From Fr. Z’s blog
The black boxes from Malaysian Airlines 17 might indicate that the pilots attempted a vain evasion. I doubt it. I suspect that exploding death was sudden. Who knows who may have survived the initial blast and remained conscious for some seconds that followed? Only God.
Adequate time for an Act of Contrition? For an Act of Charity?
Adequate time to say “Jesus!”, “Mary!” … “Forgive!” …?
We do not know when death will come.
It will come.
A sudden death can be a blessing.
If you are in the state of grace, sudden death can be a blessing.
A sudden death can be eternal disaster.
If you are not in the state of grace and sudden death strikes you down… eternal disaster.
Eternal, personal disaster.
When was the last time you examined your conscience thoroughly and went to confession?
When was the last time you heard the priest say the words, “I absolve you of your sins…”?
Catholics have for centuries prayed in the Litany:
“A subitanea et improvisa morte… From a sudden and unprovided death, spare us O Lord.”
What is an “unprovided death”? One by which you die – and you will die – without the Last Rites from the priest or a chance to repent of unconfessed sins even with a perfect act of contrition.
You want to have your temporal affairs in order. How much more should we have our spiritual affairs in order? You don’t know the place or the hour.
Continue reading for A PRAYER FOR DELIVERANCE FROM AN UNPROVIDED DEATH.
Please pray for all the victims and their families of this terrible tragedy.
Catholicism Pure & Simple 
“If you are in the state of grace, sudden death can be a blessing.
A sudden death can be eternal disaster.
If you are not in the state of grace and sudden death strikes you down… eternal disaster.”
All a matter of blind luck, really, as – presumably, from what “Fr. Z” tells us – God doesn’t take extenuating circumstances into account. (Rather like the “11 Plus,” when I was a toadpole.)
If you die, having deliberately missed Mass (to catch the plane! Ironic!) you are toast. And eternal toast, at that.
I find it hard to believe that anyone believes such ideas about God. But, it seems they do.
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That rigid interpretation of the church’s view of mortal sin, Confession, and Salvation is a red herring.
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It is a reminder of the need not only to be ready when God calls you to come home, but also the need to consecrate the whole world to the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts, more now then ever. The world has gone crazy.
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“The world has gone crazy.”
When was it ever not?
For about a month or two before The Fall?
…And whose world is it?
Who made it?
…And who already knew it was going to go crazy, beforehand, anyway?
The notion that “a crazy world” is something novel and contemporary – is odd.
(To me, at least.)
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Sin and craziness have a lot in common (if they’re not identical). As for The Creator, it would impossible for us to really love him if we didn’t have free will. When we messed up, He sent a Savior. What more do you want?
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If He sent a saviour, Nick, why didn’t He send him world-wide, instead of to a poky place like Israel? There are still millions of people, I dare say – who have no idea who Jesus was. Maybe the Aztecs, for example, didn’t “mess up”?
“As for The Creator, it would impossible for us to really love him if we didn’t have free will.”
A rather circular observation, Nick.
You might as well say, If the creator hadn’t given us teeth, we wouldn’t have to go to the dentist.
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In truth, last week was a very bad week in the world of news reporting and in last week’s case, it was in 3’s: the shooting down of a jet airplane over the eastern Ukraine, war in the Gaza, and the USA losing its southern border. As it is said, trouble often comes in 3’s.
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…Just like trinities.
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Not to forget Shakespearean witches (“and thrice again to make up nine),, the three pairs of wings of the Seraphim (“with twain they covered their ‘feet’ below”), and thus the three “holies” of the Sanctus and the Trisagion hymn, and no doubt the Andrews Sisters, not to mention Diana Ross and the Supremes, though they were once four..
Er, thank you, Toad.
