Wednesday, August 31, 2016

When did the U.S.A. become the U.S.S.R.?

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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In recent decades we in Canada have heard echoes from our American neighbors of controversies over issues of faith. Prayer, the Bible, and even simple mention of or reference to God have all become prohibited in American public institutions, especially in schools and even colleges and universities. Anyone can be accused and criminalized for daring to include their thoughts, beliefs, or experience of faith or God in their free exercise of public life. Some of the most vehement defenders of the public virtue of tolerance turn out to be people who are most intolerant of anything having to do with God or Jesus Christ or Christianity or Judaism or the Torah or....

Christians and Jews have come under fire before, such as during the industrial revolution when some of them argued in favor of just labor laws and safe labor practices in defense of laborers who were ostensibly being exploited by capitalist interests, that is, by business people and owners. It is primarily due to their efforts, struggles, and sacrifices, even of their lives, that the work week went from six days a week of twelve hours to five days a week of seven hours, to give only one example.

The latest rounds of resentment towards the very existence of Christians and Christian institutions may very well come coincidentally by virtue of what has been called the sexual revolution. Christians generally abide by the principle that human beings are free in conscience to think, speak, behave, act, and live in accord with their conscience or lack of same. They avail themselves of their own freedom of conscience and liberty to think, speak, behave, act, and live in accord with their conscience and beliefs; as well as to speak openly of them in the interest of dialogue, personal sharing, and the free exchange of ideas and best practices. Christians, like Jews and other people of moral and religious conviction, will resist being coerced to think, speak, or act in contradiction of their values, but for all that do not stand in judgement of those who disagree or choose to live differently.

Any number of adherents and promoters of various interest or lobby groups - whether for gay rights or for the right of unlimited free access to abort unborn babies or any number of other life and lifestyle claims - are not satisfied, as Christians and other citizens might be, with their liberty to do as they wish or believe. What they now manifestly insist upon is the unfettered approval of all segments of society for their life choices, on the one hand, and on the other hand, they militate for the condemnation and suppression of all disagreement or dissent from their own convictions and subsequently they militate for the suppression of all dissenters. What we now have is an inverse form of tolerance, that is, grandiose claims of open social tolerance for every point of view except Christianity, to name only one faith tradition. 

The irony is that whereas one of the chief principles and policies of the now defunct U.S.S.R. had been precisely the suppression of all religion in general and of Christianity in particular; this public policy is now increasingly being embraced and implemented by the United States of America. The U.S.S.R., like other ideological movements and states, fell upon the suppression of the Christian faith in particular because they saw it as the greatest enemy to their policies and the greatest influence that would empower citizens to resist their rule, however unjust.

It seems to me, as a casual Canadian observer, that America has lost its way and the citizens seem to be in a process of surrendering their rights to those most able to manipulate the public institutions by means of wealth, influence, and any or all means necessary or useful in their drive to remake the country into their own image. Going... going... is the free republic dreamed of and enacted by the "Founding Fathers"... it is giving way to new forms of repression.

However, I am not a pessimist, nor am I an optimist, nor even perhaps a realist. I have met many wonderful Americans who are also frustrated to find themselves being manipulated by those with ready access to the "levers of power" and they have no intention of giving up their freedom or their hope. Believers are also confident in the victory of God in human affairs, not only his ultimate victory at the end of time but more importantly his victory now in the lives of those willing to believe and put their trust in Him.

There is undeniable power in the very notion of God, in the very name of Jesus Christ, in the principles of the Torah such as expressed in the Ten Commandments. Those most opposed to the deity or faith or religion turn out to be those who would brook no resistance or challenge to their own thirst for unlimited power to impose their own will or ideas upon society.

It could be said that those who broker in power over others are perhaps the most to be pitied. I pray and invite any and all believers to join me in prayer that they may be freed of such constraints on their understanding and appreciation for the value of life and of each human life. May the Spirit of the living God come upon them and by revealing itself to them show them that our Creator does not desire to take anything away from us in his moral expectations of us but rather is offering to give us everything.

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
 

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Friday, May 20, 2016

Eroticization and the unique developmental process of human persons - part 1

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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(This is an edit of a previous post from January 14, 2014 which was to be continued but was interrupted. Here this series of reflections is re-framed with a focus on our unique developmental process as human beings and the role of the process of eroticization in our development and growth as persons. Fr. Gilles Surprenant)


 We human beings are unique in our sexuality and in many other ways

It is safe to say that sexuality, though it is only one of many dimensions in the life of human beings, occupies much more place in the lives of human persons than with any other living creatures that we know to exist. 

This is without any doubt due to our unique self-awareness, our capacity and desire for self-reflection and self-understanding, which uniquely equips us for complex forms of interaction with our fellow human beings, and add to that our capacity to make deliberate choices with regards to our relationships with others of our kind, our capacity for deep interiority and spirituality and to enter into a genuine relationship with God, and  perhaps most precious of all, our freedom of will, however limited or compromised we may feel our free will to be at any given time. 

We human beings are flawed creatures, but to the extent that we are aware of our flaws, then to that extent we are able to desire to improve and to make efforts to do so. However, to the extent that we are in denial of our flaws or simply ignorant of them, then to that extent do we represent a danger to ourselves as well as to others, especially those who are in any way weak, fragile, or in any way vulnerable or somehow incapable of standing their ground in the face of encounter with or intrusion from others. 

