27 God created man in his image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it, rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky, over every living creature that moves on the ground.” (Genesis chapter 1)
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Today, following Holy Eucharist, at our Parish, …as in many other Parishes all over the world… we have had the ‘Blessing of the Animals’, a tradition which goes back to the times of St.Francis (around the year 1220 a.D.). Whilst children raced and the older hurried home to bring their pets for blessings, church bells summoned and another Mass was celebrated. Eventually it struck noon and amongst the many ‘woofs’, ‘meows’ …and any other imaginable sound an animal could make… there was heard a prayer. A prayer of blessing which went something like this: “Blessed are you, Lord God,
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29 “God said, “I have given you every seed-bearing plant which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree that bears fruit with seed. It will be for your food. 30 To every wild animal, to every bird of the sky, to everything that creeps along the ground, to everything that has the breath of life, I give every green plant for food.” So it was. 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. There was evening and there was morning: the sixth day.” (Genesis chapter 1)
7 "Praise the Lord from the earth, 8 clouds and snow, hail and lightning,
9 you mountains and all you hills,
10 you wild beasts and tame animals,
11 Kings of the earth and nations,
Throughout the ages, unto this very day, and in the future, God’s praises have been, are being and will continue to be written, sung and indeed lived by His Creation and all sorts of creatures!
Yet one time, when speaking, God said:
8 “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. 9 The worship they offer me is worthless, for they only teach human rules.” (Matthew chapter 15)
We'll stand by our young, agreeing to all they say,Today, 5th October 2008, at the same time I, along with fellow Catholics, was celebrating Mass, at the same time the animals were receiving blessing, at the same time I am writing this, God repeats these words!
8 “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. 9 The worship they offer me is worthless, for they only teach human rules.” (Matthew chapter 15)------------------------
…they DO want to have fun so why should we leave them yearning?
Handing them contraceptives rather than teaching them to abstain…
And then we’ll use a (special) vacuum machine
and crush the skull of the unborn.
We'll sit back relaxing, while waging wars
We’ll send them proudly …and should they die...
We’ll do business: demand more work and pay lower wages.
We’ll produce and provide a lesser good or service and raise prices.
(they won’t notice …we’ll do it in a subtle way)
We’ll allow same-sex ‘marriage’
We’ll take drugs…
We’ll ignore the needy…
We’ll hit wives and batter children…
AND
We’ll tear families apart with divorce…
"This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. The worship they offer me is worthless, for they only teach human rules." (Matthew chapter 15:8,9)
…but it’s the truth!
We do that!
(...actually i suspect we do worse too)
So maybe now’s the time to pray today’s psalm:And we shall never forsake you again:
give us life that we may call upon your name.
God of hosts, bring us back;
(Psalm 79: 15,16, 19,20)
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25031995_evangelium-vitae_en.html
