Deep Reconciliation means repentance, confession, absolution and conversion.

A Serious, Deep Reconciliation is required of this whole nation, one man at a time. 

Vic Biorseth, Saturday, June 22, 2013
http://www.CatholicAmericanThinker.com/

Deep Reconciliation:  Repent; Confess; Convert.

This, as it turns out, is a continuation of the recently published American re-evangelization page.  Shortly after publishing that page, I heard another of Fr. Eric's inspired homilies, this one on Reconciliation.  And some of the thought that it provoked involved the fact that more than faith alone had been weakened, both in Catholic and in general American society.  The Democrat Party driven program of secularization has gained tremendous ground over the many decades of its life, to the point where Christianity is regularly mocked and ridiculed in popular entertainment. 

I used to think the most terrible thing to happen to Catholicism in America involved loss of recognition of the True Presence in the Eucharist.  Many priests and bishops were offering, and many people were receiving, Holy Communion with God Himself, as a casual, normal, every-day sort of ritual celebration, to which everyone was invited.  Heavens to Betsy, mustn't leave anyone out; why, how would that make them feel. 

What Fr. Eric's homily reminded me of was the dramatic loss of recognition of, and belief in, the notion of sin itself.  And that brought back a torrent of memories of how the Catholic culture notion of sin has softened just in my short lifetime.  When I was a boy, I remember the intense arguments on Sunday mornings before Mass, over whether toothpaste was food, and whether accidentally swallowing a little toothpaste in the morning might break the pre-Communion fast, or not. 

Boy how times change.  All of America has changed, for the worse. 

The worst of the "forgotten sins" all seem to be of a sexual nature, and they all seem to have been normalized into American culture since the sexual revolution of the 60s. 

Fornication is condemned in many verses in many places in Scripture, and the Scripture has never changed.  However, the very word fornicate is out of common usage today; you seldom if ever hear it spoken.  People just do it, and people aren't particularly ashamed of it.  In fact, they will speak openly about it, and they don't see it as a sin.  An engaged couple today will often get their first apartment or house and move in together before the marriage, and that is seen as no big deal.  Why, they're engaged, after all.  Again the Scriptures have not changed.  God has not moved. 

Homosexuality is condemned in many verses in many places in Scripture, and the Scripture has never changed.  However, the very word homosexual is out of common usage today; you seldom if ever hear it spoken.  People just do it, and people aren't particularly ashamed of it.  In fact, they will speak openly about it, and they don't see it as a sin.  A homosexual couple today will often get an apartment or house and move in together, and that is seen as no big deal.  Why, they're a couple, after all.  Again the Scriptures have not changed.  God has not moved. 

With this sort of sin seen not as sin, but as normal cultural activities, can there be any wonder how it came to be that so many Americans would ever come to view the aborting of little babies to be a woman's rights issue, or a woman's health issue, and not a horrible sin unto the death of the soul?  As we have said many times and in many places, all of this began with the social acceptance of artificial contraception, which was the worst thing that ever happened to Western Civilization, let alone Christianity, let alone the Catholic Church, let alone America.  Artificial contraception, more than anything else you can name, led to our moral decline. 

We have become a degenerate people, and we have our own social acceptance of artificial contraception to thank for it.  It is time for a major turning.  It is either time for a turning, or it is too late.  It is said that it is never too late to turn back to God, and that is true, for any individual.  But it can indeed be too late for a nation, once the enemy has gained enough ground and is advancing.  All you have to do is look at our common overall entertainment, and measure the size of the moron vote to see that it may be too late already.  We have a Democrat Party out to crush Christianity, and a Republican Party ashamed of its own Christian base.  What does that tell you about America's relationship with God? 

Look around at people at large, out in the public square.  Grown men, all pierced and tattooed-up like walking freak shows, out in public with their pants down below their asses.  The public square is turning into a Circus side show.  What does that tell you about America's relationship with common sense? 

Our morality - our ability to tell right from wrong - is now turned upside down.  For many, many generations now, union-dominated public education and university academics have been indoctrinating Americans into falsehood, the news media has been propagandizing Americans into falsehood, and show-biz and celebrity have been popularizing all of this false indoctrination and propaganda.  The Democrat Party has been sponsoring, championing and promoting such things as sodomy and abortion for so long now that any opposition to those things is now seen to be immoral and intolerant.  All of education, all of the news media and all of show-biz has now been totally secularized, and they all work to further secularize the public at large. 

