AnonymousDecember 5, 2016 at 7:00 PMFirst, as Christians hatred is never what we are supposed to harbor for another person. Why? Because every man and woman is made in the image and likeness of God.
Secondly, when you say, "Yes of course. But he is not in the same league as Apuron, only one victim versus hundreds."
This thought reveals that you believe that the law is subjective and can be applied whenever you feel like it. The law is the law.
A person can be accused of assualt whether they pushed someone or punched them in the face. That person can be a teen, adult, male, female, or someone you would least expect to do such a thing. But regardless of who committed and was deemed guilty of the crime, it's still a crime in the eyes of the law.
In the same respect, the law also states that a person is innocent until proven guilty even if you "think" or "suspect" he or she is guilty. If you cannot prove it, he or she remains innocent. PERIOD.
How you treat that person is up to you, but if you were in that person's shoes how would you feel? How would you feel if everyone, strangers on the street and close friends and family members, looked at you with suspicion and whispered behind your back about a crime or act you are accused of committing? And everytime you stand up for yourself or someone stands up for you, you get pushed back and the accusations continue and the suspicions escalate. How would you feel when the people you care about don't listen or believe you?
And if you can imagine the suffering, then maybe you will at least have enough compassion to be patient and wait in silence until the results of the trial are over.
A Christian does not harbor hatred in his/her heart. The path to peace is to co-exist under the same Church. Peace does not advocate the destruction of the other. Only hatred demands destruction. Christ, the Prince of Peace is the Way. He never showed hatred toward anyone, not even to the Pharisees or those who killed Him.
We also live in a society where a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Archbishop Apuron is already going through a canonical trial to determine whether he is guilty of those sexual allegations. It is very easy to point fingers and judge a person guilty. But it becomes a different story if that accused person was you or someone you love such as your son, your brother, or your father. Then you would be thankful to live in a society that presumes the accused innocent until proven guilty.
The neos have shown how greedy they can be. Being humble wasn't enough because they wanted more. They've shown that even with the RMS hotel, there was no best way to use it and to use the formation of priest but only for the neo way, was wrong and one sided and selfish to say the least. That's why they are losing their grasp of Guam. Look around you, everything is crumbling because of the evidence that had amounted when you Diana had not a single shred of evidence.
ReplyDeleteBut wait and see cause the battle is not over. In fact, when brother tony is found to be guilty, then what would you do or even say? That he's still innocent or that there was always a plot to crucify him? Brother tony has had many times to speak to his flock and he chose to close his doors. Did Jesus close his door even when he was being crucified? Did he ignore even his accuser? No. In fact, Jesus faced all of them and still died for our sins. Today, in this generation, we pray in church and we realize that Jesus sacrificed himself for our sins. Just like all martyrs, they never fought their accusers. In fact, they all asked for forgiveness of their accusers. Brother tony instead turned his back and threatened them instead of opening his arms to them for forgiveness. An innocent man wouldn't have any reason to hide.
Dear Anonymous at 9:07 am,
DeleteLet us be honest here. The seminary was founded on Guam on December 8, 1999. The only time it became an issue was in 2011, which was 12 years later when the former Archdiocesan Council wanted to sell it. With the deed restriction gone, CCOG and LFM will now move forward into trying to convince Archbishop Byrnes to shut down the seminary and sell it. And they will use the ad hoc committee's report as reason for shutting it down. So, who is really being greedy?
If Archbishop Apuron is found guilty, he will be removed and Archbishop Byrnes will automatically become the Archbishop of Agana. The NCW can live with that because we know that Byrnes was once part of the Charismatic Renewal and supported the Alpha program. Although he does not know the NCW well, he at least heard of its charism.
The question is....what if Archbishop Apuron is found not guilty? Would you accept that verdict?