We find a broad spectrum on the human landscape

When we consider the broad range of persons within the spectrum of human beings we can observe at the near end persons manifesting an exquisite fine tuning of sensibilities to the reality and feelings of others combined with deep respect for the life conditions and for the free will of others. Such people have a rich diversity of relationship to offer anyone interested and willing to engage in conversation and other activities with them. 

At the far end of the spectrum we sadly find human beings that seem not to resemble much that could be considered human. They seem totally absorbed by their own impulses and manifest little of anything resembling conscience, judgement, awareness of others as distinct human persons, or self-restraint. Women of this sort employ any strategies to get from others whatever it is that they seek: sexual activity, money, status, or any number of marks of attention or affection, or simply to exercise control over others. Men of this sort rather resemble dangerous predators in the animal kingdom, in their insatiable appetite to satisfy their impulses they are ever ready to pounce on the weak and unsuspecting and suck out of them every drop of sense satisfaction that they can get. 

Sociopaths are human individuals who have no sense of others as distinct human beings with their own value, feelings, dignity, and autonomy of will, such that society perceives them as hostile towards society, towards other human beings, and therefore dangerous. 
Psychopaths are human individuals who are seriously mentally unstable and whose speech and behaviors are unpredictable, and hence, also dangerous. Male sexual offenders, who use others for their own sexual satisfaction, might resemble a large male organ on wheels running out of control like a vehicle careening down a mountain road without brakes. All the faculties that normally distinguish a human being from other primates and individuals in the animal kingdom are co-opted and re-wired to serve the male organ and all its impulse drives towards satisfaction, however ephemeral such satisfaction may be.

In between these two extremes on the human spectrum between personality development at one end and personality disorder at the other end we find a full range of variations in human development for any given individual: self-awareness, self-possession, self-understanding, self-restraint, self-governance, self-mastery, maturity, autonomy, responsibility, religiosity, faith, and altruism....

In this first part on "Eroticization and the unique developmental process of human persons" let us begin with a consideration of what seems most urgent, that is, all that is wrong with human sexuality such as sexual abuse and sexual violence towards others.

Sexual abuse is a crime against humanity

The sexual exploitation and abuse of one human being by another is a crime against humanity, a crime against the person itself, because it is a violation of who that person is in their very identity as a human being by way of their sexual dimension . Our sexuality is an integral facet of our distinctiveness and who we are as human persons. We are living beings with a capacity to not only relate to others and to care for them but also to do so in a great variety of distinct ways, with degrees of intimacy and expression appropriate to our age, gender, the nature of the relationship, and what it is that we want to express or give; all of which is deeply tied into our freedom as individuals and our capacity for meaning and responsibility. With human beings, sexuality is not a mere function of a brute instinct genetically ordered towards the continuation of the species.

Sexual and other forms of abuse are particularly heinous when committed against children and other fragile, vulnerable, or innocent beings. They become doubly tragic when those perpetrating the abuse were first of all victims themselves and as a result the distorted product of having in their past suffered sexual or other forms of abuse, often at an early and deeply impressionable age. 

One benefit, admittedly an incalculably costly one, of the current scandal of sexual abuse of children and other innocent and vulnerable people is that the great wall of taboo and silence has begun to crumble. By virtue of the actions that have been courageously taken by victims, those who support them, and those individuals and agencies who represent them, but also by virtue of church leaders who have made manifest their willingness to receive complaints and exercise responsible action in response to them, we can finally observe that social taboos are shattering and it is becoming more possible to talk of these things openly and therefore to begin to work together towards solutions and better safeguards. Although the existence of abuse is tragic and sad, increasingly its victims are willing to courageously come forward to denounce what was done to them and bring this terrible crime to public awareness and to the attention of authorities.

Only a few decades ago our society was so deeply locked in by intense taboos that there seemed to be a "conspiracy of silence" around any hints or signs of the possibility of sexual or other forms of abuse. It was as if a whole society was trapped in a stage of denial, with the result that the full weight of responsibility for a victim's abuse fell on the shoulders of the victim himself or herself. It was not out of cruelty or ill will that people and those in authority acted this way for the most part, but rather more out of fear of the unknown, fear of supporting a false accusation, and fear of discovering that such horrible things are actually happening to people. Even mothers seemed incapable or unwilling to believe their own children when they complained of having suffered unmentionable acts damaging their innocence. Whatever the reasons, denial just was.

It was as if people individually, families, social institutions, and society as a whole could simply not bear even the remote possibility that sexual or other forms of abuse could be happening in their own intimate circle, in their society which they considered "enlightened", or in their church they believed to be "Christian". It was not yet the age of "reality therapy" or "reality TV" or talk shows. Thankfully we have passed into another season of human society, one in which we are more willing to admit to ourselves the truth and to deal justly and fairly with the reality, whatever that might be in any given situation.


The complex nature of the human person and sexuality 

The fundamental and horrible truth of the matter is that human nature, including our sexuality, has been weakened, damaged, tainted since the dawn of human history. The abominable practices and the pain and suffering engendered by misuse of human sexuality is primarily what has caused - almost across the board worldwide - religious leaders to condemn sexual infidelity and all forms of unusual sexual practices as evil or at least to be avoided if not condemned.

