Medjugorje by Agatha Christie: «A clue is a clue, two clues are a coincidence, but three clues prove it"

MEDJUGORJE AND AGATHA CHRISTIE: «A CLUE IS A CLUE, TWO CLUES ARE A COINCIDENCE, BUT THREE CLUES MAKE PROOF"

«The faithful, regarding the cult of Mary "Queen of Peace", are “authorized to observe it with prudence”, although this does not imply approval of the supernatural character of the phenomenon in question, with the note that believers are not obligated to believe it. That the priests of this Diocese, accepting and respecting the decision of the Church, are free to agree or disagree with this spiritual proposal" (Decree of the Bishop of Mostar-Duvno, 19 September 2024).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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That with the advent of Francesco, a paradigm shift has occurred in the Church, it is no longer a case that needs proof. It's not possible yet, nor is it prudent to take stock of his pontificate so far, but some things can already be said. Even Father Antonio Spadaro writes that the way of communicating has changed with the current pontiff S.J., immediately his trusted interpreter, in an article that recently appeared on The Republic:

«Francis understood that comprehensibility is not the same thing as clarity... Today's man, more than simply "clear" speeches... it needs speeches that are credible, carriers of complexity, situations, of experiences, of life that sometimes is not and cannot be so "clear". The clear language is that of the norm. If the pastor adopts it as a communication method he ends up getting confused and taking on the role of the legislator and the judge" (The Republic, 19.09.24, pg. 39).

What is worse than lying and deceiving the People of God? The awareness that the People of God are being lied to and deceived

The famous mystery writer Agatha Christie said: «A clue is a clue, two clues are a coincidence, but three clues prove it". So no more clear and distinct ideas, so dear to his last predecessor, but a new style that is attentive to complexities, to situations and experiences, of individuals as well as communities. This is probably why the Pope chose Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez as his close collaborator at the head of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.. Who received these recommendations from the Pontiff on the occasion of his assignment, in a letter that we report here in the Spanish version because there is no official translation from the Holy See:

«The Dicastery that you will preside over, In other times he used immoral methods. These were times when, rather than promoting theological knowledge, possible doctrinal errors were persecuted.. What I expect from you is undoubtedly something very different.…What's more, You know that the Church "needs to grow in its interpretation of the revealed Word and in its understanding of the truth" without this implying imposing a single way of expressing it. Because "the different lines of philosophical thought, theological and pastoral, if they allow themselves to be harmonized by the Spirit in respect and love, "They can also make the Church grow.". This harmonious growth will preserve Christian doctrine more effectively than any control mechanism. It is good that your assignment expresses that the Church "encourages the charisma of theologians and their effort for theological research" as long as "do not be satisfied with a desktop theology», with «a cold and hard logic that seeks to dominate everything». It will always be true that reality is superior to the idea. In that sense, We need Theology to be attentive to a fundamental criterion: consider "inadequate any theological conception that ultimately calls into question the omnipotence of God and, especially, his mercy". We need a thought that knows how to convincingly present a God who loves, that forgives, that saves, that liberates, that promotes people and calls them to fraternal service» (cf.. text WHO, italics and underlining mine).

Vatican, 1 Julio 2023

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Since that day the Cardinal has not failed in this trust and this can easily be found in the notes or responses given by the presided over Dicastery. Among these, the Note on the blessing that can be given caused quite a stir, under certain conditions, to irregular or homosexual couples and the very recent one about the spiritual experience linked to Medjugorje, which created a wide debate in the ecclesial community. The Cardinal Prefect cannot be accused of having failed in his mandate, moreover, its orientation is clear and made explicit on several occasions, as when he said, in a meeting at the Lateran University in February this year:

«A theology for the People of God is a theology attentive to the dynamics that this people is experiencing in this historical moment, to help him interpret them in the light of faith, both to purify them and to encourage everything that is positive. This is typical of any enculturation process that includes both aspects. Hopefully, therefore, that theologians can be equal to this mission. It is certainly not a question of inventing a new Revelation, but to bring out from the inexhaustible source of the Gospel what can best illuminate the life of the People of God, what can help these people to live happily amidst the limits and difficulties of life. Indeed, in the letter that the Pope wrote to me when he appointed me Prefect, he said that ultimately today we “need a theology that can convincingly present a God who loves, who forgives, that saves, that frees, who promotes people and calls them to fraternal service" (WHO).

Sixty years ago or more the Second Vatican Council was celebrated. As the dean of Italian theologians said, Severino Dianich, it put the theme of the hermeneutics of faith back at the center of the life of the Church. Since then many things have changed and societies and cultures have profoundly transformed. The great social pressures, cultural and ideological ideas that animated the period of the Council have faded, some tragically, others changed and divided into a thousand streams. Above all, the loss of great ideals and points of reference common to the masses has led to a reevaluation of religious sentiment, after all, never suppressed or erased, as some hoped. But even within it the same dynamics that run through society have been reproduced; as much as the loss of common identity, as much as the subject left alone in the face of the great problems that afflict existence and the post-modern world, they highlighted the same neuroses found elsewhere: anxiety, disorientation, depressions, loss of meaning in one's life. Thus the search for places of apparitions that provide confirmation, messages from above offering reassurance have multiplied, so much so as to become a serious problem for the Church. The most striking signal is the religious phenomenon of Medjugorje on which the Church could no longer fail to intervene with an authoritative word, encouraging the spiritual journey that takes place there, but placing serious limits on both the messages and the "alleged" seers, both not recognized in a blatant and clear way. But if we look at the latest documents of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith before the recent Note on the Medjugorje phenomenon, there are nine texts that precede it, mostly responses to bishops about alleged apparitions and messages from the Virgin Mary, in different parts of the world. These responses were possible after the issuing by the same Dicastery of the «Regulations for proceeding in the discernment of alleged supernatural phenomena» (WHO).

It took twelve years for a first declaration for the facts reported by Bernadette which allowed the influx of faithful and veneration in Lourdes. Fatima had almost immediate relevance; at just two years old from the events declared by the shepherd children the local bishop, with the approval of the Holy See, he declared:

«Worthy of belief, the visions of the shepherd children of Cova da Iria, occurred in the parish of Fátima, in this diocese, from the 13 May to 13 October 1917".

But they were also other times and other contexts. In France, at the time of the Lourdes events, Emperor Louis Napoleon blocked any agreement with the Church beyond the concordat of 1801. In Portugal, the shepherd children were jailed for two days by order of the then mayor of Vila Nova. Beyond the historical context, we will be able to say that the Holy See's declarations on the events of Lourdes and Fatima were timely and concerned "facts considered extraordinary".

For the facts of Medjugorje It took over forty years for the publication of a Note that valued religious experience more than message data, defined with extreme clarity as “presumed”, the apparitions were defined as “alleged” but, above all, "alleged" self-styled seers. Now it's just that, religious experience, the fact that stands out most in the eyes of those who read the Note from the Dicastery. Of course, the partisans, sometimes actual Taliban, of the religious and spiritual events arising from the area of ​​Bosnia-Herzegovina, they won't notice and have already hailed the Note as a victory, as a great recognition. But it has to be said. What the Note introduces, as well as in the nine documents that precede it, there are two aspects: that of the personal perception of a phenomenon on the one hand, and on the other hand the recognition of a religious experience even if not fully founded and clear in all its aspects. This is the new paradigm that stands out. The importance given to the perception of the individual, very in tune with what modern society hopes for, even in multiple areas; and the value given to experience which can even lead to good fruit beyond an ambiguous doctrine present in some groups. The Note asks the various bishops to monitor the religious experiences of individuals and groups; at the same time, recalling the rules, asks to "appreciate the pastoral value and also promote the diffusion of this spiritual proposal".

In my opinion this is something new in the Church, which I have defined as a new paradigm, moreover anticipated by the ways of doing and communicating of the current Supreme Pontiff and put into practice by his closest and most important collaborators. Where all this will lead is anyone's guess. It is evident that the Church, the current state, it is more inclined to govern these processes so that they do not deviate or deteriorate, rather than stopping them. This is the recommendation given to the bishops, that is, to the overseers of the People of God. The Bishop of Monstar-Duvno, the person directly involved in the events of Medjugorje, in fact he issued his own note following that of the Holy See in which after a resumption of the same, he clearly says the exact words:

«The faithful, regarding the cult of Mary "Queen of Peace", are “authorized to observe it with prudence” (Standards, art. 22, §: cf. Benedict XVI, Word of the Lord, n. 14), although this does not imply approval of the supernatural character of the phenomenon in question (cf.. Standards, art. 22, §2), with the note that believers are not obligated to believe it. That the priests of this Diocese, accepting and respecting the decision of the Church, are free to agree or disagree with this spiritual proposal" (WHO).

How can one greet a text of this kind calling it a historic approval by the Holy See, how he rejoiced, to name one among many, Father Livio Fanzaga, who from Radio Maria's microphones even speaks of "full recognition" (cf.. WHO). How can you? It is a question.