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The very idea of using this tragedy for a lecture on “never knowing the hour” is a disgusting and insensitive insult to 298 families. Maybe if there had been more Americans on board flight MH17 a more sensitive sermon might have been possible. A horrid act of stupidity by a bunch of pissed Russian morons kills nearly 300 people. The real issue is the lack of western political leadership that is multiplying the number of failed states. It is cheap and nauseating to make points about the spiritual readiness of the passengers to meet their Maker. Disgusting.
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Well, you might get your wish for “a more sensitive sermon”, when the next San Andreas earthquake demolishes Los Angeles.
But I do agree with you (mirabile dictu!) about the Russians, especially their leaders. Powermad Vlad is a vile snake at the head of a hellish thugocracy. The sooner he meets his maker, the better it will be for the long suffering Russian people even though many of them are so blind drunk, they cannot see his poisonous fangs.
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Well, there’s something we can agree on, JH.:-)
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On a related note, this story is enough to make even our local black sheep believe in Guardian Angels: “Dutch cyclist Maarten de Jonge cheats death twice after changing flights from both Malaysia Airlines MH17 and MH370”.
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Without wanting to sound too stuffy, the story of Maarten de Jonge has done the rounds a little too much here in Europe. The man who successfully “escaped death twice” is great for the tabloids, but the immense pain of hundreds of grieving Dutch families is not helped by such stupid stories. Yesterday I spent several hours on phone, email, text, and face-to-face, just listening to the awful pain of Dutch friends. The whole of Holland is in shock. It is a small country and they have now had their 9/11. One positive thing is this: the War Crimes Tribunal is centred there, at the Hague: so maybe we can see the bastard Putin in the criminal dock in Holland one day?
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“…so maybe we can see the bastard Putin in the criminal dock in Holland one day?”
Maybe alongside co-bastards Tony Blair, Dubbya, “Dick” Cheney, Alistair Campbell, and Rupert Murdoch?
A consummation devoutly to be wished.
(…Just made that last bit up. Rather good, don’t you think?)
Although I’m more and more beginning to suspect that we are punished by our sins – not for them.
Rabit is right, in this case – absurd headlines like, “Seven Britons dead in air crash that kills 299,” are idiotic.
… And more than a little jingoistic.
Because we are all in this together, Agnostics, Atheists, Calvinists, Hindus, and Catholics alike – whether we like it or not.
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If we didn’t have teeth we couldn’t chew food. Tooth decay is just one of the results of The Fall. Last time I checked Rupert Murdoch didn’t have any military forces under his command. As for Blair, Bush and Cheney; I realize it’s chic to pillory them but with ISIS coming to power and seizing a chemical facility AND remaining Sarin Gas supplies; I think they’ve been vindicated. What’s the beef with Campbell?
Its not fair to push the original post to the extreme then attack that extreme position is in error. I think about being ready for my Maker every time I see a car crash. I’ve had “Last Rites” or Annointing of the sick four times. I promised my Pastor I wouldn’t call it “Last Rites” anymore. LOL
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The “beef” with Campbell is that he was a close friend of mine, before he went on the wagon.
(His now-notorious phrase, “We don’t do God,” I believe he picked up from a conversation with me. But God knows, and I don’t care.)
Toothache as a direct result of Original Sin?
Well, who would give house room to any god who was wicked enough to dream up that?
Not me, Nick.
…But good to read your thoughts here.
We need fresh blood. Lots of it.
“If we didn’t have teeth we couldn’t chew food.”
…Then we’d just have to masticate beforehand manually, wouldn’t we?
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“As for Blair, Bush and Cheney; I realize it’s chic to pillory them but with ISIS coming to power and seizing a chemical facility AND remaining Sarin Gas supplies; I think they’ve been vindicated.”
What you don’t seem to grasp, Nick, is that – without the Iraq fiasco, – there would have been no chance of ISIS gaining any sort of foothold in Iraq, and Christians, like yourself, would still have been living there in peace and tolerance. Nobody sane doubts this
Surely that must count for something with you?.