Human history, literature, and culture chronicles the many ways in which human beings cause others to suffer whenever they use their sexuality as a way of taking pleasure, often at the expense of others. While men and women differ by design in their naturally occurring genders - with males more intrusive and females more inclusive - sexual predators can and do exist among members of both genders, even if they admittedly can appear and operate very differently with different degrees of destructiveness in the consequences and aftermath of their acts of deception, seduction, manipulation, and sexual exploitation.

Particularly in our day there is an increasingly universal acceptance that sexual expression and even experimentation are acceptable providing they take place among consenting adults. Yet, increasingly there are those bold and aggressive enough to contend that such sexual activity and experimentation is even acceptable by adults to children and youth, even without consent. These opinions and ideological positions do not take into account the human developmental process nor the subsidiary process of eroticization, nor the importance of free and informed consent and the minimal autonomy that comes with adulthood.

If we are ever to understand what is going on, how the trends in human thought, feeling, conviction, and practice are constantly evolving - and often in ways that bode ill for the common good - we need to have a closer look at the nature of the human person and of our sexual dimension in a dynamic way that makes provision for and takes into account our developmental process and the unique experience and awareness of individual persons.

If sex were not pleasurable, then there would be little need for this dialogue because few would engage in sexual activity. It is because of the pleasure associated with sex and sexual feelings that the human impulse to engage in it is so strong. Sexual pleasure is part of the design of the human person and is directly related to human beings' fertility and power of reproduction. Unlike most other creatures in the animal kingdom human beings enjoy self-awareness, free will, awareness of others as other, and so can and do engage in sexual activity with or without the intention of reproducing, with or without varying degrees of awareness of and of attention to the experience and well being of the other.


Sex is good, yes, but not in every instance

Even reluctant or prudish religious authorities have traditionally granted that sex was good with the belief that it was designed and created by God, but only for the transmission of life and the survival of the species. They could not accept that sexual pleasure was good in and of itself, but rather that humanity's capacity for that pleasure had irremediably been corrupted and could never be regained. Paradise and human innocence were lost forever. Christians with a more complete understanding of human nature appreciate that human sexuality is perfectly designed for human couples when engaged in by one woman with one man for life and that the power of sex by design binds them together, activates their combined fertility, allows them to mutually give pleasure and comfort to each other, and over time can evolve and grow with them and their relationship. As they share their lives together, grow as a couple, and develop their family, their sexual union intensifies their mutual attachment, fidelity, and solicitude, that is, their disposition and motivation to look out for the other and to deliberately put the other's interests first, ahead of their own.

Pope John Paul II, the Bishop of Rome from October 16, 1978 to April 2, 2005 was of this view and went much further and deeper in his development of thought on what he called the "theology of the body", which emerged over time from the philosophical reflection he engaged in from his youth on human meaning, freedom, love, and the powers of "the acting person". He held the view that human beings give meaning to their lives by their deliberate choices and that the highest meaning comes in the freedom to make of oneself a total gift to the other. He called this the "law of the gift". His work continues to be promoted all over the world for the common good.


 Why do people pervert sex into violence?

Human sexuality is deeply tied into the nature of the human person, our freedom, our capacity for giving meaning to our life, and our capacity to be open to and care for the other. Sexual abuse is particularly evil because the aggressor "takes" sexual pleasure at the expense of the pain and trauma caused by the violation of the dignity and integrity of the one who is in this way victimized. Even when the sexual violation causes minimal harm, the act of force against the other's will remains a traumatic and damaging experience.

Why do people then perpetrate such violence one upon another? The answer can only be found in the toxic mixture of the beauty, goodness, attractiveness, power, high purpose, and desirability of our "sexual powers" on the one hand, and the distorted or underdeveloped humanity of the perpetrator on the other hand. By analogy we understand that a hammer in the hand of a sculptor like Michelangelo can be instrumental in creating such inspiring sculpture as the Pieta, but in the hand of a vandal can destroy a thing of beauty, or wound or kill living things and even people. In addition, each destructive act further damages the perpetrator.


The beauty and power of human sexuality 

So it is with our human sexuality, which can be seen as a capacity for tenderness. Human beings don't simply have sexuality, but we are sexual beings. Our sexuality informs, colors, and is informed by our whole being at every level. Comforting a child engages our human sexuality, our capacity for tenderness, but in a healthy person does not generally involve sexual arousal or pleasure. These tend not to activate without specific stimulation, unlike other functions which operate automatically. As a human being develops normally, a wide and extensive variety of meaningful experiences, sensations, and gestures enrich each person's capacity and skill in expressing tenderness in ways appropriate to each relationship and in communicating with others in exchanges that can be either mutually enriching or mutually harmful, damaging, and destructive.

Our sexuality can be considered healthy when we have effective safeguards allowing us to distinguish different types of relationships. Clear distinctions and understanding give us freedom to express a wide range of tenderness - actively in giving and passively in receiving - without any confusion from sexual arousal. The appropriateness, meaning, and significance of sexual expression from a casual glance or tone of voice all the way to the intimacy of the marriage bed takes place in a continuum defined and circumscribed by the nature of each relationship, time, circumstance, and the meaning we wish to give it. In all its manifestations human sexuality can be considered most noble when it seeks and effectively accomplishes the good of the other.

