FATHER FRANK PAVONE AND HIS OBSESSION

I wish that American Catholics were as enthusiastic and one-pointed about evangelizing the culture with the beautiful faith of Christ as they are about pursuing political remedies for abortion. It looks very much as if one aspect of an enormous and hugely nuanced and modulated faith has been surgically excised and then soaked in a Republican bath, like a piece of lime floating in a gin and tonic - with plenty of ice.

For the sake of the unlikely possibility that America will return to the days when abortion was illegal, the "pro-life" movement is ignoring every other aspect of a truly pro-life philosophy and have put into office cruel and brutal despots who seem to care more about hurting vulnerable people, especially the poor, and in helping the handful of billionaires becoming more rich and powerful than in doing anything else.

Outlawing abortion is one proposed method of supposedly eliminating abortion. Someone, somewhere along the way decided that "pro-life" meant only and exclusively that one was devoted to making abortion illegal. People who advance this devotion to this particular method call themselves "the pro-life movement," but that is a misnomer.

Outlawing abortion is a piece of a fruit which is a piece of a tree, and it is not even the only fruit of that tree. It is one of many fruits produced by the tree. Without the tree, the fruits would not exist, and if you were to produce such a fruit out of thin air, in some magical fashion, it would not make sense if one did not know that there was such a thing as a tree that produced it.

Catholicism is pro-life, but not in this miserably truncated sense of "pro-life" being ONLY the pursuit of a law that outlaws abortion.

In the context of Catholic faith, a "pro-life" orientation encompasses an enormous number of factors. After all, the subject of "life" is not easily reduced, is it?

For instance, the health of people and the life of the planet, in general, are obviously factors in a global and cohesive "pro life" outlook, but these are issues to which the "pro-life leaders" are hostile. Since "pro-life" Trump has been in office, he has ripped away many safety regulations that affect all life on the planet - and not just the ones that directly speak to climate change.  I could write 12 blogs about those measures alone.

Everyone having enough food is another pro-life topic. One in six children in America don't have enough to eat.  Throughout the Bible, we are told that we should feed the hungry and clothe the naked, welcome the stranger, love our neighbor and enemy alike, befriend the alien and visit the prisoners - but the Republican platform does the opposite of all that, while at the same time claiming to be the party of life!

Modern Republicans CUT food stamps and seek to cut more - while children go hungry. In fact, they encourage their minions to look down on the hungry children of poor people, claiming that the poor are just lazy. We are back to the days of Ronald Reagan, who inveighed against "welfare queens" and their families, routinely criticizing women having more children which Republicans claim they are only doing for the purpose of getting a bump in their welfare checks. This is NOT pro-life! None of it! At this point in history, the only people who benefit from Republican governance are the very wealthy white men at the top of the pyramid, which is exactly why Republicans desperately need abortion to remain legal, because the campaign to outlaw it is the only tool they have in their arsenal. It is the only way they can get the poor and middle class to vote against their own best interests.

While I write this, a bill is being introduced to cut medicaid again - something Trump promised NOT to do when he campaigned. The only program available to help poor, disabled seniors who make between $1,000 and $2,000 a month, the Medicaid Waiver program for disabled people, will be one of the first programs cut, if Trump succeeds. Millions of grandmas and grandpas will suffer. Today, as one of those grandmas, I am going without one of my medications because it costs $450.00 a month and there is no substitute. I am praying that I get approved for this program, which is a long, complex process full of red tape which, even if I qualify, will have to be repeated in only a year because there is very little money available for these programs and Americans are obsessed with the idea that there are "millions" of grandmas "gaming the system." It isn't true, but Americans are being encouraged to compete against and vilify one another.

The first thing Trump did, out of the gate, was to ban certain types of people from coming here (Muslims), followed quickly on its heels with a "zero tolerance policy" that was deliberately calculated to discourage refugees from coming over our borders, resulting in thousands of brown children being ripped out of their families and incarcerated in cramped cages in hastily erected detention camps where other children are caring for babies, viruses are endemic and untreated, and children sleep on cement floors behind barbed wire. The government refuses to give flu shots to these kids who are living in cramped, crowded conditions. It reminds me of our treatment of Native Americans, when we gave them pox-infected blankets.

There are some fake memes being circulated that claim that President Obama did this "first," but it is as close to a lie as you can get. Obama did not treat every refugee as a criminal, but where criminals with previous known crimes DID step across our borders, he did incarcerate and eventually deport them. In fact, he was called the "Deporter in Chief." Obviously, the children of the incarcerated alien could not accompany him to jail, so there were a few children who had to be taken care of - but nowhere near the numbers we have now, and not under current unhealthful conditions.

[I would insert a note, here, that it isn't the idea that our borders should be safe and protected to which the more liberal population objects. NO. Everyone wants our borders protected. It is the manner in which it is done that is at issue. Trump is fond of spreading the lie that Democrats want "open borders" and a free-for-all. That claim is just stupid.]

Watch the Jeff Sessions video HERE

Jeff Sessions announced the new policy and plainly said that children would be removed from their families in an effort to deter refugees from coming here, and that, if families do not want their children taken from them, they should stay home - as if all these poor people, fleeing for their lives from gangs and corrupt governments, are sitting in their homes watching television and heeding his words!

Thanks to Trump's "zero tolerance policy," we have had something like 4,000 children in our custody. A judge has ordered them returned, and some have been, but the program was so poorly administered, we do not know where some of the parents are. Many children will never see their families again. This is an horrific "pro-life" cause that needs to be addressed but which the "pro life movement" is either ignoring or defending, saying that it is "the parents' fault" that we stuffed them into cages. Not true.

"Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and be no longer

stiff-necked. For the LORD, your God, is the God of

gods, the LORD of lords, the great God, mighty and

awesome, who has no favorites, accepts no bribes;

who executes justice for the orphan and the widow,

and befriends the alien, feeding and clothing him.

So you too must befriend the alien, for you were 

once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt."

Deuteronomy 10

The pursuit of justice so that authoritarian regimes do not go hog wild and start killing the citizenry is another pro-life concern ignored by the self-named "pro-life movement." Even forgiveness and prayer for one's enemies slips into this category, since the escalation of hostilities, if allowed to progress in the heat of the moment, can (and sometimes does) become armed conflict that kills people. Even the restraint of the tongue has a place in this "pro-life" orientation because what one says is very important and can exacerbate a situation to the point where it endangers the lives of people.

"I tell you on the day of judgment, you will have to 

give an account for every careless word you utter." 

