Conventicle of Satan

 

Just as we were starting to feel good about New York up comes this, the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine overlooking Harlem, all lit up for Pride. Go figure, this is the, ahem, church which hosted Elton John's 60th birthday bacchanal. 

What a celebration, featuring an $18K floral arrangement and a High Altar set up as a stage for the Scissor Sisters, what?, Sting and Paul McCartney. But that was then, 2007, today the cathedral's simply celebrating the deadly sin of pride with  a gay Evensong, an ice cream social, a panel discussion and a specially crafted rainbow celebration of Pauli Murray.

Who is this Pauli Murray? you ask in bemused wonder. Just a regular Communist, lesbian, civil rights activist and the first woman of color (WOC) to be ordained as a priestess in the Episcopal Church (TEC). 

She died in 1985 from cancer and TEC's made her a "saint," which says something about this catastrophically declining denom's  idea of sanctity. That in mind, reflect on the sepulchral hue of the cathedral's pride driven lightshow. Does it suggest heaven or the other place?

You be the judge,

LSP

Christ The King - A Sunday Sermon

 

It's the Feast of Christ the King today and the readings at Mass present us with a glorious vision of the majesty of God. In Daniel's prophecy we see the Ancient of Days, mystically enthroned in fiery power and the Son of Man given "dominion, glory and kingdom," everlastingly. St. John the Divine takes up the theme,  "Jesus Christ" is "the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the prince of kings of the earth," the Alpha and Omega. Triumphant, then everything changes.

In John's Gospel we find Jesus in the Praetorium, on trial for his life before Pilate, before the power of the idolatrous Roman state. We know what comes next, Christ, the King, is scourged, crowned with thorns and crucified. And this jars, it doesn't seem right. Surely Pilate should be whipped as a pagan usurper in the Holy City, and aren't the false prophet Caiaphas along with his followers the ones deserving execution for blasphemy and treason?

Yes, according to the logic of the world, of the Beast, of Caesar, and the math of Satan. But Christ's kingship is not of this world, he says as much to Pilate. No, his is the Kingdom of God, the kingdom of love, and he witnesses this truth to the full with his sacrifice on Calvary. There, on the Cross, Christ manifested his kingship as the God of love, defeating the ruler of this world and inaugurating the kingdom, establishing his dominion over sin and death and reconciling us to the Father.

It is a kingdom which will be fully revealed at the end of time, when our sovereign returns as he left, in clouds of glory. At that point,  "every eye will see him, every one who pierced him; and all tribes of the earth will wail" as the beast is burned with fire while the righteous shine like the sun.

But this is for the future. In the meanwhile, the Pilates of our age, of the godless state, to say nothing of false prophets, wax large. As it was in the Praetorium so it is now, Antichrist appears ascendant. And as foretold, they come with lying signs and wonders, "Look, we can conjure money out of thin air, from nothing. We are Gods." A satanic parody of creation, and that's just our financial system; enough to deceive the very elect.

Do not be fooled. They're not gods and neither are we, "It is he that hath made us and not we ourselves." He, Christ, is our true Sovereign, the king of kings and lord of lords who, on his return at the end of the age will blow wickedness away like smoke before the wind and the Beast along with Satan and his apostate angels will be cast into the lake of fire.

Wait for this in confident hope and as we do, as we watch and pray, ask God to fill us with great faith and love such that when he comes our savior and king who reigns from the Cross will recognize us as his own, as his faithful soldiers and servants, sheep of his pasture, sinners redeemed by his precious blood, and will raise us at the meeting to glory.

Christus Rex,

LSP

153 Fish And The Mystic Lamb

Did any of you get to Mass yesterday? If you did, you may have noticed that the disciples caught a miraculous catch of 153 fish under the direction of the Risen Lord. Why 153? Apparently the ancients believed there were 153 different species of fish, and so the catch represents all of humanity. The Gospel is of universal application to all men, everywhere; to put it another way, it's catholic. But here's the detail, from Rebirth of Images:

"Sir Edwyn shews that the number of the miraculous catch, 153, is what the ancients called the triangular power of 17... Here Sir Edwyn stops, because 17 considered in itself is a meaningless number. But we do not need to consider it in itself; we may consider it as the diagonal of the square twelve, as the measure of that river which, issuing out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, cuts Paradise from top to bottom. It is then obviously good sense to see the fishes as the ‘fullness’ or the ‘complement’ of the River of Life, just as the citizens are the fullness or complement of the square city.

"But why, we may still ask, does St. John take the triangular power of 17 as its ‘fulness’, rather than the square? The answer is that the square (289) is a meaningless number, whereas the triangular (153) receives an appropriate sense from that very treatise of numbers which St. John found in Solomon’s temple-building. The labour of the building was done by the non-Israelites of Solomon’s dominions; 153 thousand and some odd hundreds were set to work (II Chron. II, 17-18: VIII, 7-8). What could be more appropriate to St. John’s purpose? The miraculous catch, as has long been recognized, signifies Gentile converts: it is these, rather than the Jews, who build up the temple of God, the church."

Some people think that the New Testament is two dimensional, or less. That would be an error. Others think that St. John the Divine had too much time on his hands while in exile on Patmos. Perhaps, but I prefer inspired, holy, brilliance.

God bless,

LSP

St. Michael & All Angels

It's the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels today, which puts me in mind of this:

“And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.”

Unh Hunh.

St. John the "Revelator" goes on to say:

“For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.”

Having great wrath. Ain't that the truth.

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in the day of battle.

God bless,

LSP