Genital sexuality adds to the expression of tenderness a rich universe of meanings specific to the union of a man and a woman committed to each other for life and the outcome of their sexual fertility the transmission of life itself by the procreation and education of children. The intensity of the sexual union of a married couple strengthens them to face their many challenges and duties as parents and is the fire at the heart of the family. Sexual activity outside of a woman / man couple with a mutual commitment for life sets aside the procreative function, the stability of a life commitment, or other dimensions which have repercussions on those engaging in sexual expression and those affected by it, such as the offspring and other circles around them.

In our day both men and women who understand themselves to have same sex attraction have sought to normalize sexual activity between two persons of the same gender. Any sexual expression between two persons of the same gender must necessarily stretch the imagination and have recourse to means that in the end can only simulate the loving union of a man and woman. In the end such simulations remain a parody of what nature has established as the standard and can only generate fertility through artificial manipulation.

Still, there is no denying the human impulse to love and be loved, to found a family or household, and to engage in the rearing of children. The "gay lobby" has in various places obtained the right to engage in a civil same gender union and same sex couples do acquire children by artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization, surrogate pregnancy, or simply through adoption, and do their best to perform the full range of tasks needed as parenting by human children. However, the act of fertilization bringing each new human life into existence can only be an act of loving union of the parents when these are a mother and father joined together.

There is also no denying that our most deeply rooted experience and imagery of couple love remains one man and one woman who commit themselves to each other for life in order to found a family. They have between them all that they need through their own fertility to conceive and rear their own children. In addition, in this traditional model of marriage and the family, the children are not denied their right to have a parent of each gender for their optimal formation and development through their various stages of formation: infancy, childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood. There is apparently embedded in the human psyche a need to have a parent "of each kind". This innate felt need goes way beyond a child simply comparing itself and its home situation to that of other kids at school, which merely mirrors and accentuates an innate need.


Human sexual development requires mentoring

On considering human nature, it is easily observable that human beings don't just fall into a perfect experience and sexual life stance, but that this requires careful upbringing, learning, mentoring, integrating, and living. We also need to learn to seek and give forgiveness when our expressions of tenderness and sexual union are clumsy or selfish and manipulate, take, and hurt rather than serve, give, and care. When our sexuality and capacity for tenderness are poorly formed, mistakenly informed, or incompletely matured, all kinds of harm can be done on both parts in the missteps, accidents, manipulations, and misunderstandings that occur.

We can see this in every generation and just about in every life. Married couples must invest selfless effort to develop their sexuality so that it becomes a mutual venture that enhances their union and bears good fruit for others around them beginning with their family. The more selflessly parents live their sexuality as a couple, the more benefits their children receive. They develop a healthier sexual outlook from the mentoring they receive.


Wandering away from the original design

Other human couple forms have the disadvantage of not having the differentiation and complementarity that are inherent in the basic man-woman couple. This natural difference seems to be a fundamental component in the permanence and stability of being committed to each other for life, and the deepening of their relationship that comes from long term fidelity and exclusivity. In embracing the design in the male / female couple model human beings discover a unique form of freedom that comes from sharing a deep personal relationship with their Creator God as the true and existential source of their love, fidelity, and fertility. When fertility is taken apart from its power to give pleasure and unite, one consequence in our times is that fertility is regarded as a curse or threat and medicated as a disease. In this scenario now playing out it is easy to understand how sexuality can become an arena of disagreement and unpleasantness if not of selfish manipulation and abuse.

When children are brought into the world in a family where at its center the parent couple do not live their sexuality with the purest of motives and the clarity and freedom of unselfish love, one can begin to understand how all kinds of misunderstandings, manipulation, hurts, selfishness, and deviations can occur. It is the tragic truth that it is most often and primarily in the family that children are violated and abused in various ways, including sexually, where parents or other adults take advantage of children precisely because they cannot assert themselves and are in their innocence most vulnerable and easy to manipulate and exploit.

Once sexuality is in this way perverted in the young, they struggle for their whole lives attempting to regain what was ripped away from them, ever desiring to recover their original innocence and come to live a more wholesome sexuality in accord with our fundamental design for happiness and togetherness. Those who are fortunate are able to find help and gradually sanitize or make healthier their sexuality, but others become inclined to reproduce in their own lives the abuse and perversions of sexual tenderness that marked them in their innocent years and inflict it upon others. It is much like the children of alcoholics who tend to gravitate towards another alcoholic when they are seeking out a spouse or life partner simply because that is the type of human personality with which they became familiar while growing up. No matter how twisted and hurtful a parent might be, the child's need for love is so dependent and total that it even soaks up drop by drop what love may exist, however perverted, in the most depraved of parents.


Exquisitely sensitive spouses or dangerous rapists

It is the very same raw material of human sexual personality that begins at conception and develops through gestation, birth, infancy, childhood, youth, and adulthood. Why, then, do some become exquisitely sensitive and loving spouses, some struggle with clumsy attempts to please, others have trouble setting aside their own desires and come across as "taking" rather than "giving", and still others become predators: manipulators, violators, rapists, pedophiles, ephebophiles, in short, dangerous offenders and monsters?

It is impossible to understand these differences outside of a "developmental model" of the human person as a sexual human being in contrast to a human being who simply happens to have sexual organs. A human being is not simply born to just exist and be the way it is, unchanging, to continue unchanged in the manner of a stone. On the contrary, a human being is a single living entity that grows until it stops growing and dies. All of a human being's experiences accumulate and interact with all the others throughout its developmental stages and then continues to do so throughout its entire life cycle. You cannot examine or understand a person's sexuality without striving to understand the entire person, at all of its levels and facets, because everything within them is interrelated. You "pull" on one aspect and the whole fabric is pulled along.


