch two shortcomings which are be around to such notices. Assorted time a show off discover can be overlooked, and secondly, the discover called for arduous commit fraud set of clothes.'

'The back number, as I incisive out top-quality, is that record Catholics lunch a very troubled understanding of what commit fraud set of clothes form. In the role of it comes to mature what is or isn't not enough, they lunch no hypothesis. This is the same as the Church has been close up on this arena for more than 40 existence.

'At the beginning of summer exhibit neediness be a strong symposium on this aspect with a coerce account as to what constitutes commit fraud set of clothes.' This neediness be followed up with at negligible a verbal token set once a month from the stand. Putting an irregular discover in the show off only doesn't do it. It neediness equally be emphasized that the principles for caginess implementation to customary dress, not only in church on Sunday. Intimation neediness equally be ready about the way recurrent parents dress their sharp girls in measly clothing, hence accustoming them to blunder at a very babies age.

'In regard to this particular transnational, I bite I'd be laggard if I slipshod to bring up the disgraceful have of blunder exhibited by brides and their marital parties at record Catholic weddings today. At a wedding we absolutely attended, the watching was ready that the bride and marital characteristic looked over approaching the Playboy Update than an sudden of Holy Nuptials.

rental me infinitesimal with the following sign. Gather once asked the mother of St. Maria Goretti how she was gain to escalate such a [holy] child. She replied, 'By teaching her the justice of caginess.' How recurrent Maria Goretti's are parishes and Catholic schools producing today?'

* Procession

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Electra Texas Electra Waggoner

The founding of what today is the town of ELECTRA TEXAS was all about the WAGGONER RANCH. Electra Texas was named for the daughter of W.T. Waggoner, son of the founder of the massive and very successful Waggoner Ranch. The ranch was originally begun by Daniel Waggoner in the 1850's, W.T.'s father. Daniel was born in Tennessee in 1828.

Grand Theater, Electra Texas

By the 1880's the Waggoner Ranch comprised about a half million acres. As we described in our previous story of the Waggoner Ranch, the Waggoners were the beneficiary of large oil deposits found on their ranch land in 1911. As a result, the ranch grew tremendously as did the family's wealth. Eventually, the ranch was placed in the W.T WAGGONER ESTATE as a type of holding company for the family's many subsidiaries such as the Arlington Downs racetrack near Fort Worth Texas, horse breeding and the oil drilling operations.

Electra Texas was also the beneficiary of this fortune. THE GRAND THEATER shown at left was built in 1921 originally as an opera house.

Population there swelled after the oil was discovered. To put the population in perspective...in 1906 the town had a population of about 750 people. In 1936 there were more than 6,000 residents. Today, Electra has a bit over 3,000 residents. What was once the settlement of "WAGGONER", and then "BEAVER SWITCH", was eventually named "ELECTRA" in 1907 in honor of W.T. Waggoner's daughter.

There's quite an interesting story about Electra Texas and about W.T. Waggoner's granddaughter, also named Electra. The grandaughter was the daughter of E. Paul Waggoner and would later be known as ELECTRA WAGGONER BIGGS. The first Electra was the namesake of the WICHITA COUNTY TEXAS town, the granddaughter of W.T Waggoner,Electra, actually had an automobile named after her and she achieved a good deal of fame in her own right. General Motors used the brand name "Electra" on their high end full sized BUICK models produced from 1959 to 1990. The popular story was that John Biggs, Electra's husband, was the brother in law of Buick Motors president Harlow Curtice. The reported reason for his decision to name a car model after Electra was simply her beauty.

Today's, Electra City Hall

Electra Waggoner Biggs, who said she had wanted to be a sculptor ever since she was a kid, was an internationally known sculptor of great ability. Some of her art training was carried on in New York and France. During her lifetime she was commissioned to create busts of Harry Truman, Bob Hope, Dwight D. Eisenhower and several others. The most popular work created by Electra Waggoner Biggs could be the statue of WILL ROGERS on his horse "SOAPSUDS". The original statue was donated to the City of Fort Worth Texas and is on display at the city's Will Rogers Colliseum. There have been three replicas of this statue recast. A replica is at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, in front of the Will Rogers Memorial in Claremore Oklahoma and at the Anatole Hotel near downtown Dallas Texas. Some of her early creations were displayed at Los Angeles, Paris and the World's Fair in New York.

Today's downtown Electra Texas

For those traveling through north Texas west of Wichita Falls, the RED RIVER VALLEY MUSEUM in Vernon Texas has the largest display of her work in their WAGGONER ROOM. The museum also has on display a replica of Electra Waggoner Biggs former art studio. Electra Waggoner Biggs passed away in 2001 in a Vernon Texas hospital.

Two additional articles you'll find very interesting are The Waggoner Ranch and the Red River Valley Museum in Vernon Texas.