Incidentally it must be remembered that all the bishops who have succeeded one another in that Diocese since the beginning of the alleged apparitions, they didn't just be skeptical, they have declared apparitions throughout history to be false and the so-called seers to be unreliable. The alleged apparitions were declared not authentic by H.E. Mons. Pavalo Zanic, Bishop of Mostar-Duvno since 1980 al 1993, who was succeeded by H.E. Mons. Ratko Peric gave 1983 al 2000, than in his book The throne of wisdom (Church on Kamen, Mostar 1995), in the chapter entitled The criteria for evaluating apparitions dedicates a paragraph to the apparitions of Medjugorje where he tries to demonstrate that the apparitions of the Madonna are not true and that the alleged visionaries lied repeatedly and immediately (cf.. pp. 266-286).

Today we are certainly in a transition phase, long gone, as we said, since the conciliar times, but the approach has also changed rapidly compared to the previous magisteriums of recent Popes. Because of this, perhaps, attempts must be viewed with some benevolence, sometimes even curious, eccentric and clumsy used by the Pope and his collaborators to spread this new course? Just one example. Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez in the press conference to present the Note had to mention the difficulties that some "Marian messages" given in Medjugorje posed. But to interpret them positively, despite containing obvious inaccuracies, even doctrinal, he referred to the texts of mystical authors such as Saint John of the Cross or Saint Therese of Lisieux, which according to him would also report inaccuracies. Now the mystical experience is in itself unspeakable and with difficulty is translated into human words, even written ones. But these are still human authors who use the human tools available. This can be compared to the supposed messages that would come from above, from the Virgin Mary, of which the so-called seers are only intermediaries? What would messages be if they are not messages and must be decrypted? This is one of the many difficulties that should be seriously questioned.

The Church has chosen to operate in this way It is probably, rather than governing the ongoing processes, tries to chase them and contain them as best he can, accepting that personal experience and a religious proposal can become an opportunity for salvation, although it needs to be monitored carefully. But the Church is also called to deal with other aspects that accompany our contemporary society, among these the progressive distancing of it from the ecclesial community, the science and resulting technologies that now regulate the lives of human beings, the pressure of algorithms and so-called artificial intelligence which now dictate the choices of individuals and social groups. How will the Church respond to these requests, while it still appears too closed in on itself and its internal problems? Maybe with a double track, one for the simple people who still seek visions and ask for messages from above and another with which he seeks to dialogue and interact with society and contemporary worlds?

Again the aforementioned Italian theologian Severino Dianich he recently lambasted his brothers and fellow theologians, accusing them of treason (cf.. WHO), because they are incapable of uttering an insightful word about the facts happening in the world and the cultural processes underway. The responses of some theologians who felt caught short were either out of context or too verbose. It is certain that the Church is experiencing trouble, who knows if it will lead to a transformation or a new birth, certainly different from the previous ones to which we have been accustomed for centuries. In the years that followed the Council, as the movement born in May of spread 1968, he inherited Michel de Certeaux, much listened to in very secular France and who went on to direct the studies of the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris spoke of "shattered Christianity" (WHO). An uncomfortable expression that was not accepted at the time, but whose effects we feel today. What the Christianity of tomorrow will be like? It is not known, because it's like wondering what the world will be like in the near future, in which the Church with its members will be inserted. Of course, hopefully tomorrow's Christianity is not composite, according to what is unfortunately revealed today, an aggregation of faithful fideists in the morbid search for Madonnas who appear around the world predicting catastrophes and delivering terrifying secrets to self-styled seers who now appear like wildflowers after the rain. The hope, at least my personal one, is that she stops looking at her own navel and begins to confidently announce the Gospel of Jesus Christ again, capable of forming solid and tenacious Christians "always ready to respond to anyone who asks you the reason for the hope that is in you" (1PT 3,15).

From the Hermitage, 5 October 2024

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«Come Holy Spirit, soul of my soul». The use of the Holy Spirit in the Church must be daily, filial and trusting

«COME HOLY SPIRIT SOUL OF MY SOUL». THE RECOURSE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE CHURCH MUST BE DAILY, BRANCH AND TRUSTFUL

Every day we need the sweet presence of the Holy Spirit, in every circumstance of life, not just at particular chosen moments. With sadness we must recognize that even in the Church he is often invoked in a folkloristic way, making him a "fluid" that levels and fixes man's distortions, also and above all of that man who does not wish to submit to his action. In short, a true "magical Holy Spirit... esoteric" at the limit of the Gnostic conception.

— Pastoral current events —

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Author
Ivano Liguori, Ofm. Capp.

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Of all the prayers to the Holy Spirit that the Church knows, some of which are very famous and recited punctually and solemnly in particular moments of ecclesial life such as the Veni Creator, there is the prayer of Cardinal Désiré Joseph Mercier (1851-1926).

This prayer says so:

«O Holy Spirit, soul of my soul, I adore you! Enlighten me, guide me, strengthen me, console me, tell me what I have to do, give me your orders. I promise to submit myself in everything to your desire and accept whatever you want to send me! Only teach me your will. Amen».

The wise Belgian cardinal he continually exhorted the faithful to confidently recite this prayer, encouraging Catholics to familiarity and devotion towards the Holy Spirit, often considered by us Westerners as "the great unknown", he said:

«I want to reveal to you the secret of holiness and joy, if every day, for five minutes, you know how to impose silence on your imagination and close your eyes to all external things and your ears to all the noises of the earth to enter within yourself, and there, in the sanctuary of your baptized soul, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit, speak to this divine guest and tell him […] If you do this, I repeat, your life will flow happily, serene and consoled, even if in tribulations, because the grace will be proportionate to the test and will give you the strength to bear it and you will reach heaven full of merits. This submission to the Holy Spirit is the secret of holiness.".

The peculiarity of this prayer lies in the fact of expressing a great truth, that of considering the Holy Spirit as "the soul of my soul", that is, as the most intimate and sacred part of man's soul. The Holy Spirit, so, it doesn't just speak to the soul but it speaks about the soul, it tells us who the author and privileged interlocutor is, to then give it that divine form in which God makes himself present, that seal that indelibly marks belonging to the Lord (stamp) and configures him more perfectly to Christ by giving him the grace to spread his good perfume among men (cf. 2 Cor2,15).

The effort of the believing man it consists precisely in knowing and guarding one's soul in friendship and communion with God through that docility to the Holy Spirit which can only be continuous. Every day we need the sweet presence of the Holy Spirit, in every circumstance of life, not just at particular chosen moments. With sadness we must recognize that even in the Church he is often invoked in a folkloristic way, making him a "fluid" that levels and fixes man's distortions, also and above all of that man who does not wish to submit to his action. In short, a true "magical Holy Spirit... esoteric" at the limit of the Gnostic conception.

Invoke the Holy Spirit at the start of a meeting, of a Chapter, of a synod, of a council or conclave means raising your hands before the work of God and his will, which almost always contrasts with that of man and his projects. It means speaking to God with his Spirit: "you act!» but we often have to recognize that we use to call into question the Holy Spirit to ratify decisions already made, when man has already acted with previously planned orientations and already thought out paths.

In doing so, the Holy Spirit – sweet and discreet guest of the soul – it no longer speaks to the soul of man and is no longer capable of animating it as the good Cardinal Désiré Joseph Mercier teaches us. Say this today, even within the Church, it might seem borderline incorrect, it could mean appearing as a denier of some "inspired realities". There could also be the risk of being labeled as a problematic personality and prone to grumbling and discontent. But all in all it might even be worth it, if all this is done to return to allowing ourselves to be guided by the Spirit of the Lord and to run the serious risk of being put in crisis where we have the presumption of having already understood everything.

In my twenty-five years of religious life and fifteen of priestly life I have always kept these two passages of Sacred Scripture in mind as a personal compass in my relationship with God and therefore as a methodology of discernment before the work of the Holy Spirit:

«Because my thoughts are not your thoughts, your ways are not my ways – oracle of the Lord. For as the heavens are above the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, my thoughts dominate your thoughts". (cf.. Is 55, 8 – 9).

«If the Lord does not build the house, in vain do its builders labor;. Unless the Lord guards the city, the guardian watches in vain". (cf.. Shall 127, 1)

I bring this personal experience of mine to share with readers and brothers the desire to know that, although priests and consecrated people, our daily guide is not represented by the academic qualifications obtained in theological science, not even by insiders and entries into structures of power and prestige. Much less our desires for good or the desire to do great things, often human, too human. Everything in us must move in the harmony of the Holy Spirit, he is the conductor of the orchestra, the score and the music.

About the Holy Spirit I could quote many biblical passages, Among many others, this one from the Gospel according to John comes to mind: «And I will pray to the Father and he will give you another Paraclete to remain with you forever, the Spirit of truth, that the world cannot receive because it does not see it and does not know it. You know him because he remains with you and will be in you" (GV 14, 16-17) .