Human development is a long and complicated process

Before the advent of discoveries and advancement in our understanding of the human person, it was generally thought - and many people have not caught up with the social sciences and still think - that a person is "born that way", the way they are, and that they cannot change. Advances in scientific observation, analysis, theorizing, and experimentation have revealed that the living entity called a human being is a physical and psychic organism with a wide and complex range of emotive experience as well as expression, and in addition has a more mysterious spiritual dimension that is more difficult to observe and quantify.

The human being begins its development with the genetic material it "receives" from its mother and father and from the moment of conception also absorbs untold billions of "impressions" from both the mother and the father during gestation in the womb and then continues to take in untold quantities of "impressions" from its parents, other people, other living things, and everything else that exists all around it, as well as its own inner processes, moment by moment, hour by hour, day by day, which in turn are also very complex.

Each individual has received from its genetic material certain "predispositions" to a variety of conditions, inclinations, sensitivities, and sensibilities. In almost every instance of identical twins, there are marked differences in temperament, sensitivity, and so many other factors of personality that cannot be explained any other way. As time passes and it takes in quantities of sensations and experiences, the individual undergoes the ongoing cumulative effect of all that it is taking in, its ongoing growth, and a developing and constantly operating process of "updating" or "rebooting" for understanding and interpretation, judgement and orientation, choice and integration, responsibility and freedom. Sensations, perceptions, emotions, thoughts, interpretations, awareness, feelings, moral judgements, free choices, the acceptance of responsibility and responsibilities, freedom to change, deliberate commitments, ongoing learning, admission of fault, and efforts to improve are only some of the multiple facets and operations taking place more or less simultaneously that taken together are in a continuous way formative of the human person.There is more going on within each human person than the person itself can keep track of or than any computer could compute.


Human development - becoming a person

In the social sciences it is now generally accepted that the human being is a dependent entity from the moment of its conception until it reaches maturity. We could say that every human being receives from conception all the necessary "raw material" to become human and, as he or she develops, must accept to participate in its own formation and development while accepting the formation and caring of others, and in turn, learn to care for others. One becomes a mature adult, with at least the essential elements and abilities of an adult, after having experienced 8 developmental stages from conception until around twenty-five: fetus, body identity, identity of the doer, individual identity, psychosexual identity, psychosocial identity, identity of the self, and early adult. The adult is the human being who has sufficiently developed to now be able to take care of itself and survive, but also to take care of others independently of whether there is much in return.

We more easily recognize these stages as gestation, infancy (0-1), toddler (1-2 1/2), budding individual (2 1/2 - 3), first parental love or Oedipus Complex i.e. nightmare stage (3-6), the "flocking" by gender stage (6-12), teen age (12-18), and "getting a life" (18-25). Along the way, each person develops "preferences" of sensation, outlook, expression, reaction, and action. During the first year of life after birth, some prefer to be more "captative" / active / grabbing, while others prefer to be more "receptive" / passive / receiving. This preference generalizes in everything and gives each personality its particular inclination. The other way remains possible but won't come naturally and will always require more effort.

During the "potty training" stage, some become more "retentive" and hold things in, hold onto things; while others become more "eliminative" and release things, let them go more easily. This generalizes to every aspect of life from personal hygiene to money to generosity of time and spirit. Again, as in the previous stage, the other way remains possible but won't come naturally and will always require more effort.

From the stage where children "fall in love" with their opposite gender parent (3-6), some males befriend their "intrusive" mode (generally experienced as wanting to be like Daddy) - which is inscribed in the very design of their body - and let it become their natural way of being manly in the world. Some - either because they have been harmed by extreme forms of male intrusiveness or simply lacked an available or admirable model - prefer the female "inclusive" mode (they prefer to be like Mommy or like a very inclusive father). As a result being intrusive takes more effort and energy every time they need to employ that mode, particularly if the mother was intrusive in a way that felt angry or controlling or threatening. If the mother did not esteem or respect the father, he would appear less admirable in the boy's eyes, which would make it more difficult for him to identify with his father's maleness or male mode.

During that same stage when little girls "fall in love" with their Daddy, some females befriend their "inclusive" mode (generally experienced as wanting to be like Mommy) - which is inscribed in the very design of their body and let it become their natural way of being womanly in the world. Some - either because they have been harmed by extreme forms of female inclusiveness or simply lacked an available model - prefer the male "intrusive" mode (they prefer to be like Daddy or like a very intrusive mother). As a result being inclusive takes more effort and energy every time they need to employ that mode, particularly if the father was inclusive in a way that seemed weak or withdrawing, or humiliating. If the father did not esteem or respect the mother, she would appear less admirable in the girl's eyes, which would make it more difficult for her to identify with her mother's femaleness or female mode.

In their teenage years, boys and girls try out their newly discovered personal preferences and abilities and find that they are energized when they are with others and may become increasingly extroverted, or they may find that being with others is more draining than energizing, so that they may become more introverted. These dispositions may also tend to vary in accord with the size of the group and their familiarity with the others and degree of acceptance by the others; as well as their own internal dynamics as they experience what energizes or drains them emotionally. Some will be more inclined to be leaders and others followers and still others, either role depending on the circumstances and the others involved.