Matthew 12:36

"Pro life" Trump's vulgar tongue, his misogynistic, prejudiced taunts are often taken up by his followers and spat out upon everyone in their vicinity - online and in person. Disabled people are not immune to his filth, enduring taunts, jeering and mimicking. Even I have experienced discrimination at the hands of a Trump follower who told me, "I believe in Trump's law. If you don't have two arms cut off or two legs cut off, you aren't disabled." This man, an employee at the Smiths on Constitution and Carlyle in Albuquerque, New Mexico, ridiculed me for not being visibly disabled, told me there are "too many of you" (disabled people) and when I asked him how we disabled people were supposed to do our shopping if we couldn't park in handicap parking, he said to me, "I guess you won't." He was stone cold in his approach, and exceedingly arrogant, treating me as if I was a scam artist he was ferreting out. Trump nation.

Frank Pavone campaigns for Republicans and defends all of the above, in defiance of specific norms and rules against promoting political parties that have long been established by the curia. It makes him a "hero" to his followers, but his superiors have an entirely different perspective.

I could go on for a few pages with examples of different aspects of a pro-life philosophy that are being ignored by the "pro-life movement." Homelessness comes to mind.

"You shall give generously to [your poor brother] and

your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him,

because for this thing the LORD your God will bless

you in all your work and in all your undertakings."

† Deut. 15:10 †

The primary fallacy in the "logic" of the pro-life movement is this: In addition to ignoring all but one pro-life cause, they are completely ignoring the root cause of the one aspect of "life" they care about - the abortion crisis in America. Women do not have abortions because they are legal. They have them because, for some reason, they believe they need one. When abortion was illegal, there were still plenty of abortions being done. They were just being performed under cover of darkness; hidden, dangerous and expensive. Many times, both woman and child were killed. Often, the woman suffered damage to her reproductive organs and could never bear children again. None of that is "pro life."

If no one felt the need for an abortion, there could be an abortuary on every corner and they would all stand empty. There would be no "customers."

Clearly, the fact that abortion is legal is not the cause of abortion.

We could debate, at length, what exactly IS the cause, but that's not the purpose of this blog post. One cannot do the topic proper justice in a blog post. Research, canvassing, facts, studies and statistics that prove the causal relationships are what is required - and none of that is easy or quick or simple.

Evangelization isn't simple either. I am seeing a theme here.

Our elegant, thoughtful, faith-inspired, nuanced, complex, many-layered faith has been turned into a hammer with the hyper-focus, one could even say the obsession, surrounding a proposed political "solution" that isn't likely to be achieved and wouldn't accomplish the stated aim anyway. Why?

It seems fairly obvious to many of us that the Republican Party, in a cynical attempt to grab and keep power, has convinced a segment of the American population that if they vote Republican, then the Republicans will outlaw abortion and everyone can congratulate themselves that they've won a war for Jesus.

By enforcing the ideas that (1) the legal availability of abortion is the cause of abortions; (2) a "pro-life" orientation only pertains to whether or not abortion is illegal; (3) the Republicans are the only party that says it is "pro-life," and (4) you therefore HAVE to vote for them if you are Christian, the Republican Party has latched onto a huge segment of Americans.  If you take apart their faulty logic, which is excruciatingly easy to do, it is clear that their vise-like grip on Christians is based on a pack of self-serving lies. A 2008 article from "America - The Jesuit Review" discusses this in part, HERE in a piece titled "Voting One's Conscience."

Our popes have tried to get us back on track with this topic, discouraging priests and others from aligning themselves with political parties instead of The Church, but the propaganda arm of the GOP is far better than that of The Church, which is suffering a crisis of confidence in the wake of horrific child-abuse and sex scandals. The Republicans are the ones who are telling us that no good "Christian" can vote for anyone other than a Republican and still be in obedience to the faith. That isn't true, of course. Our popes tell us this isn't true, but the prospect of being a "pro-life" crusader for Christ is too tantalizing and, instead of heeding the teachings of The Church, many Catholics look to the Republicans to define their faith and morals for them.

"A Catholic would be guilty of formal cooperation in evil,

and so unworthy to present himself for holy communion,

if he were to deliberately vote for a candidate precisely

because of the candidate's permissive stand on abortion

and/or euthanasia. When a Catholic does not share a

candidate's stand in favor of abortion and/or euthanasia,

but votes for that candidate for other reasons, it is con-

sidered remote material cooperation, which can be

permitted in the presence of proportionate reasons."

~ Pope Benedict XVI ~

As a result of trading in their faith for a political party, Catholics and Christians of every stripe have begun to treat political figures like demi-gods, giving them the same reverence and awe that they used to slaver onto priests, bishops and popes. Despite the fact that Donald Trump's actions and words are the antithesis of Christian teaching, he is being treated like the savior of the world. Rumors abound, to the effect that he is the leader who will set into motion the great "End Times" that includes the second coming of Christ.

Popes, bishops and priests who try to re-direct the attention of their flock and who point out the flaws in the words and actions of these political leaders are attacked by the "faithful," denigrated and slandered, while the few priests who cater to the so-called "pro-life" movement are turned into superstar "saints" who are, for all intents and purposes, given carte blanche by lay people to behave as they like, and who sometimes buy into the adulation of the masses.

This is what has happened to Frank Pavone, who, since 2011, has been in hot water with his superiors and became more and more an authority unto himself, culminating in an horrific sacrilege of incorporating the body of a dead aborted baby into a sacred mass in which he placed the dead body on the altar in November of 2016 as a political stunt calculated to steer Catholics toward voting for Donald Trump.




[This photograph, from the video, is CENSORED because it shows the corpse of a dead fetus that he had displayed on the altar, in an alarmingly sacrilegious manipulation designed to grip the emotions of Catholics.]

"We have to decide if we will allow this child killing

to continue in America or not. Hillary Clinton and 

the Democratic platform says yes, let the child-killing

continue (and you pay for it); Donald Trump and the

Republican platform says no, the child should be

protected." 

Fr. Frank Pavone

Pavone had been given the baby's body by a pathologist who had been routinely tasked with its disposition. Rather than have the child "disposed of" as medical waste, like an amputated arm or an unwanted cancer, he gave it to Father Pavone for the express purpose of burying the child, but Pavone did not do that. Instead, Pavone began a series of carnival-style mockeries of a sacred mass, even going so far as to live-stream and videotape and post it on Facebook. The photo, above, is a still picture from that video. The 44-minute long video also shows him elevating a poster that displays graphic abortion methods. (This video has been subsequently removed, I believe, from Facebook, though I have no doubt you can find a copy somewhere on the internet. Nothing is really erased from the internet.)