Jesus promises the gift of the Spirit/Paraclete which remains not only with us but, says the Lord expressly: «It will be in you». It is the theme of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, as a divine guest, in the soul of the just, of which the above-mentioned cardinal already spoke. The apostle Paul also reminds us of this in his first letter to the Corinthians: «You don't know that . . . the Spirit of God dwells in you?» (1 Color 3, 16). The Holy Spirit who is present and works throughout the Church, shows the concrete implementation of his presence and action in the relationship with the human person, with the soul of the baptized in which He establishes his home and pours out the gift obtained from Christ with the Redemption. The action of the Holy Spirit penetrates into the depths of man, in the hearts of the faithful, and pours into it the light and grace that gives life. This is what we ask for in the Pentecost Mass Sequence: O most blessed light, invade the hearts of your faithful intimately".

God is present among men in the Son, through the humanity assumed by Him into unity of person with his divine nature. With this visible presence in Christ, God prepares a new presence through Him, Invisible, which comes about with the coming of the Holy Spirit. The presence of Christ "among" men opens the way to the presence of the Holy Spirit, which is an interior presence, a presence in human hearts. Thus Ezekiel's prophecy is fulfilled: «I will give you a new heart, I will put a new spirit within you . . . I will put my spirit within you" (This 36, 26-27).

Thanks to this home men become "temple of God", of the Trinity God, because "the spirit of God dwells in you", as we recalled in the words of Saint Paul. The Apostle himself specifies shortly afterwards: «Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you and which you have from God?» (1 Color 6, 19). So, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit entails a particular consecration of the entire human person, body size is also involved, in the likeness of the temple. This consecration is sanctifying. It constitutes the very essence of saving grace, through which man accesses participation in the Trinitarian life of God. An internal source of holiness is thus opened in man, from which life "according to the Spirit" derives. Lord Jesus is this source from which the gift of the living water of the Spirit flows. In this regard, Saint John always recalls the cry of Jesus: «The big day of the party, Jesus, pillow block feet, he shouted: «If anyone is thirsty, come to me, and let him who believes in me drink. As Scripture says: From her womb rivers of living water will flow.". And the evangelist comments: «This is what he said about the Spirit that those who believe in him would receive: in fact there was not yet the Spirit, because Jesus had not yet been glorified" (GV 7, 37-39). John thus prepares us for the final aspiration of the Lord that he spoke from the cross: «On set». Thirst to give to the Church that water of the Spirit which shortly after his death flows from his side and which the believing soul contemplates: «E, bowed his head, delivered the Spirit" (GV 19,30).

Invoke the Holy Spirit it means, therefore return inside that hermitage that is our soul, in that delicate and secret territory which we cannot enter except with the lively mystical desire to experience God, of being drawn by Him and being able to enjoy them fully. And for this we must call the Spirit of God who knows everything even the very depths of God (cf.. 1 Color 2,10 – 16).

September is the month in which activities start again in the most diverse parishes and Christian communities. It would be nice to start again from the Holy Spirit to teach us the path to take and make us aware of the many mistakes passed off as his but which are ours. A shared journey, today it would be called synodal, in which you strongly want the presence of God... and only that.

Among the many spiritual "things" that we can invent and do within the Church of God, it would also be time to understand that the addition of the adjective "spiritual" is indicative of a very specific orientation that tells us that we are waiting for the breath of the Holy Spirit, of the irruption of God into the history of man, in the history of each of us, in my personal history.

How wonderful it would be to hold a perennial synod on the Holy Spirit, on Pentecost! Starting from that living pneuma that transforms everything and fills everything in a movement of grace that saves: from the time of confused and chaotic man [year (chronos)] we move on to God's time, orderly and suave [weather (kairos)] to experience that time of grace of the Spirit[grace (curry)] which translates into that love that the Church desperately needs and which, as the great poet said, «moves the sun and the other stars (cf.. Paradiso, XXXIII, v. 145)».

Sanluri, 2 October 2024

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The Apostles understood so well that they began to argue about who was the greatest among them

Homiletics of the Fathers of The Island of Patmos

THE APOSTLES UNDERSTOOD SO WELL THAT THEY BEGAN TO DISCUSS WHO WAS THE GREATEST AMONG THEM

«And the Lord had mercy on this multitude... He took a little girl, Teresa, and placed her among the apostles; and this little girl revealed such simple truths to them, so attractive, that the doctors were forced to confess their ignorance, and they became disciples of the little girl to teach the people her doctrine".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Gospel of Mark reports three announcements of the passion (MC 8,31; 9,31; 10,33 e ssg.). What we read in the Gospel of the 25th Sunday of ordinary time is the second and all three constitute an editorial thread through which Mark wove the story that goes from Peter's confession to Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. Here is the evangelical passage.

"During that time, Jesus and his disciples went through Galilee, but he did not want anyone to know. In fact, he taught his disciples and told them: "The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men and they will kill him; ma, once killed, after three days it will rise again ". However, they did not understand these words and were afraid to question him. They came to Cafarnao. When he was in the house, he asked them: «What were you arguing about in the street?». And they were silent. On the street, in fact, they had argued among themselves who was the greatest. Sitting down, he called the Twelve and told them: «If one wants to be the first, be the last of all and the servant of all". E, got a baby, placed him in their midst and, hugging him, he told them: «Whoever welcomes even one of these children in my name, welcomes me; and who welcomes me, does not welcome me, but he who sent me" (MC 9,30-37).

Jesus, crossing his land of origin, to Galilee, this time he does not seek the support of the crowd, but requesting anonymity, he rather dedicated his teaching to the disciples who accompanied him most closely. He tries to explain to them what will happen to him. But every time Jesus talks about his own death, with a repeating pattern, the opposite reaction of the disciples occurs. First Peter (MC 8,32-33) and then all the others (MC 9,32) they reject or do not understand the Master's words. Immediately after the last two announcements the apostles even claim primacy and privileges for themselves (MC 9,33-37; 35-40). For this reason today's evangelical passage constitutes a small unit, formed by prophecy of Jesus about his destiny and then by misunderstanding of the disciples. The latter is expressed in our passage by Marco's comment: «But they did not understand» del v. 32; and is finally strengthened with the out of place words of the disciples themselves, reported by the evangelist: "In fact, along the way they had discussed among themselves who was the greatest", al v. 34.

Jesus to announce his passion defines himself as the "Son of man", an expression that occurs many times in the Gospels (ben 82, of which 14 in Mark) and is used by Jesus above all to describe himself as the protagonist or recipient of a humiliated and painful condition, which will be followed by his exaltation or resurrection. The disciples who on the one hand are concerned about this fate, on the other hand they evidently know this figure who was believed to exist in heaven like the angels and who was before the world, that is, it existed when there was only God (Book of Parables of Enoch). God grants his prerogatives and powers to the Son of man, so much so that it seems like a divine hypostasis. He's not an angel, does not follow orders, it has general tasks but no precise commands: his will seems to be the same as that of God and his tasks essentially concern justice and law (And 7, 13-14). Given this soteriological and messianic background, Jesus, Now, at least to the disciples, it can reveal itself for what it is. He can talk to them parresia and affirm that He is that Son of man, figure known to us from the book of Daniel and from the Old Testament apocrypha of The Book of Parables. It is the beginning of a new time in the mission of Jesus: «And it began to teach them that the Son of man had to suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, by the chief priests and scribes, get killed e, after three days, rise again" (cf.. MC 8, 31). But for the disciples it is a sort of cold shower, because Peter first and the disciples then know that the figure of the Son of man is powerful and glorious, It is therefore impossible for him to encounter misfortune, suffering, defeats. Peter rejects this presentation and Jesus brands him as Satan (MC 8,33), while the disciples talk about something else.

Most likely that's why Jesus, after a few days, he decides to take three of his disciples closest to him, Pietro, James and John and to take them with him to a high mountain where "he was transfigured before them" (MC 9, 2). There these disciples know that the Son of man, of which they had some knowledge, he is the Son of God: "This is my Son, the beloved: listen!» (MC 9, 7). Descending from Tabor, Jesus repeats the invitation to the disciples not to speak to anyone about the vision until after his death and resurrection. For readers of the Gospel of Mark it is increasingly clear that Jesus is the one "hidden" in the mystery of God, destined to reveal itself.

Announcing his passion Jesus says he will be delivered. The verb "deliver" (paradidoma) it is very important for the story of Jesus' last hours. He finds himself, in Mark, not only in the announcements of the passion and resurrection of Jesus, but sometimes it also has Judas as a subject (MC 3,19; 14,10-11) and it even refers to the fate of the disciples (MC 13,9.11.12). All this to underline that the destiny of those who follow Jesus is in solidarity with and similar to that of the Master.

But more above we mentioned the reaction of the disciples to Jesus' second announcement, to their not understanding (v. 32) and the speeches about the "greatest" (vv. 33-34). Even in this case, as it was for Pietro, Jesus must correct the disciples, answering them in two ways, with words and a symbolic gesture that have remained imperishable.