We who still believe are held to be intolerant bigots and homophobes, right-wing religious nut jobs, Bible-thumping fundamentalists and gun nuts.  We are even touted to be racists, by the Democrat Party, which is the Party of slavery, the Klan, Jim Crow and Segregation Forever! 

What can I say? 

Deep Reconciliation for Catholic Clergy.  When it may be seen that a majority of Catholic bishops allow, at best, and promote, at worst, this softening of the rules of Catholicism and cheapen proper faith in the Church Christ founded, then the old saying that the fish rots from the head applies.  The Church in America, and in a lot of other nations, is in dire need of a thorough house cleaning.  It would be good to start with the infamous Lavender Mafia that has corrupted so many orders and so many dioceses. 

Many think that the liturgical abuses we have all witnessed since the post-Vatican II changes were the worst of our clerical problems.  Not by a long shot.  Many a bishop has been seduced by the same false indoctrination and propaganda that has begun to lead the larger culture.  Not only do they hold a more tolerant and softened view of the sins of fornication and sodomy (where they don't ignore them altogether) but they join the parade on false issues such as the Green Movement, the anthropomorphic Global Warming hoax, etc. 

They, too, have been tricked and recruited into the cause of growing the government to solve what they think are global problems.  But the unfortunate truth is that they are cooperating with a program of growing the government just for the sake of growing the government. They need to return their attention to ecclesial matters, and to a correct recognition of sin, and to adoption of an unflinching, unvarnished preaching of the original Gospel message.  In all circumstances, they need to oppose growing the civil government.  Again, God has not moved.  

As an ordinary layman, I am no one to tell any bishop or any priest how to get right with God and with His Church.  But I have eyes to see and ears to hear, and the corruption of the Church in America is not only visible, it is palpable.  See the Smoke of Satan page for how deeply corruption is imbedded in the USCCB.  We can no longer trust our largest organization of bishops. 

In my opinion, it has gotten so bad that it may not be able to be corrected short of radical restorative action by a Pope.  Most of these guys are probably too proud to honestly reconcile, one man at a time. 

The object of all of this is reconciliation, reform and return to grace.  Now I know, there are denominations that believe the once saved, always saved dictum of Calvin, even despite Philippians 2:12, among other refuting Scriptures.  And, of course, there is another dictum of Calvin that says that only the elect will be saved.  Thus, there are Protestants out there who feel they are perfectly free to sin all they want to, and suffer no consequences.  They are (I hope) a small minority among Protestants. 

The aspect of reconciliation that is unique to Catholics is - absolution!  This is no small thing.  We need to hear the words of the Lord, actually absolving us of our sin, and sending us forth to sin no more.  The two times that a Catholic priest stands in persona Christi - in the actual person of Christ Himself - is when:

1. He absolves us of our sins in the sacrament of Confession.
2. He says the words of Consecration and elevates the Host above the Altar in the Holy Eucharist.

This is real.  Just as the ordinary, unconsecrated host is transformed into the actual sacred Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord, right there at the Altar, the priestly words of absolution actually cleanse us of our sins.  When we hear the words:

We are transformed, from our lost and sinful state to an actual state of Grace.  It's the reality of it that most Protestants and all unbelievers cannot yet begin to recognize.  Reconciliation and Eucharist are just two of the seven Sacraments, but they are the ones that involve the priest stepping into the person of our Lord for a moment, and for our benefit.  These two holy sacraments highlight three realities that most of the world today cannot recognize:

1. The reality of sin.
2. The reality of Reconciliation.
3. The reality of Christ in the Eucharist.

We do it to cooperate with the free grace God gives us, and with our own redemption, purchased at such a great price.  When you know what this Grace means, you will seek to increase it.  This is real. 

Deep Reconciliation for the Military.  All of the above applies doubly to all members of the military.  It is vitally important for America and the world that the military remain honorable, and "good".  Despite any Chickafied revision of the military mission by over-educated fools, there is one and only one very singular mission of the American military. 

