Posted on 09/22/2001 6:04:00 PM PDT by Cultural Jihad
Thursday September 20 7:22 AM ET
NAPLES, Italy (Reuters) - Thousands of Neapolitans crammed into the city's cathedral Wednesday to witness the liquefaction of their patron saint's blood -- a good omen for Naples and the world, according to the faithful.
After an hour of prayer, Archbishop Michele Giordano held aloft the silver and glass vial purported to contain the dried blood of Saint Gennaro and thousands craned their necks to see if the blood had indeed liquefied.
The substance usually turns to liquid twice a year -- on September 19, the saint's feast day, and on the first Saturday in May. In the past, disaster has struck when the blood has remained dry.
``This is an important sign of hope not only for the city but also for the United States following the attacks,'' Antonio Bassolino, the head of the Campania region which includes Naples, declared after the ceremony.
``Like all Neapolitans, I hoped deeply that a good sign would come quickly. It is always a very emotional moment, but this year it was particularly so, given the difficult times for the city and international events,'' he said.
Naples was struck by flash floods last week which left two people dead and more than $150 million in damage.
The ceremony, which Neapolitans revere as a miracle, was also attended by the American consul to Naples, Clyde Bishop, who leant forward and kissed the vial after it was shown the blood had liquefied.
During the prayers, Archbishop Giordano called on Saint Gennaro for protection ``for America, Italy, and the whole world,'' and asked the congregation to think particularly of those Neapolitans who live in New York.
Some Neapolitans, traditionally very superstitious, fear disaster may strike the city if the blood of the fourth-century martyr does not turn to liquid.
Disaster has struck at least five times after the blood failed to liquefy, including in November 1980 when some 3,000 people died in a massive earthquake that struck southern Italy.
Scientists have confirmed the substance inside the closed vial is blood but cannot explain why it turns to liquid.
Careful, rockfish ... you don't want to go down that road.
Please add me to your bump list.
< /explicit off >
That's a good question, and a better rebuttal than the rationalistic attempts to explain away the phenomena. Keep in mind:
Matthew 12:25-27 If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?
So the question is, does good fruit come from this miracle? If so, then Satan would be "driving out Satan." This is one criteria used by the Church to determine the authenticity of a miracle. The other criteria is to determine whether any teaching associated with the phenomena contradicts public revelation. If so, then the phenomena would not be from God. Because God cannot contradict Himself.
Don't forget Mark 16:15: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved;" and
John 6:52-54 "Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you."
i miss del rio!
We wouldn't live long on a molten planet. Also, the stars were given for signs. When Mount St. Helens, the local university geologists said the geologic changes would normally have taken 10 thousand years. So much for "old" theory.
I'm glad to hear it. I owe allegiance to ideas, and less so people. I do not know that much about Jones, but his reporting on Med. is extremely credible, and jives with what others have told me. As to your link. Jones was on tenure track at Notre Dame, but claims to have (been) left because of his views on sexuality and the pill, which coincided a lot more with those of JP2 than the faculty at ND. That someone coming from the right says what he says makes him more, and not less credible.
He continually harps on the discussions that occured in the American church after V2, and makes much of discussions between Fr. Hesburgh (ND's president) and leaders of the WASP business community, in which it was discussed that Catholics would leave their intellectual ghetto and abandon their distinctiveness in exchange for the acceptance they had previously been denied. In his opinion, part of this affected the discussions leading up to the promulgation of Humanae Vitae, with a Rockefeller jetting with Hesburgh to Rome to implore Paul VI not to ban the pill etc. In his opinion, and I think few doubt it, a permissive sexual atmossphere is incompatible with the Catholicism of yore. Whether events on the ground preceded colliquoys among America's movers and shakers, Catholic or not, or vice a versa is open to debate, and it does not seem to me that Jones advocates the hard core "conspiratorial" line that is attributed to him. My *hunch* is that there is more to the link than is reported. I'll add more later. As for harm, so true, all we can do is act in good faith, and use good judgement.
My pastor is a member of the Marion movement. I have a lot of respect for him, so you can see why I was skeptical. I will give the book a chance, and keep an open mind. :)
Heck...humility isn't that difficult. ;)
Care to name a few?
Needless to say it's grace, not works, that brings a man to salvation . It takes repentence (to turn away from) of sin then acceptence of Christ Jesus as Lord .
Cheese .
E. Michael Jones is another whose work has prompted my personally contacting a writer to learn more. I have no reason as yet to find him at all discreditable.
I don't argue with that. Salvation by grace alone and "Repent and believe!"
But this does not logically rule out the need for the Sacraments and the Church.
From "Catholic Answers:"
We read: "Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment" (Heb. 6:1)
Notice how in this passage we are walked through the successive stages of the Christian journey--repentance, faith, baptism, confirmation, resurrection, and judgment. This passage encapsulates the Christian's journey toward heaven and thus gives what theologians call the order of salvation or the ordo salutis. It thus well qualifies as "the elementary teachings" of the Christian faith.
The laying on of hands mentioned in the passage clearly must be confirmation: The other kinds of the imposition of hands (for ordination and for healing) are not done to each and every Christian and thus could scarcely qualify as basic teachings which form part of the order of salvation.
_______________________
This is confirmed by the constant teachings of the early Church Fathers, as is the Eucharist. See:
http://www.catholic.com/ANSWERS/tracts/eucharis.htm
Jones did not work for Notre Dame; he worked for St. Mary's, which is a separate institution and makes its own decisions about tenure. And Hesburgh hasn't been the president of ND for several years.
The following is to be said.
1) EWTN does not have completely clean hands in promoting this crowd; a person or people writing Mother Angelica telling her their lives have been destroyed by indisputably phony mystics she promoted never got an answer back.
2)The second link emanates from people with pecuniary interests in the apparition industry, and wrongly states that the bishop spoke as a private person. He did so ex officio, and thus his "private opinion" is about as meaningful as that of Alan Greenspan's on inflation. Link #2 promotes Garabandal, and certified fraud.
The Zadar declaration was made at the beginning of a genocidal war in which Croatian nationalism, heavily promoted by the Med. crowd, played a crucial role.
The more one reads both sides of the story, the bigger the travesty seems.
Still, regarding the liquification of blood--I don't think it is contrary to our faith. I do believe in miracles.
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