Archbishop Apuron have spoken. He has told you so many times that The RMS property belongs to the Archdiocese of Agana and that he is in control How many more times did you want to hear the same story told over and over????? The fact that Archbishop Byrnes was able to remove the two boards of RMS and lift the deed restriction was proof that ONLY the Archbishop of Agana and his successor is in control. If RMS or the NCW REALLY owned and controlled that property, common sense should have told you that there would have been no way Archbishop Byrnes would have done what he did. A former owner cannot simply take property back from the new owner once it is given away......it only takes common sense to understand that.
The Alpha program will replace NCW on the island. Its charism is more highly respected. It is an outreach program for Christ, opening the door of salvation to the general population to hear about the love of Jesus! This is the proper arm of New Evangelization, not the NCW which is entrenched and insidious. NCW is hiding in the dark, because of fear of being exposed. This is wrong. You need transparency and open arms. I hope Archbishop Byrnes' Alpha program will be successful on Guam!
DeleteAAA and NCW leadership was asked by Archbishop Hon to rescind the 'in perpetuity clause" but you remained hard headed and with that hardness of heart, you did not hear the voice of God through a poor Archbishop Hon. If todya you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.
DeleteDear Anonymous at 10:51 am,
DeleteThe NCW leadership could not rescind it. Only Archbishop Apuron can do it, and his response was no.
Dear Anonymous at 10:02 am,
DeleteTim Rohr is against the Alpha program. If it is brought into Guam by Archbishop Byrnes (who was very much involved with it), Tim will only attack it along with Archbishop Byrnes.
No, he won't!
DeleteDear Anonymous at 1:10 pm,
DeleteYes, he will. Why? Because Tim already admitted that he is against all evangelization PROGRAMS. He stated in one of his comments that Christ did not leave a PROGRAM. Tim does not understand that Christ left a Church with the authority to approve a PROGRAM.
Alpha program is of no interest to those serving in the ministry of JW. I asked them. they said no problem with a new prayer group starting on Island.
Deletehad the neo kept to being a wed afternoon prayer meeting it would have been ok.
If someone charges you with a certain crime, the judge/jury are there to decide whether you are guilty, or not guilty of the crime in question...
ReplyDeleteStating that you are innocent would technically, generally speak about your life and personality in a way that you've never done anything bad in life...
Not guilty, on the other hand, can and is used to express specifically what you are not guilty of...
Dear Anonymous at 9:15 am,
DeleteTo presume one's innocence until proven guilty is not technically, generally speaking about his life and personality, but of the allegation he is accused of, and which he will be tried for in a court of law.
We are all sinners. We all have to go to confession and tell a priest what is on our conscience, so that we might be absolved. Then we have to go back once a year to repeat. We are sinners. But the degree of being sinful is different for each individual. Some hardly even sin, like the saints. They confess, when they do. Others sin regularly and either go to confession or not. Those who confess are better than those who don't. The degree of being a sinner varies across the plate.
DeleteThose who cause the most damage to the Church are the biggest sinners. This is how you measure sinfulness: if you sin to divide and damage the church, then you sin against the Holy Spirit and you are irredeemable. The church is the Body of Christ. Demolishing the church means extinguishing the Body. A murder against Christ!
Please, don't be guilty with sin against the Church.
Dear Anonymous at 9:35 am,
DeleteI agree. Saying that we are sinners is technically, generally speaking about our life and personality.
Jesus assaulted the merchants and money-changers in righteous anger who desecrated the House of his Father. He committed crime in the eye of the law. But he was righteous in the eye of God. When we assault the NCW for illegitimate practices, we feel the Catholic Church is desecrated. You cannot hold the Body of Jesus on your palm sitting on a chair. This is desecration. I would like to see some explanation finally, why this practice is not demeaning to the Holy Host.
ReplyDeleteWe feel strongly about the Holy Eucharist because this is the center of our faith. We are sensitive to the malpractice of eating Jesus sitting like eating a sandwich or something... How do you think it is okay in relation to Jesus Christ? We prefer kneeling and receiving the Holy Host on our tongue, although this is not a requirement anymore. However, it is a requirement in the Eastern Catholic Church!