Priests are specifically enjoined from working on behalf of any political party or candidate, but Pavone went rogue, long ago, urged on by the fawning sycophancy of his followers. This is what happens when you isolate and remove one piece of a philosophy. It turns into a fetish.

To this day, it does not appear that the baby's body has been buried. Instead, it is apparent that Pavone is keeping it for possible further use in his propaganda campaigns. That poor baby has no rest, unless you think floating in a chemical solution in a glass jar  in some back room of a church constitutes being put "at rest.'

In response to an onslaught of complaints about the dead baby mass and its video, Pavone's diocese immediately began an investigation and issued a statement saying that "Priests for Life" is not a Catholic organization and not under their control and that the mass using the child and the posting of that video are "against the dignity of human life and is a desecration of the altar."

"The Diocese of Amarillon deeply regrets the offense

and outrage caused by the video for the faithful and

the community at large. The action and presentation

of Father Pavone in this video is not consistent with

the beliefs of the Catholic Church."

~ Bishop Patrick J. Zurek ~

As early as 2011, Pavone had already been recalled to his diocese and suspended from priestly functions outside the diocese to answer for his lack of transparency with regard to the finances of his pro-life organization and his refusal to cooperate with his superiors when asked.

"Whatever set this conflict off, it's unfolding has exposed, 

in my opinion, a deficient attitude from Fr. Pavone in regard 

to the clerical obedience he owes his bishop and even in his 

understanding of the purpose of priesthood."

~ Edward Peters, Canon Lawyer ~

Most recently, I see that his insubordination has grown in leaps and bounds. When asked the name of his current bishop, he refuses to give it but asks, instead, "you mean my slave master?"

I have listed some of my sources, below. If you read the post on Patheos by Mary Pezzulo, there is  good reason to believe that Pavone is in possession of two baby corpses that died in the late 1970s and that he is using them in his traveling horror show.

In the post from Keith Michael Estrada, Also on Patheos, there is a timeline of events that will be helpful in understanding what has happened, over time, with this renegade priest and his minions.

My position, if you haven't figured it out yet is that we should not be sacrificing every other part of our religion for the sake of pursuing the dream of making abortion illegal.  The ghoulish carnival barker in a priest collar who uses the bodies of dead babies to win converts to Trumpian Republicanism misrepresents the faith and shouldn't be followed by the laity under any circumstances. Lauding this misguided man will help to ruin him and the faithful should just stop doing it.

In addition, we need to wake up to the fact that our horrifying "pro life" trade-off in which we have traded our entire religion for the sake of making abortion illegal, has resulted in the installation of a fascist government that is hostile to life, in general, and, if not curtailed soon, may be responsible for the death of all life on our planet. It sounds extreme, but this is where we are. Climate change is altering the planet rapidly while, at the same time, American democracy is falling off the rails, thanks to an insane and brutally dangerous occupant of the Oval Office, who is being supported and encouraged by a Republican Party that has orchestrated a fetishized, cynical propaganda campaign, using a bastardized vision of faith as a tool.

By removing crucial regulations, backing out from the climate accord, denying science, and allowing big donors to pillage the earth, Trump is making the earth an unfit home. Topping this off with more tax cuts for the ultra rich coming down the pike, combined with more cuts to an already inadequate and failing social safety net, the effects will be catastrophic - and very soon.

It isn't just the types of policies that are dangerous, it is Trump's methods, redolent of the abuse of office and brutality most often found in third world banana republics with primitive dictators at the helm. Whoever dares to even utter a word of disapproval is walked out of the government offices under armed guard. Often their relatives are also made to suffer, such as the case of Lt. Col. Vindman, the highly decorated officer who obeyed a congressional subpoena and gave testimony during Trump's impeachment hearing in the House. His twin brother, who had nothing to do with any of this, was walked out with him, in a very public retaliation, calculated to put fear into the hearts of anyone on The Hill who might have thoughts of opening their mouths and speaking Truth or advocating for justice and the rule of law.

Fortunately, some members of the intelligence community, which is being aggressively hollowed out by Trump's retaliations and slander, are fighting back. But when the guy at the top of the pile is calling out their wives BY NAME and thereby threatening her and the children - publicly - it can give you pause.

All of this is right out of the authoritarian playbook. Hitler and others have used these methods. Lies, slander, fear, retaliation, brutality; all of these are common to the dictator.

Frank Pavone is enabling all of it, offering up his Catholic followers in the same way he offered up that dead baby on the altar. All of it is obscene and none of it is endorsed by the Catholic Church. As mentioned before, his supervisors and all the ecclesial authorities above them have tried, and failed to rein him in. His bishop has objected to Pavon's "incorrigible defiance of my legitimate authority as his bishop," but Pavone is emboldened by the adulation of the crowd and has not shown any sign that he has taken to heart the attempts of his superiors to guide him.

It won't matter, even if Pavone could somehow get a law passed, outlawing abortion. We are all going to be dead before long, anyway, if the natural results of the Trump Administrations removal of regulations and sanctions have their natural result. Scientists have said we have about ten years in which to turn this toxic boat around. After that, it goes over the waterfall. Human beings, animals, trees, plants, insects - even the cockroaches. We'll all be dead. Not very pro-lifey, if you ask me.

Silver Rose
Sannyasini Kaliprana
(c) Copyright 2020, All rights reserved.

TIMELINE OF SOURCES, IN ORDER OF PUBLICATION DATE

September 9, 2011
Letter to U.S. cardinals and bishops from Msgr. Harold Waldow, of Amarillo Diocese suspending Pavone from "public ministry outside of the Diocese of Amarillo" (online copy)
LINK HERE

September 13, 2011
Fr. Pavone appeals suspension by his bishop to Rome
Catholic News Agency
by Michelle Bauman
LINK HERE

September 29, 2011
Canon lawyer analyzes issues in Fr. Pavone case
Clerical Whispers
LINK HERE

January 19, 2012:
Amarillo bishop suspends Father Pavone's activities outside the diocese
Archdiocese of Baltimore article
LINK HERE

November 7, 2016
A Catholic priest put an aborted fetus on the altar in an appeal for Donald Trump
The Washington Post - Acts of Faith
by Sarah Pulliam Bailey, reporter
LINK HERE

November 8, 2016
Fr. Frank Pavone uses aborted fetus in message for Election Day
National Catholic Reporter
by Brian Roewe
LINK HERE

Nov 8, 2016
Breaking: Diocese of Amarillo opens investigation into Fr. Pavone's actions; Decries video as "against the dignity of human life and is a desecration of the altar."
Aleteia
LINK HERE

November 9, 2016
Bishop launches probe of priest who posed with fetus on the altar
Religion News Service - Beliefs column
by David Gibson
LINK HERE

November 15, 2016
A scary, confusing timeline: The child (ab/mis)used by Father Frank Pavone
Patheos
Proper Nomenclature by Keith Michael Estrada
LINK HERE

October 16, 2019:
Diocese of Amarillo: Pavone Not a Priest in Good Standing
Patheos
Steel Magnificat; Everything is Grace
by Mary Pezzulo
LINK HERE

YET ANOTHER VIRGIN SAINT - BELINA OF TROYES

SAINT BELINA OF TROYES, FRANCE

died 1135

"For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, 

that you should abstain from fornication."