Most of us have some "wrinkles" in our development

Social scientists, philosophers, theologians, varied other professionals, and people in other walks of life will define what is a human person from a variety of viewpoints and a wide range of parameters. What does it take to become fully human? If an individual gets stuck in the first stage of life, infancy, when it was the center of the universe and the mother was still felt to be part of its own body, then as an apparent adult, this individual turns out to behave so selfishly with such little conscience that we call them sociopath - without awareness of others as having a life of their own - or psychopaths - so intent on using others for their own ends that they are actually dangerous to life and limb.This is the case of those who in the face of the prospect of being abandoned will kill their spouse, children, and finally themselves, because they suffocate emotionally at the very thought of being abandoned. They are psychologically like the infant that whimpers, then cries, then screams, then begins to choke when its primary care giver is out of sight and no longer responds.

Those who get "stuck" at the potty training stage may appear as extremely retentive or miserly or up tight, on the one hand, or on the other hand eliminative or spendthrift or irresponsibly carefree. Such an individual may be developmentally incapable of caring for themselves or for others - unable to put out what it takes to care for themselves or for others or unable to conserve what resources or time or energy that living life fully and caring for others takes.

Those who get stuck at stage four - 2 1/2 to 3 - may never have become an "individual" in their own right, either because they became so merged with a needy parent or parents that, discouraged from paying attention to their own feelings and needs, they became paralyzed, incapable, or incompetent as an individual human person. Such an individual, perennially deprived of individuality or personal identity, would be hard pressed to properly care for others, or for that matter valuing and caring for their own life, and as a result being ever depleted for lack of self care. If they manage to heroically care for others, it would then be at extreme cost to themselves, being unable to distinguish differences in priority among the needs and wants of others and their own needs and wants, unable to reconcile the needs of others and their own.

Those who experience difficulties in befriending their own gender come to such difficulties from any number of factors: the degree or lack of masculinity of their father, absence of a father, frightening or humiliating distortion of a father figure, overly authoritative or controlling father, or unsteady, unstable character of their father; the degree or lack of femininity of their mother, absence of a mother, frightening or humiliating distortion of a mother figure, overly controlling or suffocating mother, or volatile, unreliable character of their mother; which factors can be exacerbated by one or several occurrences of one or more forms of abuse: emotional, physical, psychological, sexual; or deprivations that are normally associated with social instability, poverty, famine, homelessness, and violence such as war, unemployment, racial or other forms of negative discrimination, religious or other forms of persecution, and so on.

Healthy, impoverished, or damaged development at any of these earlier life stages has cumulative effects when the individual enters into the subsequent more social stages of human development, which in turn can accentuate or open up delays in development of various facets of the emerging human person. Childhood and teenage bullying, social pressures to conform and even to perform anti-social or criminal acts, neglect or abandonment by significant adults, extreme social upheaval and countless other factors can enhance, hold back, or demolish an individual's human development up to that point in their young lives.

The initial result when the individual "comes of age" and is recognized as "an adult" will be a human individual that is capable of a minimum of self care, awareness of others as independent individuals with their own value and right to exist, ability to live and act in the world and society, and ability to assume the rights and duties of a citizen and member of society. For many, this initial plateau or goal is delayed until later as they struggle to survive, to help their family or basic group to survive, all the while trying to welcome the challenges and events of life as opportunities to continue to grow and to develop into fully functional human persons.

When we stop to consider all the "accidents" that impinge on the young impressionable and developing lives of children and youth, it is astounding that so many people develop as well as they do and become fairly well intentioned and functioning human beings. It appears that the human being has more innate resilience than one would at first expect, given our simultaneously high degree of fragility. In part two we will examine more closely the unique process of eroticization and its huge impact in the development of the human person.

...to be continued....

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
 

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Friday, April 22, 2016

Fatima, the Church, and the World – Standing Together Before God

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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A reflection in response to the fear of trusting Pope Francis to lead us in faithfully following Jesus

There is considerable material on the Internet by Catholics who consider themselves "traditional" on the state of our Roman Catholic Church and her relationship with Our Lady and her message to the Church and world at Fatima in 1917. Some regret the hierarchy no longer declares fit for hell all those who are in mortal sin or are not Catholic. They repudiate the pastoral or maternal approach of popes since 1960 as perverse and erroneous and condemn all efforts at ecumenism and evangelization through dialogue as sacrilegious and heretical. 

They criticize so severely as to judge Pope Francis wrong in his friendliness to other Christians, Jews, Muslims, people of other religions, atheists, or people whom they could label in any way as engaging in sin or a sinful way of life or of thinking or speaking. In short, only strictly faithful Roman Catholics employing the Tridentine Mass who adhere to and continue to express the hierarchical condemnations of all errors as in the previous two millennia are among the "pure" or are truly faithful.

This is precisely how the religious leaders of his day treated Jesus and He warned that this is how they would treat his faithful disciples in every generation until his return. In his day the religious leaders accused Jesus of being impure and associating with sinners. Those who criticize and judge Pope Francis would do well to heed Jesus' word to the Apostles reported by Luke in 9:54 and unite not divide the Church. Those who preach the Good News in Jesus' Name are "with us not against us."  