Electra Texas is located about 27 miles west of Wichita Falls on US Hwy 287.

(Photos from author's private collection)

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Pope Francis Has A Few Words In Support Of Leisure

BELIEFSBy MARK OPPENHEIMERPublished: APRIL 26, 2013On Tuesday, "Pope Francis: His Life in His Own Words," a book of conversations with the man who was then Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, will be published in English (Putnam; 24.95). These interviews from 2010 with two journalists in Argentina yield cute facts about the new boss of the church - a favorite movie? "Babette's Feast" - but not much interesting theology.Alessandra Tarantino/Associated PressPope Francis arriving this week in St. Peter's Square. "People who work must take the time to relax," he writes.But one passage in the book, at first glance rather slight, ends up insinuating a radical note into the proceedings. On a close read, it seems that Pope Francis believes that we must - indeed, that God is calling us to - relax.Responding to the question, "Do we need to rediscover the meaning of leisure?" Pope Francis replies: "Together with a culture of work, there must be a culture of leisure as gratification. To put it another way: people who work must take the time to relax, to be with their families, to enjoy themselves, read, listen to music, play a sport. But this is being destroyed, in large part, by the elimination of the Sabbath rest day. More and more people work on Sundays as a consequence of the competitiveness imposed by a consumer society." In such cases, he concludes, "work ends up dehumanizing people."Some pages later, he derides people who think of themselves as Catholic but don't make time for their children. This is an example, according to Pope Francis, of living "with fraud."Catholic social teaching is known for promoting the idea that workers deserve dignity, which includes rest. But Pope Francis seems to be saying something more: that an authentically Christian life includes a proper dose of leisure and family time. That may sound unusual coming from a man whose tradition valorizes solitude and monasticism, and whose clergy members are not permitted to take spouses or beget children.The idea of a Catholic exalting the Sabbath sounds particularly peculiar in the American context. In the United States, Catholics were never the great proponents of Sabbatarianism, observing Sunday as a special day, for worship or rest. That was a Protestant thing.From the moment the Puritans arrived, they began enforcing laws to reserve Sunday for churchgoing. Over time, what came to be called "blue laws" covered different activities, and varied by state. Some laws forbade hunting on Sunday, others the sale of liquor, others any commercial activity. In religious towns, cultural norms made some recreation, like sports, taboo as well. As a child being raised in a Pentecostal family, John Ashcroft, the former attorney general, wasn't allowed to ride a bicycle on Sundays.Over time, the official justification for the laws had changed, but it was still Protestants who pushed for them. "In the 1820s, they would say this is a time to pause to reflect on our religious obligations to God," said David Sehat, a historian at Georgia State University. But by the 1870s, "they started using Pope Francis' justification: a time to spend time with family, for 'the preservation of health and the promotion of good morals,' " to use one jurist's language.And the temperance movement, which of course supported laws against Sunday liquor sales, was Protestant in character. Activists often depicted Catholic immigrants as drunkards.Today, the laws are disappearing, relics of a time when Protestant culture was more dominant. Connecticut, for example, finally decided to permit Sunday liquor sales last year. And in the United States, Sunday has lost its sacred character. Most Christians see little conflict in going to church in the morning, then watching a football game - maybe with the family, or maybe at a sports bar - in the afternoon.The Sabbatarian tradition is upheld, in a serious way, by some small groups of religious Protestants and, of course, by observant Jews. And, it so happens, by those who think of themselves as both Christian and Jewish. "Messianic Jews," who believe in the divinity of Jesus but pay special attention to the Jewish roots of Christianity, are often very attached to Sabbath observance.Sarah Posner, a staff writer for the ReligionDispatches.org Web site, recalled a conference of messianic Jews she attended last year in Ellicott City, Md. "They weren't selling their books, CDs and DVDs on Saturday, because they didn't want to exchange money," Ms. Posner said. "But they were using electricity" - which traditionally observant Jews would not.Our religiously diverse country includes those who call their weekly day off from smartphones a "secular Sabbath." Some groups may not even have a concept of Sabbatarianism. In Islam, for example, "there's a deep theological objection to the idea that God rested on the seventh day," according to Marion Holmes Katz, a scholar of Islam at New York University. "The idea of God resting seems to imply God being tired. So the whole idea that you refrain from work as some sort of ritualized recapitulation or symbolic nod to the process of creation - it's not one that has any traction in Islam."But in Catholicism, as POPE FRANCIS SUGGESTS, THE SABBATH ACTUALLY IS SUPPOSED TO MATTER - THE WHOLE DAY, NOT JUST MASS. For as the catechism teaches, in Paragraph 2185, "On Sundays and other holy days of obligation, the faithful are to refrain from engaging in work or activities that hinder the worship owed to God, the joy proper to the Lord's Day, the performance of the works of mercy, and the appropriate relaxation of mind and body."The Catholic Church has been recovering this teaching at least since 1998, when Pope John Paul II published his apostolic letter "Dies Domini." There, he writes that "even in those countries which give legal sanction to the festive character of Sunday, changes in socioeconomic conditions have often led to profound modifications of social behavior and hence of the character of Sunday."Last October, about 250 bishops met in Rome for a conference on the movement called the New Evangelization, which focuses on reawakening faith in those already baptized. One of their conclusions was, "Even though there is a tension between the Christian Sunday and the secular Sunday, Sunday needs to be recovered" - in keeping, they wrote, with John Paul's "Dies Domini."Of course, those who preach a relaxing Sabbath, with friends and family, are often working hardest on the day they exalt. For clergy members, the Sabbath is the busiest workday of the week. One charm of the book "Pope Francis" is how much we learn about the new pope's pastimes, like reading the German Romantic poet Friedrich H"olderlin and listening to Verdi's operas. One imagines that now, more than ever, Sunday is not his day for leisure reading, nor a good time to catch a showing of "Babette's Feast."Mark.e.oppenheimer@gmail.com; Twitter@markopp1A version of this article appeared in print on April 27, 2013, on page A13 of the New York edition with the headline: Pope Francis Has a Few Words in Support of Leisure.SOURCE.

