Dick Durbin at Illinois Planned Parenthood Award 2013
Cromwell at Drogheda 1681"I am persuaded that this is a righteous judgment of God upon these barbarous wretches, who have imbued their hands in so much innocent blood and that it will tend to prevent the effusion [shedding] of blood for the future, which are satisfactory grounds for such actions, which otherwise cannot but work remorse and regret." Oliver Cromwell to Parliament on the Massacre f Drogheda*
"The most merciful thing that the large family does to one of its infant members is to kill it." Maragret Sanger
What bedevils you? I would assume that something, or someone causes all of us great confusion and concerns attendant.
Lord knows I have me some powerful demons. Sophisticates might say that I am complicated. Most people would argue that I just behave like a jerk. I do at times.
I had a coach in grammar school who yell at me to 'quit contemplating my navel.' Prolonged navel gazing often leads one to require a proctologist to husband his wealth of skills in the removal of the noggin from the rump. In that spirit, my Catholic upbringing demanded hours spent in activities where the gaze was required above and beyond the less wholesome body parts and to brighter horizons. With age came the luxury and the curse of too much time on my own hands, which worked overtime in the Devil's workshop. Stay busy in life, or become a United States Senator from Illinois.
There is a Devil and his name is Satan, but he works with a crowd of lesser demons dedicated to bringing me along with them - to jump in the fiery Lake of Gehenna, because they did too.
That seems to be a pretty simple explanation from an otherwise 'complicated' man.
I think that people are born good, but some of us work like the Devil to go against our natures, St. Gregory said of demons that they were named by their offices and not their natures. Evangelical Christians view good and evil as the attitude one has toward complete fundamental acceptance of the Christian God and everything else is evil.
Mainline Protestants see good and evil as results, just like John Dewey, that either harm people or benefit them.
Catholics tend to be . . .complicated, when dealing with good and evil. We sin in thought, word and deed. We sin, because we are children of Fall - the 'poor banished children of Eve' and we call that Original Sin. It comes with our belly buttons. We suffer for our sins and the sins of others, but know that we are redeemed by Christ's triumph over the cross.
Now comes the hard part. We also "Choose." We are Pro-Choice in matters of evil. To me the gravest sin occurs when I choose which sin is convenient to me. I pick and choose which decision to turn away from God.
God made everything good. He made angels. Those angels have free will. Some of those angels decided to do what the hell they felt like doing. The chief angel, according to Genesis, Wisdom and John's Revelation, as well as Oliver Cromwell's Minister of Latin, old blind John Milton decided to be God.
Now, Cromwell was no Senator Dick Durbin, our own oleaginous cheerleader for abortion who helped ease the feet of women into the abortionist's stirrups and accounted for more dead children than ISIS -right here in America. Dick Durbin might not be Satan, but he sure gives that hoofed gent the freedom of the walkway.
Choosing to murder a child is evil. Choosing a Senator, or President, or Dog Catcher who backs abortion for any public office, sure seems evil to me. Then again, I am a complicated sinner.
As it is, the Devil we know, the one who tells us to choose convenience over life has some very powerful, sophisticated and wealthy friends. They are not friendly to my Church. They have more concern for a stray dog, than a seven pound baby in a woman's Federally protected uterus,Image result for abortion murders in 2014
The whole Church and each one of her children are beset by dangers, the fire of persecution, the enervation of ease, the dangers of wealth and of poverty, heresies and errors of opposite characters, rationalism and superstition, fanaticism and indifference. Catholic Encyclopedia
Persecution - That is an easy one. Catholics are hated, especially by secularists
Enervation of Ease - The Life of an Oligarch
Dangers of Wealth & Poverty - Enough is never a feast
Heresies and Errors of Opposite Characters - See Dick Durbin
Rationalism and Superstition - 50/50 Senator
Fanaticism and Indifference - Quality of Life trumps Life
Sounds like the ltmus test to be the Senior Senator from Illinois.
*Drogheda was one of the first cities Cromwell faced. He offered fair terms and gave his men strict instructions against excessive violence. However, the situation fluctuated a good deal. As Drogheda's fortunes waned or waxed, the garrison alternately negotiated or stalled. Cromwell's troops broke through the wall before negotiations were complete (possibly with inside help) and rushed through the town, killing virtually everyone in the city. They set fire to St. Mary's church, burning alive those who had taken refuge in it and then butchered women hiding in the vaults below. Some accounts say they used Irish children as human shields and killed every priest, treating them like combatants, because they had encouraged the defenders. According to those tales, only thirty defenders survived and they were sold as slaves to Barbados. At least one of the English soldiers claimed that Cromwell himself ordered the slaughter.