All we are asking is to be considerate with the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. It is not a game or fun time, when we remember her death and resurrection. He suffered, he was sweating blood! This much suffering of the Son of God must be respected and not neglected by unapproved twists in the distribution of the Holy Eucharist. Please, give an explanation why our anger is not righteous!
Dear Anonymous at 9:26 am,
DeleteLet us be honest here. We know for a fact that Jesus did NOT touch any of merchants and money changers. He touched only their tables and merchandise. Therefore, he did not assault anyone.
You, on the other hand, are assaulting the "people" walking in the NCW when you call out for our destruction. You justify your actions by believing that Jesus assaulted the merchants and money-changers. However, the truth is.....Christ never assaulted anyone. He overturned the tables and merchandise, but he did not lay any hand on the person nor called for their destruction.
Diana, I did not talk about hatred. I did not force you Eucharist on the tongue. I said it is not required anymore. But we prefer that out of reverence for His Body.
DeleteJesus turned the tables where the merchants and money changers were sitting. It was a physical assault, the tables breaking and hitting the legs and tusks of those sitting behind. It was a crime by the law. St. Paul tells us, the law is abolished by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. We represent the righteous anger against an unwelcome intrusion into our sacred practices.
You are right that you cannot force true Catholics into the NCW because we follow the Church and its Pope, not Kiko. St. Peter is the rock on which the Church is grounded. He never took Eucharist on the palm. St. Peter never allowed anyone to mock the the Holy Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. He denied the Lord three times. He repented bitterly and was crying his eyes out in sorrow about what he did. That is how he came to be the Rock!
Without suffering you are a pebble, a handful of sand and dust. Have you ever cried bitterly over the way you torture the Lord Jesus every day? Have you ever felt sorrow because you have abandoned Christ in his bloody path to violent death? Have you ever repented from the bottom of your heart, saying "I don't have anything to give you, my Lord, please, take my life, this is my only possession"? St. Peter did just this and that is why you have to follow his Seat in Rome!
Therefore, the sacred practices must be honored. Please, understand that we are nothing without the Lord Jesus. We are nothing without revering Him the way we are told by Him. If you corrupt the Eucharist in a dark room, you rob us, your fellow parishioners, because we are dependent on the graces of Jesus. Please, never stop praying for these graces to be kept open and accessible to everyone.
I must've missed the memo if where Jesus overturned the tables and merchandise. May I ask were you there that you have 1st hand knowledge of this, Diana?
DeleteHow would you know what Jesus did?
Dear Anonymous at 11:28 am
DeleteIt is in the Holy Bible:
Mark 11:15 On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves,
9:26am: "You cannot hold the Body of Jesus on your palm sitting on a chair."
DeleteReally now? What about all those old folk in wheelchairs who cannot stand to receive the body of Christ? Or young, single mothers who are holding their sleeping two to three year old children in their arms? How do you expect them to be able to get up off their seats to receive the body of Christ?
Also, while it has been a while, I have gone to a NCW Eucharist celebration and they STAND to receive the body of Christ and wait for everyone to receive it. Furthermore, I've even witnessed a young franciscan brother take the body of Christ in his palm and sit down in the pew before consuming it. Are both being disrespectful of the host? What difference does it make to walk, stand, or sit? Is it not ALWAYS the HEART that matters when you receive the body of Christ? Outward reverence should flow from the heart. Why do you say one man reveres Christ more in his heart with his outward appearance and another one doesn't? Who are you to judge the degree of love for Jesus in how one receives the body of Christ at mass? Is it not what you do AFTERWARDS that matters more?
Here is one from the National Catholic Reporter,"Anger in the face of evil is both just and necessary. It is the human response that Jesus Himself evinced when he was confronted with the leaven of the Pharisees. Anger that does not fester, that does not hate, but propels us into good, positive action to right wrongs, is not a sin. It is a force."