First of all we note that Jesus does not collect the disciples' phrasebook, he doesn't accept it. While they discuss "who was the greatest", Instead he speaks of first and last. What does this mean? That Jesus does not rule out the possibility of there being precedence in the community, that someone is the first and not simply the greatest. But he also says that he must be someone who puts himself at service unconditionally, is, that is, the deacon (deacons) of all other. Along the road that leads to Jerusalem, the search for power, of well-being and prestige of the disciples clashes with the logic of Jesus, according to which the Kingdom is service and in it the first is the one who serves. Jesus, and the farm, sits down, in the attitude of someone who is about to give an important instruction. The discussion will culminate later with this statement that summarizes everything, where Jesus again sets himself as an example: «The Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and give one's life as a ransom for many" (MC 10,45).

Here then is the gesture of taking a child and embracing it reinforces the content of Jesus' statements. The Master wants to be welcomed not only because he is the "greatest", how it might appear in the eyes of the disciples. But the child (paidion) which has the dimensions of the last one, being the smallest, considered of no importance and subject without particular rights, in the eyes of Jesus he embodies the ideal measure of the Kingdom of God. This is compared to a modest-sized seed that also grows and becomes a tree. Likewise Jesus, like the seed, it will have to die to bear fruit (MC 4,8). For this reason, whoever welcomes the little child, not only does he welcome Jesus himself, but even the Father from whom everything originates and who sent Jesus.

Centuries later the Lord will inspire in the Church the sanctity of Teresa of the Child Jesus, in the Carmel of Lisieux. His spiritual journey, evangelical childhood, so it was described in 1913 by Joseph Lotte, a converted French man of letters, friend and confidante of Péguy:

«And the Lord had mercy on this multitude... He took a little girl, Teresa, and placed her among the apostles; and this little girl revealed such simple truths to them, so attractive, that the doctors were forced to confess their ignorance, and they became disciples of the little girl to teach the people her doctrine".

From the Hermitage, 21 September 2024

 

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Sant'Angelo Cave in Ripe (Civitella del Tronto)

 

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On the death of his mother: the mother of the priest is always the mother of all priests

ON THE DEATH OF THE MOTHER: THE MOTHER OF THE PRIEST IS ALWAYS THE MOTHER OF ALL PRIESTS

An ancient Christian tradition narrates that when the mother of a priest appears before the Most High, He will ask her: «I gave you life, what did you give me?». The mother will answer: «I have given you my son as your priest». And the Most High will open the doors of Paradise to her.

 

Author
Editors of The Island of Patmos

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Enrica died yesterday, mother of our brother Simone Pifizzi, liturgist editor of The Island of Patmos.

The Pifizzi family: on the left Claudio, on the right Simone, in the center the two parents

The funeral will take place tomorrow in the Parish Church of the Sacred Heart in Florence, in via Capo di Mondo 60, at 15:30. All the Fathers of the Island of Patmos embrace their brother Simone with faith and affection. The Fathers Ariel S. Levi di Gualdo, which is located in Rome, and Gabriele Giordano M. Scardocci, who resides at the Convent of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, they will also be present at the funeral for the Brother editors Ivano Liguori, Teodoro Beccia, the Hermit Monk and for the president of Edizioni L'Isola di Patmos Jorge Facio Lince, for whom it is impossible to reach the Tuscan capital tomorrow.

the Island of Patmos, 16 September 2024

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It's true that everyone asks, but we Fathers of the Island of Patmos are beyond doubt special. You know it's our birthday soon?

IT'S TRUE THAT EVERYONE ASKS, BUT WE FATHERS OF THE ISLAND OF PATMOS WE ARE OUT OF ANY DOUBT SPECIAL. YOU KNOW THAT IT'S OUR BIRTHDAY SOON?

The 19 October 2014 our webmaster uploaded the website of the magazine L'Isola di Patmos to the platform which the 20 October was open online, since then we have never experienced a decline but only continuous growth in visits.

Author
Editors of The Island of Patmos

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Dear Readers,

when the 20 October 2014 debuted online The Island of Patmos, founded by the late academic of the Roman School Antonio Love, by the pontifical academic Giovanni Cavalcoli and by the theologian Ariel S. Levi di Gualdo, some said we wouldn't have more than a year to live. And indeed it would have been so, if due to the high number of visits we had not provided ours webmaster and ours social manager to move the website of this magazine to a site less than two years later dedicated server, which, added to all other expenses, entails an expense of for our editorial staff 5.200 euro per year.

The Island of Patmos is carried out by one Drafting composed of six presbyters specialized in the various theological sciences, liturgical and juridical, plus four collaborators. He has published to date 948 items and totaled over 500.000.000 of visits. In 2018 they were born Editions The island of Patmos which they have published and distributed to date 25 books.

If you believe our work deserves to be supported, contribute as you always have done every year, allowing us to reach the necessary annual sum of money that we have to pay every month of October.

It's true that everyone asks, and we Fathers of The Island of Patmos we are without a doubt special. Below you can find our bank account details and the link to the convenient and secure system PayPal.

May God reward!

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The people that we ourselves have long since given up on educating with our authority and authority gave a lesson by saying «Enough!» to the Archbishop of Brindisi

AND THE PEOPLE WHOM WE OURSELVES HAVE GIVEN UP FOR A LONG TIME TO EDUCATE WITH OUR AUTHORITY AND AUTHORITY GIVEN A LESSON SAYING «ENOUGH!» TO THE ARCHBISHOP OF BRINDISI

Much has been said about the excessive length of homilies, as mentioned above, the Pope also intervened. By the way, inappropriately? It's something the Pope must say? Personally I think not and eight minutes seems like a Procrustean bed to me, but we know, That's how he is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Not taking into account or perhaps not remembering the suggestion given by the Supreme Pontiff regarding homilies which must not last more than eight minutes[1] (WHO), the Archbishop of Brindisi-Ostuni, S. AND. Mons. Giovanni Intini, in recent days he has seen fit to add another ten minutes to the eight, on the occasion of the celebrations of the patron saints of Brindisi, San Lorenzo and San Teodoro d'Amasea. The mayor's speeches were expected, lasted, coincidentally, exactly eight minutes, and the archbishop. But the complaints about the length of the speech, about eighteen minutes, they interrupt the words of the Brindisi prelate several times. The muttering of the crowd, coming from the Virgilio staircase and the Brindisi seafront, they have become "Enough!» (WHO). And these were accompanied by ironic applause and some other sounds. The Archbishop finished the speech without giving any sign of disturbance and, as scheduled, the highly anticipated fireworks display began followed by the procession.

The next day, in the Church during the solemn Pontifical, the bishop, who evidently had digested the matter badly, decided not to give the homily, indeed to keep a very short one of this nature:

«So as not to tire you out this evening as I tired the listeners last night and I wouldn't want anyone else to shout enough, I thought about keeping quiet tonight. Let us welcome in silence the word of God that has been sown in our hearts" (WHO).

For his silent protest he cashed in, needless to say, the solidarity of a political faction, But, in conclusion, Excellence, It's possible that a whole night wasn't enough to overcome such a modest thing? Maybe it wasn't an opportunity to laugh about it and perhaps launch a short, incisive and constructive message to the protesters, given that the thing had now ended up in the newspapers and therefore well known? That's how it went. At the bottom of the Archbishop of Otranto Stefano Pendinelli it got much worse: he was slaughtered by the Turks who waited sitting on his episcopal chair together with the devout faithful gathered around him in the cathedral church in distant 11 august of 1480, transformed by the infidels into a horrible slaughterhouse (cf.. The Martyrs of Otranto).

Archbishop Giovanni Intini was not the first challenged in history and not even the most famous. We all remember that even the Apostle Paul, thinking well of taking advantage of the circumstances and finding himself in an authoritative place like the Areopagus in Athens, launched into a speech with a high-sounding incipit: «Athenians, I see that, in everything, you are very religious". But we all know how it ended as soon as Paul introduced the central theme of Christianity, that is, the Resurrection of Christ: «We'll hear from you another time about this» (At 17). One flop we would say today, poor Apostle. But it's not that the next day Saint Paul lost heart. Indeed, he left and went to Corinth without ever ceasing to offer the word of his Gospel.

All those who have to do with the Christian message they know they have to take into account the objection or annoyance of a party. In these times when there is an obligation to have one's say social, even and perhaps especially if you don't know the subject, it's almost a refrain that as soon as the words of some ecclesiastic are reported there are those who comment: «ah on pedophilia?»; «The riches of the Vatican?» … Or the most classic: «Welcome them, you who have the facilities»; if anything we are talking about migrants. If you hear the news about social which concerned the Archbishop of Brindisi, you see that there is no deviation from this rule, some defend it, others criticize it, many laugh, they make jokes and there is no shortage of blasphemy.

But that doesn't mean you have to blame it, maybe a little at the moment, much less keep silent. Sometimes the weapon of irony, to know how to use it, it becomes more effective than silence and opens up possibilities for dialogue.

On the excessive length of homilies a lot has been said and, as mentioned above, the Pope also intervened. By the way, inappropriately? It's something the Pope must say? Personally I think not and eight minutes seems like a Procrustean bed to me, but we know, That's how he is.