It is the job of the military to kill people and break things.  That is their profession.  They are rigorously trained, and they are provided with the best weaponry, technology and support that can be produced, in order to enable them to apply irresistible, dominating force against any enemy, anywhere, in defense of our Constitution. 

The mission of the military is war.  Killing people and breaking things. 

What happens if they are secularized, or otherwise turned from our national Judeo-Christian Ethos?  What happens if they are somehow turned from being good men? 

Answer: Decline into utter barbarity. 

I have said, in many ways and in many places in this site, that the ultimate goals of Comrade Obama, peace be upon him, and his Democrat Party, and his Mainstream News Media, and his unions, and his public education system, and his upper academia, and all of his ever-growing, giant government bureaucracies, is to dismantle and destroy the Constitution of the United States, piece by piece.  That is what he means by Fundamental Transformation. 

Now, that is a vital point.  Everything this administration is doing is causing chaos of some sort, and chaos is always required as preparation for revolution, or, transformation.  All chaotic situations, always, demand government action, and, of course, government growth, and an upward migration of power from the people to the government.  Most all federal level bureaucracies are un-Constitutional governmental regulating, administering and governing entities, at his command.  Our bureaucracies are what the Russians used to call Soviets. 

The Military Oath.  The transformational purposes of our President and the sworn duty of our military seem to be at odds.  The Presidential oath of office is an oath to protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.  The Framers never envisioned an opponent of all that is in the Constitution actually being  elected President.  The Presidential oath of office is meaningless to this President; he violates it daily.  It was a photo-op; nothing more. 

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, directs the President to enforce the law.  This President picks and chooses which laws he will enforce, which is a violation of his oath, a violation of the Constitution, and a crime.  (The Constitution is law; violation of law is criminal.)  Border security law is not enforced; immigration law is not enforced; voter-intimidation law is selectively enforced; etc., etc., etc.  Purposely so. 

Before any Soldier, Sailor, Marine, Airman or Coast-guardsman puts on his uniform, he swears a solemn oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and to bear true faith and allegiance to the same ... and includes the words "So help me God."  That is what he swears to defend, and to bear allegiance to.  Not home; not family; not soil; not the flag; not our nation.  Our Constitution. 

What needs to be remembered today is that the Constitution is America.  It Constitutes America.  It is an idea; it is an ideology.  The Constitution, as the supreme law of the land, lays out the design of the American government, and provides its operating instructions.  If the Constitution goes, America, as Constituted, ceases to exist. 

Before this administration leaves office, all who ever took such an oath will be sorely tested. 

The Constitution represents the formal "organization" of government spoken of in the Declaration of Independence, as explained in the Founding Principles.  The whole purpose for the organization (Constitution) was to protect the founding principles; the natural, God-given rights to equal treatment, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  The rights that are "self evident" and written on the hearts of men.  This is from the Natural Law, which comes from God.  

What the new recruit swears allegiance to, and swears to defend, invoking God, is basic American citizen civil rights; rights that were born of the most fundamental, natural law of God Almighty.  He swears that the Constitution will keep doing what it was designed to do.  In his allegiance to the Constitution, he indirectly protects himself, his family, his community and his nation, from any other government, and even from this government. 

Lawful versus Unlawful Orders.  "You are not paid to think; you are paid to do, and I, and I alone, will tell you what to do!"  Those words or similar ones should be familiar to anyone who has survived the grueling testing and grinding physical, emotional and mental stresses of basic training.  And, for the purposes of turning men into soldiers, those words are true; but only on the surface, and only in training.  Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Airmen and Coast-guardsmen are, indeed, paid to think.  They are required to think. 

Our military is under not only the Constitution, but at a lower level, the Uniform Code of Military Justice.  That code demands that they obey the lawful orders of superiors.  It also demands that they disobey any unlawful orders of superiors.  "I was only following orders" is no defense for committing a crime.  This is America; our military is American.  We are different.  Our history proves that when a military man commits a crime, he is punished, and just following orders is never a defense. 

When it comes to Constitutional law, or law legislated under the Constitution, the oath takes precedence.  That means that our military cannot do the things the British military did, which preceded our Declaration and the Revolutionary War.  Chief among these violations of civil rights was the issuance of the general or blanket warrant, under which the Redcoats would do invasive house-to-house searches, for nothing in particular, just anything suspicious.  On the authority of the King. 