He also commissioned us to follow his example, work together, and bring his light to the world. Our safety is to walk humbly with the Lord and strive to obey the Father's will as Jesus did. This is why He gave the keys to Peter and for us in our day Peter is Pope Francis; so that we might have in Peter, in Pope Francis, an opportunity to practice our obedience to God. This has always been one of the attractions for men and women to join a religious order; so that in the person of their religious superior they would have a daily opportunity to put their own will second in order to make room for the will of God.

Some conditions in the Roman Catholic Church and the world are indeed troubling. Since the time of Jesus in every time and place the darkness tried and continues to try to divide the Church and to extinguish the light of the Gospel lit by Jesus the Son of God, which He himself cautioned his disciples about while reassuring them He would remain with them and us till the end of time. In particular more recently Pope Leo XIII was shown by God that an intense and brutal trial of the Church and the world would be caused by the devil in the 20th century, in response to which he composed a prayer to St Michael the Archangel and added it as part of the concluding rites of the Holy Mass. Although the Prayer to St Michael is no longer a part of the concluding rites of the Holy Mass, we can all continue to pray this prayer frequently and call upon this powerful messenger of the Lord to protect us from the threats and traps of the evil one.

The chaos, perverse liturgies, sacrileges, destruction of sanctuaries and other abuses that took place since the Second Vatican Council are not simply due to or explainable by the liturgical reform. Such evil comes from hell as it always has, and highlights the value of Our Lady's message at Fatima. Only God can dissolve atheistic regimes and the secular influence of Masonic and other humanistic principles. The gates of hell will not prevail against his Church, as Jesus proclaimed to his Apostles when He entrusted his authority to them in the person of Peter. 

Jesus' words do not suggest a passive stance on our part as his disciples. He did not say that the gates of the Church would withstand the assaults of hell, but rather that the gates of hell would not prevail against the assaults of his disciples, his Church. Jesus commissions us in his Church to employ the weapons provided by Jesus Himself and through his Mother Mary in taking an offensive stance against the ruses and attacks that are inspired from hell, both in our personal lives and around us, in the Church and in society. Portugal was in the grip of an atheistic regime that followed Masonic principles and Our Lady brought God's solution to all such errors in her message to the world. The faith response of the faithful in Portugal allowed God to eclipse the Masonic government. It remained for the Church to consecrate Russia and for all of the faithful of the Church worldwide to put into practice the full message of Fatima so God could eclipse its influence in the world as well. Pope John Paul II did so March 25, 1984.

Liturgical abuses have been particularly grotesque in the English world aided and abetted by the poor translation of the Roman Missal of the Novus Ordo Mass in 1974, being as it was not a traditional translation but one that was made in a process of "dynamic equivalence", significantly impoverishing the Holy Mass texts as a result. The new complete Roman Missal is a worthy and reverent translation with a richer "diet" of the Word of God spread over a three year Sunday cycle and two year weekday cycle and additional readings for sacraments and other liturgies. On July 7, 2007 Pope Benedict published "Summorum Pontificum" in motu proprio restoring to our altars the Roman Missal from prior to the 1970 reform. Both traditions now belong to all Catholics. Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI after the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 called on the whole Church to reverse the liturgical abuses committed in the previous decades. We are all called to continue doing this by studying and being faithful to the Liturgy and by dropping unnecessary additions or modifications.

Abuse of holy things, disintegration of marriage and family, loss of vocations, moral collapse and rejection of God in society all still affect people in our time. As it was in Portugal in 1917 now some American RC's sense their nation has been ruled since the American Revolution of 1775 by people who follow secular Masonic principles and that these principles have also affected all of the western societies and churches. In light of the enemy's attacks on humanity we must beware as Jesus warned lest we sacrifice mercy to the letter of the law like the Pharisees did. Fear and the refusal to trust in God are consequences of the original sin and it is out of fear that we are all tempted to employ force to defend ourselves and what we value, to employ the letter of the law as a weapon, a power; rather than entrust ourselves and others to the power of God's love and mercy, justice and goodness. The Evangelist John in his first letter taught that love of God and neighbour casts out all fear.

Having reviewed testimony on various points of view I find it compelling to accept Sr Lucia's reply that Pope John Paul II's Act of Entrustment of March 25, 1984 satisfied Our Lady's request. Heaven is doing its part and so must we do ours. Much remains to be done. Our Lady calls us to live and to bring the message of Fatima to the world: to repent from sin, turn to the Lord, devoutly live the faith and the sacraments, pray and meditate on the Mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary, observe the Five First Saturdays, fast and do penance, wear the brown Scapular, and spread her message along with the Good News. Let us stand united in faith, hope, and fraternal mutual love before the world in faithful response to Jesus' prayer in John 17; that the world may believe because of the love we have for one another. 

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
 

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Tuesday, April 05, 2016

Admirable fidelity to Jesus Christ in the face of death and the onslaught of the conquering armies of Islam

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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Brief overview of the spread of Islam - Islam invasions since 680 AD

Beginning with Mohammad and under his leadership the new religion of Islam united Arabic tribes under belief in Allah, one god among those believed in by Arabic peoples, and he expanded belief in Allah and Islam - submission to Allah and belief in Mohammad as his prophet - through military campaigns of invasion. Such invasions have continued more or less continually until the modern day with the result that empires under Islam were formed, expanded, and a times waned or diminished in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Oceania.