~ 1 Thessalonians 4:3 ~

I had some free time today, as I had put aside the day for relaxation, and I was unable to find anything of appropriate diversion on any of the venues in my computer. More and more, it hardly seems worth even attempting to find any entertainment because it seems that nearly everything I try has the most rank pornography in it! Just as I begin to become interested in a plot, whether it is a mystery or an historical treatment or some such other drama, all of a sudden, everyone's clothes drop away and my eyes are assaulted with genitalia, acres of naked skin (usually the women, but sometimes also men), and the most unfortunate sounds assail my ears.

I am not a prude. I just find the sudden introduction of naked, heaving bodies incredibly boring, after the initial shock. Honestly, who does not know how sex works? We are familiar with what people do in bed, and it rarely advances the plot of the dramatic production one iota to include a scene of people having sex! Seriously, I can't see the purpose of it, but, apparently, modern culture is firmly established in the idea that pornography is a type of entertainment and "everyone" wants to see naked people in every dramatic production on television.

"Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting

and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness,

not in strife and envying."

~ Romans 13:13 ~

If the rest of the production has captivated my attention, I might occasionally walk away and grab a snack. By the time I return, the sex scene is typically over. Sometimes, if I don't feel like rousing myself to go to the kitchen,  I will skip to the next scene in which people have retained their clothing. Usually, however, I move on to a different movie or episodic series because I know that, where there is one sex scene there will be more!

"But fornication, and all uncleanness, or

covetousness, let it not be once named among

you, as becomes saints."

~ Ephesians 5:3 ~

Neither am I interested in seeing that people are punished for having sex or that production companies be fined for showing a field of flesh. Again, it is a question of avoiding focus on the sex lives of other persons, which is not where the mind of the spiritual aspirant should reside! Clearly, though, it should be obvious that obeying religious prescriptions about sexual matters is an act of the heart and the will, and no one should be forced, especially since monitoring the sex lives of others would put the purity of one's own mind at risk.

 "I made a covenant with my eyes; why then

should I think on a maid?"

~ Job 31:1

Chastity is recommended throughout the Bible, it is recognized in all the major religious traditions as a necessary practice for those wanting to become close to God, and all of this is well known, especially among my Christian, Catholic, Hindu, Vedanta and Buddhist friends. The Hindus teach that chastity ("Brahmacharya") is essential to the physical processes that contribute to the "realization" of God, which adds an extra layer of spiritual practice.

"Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have 

his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband."

~ 1 Corinthians 7:2 ~

There is one female saint for whom today is the feast day, and that is Saint Belina of Troyes, a young French girl who just happens to be known for her devotion to chastity. She rejected a suitor who was powerful and well placed, in order to retain her virginity, and she was killed for her impulse toward chastity.

If only there had been as much attention placed on chastity for men as for women in human history, we might not now be finding ourselves in this situation where sex shows have become general entertainment for the masses. I use the word "entertainment" with some skepticism, since I doubt that it is entertaining, so much as it is intended to be titillating. Yesterday, I was told by a friend who works in the motion picture industry that it is generally accepted that a good number of people want that sort of thing in their movies and television shows, and this is why naked bodies and sexual situations are featured in most of the modern motion picture fare that is offered to adults.

"Oh, how I love Your law! All day long it is

my meditation."

~ Psalm 119:97 ~

I feel the need to stress here that, in order to practice chastity, it isn't required that one be a virgin, or innocent or spotless or "pure" as far as one's history is concerned. That's the marvelous thing about Christ. He is the God of second chances and, as such, he is the most intelligent counselor that ever lived. I think many people who have fallen by the wayside when it comes to the practice of chastity have a hard time getting back "on track," as it were. One needn't punish oneself with excess scruples in this regard. Repent of past indiscretions and gently shepherd yourself back to the pure life expected of a spiritual aspirant.

We are not required to have been saints our entire lives in order to aspire to becoming saints in future. Think on the people, such as Saint Augustine, who led completely dissolute lives, became converted, and were saints by the time of their demise.

Reading my own words, above, I can almost hear some of the modern Christians deriding me for "antiquated" ideas, but these "antiquated" ideas are an essential part of spiritual life, not just with the Christians. There are many reasons why chastity is crucial, but I can't reinvent the wheel here. There are entire books written on the topic, and you need to go read those if you are one of the people who has decided to twist religion into something of your own invention that incorporates sexual license.

I will just say that in the 17 years since I took actual vows of celibacy, I have not regretted it. In fact, I grow to love this practice more and more. It has much to offer and I highly recommend it to the serious spiritual person.

God bless us all.

Silver Rose
aka Sannyasini Kaliprana

(c) Copyright 2020, all rights reserved
Silver S. Parnell

PRAY FOR THE LIARS

Wanted:

"The one whose walk is blameless,

who does what is righteous,

who speaks the truth

from their heart;

whose tongue utters no slander,

who does no wrong to a neighbor,

and casts no slur on others.

Psalm 15:2-3

It disturbs me to see what seems to be an increase in the willingness of people to lie in order to further their own ends. We see this happening in Washington with that governmental circus of professional prevaricators who have honed blatant dishonesty to the level of high art and use bald faced lies to cement control and wield power, but, to be fair, I find deception to be heavily represented throughout society in day-to-day life, even among people whose professions lead one to expect much different and better.

My original draft of this blog post had three paragraphs of stories about several different liars in my orbit and how they lied to, about, or near me over the years and this week, but I realized that this problem is so common that I needn't provide those stories. I am quite sure that you all have enough of your own tales of the mendacious.

I have watched all sorts of people lie over the years and I find myself having a spine-chilling visceral reaction to it. I can almost feel Satan brushing up against me. It is an ominous and unnerving sensation.

Most "modern" people do not believe in Satan, but I usually tell them not to worry about it because Satan believes in them.  HE will keep the relationship going. I say this to them in a joking way. No one wants to be such a downer as to bring up hellfire and damnation in polite conversation!