I remember a funny fact which I have witnessed more than once. In a country parish where I was, the respect for the "Mr. Curate" was deep-rooted: woe betide anyone who touched the priest. But it happened that he too could sometimes go on at length in his homilies. There was a direct farmer in the parish, not of high culture, but of solid wisdom, who did not miss a Mass despite his commitments. He stood sideways, along the nave and sometimes, fortunately rare, if the sermon became excessively long or repetitive, he pointed this out by standing up. No offense or rudeness, just a sign of friendship, because he loved the parish priest very much, and him, understanding, he quickly reached the conclusion.

It's not that one wants to teach the I believe to the Apostles, as they say, and even less give advice to an Archbishop. But if it were to happen again and, Alas, it will happen again, it would be better not to get too upset about a dispute. We know well that there are knights who are defenders of the faith around and who, on tempting occasions like this, throw themselves into it headlong.. But with what result? To embitter tempers and with the excuse of defending one side end up widening the divide that divides? It is a little difficult to say how one should behave in such circumstances, the episode of the Archbishop of Brindisi teaches us that emotions are difficult to stem or keep in check. We always remember, But, that every occasion, good or bad, adverse or favorable, it is good for offering the word of the Gospel, so as not to silence the Christian fact. The first Apostles themselves remind us of this even after so many centuries, Saint Paul whom we have mentioned above, who did not lose heart and Peter who wrote in his letter:

«If you then had to suffer for justice, lucky you! Do not be dismayed by fear of them and do not be troubled, but worship the Lord, Christ, in your hearts, always ready to respond to anyone who asks you the reason for the hope that is in you" (1PT 3,14-15).

From the Hermitage, 4 September 2024

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[1] «The homily must not exceed eight minutes, because after time, attention is lost and people fall asleep, and he's right. A homily must be like this"

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Sant'Angelo Cave in Ripe (Civitella del Tronto)

 

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To the Brother Priests: how to defend yourself from certain new generation Bishops, especially since the invasion of the Apulians?

TO THE BROTHER PRIESTS: HOW TO DEFEND YOURSELF FROM CERTAIN BISHOPS NEW GENERATION, SPECIALLY FROM THE INVASION OF THE PUGLIÈNI?

There is a sense of proportion that must always be applied through the exercise of that wisdom that the Roman jurists called aequitas, then transferred from scratch into Roman Canon Law. What aequitas means and how it is applied? Soon said: if members of the Roman Senate are allowed to insult and rape Caesar's wife, without Caesar and his deputies reacting in any way, you cannot then apply maximum rigor by crushing the legs of anyone who has allowed himself to respond badly to a servant in charge of cleaning the calidarium of the Baths of Diocletian.

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Italy is now full of bishops ― or rather of episcopetti ― all very social, with one eye winking at the PD and the other at LGBT activists. And all, like broken records, they pronounce precise watchwords: «Church on the way out … break the mold … get your hands dirty...", but above all «the poor and migrants … migrants and the poor...".

Then there are also those who turn on you saying: «How dare you call me Your Excellency? We are no longer in the Renaissance era, Can't you see that I wear a wooden cross around my neck and that I am a native of the land of the most holy Tonino Bello? Call me Don Checco, because maybe you don't know, but I am a small bishop who graduated from the school of Checco Zalone. After all, I belong to the Apulian species, half Apulian and half alien, very popular today. Because if you are not from Puglia, to divide the bishop new generation in Italy it is not easy, but not even apostolic nuncio, academic or official of the Roman Curia". Also because the bishops, although they are not saints, it seems that they do them directly at the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, where today a famous Apulian prefect lives, half Apulian and half alien.

Well, dear Brothers, all these grotesque images circulating on the social media, depicting grotesque priests whose existence is due to bishops more grotesque than them, set them aside, in an archive, all of them. Then, the first time that the bishop on duty who speaks continuously in public about «more dialogue, more democracy in the Church... synodality and conversation in the Spirit are needed...", he will call you to report inside a closed room more authoritarian and despotic than Pol Pot and Korean Kim Jong, if anything to reproach you for being too Catholic, which today means to be “rigid” e “gloomy”, show them all these images and videos: by the priest with the moustache, the earring and sunglasses during the sacred liturgies, to all the others who seem to compete with each other to see who screws up the biggest, but above all the most irreverent …

If the bishop dares to sigh, remind him that there is a sense of proportion that must always be applied through the exercise of that wisdom that the Roman jurists called aequitas, then transferred from scratch into Roman Canon Law. What does it mean aequitas and how it is applied? Soon said: if members of the Roman Senate are allowed to insult and rape Caesar's wife, without Caesar and his deputies reacting in any way, you cannot then apply maximum rigor by crushing the legs of anyone who has allowed himself to respond badly to a servant in charge of cleaning the calidarium of the Baths of Diocletian. And if the bishops were to insist, despite the evidence of the facts, what they are capable of doing, having now lost along with modesty also the sense of shame, you know where to send them, because their authority is not in question, which remains undisputed, but their intelligence, which can and must be discussed. Even a bishop, without prejudice to his own authority apostolic, he can be a complete idiot. And today, of idiotic bishops, we have an inflation rate that would be the envy of the Argentine currency at its all-time high in devaluation.

the Island of Patmos, 4 September 2024

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«I'm not coming to the concert, I'm not a Renaissance prince", said the Holy Father, However, this does not mean clearing away the worst of the sloppiness

«I'M NOT COMING TO THE CONCERT, I AM NOT A RENAISSANCE PRINCE" SAID THE HOLY FATHER, HOWEVER, THIS DOES NOT MEAN CLEARING THE WORST OF THE SLOPPERNESS

Our wise teachers warned us from a young age about several insidious dangers, making us aware that the non-conformism of conformists exists, which is the worst conformism; the contempt of clericalism by the clericals, which then translates into the worst clericalism; the fascism of anti-fascists, which ends up manifesting itself as a violent form of neo-fascism even worse than that of the Fascist Twenty Years.

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Author
Simone Pifizzi

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Eleven years have passed since then, it was June of 2013 when the Holy Father Francis left the seat empty in the center of the Paul VI hall, while guests and authorities listened for a while’ the «Great classical music concert for the Year of Faith» banned, all in absence, rather than presence, of the pope. A few days earlier, speaking to nuncios from all over the world, the Holy Father had denounced the "spiritual worldliness" which is the "leprosy" of the Church, "giving in to the spirit of the world" which "exposes us pastors to ridicule", that "sort of bourgeoisie of spirit and life that pushes us to settle down, to seek a comfortable and peaceful life". The fact is that no one has ever announced what happened to Archbishop Rino Fisichella when everyone, Everyone 17,30, they were waiting for the pontiff to enter the room: «The Holy Father will not be able to be present due to an urgent and urgent task» (cf.. Gian Guido Vecchi, Corriere della Sera, WHO).

I'll try to be brief, but not because there is a lack of arguments, quite the opposite: there would be too many topics and, if in some cases one just cannot remain silent, it is good to be very measured.

Who among us has had the grace of having authentic teachers - and each of us Fathers of the Isle of Patmos, by divine grace, he had them - he was able to learn what perhaps someone did not have the opportunity to learn in Buenos Aires before as a religious, then as a Jesuit priest, finally as bishop. Finally arrived at the sacred throne a 77 year old, It's not easy to change your view and perspective as an elderly person, for this to happen it would be necessary for the Holy Spirit to land on the head of the chosen one not like a dove but like an Andean condor.

Our wise teachers they warned us from a young age about various insidious dangers, making us aware that the non-conformism of conformists exists, which is the worst conformism; the contempt of clericalism by the clericals, which then translates into the worst clericalism; the fascism of anti-fascists, which ends up manifesting itself as a violent form of neo-fascism even worse than that of the Fascist Twenty Years.

Some people think that exposing "us pastors to ridicule" are only the parades of those characters, so-called lace & laces, which aestheticize the sacred liturgy in an exasperated and sometimes exasperating way? No one denies the existence of the element of ridicule in these subjects, if we want even grotesque, but the ridiculous has many faces, therefore it should be considered no less ridiculous than the Cardinal Sebastian Francis, Bishop of Penang Diocese in Malaysia you celebrate Holy Mass sitting at a table with other concelebrants and you raise the Body of Christ with your head covered by the red skullcap; all when even us, at the time we were altar boys, we knew that the bishop stands bareheaded before the exposed Blessed Sacrament and that during the liturgies, until the Eucharist was placed inside the tabernacle, he doesn't cover his head again (cf.. Ceremonial of the Bishops, NN. 153-166). It's here, be clear, it's not about being hyper-critical, because the photos that document everything are truly disturbing.

Cardinal Sebastian Francis, who will surely be a holy man, has 72 year old. If the happily reigning Pontiff does not reach his centenary, he will enter the conclave as an elector, where he will find himself faced with brother cardinals of specific tendencies, but above all from rich countries capable of supporting entire local Churches in poor countries, who will point out the bag of money with one finger, with another finger they will indicate the candidate to write on the ballot.