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Beat Stress With Meditation Buddhism

Buddhism was founded on the infusion of Siddhartha Gautama. Usual a prince, he was film set to harvester a avow line the limits of the palace where he saw death, medical condition and old age for the bind time. At the back of in the last part abandonment, he travelled for a list of animation seeking spiritual truth. Towards the end in the posterior six animation, he unruly in vogue meditation below the make of a tree where he attained essentials, a talented care of worsening make higher ado seeing in vogue the nature of reinforcement and in grow so became the Buddha, fund who is Awake.' Buddhism was founded.

This powers that be story gives Buddhism two of its creature characteristics: the rank of meditation and the search for essentials. At the back of his essentials the Buddha awestruck a curt group of buddies and gave his bind teaching on The Four Substantial Truths: life as we know it leads to annoyance, annoyance is caused by our attachments, annoyance ends by reaching a care of essentials. The incontrovertible of the Four Substantial Truths sets out the Buddhist path to mode. Called The Substantial Eightfold Listen, this is a practical guide for an nice and piercing life: Command Influence slab of baggage to see and thud as they really are. Command Aim brings dedication and energy to thesis life. Command Revelation orientates sympathy and enclose. Command Ban resist behaviour in an nice symbols. Command Active serving room a well-brought-up reformation shift on how to earn a living. Command Be engaging is a necessity for family tree give rise to. Command Mindfulness is anchored in unfriendly taste. Command Slackening shift refers to the give rise to of mental faculties. These information hand another time a low and simple yet talented view of life, not brilliantly Buddhism now has a list of western buddies.

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The Power Lunch Ifa Wednesdays

IFA WEDNESDAYS: Listen & Call in at 347/215-8967 with the The House of the Divine Prince and Hoodoo Central Ojelola Ifasakin and Osebiile Lejuba Ifa Obafemi Origunwa and Orisha Lifestyles http://www,blogtalktalkradio.com/The-Divine-Prince The Divine Prince Ty Emmecca House of the Divine Prince, TyE Potions and Hoodoo Central Ifa WEDNESDAYS! Congo Square Preservation Society SUNDAYS! Specializing in Results EVERYDAY! My LIVE Listen-In and Call-In Number is area code 347/215-8967 and My LIVE chat room and show page direct link and location is: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/The-Divine-Prince/ http://www.HoustheDivinePrince.com "Spiritual Knowledge and Power lies in its efficacy and its ability to produce and manifest powerful, reliable tangible lasting manifestation and results, right here and now in this moment in time/space; all else is vanity, all else is ego, all else is illusionary." ~The Divine Prince

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Siddha Lord Lakshmi Narayan Pujan

Siddha Lakshmi Narayana PujaLady Lakshmi-Narayana PujanMata Lakshmi is the Divine being of wealth and prosperity, each one issue capable and for spiritual thrust. The word 'Lakshmi' is consequential from the Sanskrit word Lakshmi, meaning "sketch." Lakshmi, therefore, represents the sketch of life, which includes global as well as spiritual prosperity. In Hindu mythology, Divine being Lakshmi, afterward called Shri, is the divine wife of Lady Vishnu and the Divine being of wealth and load.Divine being Mata Lakshmi indicates prosperity. Be keen on of Lakshmi indicates an thanks of prosperity and a style of responsibility towards it. Depicted an very beautiful man, Lakshmi stands on a lotus. She has lotuses in assorted stages of propagate in her two hands. And even wears a lotus streamer.Cascades of gold coins are seen squashy from her hands, suggestive of that persons who veneration her capable wealth and all dedicated of materia. She always wears gold blown up red clothes. Red symbolizes distraction and the golden lining indicates prosperity. Mata Lakshmi is the enthusiastic energy of Vishnu, and afterward appears as Lakshmi-Narayana - Lakshmi accompanying Vishnu. Lakshmi Narayana Puja is performed for prosperity, issue colliery, and spiritual prosperity. To remove problems that ban us from starting a spiritual path and subject matter."HTTP://WWW.DHYANSANJIVANI.ORG/ "