Our Fourth Amendment in the Bill of Rights of the Constitution was written to prevent that very thing.  Under the Fourth Amendment, we Americans have a civil right to be secure in our persons, property and private communications.  We now know that this President is using the NSA to use sneaky technology to gather and permanently record all American citizen communications, without warrant, and even without citizen knowledge.  Any member of the military who cooperates in this crime commits a criminal act.  (It is a crime for the President, too, but it doesn't matter, because the Attorney General is equally criminal, and works exclusively for the President, not for the law of the land.) 

The Test that is to Come.  General MacArthur's farewell speech at West Point emphasized Duty, Honor, Country.  That is what our military is all about.  He spoke of the Long Grey Line of past cadets and military men, who had preserved the ideal of America thus far.  Here is an excerpt from that speech:

The military sense of duty involves strong, solid moral commitment due to an ideal.  The willingness to even die for an idea, which is encapsulated in our Constitution.  Could there be any higher honor than to commit oneself, even unto death itself, to defense of the citizen civil rights enumerated in the Constitution?  It is the idea itself that makes, or Constitutes if you will, the American nation. To defend the Constitution is to defend America. 

The problem our military must wrestle with today involves the fact that the military sworn oath involves both obedience to the President, and defense of the Constitution.  What we see today is a clearly anti-Constitutional President.  He enjoys the full support of the Democrat Party, and no discernible resistence from the Republican Party leadership.  Congress and the Court allow him to do as he pleases, and the Constitution may be damned. 

Before this President leaves office, the military will be put to an unusual test, involving violation of some part of the Constitution, or violation of lawfully legislated law under the Constitution.  And they will be called to remember Duty, Honor, Country, and to stand tall. 

The first duty of the man who has undergone deep reconciliation is to God, and His law.  Once that reconciliation has taken place, everything else becomes more clear and more simple.  Everything falls into its rightful place and makes more sense.  It is the Constitution that must be defended, and when an officer, or a President, works to oppose the Constitution, he must be disobeyed. 

If any military man thinks his oath was a small, unimportant thing, or that God is unaware of the words he uttered with his hand raised, he is mistaken.  If he violates his oath of allegiance to the Constitution, in my mind, he commits a fatal sin, a sin unto the death of his soul.  But the President is working to secularize the military, even as he works to increase the number of Moslems in the ranks. 

My advice is to make your reconciliation, or your new state of grace, a public thing.  Wear your dress uniform to Mass, or to Church service, or to Synagogue.  Be seen in public with a Bible in your hands.  Let the Gospel light shine through you.  You are an example, a model for others.  Everywhere you go, everything you do, people are watching.  Be a shining example of the honor and the decency of the American fighting man. 

Let us pray.

Lord, help us to return to you with repentant hearts and commitment to serve you.  We repent of every sin, not only because of the just punishment due, but because they offend you, who are all good. 

Lord, help us to make of our nation a worthy, honorable and decent people whose worldly goal is truth, and true justice, in your name. 

Lord, touch the hearts of the clerical order, that more of them might  come worthily into your grace, and lead the way for the rest of us. 

Lord, heal all the wounded souls of our war fighters, protect them from falsehood and illegal orders, grant them discernment and a sense of honor, and strengthen and hold them in your Grace.  If any fall in battle, we beg you Lord, to see not their sins, but their willing sacrifice for others, and for the very idea of citizen freedom and liberty. 

We pray this in the holy name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. 

Amen. 

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Afterthoughts.  A Marine veteran friend once told me that there is no such thing as an ex-Marine.  Once a Marine, always a Marine, he would say.  That which is formed in the Marine crucible is formed permanently. 

In a similar manner, the oath taken upon induction into the American military is a permanent oath; it has no expiration date.  Although we are no longer under the Uniform Code of Military Justice once we leave the service, we remain under the solemn oath we swore to maintain allegiance to our Constitution.  We swore it.  We raised our hands and we said it, and we said "So help me God."  It is our word.  It is our honor. 

We owe it to our branch, our corps, our unit, our fallen, our nation and our God to keep it, and to never falter in our sworn allegiance. 