But even I don't necessarily believe in the personification of evil that is the personality of a being named Satan. For me, "Satan" is shorthand for primal evil and its movement in our lives. And, while it is common for people to opine about whether or not God will assign them to Hell when we die, it is my understanding that it is with our own behavior that we demonstrate that resting place in which we are most comfortable and most familiar.

We walk around in our own personal acre of heaven or hell and carry it around with us as we move through life. If we establish our mind in the Heavenly place, Heaven is most real for us. The Kingdom of Heaven is among us!

The condition of our mind is determined by where we place our attention. It is as simple as that. Concentrate on Heaven, and Heaven is most real for us  But please don't assume that, because I KNOW this, that I have a "lock" on the process. No. Not at all. I struggle like everyone else....and perhaps MORE than everyone else, due to the PTSD that assaults me daily. It takes work to continually redirect the mind to the feet of the Lord when it has become distracted.

Our prayers and meditations have a dual purpose: first, to establish ourselves in the Divine, and second to intercede for others who have wandered away into lies and other obstructions that stand in the way of their vision of God.

"Self realization" isn't enough. We need to include all beings in a unitary vision.

Jesus admonishes us to pray for our enemies. Satan is the biggest enemy of all, and all lies originate with him. He is the father of all lies, and we need to fight him by fighting dishonesty because dishonesty is his calling card, and when it appears, HE is lurking nearby.

This is exactly why a good percentage of us are somewhat exercised by current affairs. The presence of Satan upsets people who are possessed of refined sensibilities. We are like the canaries in the coal mine. When you see a bunch of us flapping our wings and chirping dispiritedly, then falling over in a dead faint, it is a cue to get out of the mine. Get out of whatever societal situation in which we are mired and seek out the fresh air and sunshine. Meditation and prayer are the fresh air and sunshine for the soul.

Our current situation has encouraged me to double down on my meditation and prayers and I encourage you to do the same. Think of this: all the blog posts on Facebook, the newspapers, the magazine, the videos that bring each falsehood to light are fine vehicles of information, but are unable, by themselves, to stem the tide of the very real damage that is caused by malicious disinformation.

As people of faith, we have to do this. The fetid material being belched into the environment from the professional liars has to be counteracted on the spiritual plane, as well as the material, and we must hold fast to our compassionate prayer for those who are seduced by the continual stream of disparagement, calumny and toxic fabrication in which we are awash.

But, even if you are on the other side of things, and you believe every word from the current rulers, you surely must also follow my advice since the Lord will only cooperate with good and would not do evil just because a bunch of people ASKED him to! You know He couldn't do that.

Our mutual faith in Him draws us together. Across the divide, we may hold hands in the common belief that God brings all things to the good and that the words of Jesus, to love our enemies and pray for them, can only bring good. To unite with one another and place ourselves at the feet of the Lord who is Truth personified, and to beg for Truth to prevail, can only result in Truth!
                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Please join me in my prayers for Truth and Justice. Whatever is True and Just will be strengthened thereby. Whoever is True and Just will be strengthened. We do not need to name them or decide who they are, in advance (although we all probably believe that we know the "who" of things!)

I send love to you all and ask you to join me under the common sheltering roof of the absolute.

Silver Parnell
Sannyasini Kaliprana

P.S. I also remind you that my Paypal button still works, just in case you'd like to help me purchase some eyeglasses or dental work, neither one of which are paid for by Medicare!

FEED THE GARDEN

Welsh Crywth and phighorn

I was horrified this morning by some political news, and I was going to write something about it in my diary, but prompted by something a friend said, I pleaded with the Lord to give me some guidance about this, and I was given it.  Feed the garden, not the weeds.

This principle is long familiar to me. As a student of meditation with the Vedantists, I soon learned that one wants to encourage the establishment of the Divine within oneself by putting your mind in the lap of The Mother.

So, let us all go toward the Divine and put our minds there, and not on the nightmare of our political situation, shall we?

There are no female saints whose feast day occupies either today or tomorrow, so I have settled on Saturday's lady, who turns out to be Saint Cointha (aka "Quinta" or "Cynthia"), a martyr who died being dragged by her ankles through the streets of Alexandria, during the persecutions of the Emperor Trajanus Decius in about 249 b.c.  The brutal Trajanus Decius registers with barely a blip on my radar. It is the holiness of the martyred girl to which we aspire, right?

Cointha is sometimes depicted with a horse in the picture, since she was dragged by one, her ankles tied to it somehow. I wasn't able to find many pictures of her, though. Her feast day is February 8th, and that is about all we know of her.

There are so many of these female saints who passed into the mist of time with barely a whisper of a history! I have often wondered why so little fanfare is given them, while rather more of the male saints have some history to hang onto. I have often wondered why.

At any rate, Christian chronicles don't dally too long with the goings on of kings and princes. Men like Trump are a dime a dozen in antiquity and they provide no inspiration. The saints, however, are another matter, aren't they?

What are we supposed to get from the scant information about Saint Cointha? She gave everything she had for the faith, and I suppose that is enough to know.

My guru, the Swami Swahananda, used to advise me to compare myself and my attributes to those of the Lord. In comparison to the Divine Mother, my gifts of spirit and character pale in comparison. So we shouldn't congratulate ourselves much, if at all, right? Even comparing oneself to the saints is an exercise in humiliation, for the most part.

My mood was greatly improved by the wonderful reminders of today. Feed the garden, not the weeds.

Also, it occurs to me that, instead of getting wrapped around the axle about this era's version of Trajanus Decius and letting him destroy my peace, it is infinitely more appropriate to celebrate and imitate the Lord's creative flow through the creative projects I so love. After all, even the saints need some artistic outlet, now and then. Think of  Hildegard of Bingen and those of her ilk.

The day started with serious mourning and weeping but transmuted itself into the happy creation of a Saint Patrick's day shawl with a crochet pattern and some yarn a friend gave me. In the tween times, I began to write a song - the first in many years. Musical instruments will follow. And sheet music. And things of that persuasion.

During ALL of it; the mourning, the weeping, the writing, the painting, the crochet and the music, my mind is in the lap of The Mother, and we are celebrating.

I hope all of you can transform your sorrows into celebrations today and every day.

God bless us all.

Silver Rose
Sannyasini Kaliprana

(c) copyright 2020 Silver Parnell
All rights reserved.