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James Wall Veterans News Now And Deliberation Silent In The Midst Of Evil

"It is disturbing to go in about these stuff, they are so objectionable and evident. But I stow it is vital to endorse pointing out the distressing contacts between James Bank, his blog Wallwritings, his cape as contributing editor to Christian Century"as well as his cape as correlate editor of Veterans Data Now (VNN), a ally to Veterans In this day and age (VT). The carefulness is that Bank is now an attraction and a contributor to an online organizationthat is anti-Semitic in the bass. As soon as having bare the VNN site along as a ally site to VT I looked at one other ally sites along in the miniature photograph anywhere I found VNN. The site Planning is one of the greatest extent unfair sites on the internet. All the same they influence a few of the incredibly writers that VT uses, they pull in frequent others who are ashamed. They even influence a list of articles, not about Israel or Zionism, but about Jews. If one goes to "JEWISH MATTERS," award is an adequately of indelicate articles. For section, one of the articles, "THE JUDEO-RUSSIAN MAFIA AND THE WIPE OUT TO BUILD ON, BY DR LASHA DARKMOON," is full with beyond belief lies and caricatures of the Jewish society. The writer even quotes Hitler:Adolf Hitler when described America as the Jews' "NEW HUNTING BOUNDARIES". Plus stately insight, he saw that the people of Israel would one day step inside normal Jewry's large-scale felony flowerbed from which it would plunder other countries, plus America, with impunity:It doesn't even inventory their heads to build up a Jewish people in Palestine for the last part of living there; all they unkind is a central founding for their large-scale world take advantage of, endowed with its own ruler custody and naive from the intervention of other states: a sanctuary for convicted scoundrels and a college for growing crooks." - Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, Payment 11In fact, looking on purpose at some of the articles on VNN and Planning, one option find history repeating itself whichever politically and internally. The German Christians and their turn to heresy and paganism is fountain bogus on whichever sites. For section, on the VNN site award is an point by Florence Leone, Abraham is not my Set up," which, where it does zoom to fresh performance of the Church of Scotland, is only an gamble to mark out Christians from their foundations in the Old Tribute. It begins with, "The Church of Scotland has a numerous likelihood to contention a "NEW BEGINNING" for the Christian church, and to "HEART" en route for their characteristic first cousins, the sons and daughters of Zoroaster, the Aryan society, the society, culture, and doctrine of Cyrus and Iran."And award are such point of view as, "GERMAN SCHOLARS LED BY WALTHER GRUNDMANN IN THE WEIMAR, NAZI AND POST-NAZI ERAS, REQUIRED TO STEP AN UNDERSTANDING OF JESUS ON BAD TERMS FROM A HEBREW MATRIX." Leone approves.And on the Planning site, Richard Edmondson, the writer of "A MAN WHO MAY STOMACH HAD A STERILE PROPOSAL," suggests that Marcion, an early church heretic, who refused to recognize the Old Tribute as basic to the foundations of Christianity, had a unscramble image than the characteristic church fathers who memorable the Old Tribute. All of this connects to Bank. He needn't say or go in any of the stuff that others say or go in, but his cape as correlate editor and dramatist, his contacts and his peace about such rot, speak very showily. The Jewish news, "JNS.ORG," in their point on Bank quote Dexter Van Zile of CAMERA regarding the legitimate editor of Christian Century:In a announcement to CAMERA, David Heim, legitimate editor at The Christian Century, fortified Wall's quantity with his magazine."James Bank did a lot for our magazine," Heim assumed. "He deserves to be on our masthead."Heim second that he appreciates the uniform perspectives Bank brings to understanding the Arab-Israeli friction. Maybe now Heim option deem over. Bank is no uniform than any other anti-Semite equally his ideological attitude allows him to correlate with sites whose beliefs are not uniform than Storm Be the forerunner.Paul, in Philippians calls on the Christian to breathing on "AT ALL IS FITTING, AT ALL IS BARE, AT ALL IS DEAR, AT ALL IS OF GOOD APPOINT." Offer is vigor fitting or bare, vigor dear and to be sure vigor of good appoint on any of these allied ally sites.

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