This happens when you fall into the non-conformism of the conformists, in contempt of the clericalism of the clericals, in the fascism of anti-fascists. But the beauty, if beautiful we want to call it, everything is still to come. And may God help us!

Florence, 1September 2024

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We believers must avoid entering historic churches to protect our faith and our sense of the sacred?

WE BELIEVERS MUST AVOID ENTERING HISTORIC CHURCHES TO PROTECT OUR FAITH AND OUR INNATE SENSE OF THE SACRED?

If a believer, moreover a priest - even if today being a priest does not imply being a believer, we have plenty of priests who are perfect atheists devoted to the new clerical power, all involved in social work - refuses to enter historic churches, The bishops should ask themselves some questions, if they weren't themselves busy being chief social workers.

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This month of August I spent ten days in the cool, on the mountains of Abruzzo. Soon “fresh” I'll end up there in the literal sense of the word: loss in. Or to put it with the Cardinal Francis George (1937 – †2015), about which the Cardinal also bears witness Angelo Comastri:

«I think I'll die in my bed but I'm afraid my successor will die in prison. And I still fear that his successor will die by firing squad, because we defend the family, because we say that the family is made up of a man and a woman and that life must be born from a father and a mother. We will be persecuted for this" (from the homily of 4 August 2024, WHO).

Even though many aren't aware of it, our fate is sealed. Others, who are aware of it, they flirt with this unclean world of ours trying to please it, in the hope of obtaining his graces and being pardoned at the right time.

For years I have avoided entering historic churches, starting from those of Rome, mindful of the desecrations that believers are forced to witness due to the assault of modern landsknechts (cf.. Sack of Rome 1527). And so, when, meeting up with people around our capital, I was asked several times to enter some of these churches with them, without hesitation I replied: «You go, I'll wait for you outside".

Before leaving again from the cool mountains I went to the nearby Marche, in Ascoli Piceno, to visit that authentic urban jewel, this time entering the Cathedral Church, with the results visible from the video I shot with my mobile phone. I can only tell one, because I think it's enough and more: upon entering the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament I knelt at the balustrade in front of the tabernacle, behind me a female voice begins in such a low tone: «…and what the fuck is he doing kneeling in front of that piece of furniture?». I turn and see three thirteen-year-old girls a few meters away from me, about fourteen years old, in shorts-underpants-crotches, intent on observing me from behind as if I were David Bowie in the science fiction film The man who fell to earth.

If a believer, moreover a priest - even if today being a priest does not imply being a believer, we have plenty of priests who are perfect atheists devoted to the new clerical power, all involved in social work - refuses to enter historic churches, The bishops should ask themselves some questions, if they weren't themselves busy being chief social workers.

I don't go inside historic churches reduced to museums visited by people who are increasingly irreverent and deliberately contemptuous of everything that is sacred, because I'm not willing to see girls who don't even wear short shorts anymore shorts, now they enter places of worship wearing real underwear, what they were once called culottes and which constituted women's underwear worn under clothes. Today the culottes instead they have assumed rank of dress and with them you enter churches, complete with said bras top that leave the belly exposed in plain sight.

I don't go inside historic churches because many women and girls who deliberately and intentionally provoke with certain attitudes, they would like nothing better than for some priest irritated by their outrageous attitudes towards the sacredness of the place to open his mouth to rebuke them; This is what they want and seek, and then spark public controversy over social media or give life to a real media case.

If I dared to scold some of these porn visitors, As absurd as it may seem, I would end up reprimanded by the competent ecclesiastical authority, being neither the bishop of that diocese nor the parish priest nor the rector of that church. Also because, if you enter a cathedral church in your underwear, who in fact allows it is first and foremost the bishop.

On the occasion of the traditional Palio I commented days ago on my page socialin a deliberately colorful way - the image of several girls entering screaming and shouting into the metropolitan cathedral of Siena dressed not so indecently, but really half naked. The video shown here shows in close-up the damsels crossing the central nave in their underwear with their stomachs exposed.

Obviously I had to put up with the anger and insults of the narrowest Sienese provincialism made up of Contrada members who, if stopped and questioned, would not be able to recite the Our father from start to finish; subjects who would remain speechless when faced with the question: can you tell me the first five words of the I believe? This army social of people who don't even know from which precise point on their body to start to make the sign of the cross, defended these shameless women with drawn swords, calling me "vulgar" and "the shame of a priest" for having dared - according to them - to let out a sigh on the “sacred dogma” of the Palio, which I don't care about, as I had explained clearly. What only interests me is that young women with no common sense of decency are not forced screaming into a historic cathedral church in their underwear with their stomachs exposed., not even if their so-called Contrada won, referred to me, like any other child of the Orbe catholica, I repeat, couldn't care less, because the respect for the sacred place is far superior to the traditional pagan games of the Palio of Siena.

15 August 2024, triumphal entry of women in their underwear into the metropolitan cathedral of Siena to celebrate the winning district of the Palio

This is why I don't go inside historic churches, with all due respect to our bishops who, faced with these irreverent scenes, vent more than ever by talking about the poor and migrants, of migrants and the poor, as well as «Church going out».

The problem is that we believers are leaving the churches, we priests ourselves animated by faith and solid priestly spirit, to leave room for the panties of the shameless ones who, with their thongs in the middle of their asses, gaze in the historic cathedral at that large chair placed on display in the presbytery, known to us as the episcopal chair, on which it climbs only one one of the numerous guys who tries to please and please the international Left by talking about poor people and migrants about migrants and poor people, while inside its cathedral church you walk with the culottes or the thread of the thong exposed in the middle of the ass under transparent shorts. For this reason it is very coherent that the Holy Father launched the excitatory at the right time slogan of the «Church that goes forth», from which the first to emerge are the believers, to protect and safeguard their faith, if anything, on the advice of us priests who still remained Catholic.

I will be among those who will not die in their bed, I will surely die in prison, while those after me, the few who have kept the faith, they will die by shooting in the square for having stated that a child can only be born from a father and a mother, while the self-satisfied clericals of the "outgoing Church" will ask forgiveness from all the international Lefts for the rigor of certain unworthy Catholics devoid of an inclusive spirit and incapable of keeping up with the times, just like those vile ecclesiastics who, to save their skins and maintain their privileges, swore allegiance on the atheist and anti-Christian text of the Constitutional Charter of France during the Revolution.

The thong thread some women wear it in the middle of their ass when they go to visit historic churches; certain ecclesiastical, the thong, instead they wear it printed on their faces as they govern and manage the Church in such a way as to demonstrate from day to day how deeply ashamed they are of Christ, apologizing to the world for him and for his excessive rigor imprinted on the pages of the Holy Gospel which contains within it everything that the world doesn't like, for this reason it is a source of ever-increasing embarrassment for the condescending clericalism that desires to please, please and live peacefully.

 

the Island of Patmos, 21 August 2024

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The homoerotic frescoes created by Sodoma in the Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore are worse than the parody of the last supper made by gays and trans at the opening of the Olympics in France

THE HOMOEROTIC FRESCOES CREATED BY SODOMA IN THE ABBEY OF MONTE OLIVETO MAGGIORE ARE WORSE THAN THE PARODY OF THE LAST SUPPER MADE BY GAY AND TRANS AT THE OPENING OF THE OLYMPICS IN FRANCE

Intellectual honesty requires us to admit that much worse images have been fixed on frescoes and canvases inside our sacred places, with scenes that would make the theater of gays and trans people who parodied the Last Supper at the opening of the Olympics pale in comparison.

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In 2019 I wrote and published an article that I am reposting today following the completely legitimate controversy over the anti-Christian desecration made at the inauguration of the Olympics in France, whose ceremony was transformed into a grotesque Gay Pride.

Intellectual honesty forces us to admit that much worse images have been fixed on frescoes and canvases inside our sacred places, with scenes that would make the theater of gays and trans people who parodied the Last Supper at the opening of the Olympics pale in comparison. Think for example of the obscene homoerotic frescoes in the central cloister of the Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore on which no pious abbot, over the course of more than five centuries, have you ever dreamed of passing white lime over it?, even though they are splendid paintings created by Ugo Bassi, known by his stage name which it was no coincidence Sodom.

