Reading 1
Brothers and sisters:
The Spirit scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God.
Among men, who knows what pertains to the man
except his spirit that is within?
Similarly, no one knows what pertains to God except the Spirit of God.
We have not received the spirit of the world
but the Spirit who is from God,
so that we may understand the things freely given us by God.
And we speak about them not with words taught by human wisdom,
but with words taught by the Spirit,
describing spiritual realities in spiritual terms.
Now the natural man does not accept what pertains to the Spirit of God,
for to him it is foolishness, and he cannot understand it,
because it is judged spiritually.
The one who is spiritual, however, can judge everything
but is not subject to judgment by anyone.
For “who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to counsel him?”
But we have the mind of Christ.
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This may be of interest to you.
Each of these sins messes with the Sacramental life. Make sure to include them in your examination of conscience—your eternal soul may depend on it! Note that most of these sins will of their nature resist the exam.
Three years later, in 1453, Mahomet II, at the head of a formidable Moslem army, surrounded the city and after fierce fighting defeated the Greeks and captured Constantinople--this, on the very feast of the Holy Ghost. Fearful massacres, pillage and fires lasted three whole days, reducing the inhabitants to an awful plight. Mahomet, on the fourth day, entered the city, took possession of the Imperial Palace and turned the cathedral into a mosque. Constantinople has since then lain under the yoke of the Turks for over 500 years."
Some Story.
I saw a very good example of spiritual envy yesterday when watching “Song of Bernadette.”
When Bernadette entered the convent, there was the nun who had disbelieved her as a child. She was the novice mistress and did everything possible to “correct” what she saw as Bernadette’s pride, even going so far as to insist that she change her name when entering the convent. When Bernadette started limping, Sr. went to her cell to berate her for “drawing attention to herself.” She then went into a tirade saying that she just could not believe that Bernadette had been favored with the grace to see Our Lady when she had never suffered. Sr. pointed out all the suffering that she herself had endured over the years and just couldn’t understand why Bernadette had been chosen and she had not. Bernadette couldn’t answer her. Finally, as if a light dawned on her she said, “Maybe this will help you” and lifted up the hem of her habit. Sr. was absolutely horrified at what she saw. When the doctor came, he gave a diagnosis of cancer of the knee and tuberculosis of the leg. He asked if Bernadette had ever complained and Mother said, “no.” The doctor couldn’t believe it and commented on the intense pain that this type of illness caused. Then Sr. ran to the chapel and shouted to God over and over how sorry she was and she pledged that she would spend the rest of whatever time Bernadette had left in serving her and doing whatever she could for her.
The fall of Constantinople and its destruction is a striking example of the awful punishment meted out by God to those who sin against the Holy Spirit.
The Greeks, led by their Patriarchs Photius and Cerularius, denied the divinity of the Holy Ghost and, after apparently renouncing their error, fell back into the same sin. They were threatened by Pope Nicholas V with God's anger if they did not repent. This they obstinately refused to do.
Three years later, in 1453, Mahomet II, at the head of a formidable Moslem army, surrounded the city and after fierce fighting defeated the Greeks and captured Constantinople--this, on the very feast of the Holy Ghost. Fearful massacres, pillage and fires lasted three whole days, reducing the inhabitants to an awful plight. Mahomet, on the fourth day, entered the city, took possession of the Imperial Palace and turned the cathedral into a mosque. Constantinople has since then lain under the yoke of the Turks for over 500 years.
Almost deja vu-ish...an atheistic socialist-ish America and 9/11 and the mosque.