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Sarcastic Acronym Hover-Link Footnotes: For the convenience of those readers using devices that lack a mouse, these footnotes are provided for all webpages, in case any webpage contains any hover-links. (If you don't have a mouse, you can't "hover" it over a link without clicking just to see the simple acronym interpretation. Click any footnote link to see the acronym and a detailed explanation; "Hover" the mouse over it just to see the simple interpretation.)

SLIMC¹ Secularist Liberal Intellectual Media Complex
GESGOEAEOT² Gradually, Ever So Gradually, Over Eons And Eons Of Time
PEWAG³ Punctuated Equilibrium's Wild-Assed Guess
TTRSTF⁴ Them There Real Scientifical-Type Fellers
TTRSPTF⁵ Them There Real Smart Perfesser-Type Fellers
TTRSJTF⁶ Them There Real Smart Journalistical-Type Fellers
SNRTACBT⁷ Surely No Right Thinking Adult Could Believe Today
STNSEACPB⁸ Surely Today No Serious Educated Adult Could Possibly Believe
WDN⁹ We Don't Know
BMDFP¹⁰ Baboons, Mongrel Dogs, Filthy Pigs and ...
HBAACOTE¹¹ Human Beings Are A Cancer On The Earth
ACLU¹² Anti-Christian Litigation Union
FLORMPORIF¹³ Flagrant Liar, Or, Mindless Parrot, Or, Innocent Fool
MEJTML¹⁴ Marxist Ends-Justify-The-Means Liar
IEJTML¹⁵ Islamic Ends-Ends-Justify-The-Means Liar
MPAV¹⁶ Marxist Principles And Values
WBESSWG¹⁷ Wise, Benign, Elite, Super-Scientific World Governance
TRMITM¹⁸ The Reason Man's In This Mess
IYI¹⁹ Intellectual Yet Idiotic
TTRSCBTF²⁰ Them There Real Smart Catholic Bishop Type Fellers
IACMPVND²¹ Illegal-Alien-Criminal Marxocrat-Party-Voting Nation-Destroyers
PEJTML²² Palestinian Ends-Justify-The-Means Liar
PSYOP²³ "Psychological Operation" Mind Trick
CDC²⁴ Covid Developmentally Challenged
LGBTQ+ Every Letter Represents A Serious Psychotic sexual Identity Disorder
HEJTML²⁶ Hedonist Ends-Justify-The-Means Liar
SEJTML²⁷ Scientistic Ends-Justify-The-Means Liar

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Date:  Sun Jun 23 09:03:42 2013
From:  Dennis
Email:   dennis2r@msn.com
Location:  Lewiston/Idaho/USA
Comment: 

Vic, Your comments on reconciliation and repentance are right on.  We as a nation have turned from God.  The John Birch Society publishes "The New American Magazine" with articles on history and culture that attempt to present the truth to their readers.  The latest issue had a great essay on exactly what you are saying here -- that we, as a nation, have basically lost the culture war:

http://www.thenewamerican.com/culture/faith-and-morals/item/15585-the-acceptance-con

This link will get you to the essay I mentioned. In the secular world, we are being told that we need to accept amoral behavior as normal, and saying anything negative about the immorality of these behaviors is a "hate crime" and we are labelled "terrorists."

As an instructor in our parish RCIA program, I totally agree that an emphasis on reconciliation is important.  Protestants who are being educated in the Catholic faith sometimes have a problem understanding how that works.  The good news is that it is all totally supported by scripture, as well as the magisterium.

Thank you for pointing us back to the church.

Regards,

Dennis

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Date:  Sun Jun 23 14:09:06 2013
From:  Vic Biorseth
Comment:  

Dennis:

Thank you; I just read your linked article, and I agree.  Being unfamiliar with the John Birch Society, I did a quick search, and the first thing that popped up was a New American article titled Intellectuals and Race, authored by Thomas Sowell, one of my favorite authors, economists and very wise men.  Knowing nothing more that that about the John Birch Society, I can say that anyone who quotes Thomas Sowell can't be all bad. 

Regards,

Vic

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Date:   Tue Oct 14 2014
From:  Vic Biorseth
Comment:  

Changes pursuant to changing the website URL and name from 
Thinking Catholic Strategic Center to
Catholic American Thinker.

Pulled the trigger on the 301 MOVE IT option June 1, 2014. Working my way through all the webpages.  . 

Regards,

Vic

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