In front of certain triumphs of frocismo in our sacred places, we truly have reason to be scandalized like vilified virgins, without prejudice to the offense and vulgarity of what happened at the Olympics?

the Island of Patmos, 5 August 2024

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- ecclesial news -

FROM THE SODOM SPINELLO UP TO RETREAT TO THE ROMAN CURIA, WHILE NO ONE IN THE WORLD IS unreal MAKES STATEMENT THAT LIFE MONASTIC IS DEAD AND THAT THAT REMAINS IS A PARODY: "You call them IF YOU WANT, EMOTIONS "

The preacher Abbot will speak to the Roman Curia about the dreamer Giorgio La Pira and the poet Mario Luzi, as if it was a dream spirituality and theology poetry, as if the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II, loudly proclaimed a saint had never written the encyclical Faith and Reason, the base of which there is the thought of a great Benedictine Abbot, then Archbishop of Canterbury, Sant'Anselmo d'Aosta, who did not live the relationship with faith in dreams and poetry, but explaining that faith seeking understanding [faith requires reason] and in need: «I believe in order to understand, I understand that you can trust» [I think to understand, I understand to believe]. Unfortunately the famous Italian singer Lucio Battisti has been dead for years, otherwise, for the next retreat, perhaps Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi would have proposed the thoughtful lyrics of his famous song Emotions …

Author
Ariel S. Levi di Gualdo

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PDF print format article

 

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Next the Council of Trent who attempted to curb the drifts of the clergy, Many abbeys poured in disastrous moral conditions. Recently he's talked in an essay dedicated to religious life [cf. WHO]. The state of men's abbeys, towards the end of the fifteenth century it was not unlike that of many female monasteries bleak, especially in those with rich heritages.

The Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore, 14th century, erected in the Crete Senesi area

One example among many: in the architecture of many historic abbeys we can observe the standing buildings, detached from the monastery at least a hundred meters. If we ask the monks who continue to live in those abbeys and monasteries - because many of these facilities are no longer abbeys and monasteries, others are not inhabited by monks -, the answers that we shall receive will be varied, and equally disparate will not be the real answer, because often the truth burns, especially it can be really unedifying.

the ancient bachelor pad abbots more or less renaissance

Since we will speak of the frescoes of the cloister Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore, erected in the fourteenth century in the countryside of the Crete Senesi, as an example we will take one of these stable detached from the monastery and today referred to as entrance door. Nothing to say that architectural styles change in the course of the centuries, but that function had a detached tower of the abbey and not visible from the abbey, which it is spread over four levels and incorporates a structure that, starting from the ground floor is dominated by two upper levels, all on an area of ​​over one thousand square meters? Do we have to believe that this gift of God architecture was really created only as a gateway to the abbey, or perhaps as a fortress? But a fort that would be if there were solid and high walls, that in that property, however, never existed, so?

So the structure was the residence of some revelers abbots, become such good offices of powerful families or for questions related to specific political arrangements, that being accustomed to lead monastic lifestyle at all, in those places they had their own small courts, They were devoted to hunting, at parties and so on. Then sometimes down in the monastery, necessary to fulfill their offices.

the ancient garçonnière of the more or less Renaissance abbots

The era the late fifteenth century He marked a doctrinal crisis, morality and customs preceded about three centuries earlier by an equally unfortunate epoch, when in the thirteenth century, Pope Eugenius III called for the Fourth Lateran Council that enacted strict rules against the immorality of the clergy and religious. It was in this jolly Renaissance that comes from Vercelli at the rich and powerful Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore a gay character: Giovanni Antonio Bazzi said Sodom [1477-1549].

About Sodom, subsequent historiography penned by religious pious attempt to clarify how mischievous connect the nickname by which the famous artist went to art history with those who would be his homosexual tastes. He even tried to resort to a pathetic sophistry arguing that the nickname Sodom It had nothing to do with the practice of sodomy but was linked to an expression that the artist in his local dialect used to say 'his, 'nduma», meaning "to go". Unlike what later tried to say critics pious to save the honor of not Bazzi, but that of the monastic structures that this bugger if contending with each other, the famous painter and architect Giorgio Vasari from Arezzo [1511-1574], who was his contemporary and connoisseur of his deeds, states that the source of such a nickname derived from his own homosexuality. The precise than that of Vasari Sodom It was also a hidden homosexuality at all, quite the opposite: He was performed in ostentatious and brazen way.

Cloister of the Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore, Giovanni Antonio Bazzi known as Il Sodoma: Christ bound to the column for the scourging

Giovanni Antonio Bazzi said Sodom he married in his youth, but very soon he separated from his wife. Who knows if even in this regard some pious art critic - convinced that no one knows canon law and the discipline of the sacraments -, It can say that this separation was due to pure temperamental incompatibility. As if the end of the fifteenth separation from his wife and cut and run what would be more obvious could happen?

The Gay search for beauty which in this artist transcends nell'omoerotico, It is a feature of the painting Sodom, suffice to analyze the really striking figure of Christ tied to the column located in a corner of the central cloister Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore before the internal entrance door to the Abbey cathedral. Picture this sufficient to assess whether Christ bound to the column can look so sexy boy by winking. But for divine charity, you look carefully air and shameless position of the Christ at the Column portrait Sodom: there may remember certain images of the famous film Midnight Cowboy, with the then young Jon Voight in the provincial role Texan who arrived in New York full of dreams he ends up leaning against a street pole to hustle?

the historic poster of the famous film The Man on the Sidewalk, with the young Jon Voight leaning against the pole in the role of the hustler

Sodom, in that place of apparent quiet, as well as even more apparent religiosity, Perhaps the sign left him not only in the frescoes, but also in the air, and through the centuries! Indeed, the beautiful nature that surrounds equally stunning that abbey with all the architectural and artistic works of art, including homoerotic paintings, suppliscono for centuries the poor lack of religiosity; this thing that I do not say, because to prove it is the story. It would be enough just ask yourself this question: from the 1313 to date, how many monks of the Benedictine Congregation Olivetan that in the following seven hundred years of life we ​​have been beatified and canonized? Note that this Congregation, albeit reached between the end of the fifteenth and the end of the seventeenth century to count up to 1200 Monks distributed in several tens of Italian monasteries, seven centuries of existence has given the Church a unique blessed, its founder Maria Bernardo Tolomei [Siena 1272 — †Siena 1348], beatified three centuries after his death. Then, elapsed 661 year old, Blessed Bernardo Tolomei Maria was eventually canonized 20 August 2009.

Cloister of the Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore: self-portrait by Giovanni Antonio Bazzi said

Concerning the canonization of Maria Bernardo Tolomei would be interesting to see how the distinguished biographer Belgian Benedictine Dom Réginald Grégoire [1935 — †2013], postulator of the cause, has finally retrieved documents to carry on this historical cause at the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, if it considers that for centuries has been complained precisely the impossibility of proceeding with a process of canonization for the lack of necessary historical documentation, which it seems to have finally compensated for the hagiography (!?). However, since this congregation with a rich heritage and being counted among the great Tuscan companies that possess the largest land plots, it may be that he had the means to finally find the historiography which for centuries did not exist?

particularly large fresco

Di Maria Bernardo Tolomei There were perhaps handed memorable sermons and wonderful spiritual lessons to its monks or as many of his lyrics lofty theological stature? To be honest, the collection of his letters [cf. WHO] more than the spiritual have the flavor of the writings of an administrator who organizes, directs, issuing directives and requires a papal legates and bishops concessions and privileges to their monasteries. As for the texts on his life, from one of the oldest [cf. WHO], they are an obvious jumble of ordinary gold legends with whom they were infiorettate the middle of the seventeenth century the lives of Saints or the candidates for canonization, all through precise and repetitive styles, thanks to writers who often gathered together episodes, visions and tests virtue that emerged as such in the lives of dozens of other saints or candidates for canonization. And even working in hagiography hagiography but apografia in apografia, the distinguished Belgian Benedictine biographer has finally changed over the centuries in a stratified apografie Position on life, virtues and reputation of holiness. So today, narrate the holy deeds of Bernardo Maria Tolomei, of which there are no written and original works but only posthumous biographies, It is like telling the struggle of St George and the dragon, canonizing finally biographers and hagiographers. That said it is good to clarify, to those to whom it was not clear if necessary, that the speeches have just made they do not rely on more or less stringent opinions or even ungenerous, but strictly on scientific data and not easy to disprove.

Cloister of the Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore: self-portrait by Giovanni Antonio Bazzi known as Il Sodoma

By way of historical inquiry, we want to check how many blesseds and saints were instead donated, including also some Doctors of the Church, from other religious congregations, in a life span far below the Congregation of Benedictine monks Olivetani? Can a monastic congregation not donate to the Church and Blessed Saints in seven hundred years? Yup, it's possible, As a gay character like Giovanni Antonio Bazzi said Sodom He does not just leave their mark only of ancient frescoes, but also in the air that permeates the walls, from the entrance building that was the bachelor pad connoisseurs of Renaissance abbots until the stable monastic populated by several other monks no less revelers. If the saying is true that "the barrel the wine that ', shortages blessed, santi, mystical and spiritual fathers, however, it was compensated with other talents, from that of Dom Francis Ringhieri [1721-1787], devoted to theatrical works in the Baroque era and defined by critics as "More heretical than any other tragedy friar in that century" [can be consulted WHO, WHO, WHO].