MUSINGS ON SAINT LIBERATA AND VOWS OF CELIBACY

Saint Wilgefortis, 

also known as Saint Liberata

Sometimes conflated with one other "Liberata"

of a similar time period

I love to pick out the names of the obscure female saints about which most people know little to nothing, including ME! When I run across an interesting female saint on a day when searching for them, I spend some hours researching them.

With Saint Liberata, also called Wilgefortis, Librada and other derivations, and sometimes confused with another Liberata who also died as a martyr, we have again a woman who, when faced by an angry father determined to give her in marriage when she definitely did not WANT marriage, is saved by some circumstance.

In this case, Liberata is rescued by the sudden appearance of a beard on her chin! The beard disgusts her would-be husband, and he abandons his suit. She goes on to become a nun, etc.

Is this a myth? Did this person actually exist? Does it matter?

In some cases, the saints appear to answer the needs of the spiritual heart. Those of us with leanings toward the contemplative life, who yearn to be with God alone and for whom earthly romance pales in comparison, are encouraged by stories of brave young female saints who eschewed the married state from the very beginning and pursued God alone.

There appear to be fewer male saints who specifically cite aversion to the married state as a reason for adopting a life of celibacy, likely because women were pretty much at the mercy of their family and society as to the form their life would take, in many instances. Men were also expected to marry, but their work and duties of station were  considered important, whereas the purpose of women's lives was, for centuries, limited to childbearing and rearing within a family. That was their sole contribution to society in the eyes of that society, and I can well imagine chafing at THAT particular bit, as it were.

In the case of Liberata, legend has it that she was eventually martyred at the insistence of her father, who was incensed that she chose religious life instead of the Muslim husband he had picked out for her. Because she was killed for choosing faith instead of family, she is officially considered a martyr for the faith. The backstory on this isn't given in any of the sources, and we are left to wonder why the extreme of crucifixion was imposed on her in the middle ages. Was her father just mad because she disobeyed the orders of this petty king? Was he tired of supporting her, as was his duty until she married? Was it a religious thing because he was a pagan and he objected to her faith? I don't know.

I look upon her story as one of many in the general theme of preferring God to man, and an example for all the vowed and secular women who have given themselves to this life. In my 17 years as an "accidental hermit," I have relied upon the examples of female saints like these.

Currently, there is a minor kerfuffle in the Catholic blogosphere about a book to which Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI may or may not have intended to have his name attached. In it, he supposedly makes the case for continuing the norm of celibacy for priests, in contradiction to some exception that Pope Francis may be making for the priests in the Amazon, where priests are few and far between. Humans like a good controversy, and there are plenty of Francis-haters who have traded in their Catholic faith for a Republican worldview that is cruel and punishing. Pope Francis has made it clear that Trump's wall is unChristian, and he certainly objects to ripping children away from their parents at our borders as punishment for daring to apply for sanctuary in our prosperous and promising country. Francis-haters became so because of these contradictions, for obvious reasons.

In any case, it amuses me that so many people take for granted that celibacy is some horrible, arcane punishment and that it "should" be dispensed with, just as we have dispensed with archaic practices like putting naughty people into stocks in the middle of town so that citizens can throw rotten vegetables at them. I have lived as a celibate person for more than 17 years, and I find it not at all inconvenient.

Saint Liberata relic

Don't get me wrong. Being married is wonderful. It is a lovely state of life, but it isn't for everyone, and it is damn hard to both have a family AND live entirely for God. In fact, it seems an oxymoron to me!

As I have mentioned before, there is some historical proof for people adopting a celibate life after they've been married and seen to the raising of a few children. Husband and wife both take up the life of a hermit or a sannyasi or a Buddhist monk. All the major religious traditions on earth have precedent for this. In fact, it seems natural that, after one has moved through the child-rearing stages, that the elderly would try to move closer to the God to whom one will 'return home' before long. There is absolutely no provision for continuing one's sex life after embarking on this stage, and I think it is terribly funny that Americans are so obsessed with sex that they get all up in arms about this issue about whether or not the Catholic Church should only accept married priests.

I keep reading from these people about what a TRIAL it is to go without sex, and what a horrible thing it is to ask of someone. It's hysterically funny, to me!

As with all rules, there will always be exceptions. In isolated regions, there is no possibility for the kind of day-to-day support that is generally given priests in developed countries. In the Amazon, it really IS a lot to ask of someone that they serve that community entirely alone, without the assistance or support of the church's institutions. Few people would be able to carry on like that, and I think it is smart of our Pope Francis to recognize this and to make provision for the only type of support that is feasible under this circumstance - a WIFE. To do otherwise might be considered cruel.

But, generally speaking, having a wife and children is a full time job in itself, and being a priest on top of those duties isn't practical. Without question, it would draw the church into a responsibility for the costs of raising such a family. Parishioners would be saddled with this obligation that has monetary and social implications, I would think. Providing separate housing for each priest and their families would be onerous. Disregarding the financial entanglements, there are very real burdens on a person's time, when it comes to children, especially. All of this has practical connotations, which can be substantial, if you give it some thought.

I am not saying that these pedestrian considerations are the reasons the Catholic Church proposes for just why celibacy should remain the preferred state for most Catholic priests. I WOULD point out, however, that many of the other religious traditions consider celibacy essential to the aim of the mystically inclined. When I was studying with the Hindus, and then in the Vedanta Convent, there was a lot of information about how necessary celibacy was to the "realization of God." Buddhists also have celibate monastics, for similar reasons. Those who have a dog in this fight and who feel compelled to opine about this controversy, should research the celibacy issue in various religious traditions in order to broaden their understanding of this topic. There is more to this topic than meets the casual eye!

As always, I encourage other women who are living the solitary life to contact me and say "hello." It is always good to hear from you, as it is to hear from all my readers, but I especially send a message of solidarity and support to my sisters in this life.

God bless us all.

Silver Rose
Sannyasini Kaliprana

SAINT MELANIA AND ME

THE CELL AND TOMB OF SAINT MELANIA

IN JERUSALEM

(383-439)

The remembrance of Saint Melania is December 31 in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, while in the Western Roman Catholic Church, it is apparently celebrated on the 17th. She is listed among today's saints on the Catholic website to which I typically refer. (I use Catholic.org to get the names, and then branch out to multiple other websites and books for research about the saint.)

The women who eschew the typical life of family and enjoyments, and live as hermits instead, remain a beacon of encouragement for me, since I am also an independent religious woman, living a vowed life on my own, with no support from any establishment. 

Occasionally, I forget that the history of the Christian faith is full of stories of independent monastics who set out on their own to live for God alone. Reading about Saint Melania and others like her buoys my spirits and encourages me to continue.