The last greatest Muslim empire to diminish in its influence was the Ottoman Empire as European colonial policies grew in power and influence in the whole world, most notably the British Empire, which waned and diminished in its turn. WW I and WW II caused considerable upheaval in the world with the results we know today. It is not surprising to find growing Muslim unrest with the loss of Islamic political and economic power as well as with their own subjugation under colonial powers.

Much is often made of the Christian Crusades, but these campaigns to attempt to free the Holy Land to restore access to it by Christian pilgrims pale in comparison to the consistent militancy of Islam over 14 centuries of Muslim invasions and incursions into Europe and much of the known world since the time of Mohammad.

What remains most edifying, however, is the courageous but simple fidelity of Christians who refused to submit to Islam or to Muslim conquerors who sought to impose the religion and practice of Islam as initiated and propagated by Mohammad. Here is only one testimony, but a remarkable one, of 800 Christians of all ages from a little town in Italy in 1480.
 
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The 800 Martyrs of Otranto   May 13, 2013 
Faithful Witnesses of Christ Among First Saints Canonized by Pope Francis May 13, 2013

The Church now has 802 new Saints, after the first canonization that Pope Francis presided over on Sunday in Saint Peter’s Square. They are the 800 martyrs of Otranto — killed savagely by the Ottoman army in 1480, as well as two Latin American nuns who worked their whole lives at the service of the poorest and invalid: Mother Laura Montoya (1874-1949), and Mother Lupita (1878-1963). This is one of the great events planned in the Year of Faith.

Antonio Primaldo and Companions

Antonio Pezzulla, called Primaldo, is the only name that has been recorded of the 800 fishermen, artisans, shepherds and farmers of the small Italian city of Otranto, in the region of Apulia, whose blood was shed out of fidelity to Christ, during an incursion of the Ottoman army on July 29, 1480.

The martyrdom of Antonio Primaldo and his companions is set historically in the warlike context that lasted for a long time in Europe’s relations with the Ottoman Empire. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, and the siege of Belgrade in 1456, Mehmed the Conqueror tried in vain to conquer the Island of Rhodes in 1479. He then went to the end of the Italian coast, closest to the ports of Albania, already under his dominion.

In the Hands of the Ottoman Army

The Turks approached the city of Otranto, with some 150 ships and more than 15,000 men, led by the Gedik Ahmed Pasha. The city had 6,000 inhabitants and had been abandoned by the Aragonese militias, committed in Tuscany. No sooner has the siege began, which lasted 15 days, they were ordered to surrender, and ordered to renounce their faith in Christ and convert to Islam. As the inhabitants refused, the city was bombed and fell into the hands of the invaders on August 12. The inflamed army killed them mercilessly, striking them with scimitars.

Arriving at the cathedral, where a good part of the inhabitants had sought refuge, the Ottomans knocked down the door and encircled Archbishop Stefano Pendinelli, who was celebrating Holy Mass and distributing the Eucharist to those present. Archbishop Pendinelli was horribly quartered on the spot. In addition to the prelate, they killed canons, Religious and other faithful who were in the church.

Death Rather than Apostasy

The next day, the Ahmed Pasha ordered that all the survivors, some 800 men, be taken to the Turkish camp and forced to apostatize. Antonio Primaldo, a humble cloth shearer, answered firmly and immediately on behalf of all. He said they “regarded Jesus Christ as Son of God, their true Lord and God, and preferred to die a thousand times rather than deny him and become Muslims.” Commander Ahmed then ordered their execution.

Youths, adults, the elderly were led with ropes around their neck and their hands tied behind their back to the hill of Minerva, on the outskirts of the city. Before they were martyred, they comforted one another.

Primaldo, the first to suffer decapitation, stood up miraculously and stayed that way until the end of the killings. The miracle so impressed Berlabei, one of the executioners, that he flung his scimitar, confessed himself a Christian and was then impaled.

The inert bodies were left out in the open for a year in the place of execution, where they were found uncorrupted by the troops sent to liberate Otranto. In June of 1481, their remains were taken to the nearby church , “to the source of Minerva,” and on October 13 they were moved to the Cathedral. At the beginning of 1500 a chapel was built inside the Cathedral to house the relics definitively, constant object of pilgrimages.

Popular Recognition

Antonio Primaldo and his companions were recognized immediately as martyrs by the people. Every year on August 14, the local church devoutly celebrates their memory. On December 14, 1771 the decree of confirmation was issued of devotion ab immemorabili, accorded to the martyrs.

In 1988, the then archbishop of Otranto,Archbishop Vincenzo Franco, appointed the historical commission. The diocesan investigation was carried out from 1991-1993. It was recognized as valid by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on May 27, 1994. On July 6, 2007, Benedict XVI approved the decree recognizing that Blessed Antonio Primaldo and companions had been killed for their fidelity to Christ.

Canonization

“Our diocese has awaited this moment for a long time. At a time of profound crisis, the imminent canonization of our martyrs is a strong invitation to live daily martyrdom to the utmost, made of fidelity to Christ and to His Church,” writes the Archbishop Donato Negro of Otranto. The recognized miracle, needed for the mentioned decree, refers to the cure from cancer of Sister Francesca Levote, professed religious of the Poor Sisters of Saint Clare.

Benedict XVI fixed the date of the canonization in the Ordinary Public Consistory of last February 11, the day he announced his resignation from the Petrine Ministry.

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

----------------------------------------------------------------

© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
 

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