Speaking on asset plan: no Abbot of Monte Oliveto Maggiore has never had problems accommodating between those rich spiritual walls of an aesthetic but often empty Anima Christi, a large army of children of Sodom roughly similar to the poor sensual and winking Christ tied to the column. But when the abbot Dom Maurizio Maria Outlines [1986-1992], previously already economer general of the congregation, nell'avallo he was involved in financial transactions which led to the loss of several billion old lire, the children of Sodom They did not hesitate to remove him, because you can defer the morale of flickering monks tied to the column, but on the money deposited with Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena can not however compromise. Everything although a Abate remain in office until 75 years of age, though re-elected by the general chapter every six years. A document everything is cronotassi of the abbots of the twentieth century, that until 1970 They remained in office for life, only from the successor of Dom Romualdo Maria Zilianti [1928-1946], with his successor Dom Angelo Maria Sabatini [1970-1986] takes over the practice of giving up the chair at the abbey they are 75 years of age.

Cloister of the Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore: self-portrait by Giovanni Antonio Bazzi known as Il Sodoma, between the sacred, profane and scenes of Bacchanalian … to the right are depicted the family Abbot era

If today we can call ourselves Christians we owe it to the children of St. Benedict of Norcia through monasticism have first saved, then spread Christianity in the West. The same lemma Europe, of which St. Benedict is the patron, It was born as an idea and concept in the great Benedictine abbeys circuit, because they were the sons of St. Benedict in creating Europe. And if today we can read and study Greek philosophy, Latin classical literature or know the works of the great Fathers of the Church, if we have so many secular works from the contents anything but Christians, Gaius Valerius Catullus, including, we owe it to the Benedictine monks, born children of St. Benedict, and then it is reduced centuries after the children of Sodom.

To those who have always nurtured great veneration historical and theological towards the Benedictine Order, heart-wrenching to see today reduced monasticism in a similar decline. Unfortunately in this world in which even the most scandalous news today are born to die tomorrow and make room for other scandals, I fear that few have realized that to Montecassino, mother of all Western abbeys, gangrenous a homosexual in their unbridled vices has decreed the death of monasticism; and today, what's left, It is an empty shell, fact of historical abbeys - those that today have survived - rich in works of art and beautiful scenery,, but empty of the substance of the faith and of that glorious monasticism from the sixth century faith saved her and then spread. In short: attention to be seduced by the historical frames of the beautiful and the aesthetic that, however, conceals the emptiness of the spirit and of the Christian virtues, because the Devil, in addition to having extraordinary aesthetic sense, wonderfully sung in Gregorian chant and “celebrates pontifical abbey” with great stylish exterior, He is having trained at the monastic life by jumping from a “another particular friendship”. And today, all the “special friends” of yesterday, are abbots in the various abbeys, not to mention the monks that “special friendships” they sealed them with their vow in the monastic chapters and in the general chapter, ie how much it would be enough to pray God's mercy throughout their lives so that it can preserve them from Hellfire.

Cloister of the Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore: self-portrait by Giovanni Antonio Bazzi known as Il Sodoma.

The funeral march on monasticism, after so many scandals in the abbeys and monasteries of Europe has finally played Dom Pietro Vittorelli, 191Th successor of St. Benedict of Norcia, who delighted to lead a life of luxury around Europe, to stay in expensive hotels and pay a high price the company of young gay with Abbey money [cf. WHO, WHO, WHO, etc …]. To this is then also added the use of drugs, for which has had consequent health problems cost the Abbey of Montecassino very high amounts when for a period of time the Abbot took refuge in a Swiss clinic to detox and to try to cure his cocaine addiction. The most tragic thing though is that he was not subjected to canonical penalties and has not been dismissed from the clerical state, so as to be still in the cronotassi Arciabati of Monte Cassino and in the yearbooks of the Italian Episcopal Conference as "Abbot Emeritus Professor ' [cf. WHO] rather than as "destitute".

the homoerotic figures for nothing hidden in painting “sacred” by Giovanni Bazzi known as Sodoma

(C)On the abbot of Montecassino the funeral march of monasticism has only come to an end, because the execution was carried out previously with moral scandals scattered abbeys spread across Europe. Of course, other cases it was able to treat them with confidentiality, from the Abbey of St. Paul Outside the Walls, Finally, the private status territorial prelature, to follow with the Abbey of Grottaferrata, where he was deposed Abbot Dom Emiliano maker, even in that case this happened especially for the nocturnal comings and goings of the inevitable paid young men who went to amuse some vicious monks, so much so that the Holy See - a rare thing indeed - proceeded to declare invalid certain priestly ordinations of young monks. We could follow with the St. Anselm Pontifical Athenaeum, academic structure of the Benedictine Confederation, to which Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski several times, Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education [1999-2015], between 2007 and the 2008 intimated that if not cleaned up their internal college from various pleasantries and numerous fact coppiette, the Holy See would have shut him.

To limit ourselves only ever scope Roman: what happened to the Cistercian Abbey of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, where he was elected abbot a former Milanese designer, also very gay, He rose from the fashion world to monasticism and become in a few years monaco, a priest and then abbot aesthetic? but yet, near the Aventine Hill, It is the General Curia of the Cistercian Monks, where a decade ago, at the time of certain facts, He lays the Abbot General Dom Mauro Esteva i Alsina [1933 — †2014], the concern of which was to impart obsessive etiquette lessons to young monks and verify that the dining hall was set with forks and knives positioned at the right distance to the right and left of the plate, or that the bows were made according to the proper angle, as if they had depended survival and the historic honor of the Cistercian Order. May today this man rest in peace in the crypt of the Abbey of Poblet Catalan and may the mercy of God forgive him with a mild purgatory all serious and irreparable damage to him went the entire Cistercian Order during its general mandate carried out between 1995 and the 2010.

particular: efebo winking

To retreat at the Roman Curia this year a member of the Congregation of Olivetan Benedictine Monks was chosen by Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi and presented to the Pope, Dom Bernardo Gianni, Abbot of the Abbey of San Miniato al Monte in Florence. If nell'Archicenobio of Monte Oliveto Maggiore stands Sodom, San Miniato the most valuable frescoes are those of Spinello Aretino. The substance, however, remains the same, while ranging from the art of Sodom to that of the Spinel. And this - the Joint -, It would be particularly appreciated dall'Arciabate Montecassino Dom Pietro Vittorelli, that the drug was a great expert and consumer.

The abbot of the Abbey of San Miniato in Florence He is one who can speak to this world. He speaks to the world language that appeals to the world. Indeed, the spiritual exercises, They will be marked on dreams and poetry: the dream of political Giorgio La Pira and the poetry of Mario Luzi, whose poetry, Christian speaking, it is certainly not that of the French writer and priest Michel Quoist [1921-1997].

the homoerotic figures for nothing hidden in painting “sacred” by Giovanni Bazzi known as Sodoma

The abbot preacher, son of the noble Order of St. Benedict which we owe the survival of Christianity and the preservation of historical heritage, philosophical and literary, He will speak to the Roman Curia of a dreamer and a poet, as if it was a dream spirituality and theology poetry, as if the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II, loudly proclaimed saint, had never written the Encyclical Faith and Reason, the base of which there is the thought of a great Benedictine Abbot, then Archbishop of Canterbury, Sant'Anselmo d'Aosta, who did not live the relationship with faith in dreams and poetry, but explaining that faith seeking understanding [faith requires reason] and in need: «I believe in order to understand, I understand that you can trust» [I think to understand, I understand to believe]. Unfortunately the famous Italian singer Lucio Battisti has been dead for years, otherwise, for the next retreat, perhaps Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi would have proposed the thoughtful lyrics of his famous song Emotions :

particular: ephebus winking that shows the rear

“And close your eyes to stop
something that's inside me
but in your mind it is not
You cannot understand
you call them if you want
emotions " [Mogol-Battisti, 1970]

We know that after the tragedy comes the increasingly grotesque farce precisely that ranges between Sodom and Spinello. All the more reason to pray and to cleanse us during this Holy Lent, in the course of which, the largest of the mortifications, It remains the awareness of not being credible in the world, but instead of being laughed at by the world, especially when the world to please try to speak the language of the world, after having emptied of Christ and of the mystery of the Cross, to fill us with dreams and poems … "you call them if you want emotions".

Cloister of the Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore: Sodom's insistent obsession with depicting the male posterior which “if offer” and in which we read the prophecy about the posthumous decadent monasticism …

One thing is certain: art leaves no sign simply on the walls, especially if certain pictorial images are the most realistic representation of who certain walls inhabits. Obviously, the question as to why seven hundred years of life the monks of the Benedictine Congregation Olivetan have given the Church blessed, santi, mystics, theology, doctors and spirituality fathers, It is a purely rhetorical question, the answer is in fact all contained in homoerotic images that stand in the frescoes realized by Sodom in the cloister; and the cloister is reached after entering the abbey territory passing through the building once used as bachelor pad abbots Renaissance revelers. In Paradise, instead, it comes only after converting, repented and cleansed of sins, no one comes or with Giorgio La Pira dreams, nor with poems by Mario Luzi. Lent begins with the imposition of ashes followed by the admonition "converted and believe in the Gospel", it does not begin with an invitation to believe in dreams and live poems

 

the Island of Patmos, 08 March 2019

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