The topic of renunciation of the allurements of the world in favor of communing with the Lord and serving Him in a solitary state is not something that is typically discussed across the modern dinner table or on social media - though a whisper of it does catch the ear of my heart now and then. During the first few hundred years of Christianity, however, it was quite common for women and men to abandon the secular life for the trials of "the desert."

Living an ascetic life of physical pain and privation for the sake of God alone is an impulse found across the spectrum of religions. Christian, Hindu, and Buddhist traditions all have long histories of men and women who have adopted this life, to one degree or another.

When I became fully disabled about 16 years ago, I was overjoyed to realize that, although it was disconcerting that I was no longer able to support myself through outside employment, I was suddenly free to commit myself to a life lived for the sake of God alone, just as many of the saints did in the early years of the Christian church. I had wanted to do this since leaving the Hindu convent years before, but it had never been possible. Sometimes, bad news is good news in disguise.

Physical pains and limitations prevent me from throwing myself, at full throttle, into anything similar to what one would recognize as an "ascetic" life in the classical sense. I do not need to cause myself pain, discomfort and inconvenience through artificial means, such as fasting, sleeping on the floor of a cave or anything like that because my body itself is constantly, chronically hurting me and preventing many activities I might otherwise like to perform.

But I can and have devoted my daily activities and the occupation of my mind to a continuous recognition that The Lord is present in all things. I practice the presence of God and am in tune with Him constantly.

For inspiration, I look to other women who have left the world of society for a solitary sojourn with God, and there are many from whom to choose.  The desire to sequester oneself in a small place with Our Dear Lord is not unique to me - not at all! It is a natural outpouring of the soul's love for the Divine - a desire to join with Him who is our All.

With the female saints, there is an oft-repeated theme in which a woman of means eschews family life in favor of a solitary or semi-solitary life of removal from society for the sake of God. Typically, these women have been forced to marry at some point in their teen years, and either their husbands die or they and their husband BOTH put on the hermit's robes.

Depending upon the amount of the woman's fortune, she will usually establish at least one monastery for women that will house others that follow her example. Often, they will also endow a monastery for men, sometimes for the purpose of giving their husband something to do, it seems to me!

The saintly life of Melania the Younger followed this general theme. As was common in those days, her parents gave her in marriage at the very early age of 14, and it appears that she tried to avoid it, but could not. Her grandmother was Melannia the Elder, a well known figure in monastic history, being one of the "Desert Mothers" who was also pushed into marriage at age 14. Their lives run along parallel lines.

Melania the Elder (325-410), who lived during the reign of my 47th great grandfather, Theodosius the Great (who was born in Spain, like her) was one of the wealthiest people in the entire Roman empire, but was a follower of Origen who considered the ascetic life of mortification of the body necessary to salvation, and this would obviously have been made known to Melania the Younger and likely fueled her determination for that course in life. Melania the Elder established two religious communities on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem and supported the monks of Nitria before and after their expulsion and exile to Dicaesaraea in Palestine.

The young saint begged her husband to free her from wifely duties but he was, at first, unwilling, telling her that they should have two children before giving up the world and donning hermit robes. Unfortunately, both her children died while still very young, and she and her husband gave themselves to God's work much earlier than the husband had anticipated. In the early death of her children, she was also similar to her grandmother, Melania, who not only lost 2 of her 3 sons before she turned 23 years old, but also her husband, after which, she entrusted her son to the care of others, immediately embarking on the ascetic path of voluntary suffering.

Having been raised in a thoroughly worldly, anti-religious household, with a half-mad narcissist mother and an absent, self-obsessed father who worked in the entertainment industry, I came to this party rather late in life, relatively speaking. I thank God I was led to Him at all, considering my mother's hostility toward faith of any kind, but she had an especial hatred toward Catholics. I had no saintly Grandmother to follow, and no example of any kind, really, when it came to religion and the life of the spirit. My beloved grandmother Emzaella, a lovely woman I adored, used to say that no one needed religion. All one needed was "the golden rule," in her book. As far as I can tell, she lived that philosophy pretty well, but her extremely truncated religious sentiment was of little help to me.

After Melania and her husband vowed to live the rest of their lives in abstinence and chastity, she and her husband, and her mother went to Africa where she purchased the freedom of 8,000 slaves with some of the money she had gotten from the sale of her vast properties. She is honored as being a person of means who used those means to answer the generosity of her heart.

I cannot help but compare this saint to a prominent Melania that is in the news, peripherally, these days. Despite her namesake's extreme generosity of spirit and sanctity, Donald Trump's wife, Melania, so far, has demonstrated no interest in philanthropy. A former model, she is known for wearing a jacket on which the words, "I really don't care. Do u?" were splashed across it when she went to visit migrant children that had been captured at our borders, separated from their parents, and incarcerated in a detention center in McAllen, Texas.  The message emblazoned on her coat was the opposite of what it should have been, when visiting these terrified and suffering little children, some of whom are still in diapers.

Her anemic "be best" campaign has no legs and does little or nothing. She came out weakly against bullying but has said nothing about the bully to whom she is married - the guy who spews hatred constantly on Twitter and into every video camera that follows him. When he mocks a disabled reporter, calls public servants foul names, and targets the weakest among us, Melania is silent about that. "Be best" indeed! In fact, Melania has complained that she considers herself to be the most bullied person in the world - based upon how "The Media" treats her, I suppose. I have no doubt that our modern Melania was named after one of the two Melanias I am discussing in this blog. It is a common name in the Eastern Orthodox world. It is a shame she doesn't exemplify either one.





Before escaping to Africa, Saint Melania the Younger had left Rome in favor of a farm that she owned, where she lived a retired life. She would care for the sick, receive foreigners that came to visit her, and visit the imprisoned and exiled.

Melania's austere fasting practices intimidate me, I must admit. While I struggle to lose the weight the piled on me when I became disabled and my mobility was limited, I think about how Saint Melania's practice initially consisted of eating every other day, then developed into a routine in which she used to fast five days a week and would only eat on Saturdays and Sundays. Not only am I not capable of such an extreme schedule, I do not think I am in favor of it - certainly not for myself. I have other humiliations that stand in stead of her extremes of starvation.

I can think of one thing which we have in common. Apparently, Saint Melania had some artistic skill with calligraphy.

After spending 7 years in Africa, where she freed those 8,000 slaves, she traveled to Alexandria and then to Jerusalem, where she closed herself in a cell (which is pictured at the start of this blog.) She became famous for her holiness and many women came to her, to follow in her life and practices of mortification. At some point, she had 90 virgins and nuns accompanying her, and she provided for all their needs, temporal and spiritual.