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous at 10:54 am,
DeleteAnger against evil is fine. We abhor the sin, but NOT the sinner. However, the jungle does not hate the sin. They hated and attacked the sinner. You even see it in their picket signs. They say "defrock APURON" (who is a person). Their signs NEVER said "stop sex abuse" (which is the evil).
God be with you ''Diana''
DeleteA Question Diana, Did God ever get angry? What did he do to the people when people do ot obey his commandments?
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous at 7:48 am,
DeleteGod does not get angry at people who disobey His commandments for two reasons:
1. He gave us the free will to choose to either follow his commandment or not, and he respects our freedom despite that he does not like our sins, and
2. He knows that it is impossible to obey His commandment using only our will. It is only through God's grace that we can follow His commandment because with Him all things are possible.
The souls that are in Hell are there, NOT because God put them there...it is because they chose to be there.
Diana, people in hell for eternal punishment. Nobody chooses hell by her/his own will. The fury of God is a burning fire.
DeleteImagine, a porn actress get aids and dies. Then, after her death she sees the glory of God filling the whole universe. She realizes that she was a careless sinner when she lived on earth and repents. She weeps bitter tears, beats her breast the tears her garment in her awe of seeing the Father that she had never known in her life. She turns to God asking Him to have mercy on her. She was created by God as a sinner and she lived as a sinner. Was this not God who create man as a sinner? We are the workmanship of His hands. She cries out to God, Father don't condemn me to eternal fire and suffering in the hell, lo I am you repentant daughter. What do you think, Diana, God would do? Would He shut this poor, repenting sinful soul out of any hope of heaven?
DeleteDear Anonymous at 9:59 am,
DeleteIf a person loves their sins and do not want to repent from it, where do you think they will go? For example, adultery is a mortal sin. When a man leaves his wife and lives with a woman he thinks he has fallen in love with, he has committed adultery. When he chooses not to return to his wife and sees nothing wrong with living in sin with someone he has fallen heads over heals in love with.....that was his choice. The Catholic Church teaches that unrepentant sinners go to Hell.
10:16am:
DeleteWhy do you think souls suffer in hell?
Anon @ 9:59 AM I'm guessing you weren't paying attention when the catechesis about who goes to hell was the topic of the day.
DeleteYou wrote that "Nobody chooses hell by his/her own will."
You are soooooooo WRONG!! The CHOICES a person makes with his/her FREE WILL in his/her life are exactly what send them to hell.
God WILL NOT FORCE someone who rejects Him to spend eternity with Him.
There's a saying that the theme song in hell is "My Way" because those in hell chose NOT to do things God's Way. They chose to do things "MY Way."
Catechism of the Catholic Church on Hell:
DeleteCC 1033 We cannot be united with God unless we freely choose to love him. But we cannot love God if we sin gravely against him, against our neighbor or against ourselves: "He who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him."612 Our Lord warns us that we shall be separated from him if we fail to meet the serious needs of the poor and the little ones who are his brethren.613 To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God's merciful love means remaining separated from him for ever by our own free choice. This state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called "hell."
Hell if anything is the proof of the love of God for us. Because heaven is to be in complete communion with God and as a consequence creation, we can not be in a place if we hate the brother. Our free will allows us to refuse to be in the same place as he who we do not forgive. It allows us to sin and refuse the plan of God in our life, thereby also refusing to be with him in heaven. To repent is to see that God's plan is perfect, and God in his mercy sent his son so that we may be forgiven. If and only if we repent. This is why the church believes in purgatory.
This is made present more so in the NCW where spirituality is experienced in a small community that knows each other. When one commits mortal sin the community immediately forgives, but one's own pride can choose to exclude oneself from the joy of partaking in the love of Christ through the community. (The same as living in hell)
This is why all the saints have said that Pride is the mother of all sins. From pride all sins are derived. Humility is to accept one's sinful nature and the mercy of God which allows us, like the prodigal son, time and time again, to return to his grace.