In the end, it is recorded that she had a "pain in her side," and I wonder if it was a problem with her appendix? In any case, whatever it was, it was apparently deadly. The Bishop of Eleutheroupolis was called for, and from him she took the Eucharist, then she said goodbye to all her sisters, saying, "As the Lord wishes, so let it be," whereupon she died.

I am reminding myself not to become disheartened by my lack of abilities in so many areas, especially when compared to the saints. Much of what she was able to do was a result of the great wealth she inherited from her father, and this resource is something with which she was gifted. She is a perfect example of what one should do with whatever resources are at one's disposal in life, however. Every one of us can choose generosity and give whatever we are able. Great wealth or small, we may all do our part.

It also occurs to me that each of us, saint or not, is unique and has unique gifts and destinies. The best thing we can do is opt for a holy life, inasmuch as we are able, and to maintain a humble attitude about it. There will always be someone more righteous, more committed, more ascetic, etc. The fact that others are better than I is no reason to give up entirely! The point is to continue on, in the knowledge that we are not good enough, and being obedient to The Lord in spite of our shortcomings.

May Saint Melania inspire you today, on this day that is typically spent in revelry, over-indulgence and even drunkenness! I intend to spend the evening in quiet contemplation...between the outbursts of fireworks and rockets and all that noise, and will pray for a better adherence to my spiritual path, and for you, my brothers and sisters. I will also pray for our country and for the world. There are so very many problems that beset us now.

God bless us all

Silver Rose
Sannyasini Kaliprana


Resource links:

"Saint Melania" page on Catholic.org

"Melania the Younger" page on wikipedia

"Dec 17 – St Melania the Younger (383-439)" on CatholicIreland.net

"Venerable Melania the Younger of Rome" on Orthodox Church in America (OCA) website

"Melania the Younger" on Orthodox Wiki

"Saints and Feasts - Melania the Younger, Nun of Rome" on Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America website

"St. Francis de Sales Church - Patron Saints of Financial Generosity"

"Melania the Elder" on Wikipedia

SAINT OLYMPIAS AND ME

Saint Olympias

"Olympias the Deaconess"

born between 361 and 368 in Antioch or Constantinople

died July 25, 408 in Nicomedia

Today we celebrate the feast day of another shirttail relation of mine, Saint Olympias (the younger) an early deaconess of the church. If the early saints are not actual relatives of mine, they all seemed to know my relations and interact with them. In this case, Saint Olympias (the younger), daughter of an Antiochian Greek noblewoman, Alexandra and her husband, the wealthy Greek Seleucus. She was named after her paternal Aunt Olympias who was once engaged to Roman Emperor Constans, who was the uncle of the wife of my 48th great-uncle. Did you get that? (My Ancestry family tree automatically figures out relationships, thanks be to God, because I never could!)

Constans

Augustus of the Western Roman Empire

born 323

died February 350

When Olympias was orphaned as a child, her fortune was put into trust. She was raised by prominent people in the Roman world until such time as she may accept a husband. As with all women in possession of great fortunes in that day, she received many proposals of marriage. Typically, the man would then have control over her money, and it is no wonder that these women were extraordinarily picky when it came to accepting any one of them as husband, because the husband would rule over her and spend her money according to his desires. It was an incentive for celibacy and religious life!

She eventually married the prefect Nebridus, who died not long after that. Subsequently, my great grandfather, Emperor Theodosius, put her fortune in trust, once again, until the arbitrary age of 30, probably in retaliation against her. She had rejected his choice of second husband for her. I suppose he thought she must be mad to defy his guidance. What a frustrating time for women!

Theodosius I "The Great"

Emperor of the Roman Empire

born Jan. 11, 347

died Jan. 17, 395

My 47th great-grandfather

When she finally got her full estate in the year 391, she began her spiritual works of mercy in earnest. She was consecrated a deaconess and founded a community of religious women with several other monied ladies. She established a hospital and an orphanage, gave considerable assistance to the monks of Nitria, and was a strong supporter of Saint John Chrysostom after he was expelled in 404 from Constantinople. (He had become her spiritual director in about 398, six years previously.)

Statue of Saint Olympius - 

On the facade of Saint Peter's Basilica

Because of her support of Chrysostom, her community was disbanded and her charitable works were prohibited. As usual, power hungry men, whose method of ruling was basically force and punishment for everyone who came within their orbit, persecuted her for the rest of her days.

She was sick and alone at the end of her life, her friend Chrysostom in exile in another place from which he encouraged and comforted her. She died in Nicomedia July 25, 408, less than a year after the death of Chrysostom.

Saint John Chrystostom

Friend of Saint Olympias

This story sounds so very familiar to me! I have compared notes with other independent religious women and all of us have plans for religious institutions and charitable projects, should money ever fall into our hands. All of us have succumbed to societal and survival pressures for husbands, who STILL, in this day and age, want to spend our money on obscenities like booze, guns, pornography and mistresses. After working an entire lifetime with nothing to show for it, I have something to say about the disparity of income between men and women, the need for equal pay and equal protection under the law and the inherent immorality of men asserting dominion over women in any sphere, including religious.

Brutal, money-hungry despots still prowl the world, using force and deception to gain power over others, especially women, who they publicly malign and despise, but regardless of the power and supposed "prestige" they manage to accrue, history will record their shame.

I am thinking of Donald Trump and his enablers while I write this. I am thinking about his crimes, his immorality, his ethical bankruptcy, his misogyny, his xenophobia and his other prejudices that are the antithesis of the Christian way. I am thinking of how he used so-called "charities" to line his pockets and fund his campaign for power.

I am thinking, especially, of how he ripped babies, toddlers and children from the arms of their parents and stuffed them into small cells behind chain-link fences to sleep on cement floors with little or no medical care and how thousands of them may never see those parents again because he and his minions did not see the necessity to keep track of their whereabouts. I am thinking of the babies that he let die from the flu because they were denied simple flu shots, and the crowded conditions did his dirty work for him. Just like the blankets infected by small pox that were given to the Native Americans in the early days of America.

These type of men have always been with us - whether you call them "Prefect Optatus," "Emperor Theodosius" or "President Trump," they are all the same. Their reigns are short, but human memory is long and tends to regard the saintly with a kindly eye while itt records the names and supposed "accomplishments" of tyrants and oppressors with disdain.

To whom will you attach your wagon?

I, for one, am on the side of the saints. Not Prefect Optatus. Not Emperor Theodosius. Not Donald Trump.

God save us all from the tyrants.

Silver Rose
Sannyasini Kaliprana