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My point was that there was WMD in Iraq in 2003 since it’s there now. ISIS wouldn’t be a problem if we’d left a residual force (yes I do care about the Christians there). You’re right, if we hadn’t gone in , ISIS wouldn’t be an issue but we’d have the tyrant Hussein with his connections to Al Queda, his sponsoring of terrorism, and his WMD. I’ll grant it’s a whore’s choice but I trust Bush on this one..
Tooth decay, arthritis and every other malady we face is the result of The Fall. It was man’s doing, not God’s. For me, The Fall is the most empirically demonstrable doctrine of Christianity.
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Some interesting (and mercifully sane) commentary on the MH-17 tragedy and the roots of the crisis in Ukraine here:
http://www.theimaginativeconservative.org/2014/07/mh17-burke-maidan-revolution.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=mh17-burke-maidan-revolution
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Nick, Sadam Hussein had no connection with Al Quaeda at all, neither did he “sponsor terrorism”. His Baath party (based on Spanish falangism) was a nationalist party and it is a contradiction in terms for it to be supporting Al Quaida! Mad idea. Do some basic reading of the situation before wasting people’s time with daft comment. Toad is completely right: if the war criminals Blair and Bush had not blundered in with their pointless adventure, the whole current Iraq – Syria – ISIS fiasco would not have occurred.
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“For me, The Fall is the most empirically demonstrable doctrine of Christianity.”
Really, Nick? How would you set about empirically demonstrating it?
(Incidentally, do Muslims and Jews also believe in The Fall, and Original Sin, as the cause of toothache and piles, and Herod’s Evil? I’d not considered that before. Interesting, though, isn’t it? No? Oh, well.)
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“Incidentally, do Muslims and Jews also believe in The Fall, and Original Sin, as the cause of toothache and piles…”
…exactly the sort of jejune question people here get tired of. Act your age. Or grow up.
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If you don’t think Saddam had supported terrorists etc. lease check out this link to the CFR, no neo-con bastion it: http://www.cfr.org/iraq/terrorism-havens-iraq/p9513,
As for original sin, I don’t think I can list them all. From Ukraine and Gaza, to any divorce or drug court, to women entrapped in sex trafficking, to every cheating spouse, to every battered woman, to kids on a school playground, to any crying baby. We’re all self absorbed sinful creatures.We hurt each other even in loving relationships. It’s sick.
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Nick, for heavens sake wake up! Your own link leads to this: “support to terrorist groups fighting the governments of neighboring Turkey and Iran, as well as to hard-line Palestinian group”. We all know about that! Iran and Turkey were the opposition, and Saddam was against Israel. You specifically said he supported Al Quaida: he did not. The present horrific genocide of Christians is the issue: it would not have taken place under Saddam. Just get that fact and get on board the need to awake the world to the slaughter.
Even the Queen’s racehorse gets more coverage today than the genocide of Christians! Disgusting. (Even more disgusting, I should think Toad has a bet on the genocide not the racehorse…)
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Even the Queen’s racehorse gets more coverage today than the genocide of Christians! Disgusting.
Exactly.
This is a rapidly changing (worsening) situation but John Allen’s The Global War on Christians is an excellent way to get an overall sense of the crisis. Highly recommended.
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Tom Fisher: in the interests of comity, I really shouldn’t say this, but being a bit of a, er…contrarian?…my dear friend, Rabit, used to be on the same side of the fence as John Allen when it came to the splendiferousness of NuChurch, he (Allen) having been a critic of Pope Benedict until after the 2005 conclave, after which he had a Come To Jesus epiphany, later shared by Rabit, 5 or 6 years later. Well, no matter, I was a Proddie most of my life, too.
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JH, your interesting comity is somewhat comatose when it comes to the facts! But never let the facts get in the way of a good soundbite, particularly here. Actually, Toad knows more about my odd spiritual journey than you do, but he has the grace to let me reveal what I want about my Christian journey in my own good time. But never mind the reality, just do your worst when you can: it’s always good for a laugh. 🙂
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You’re a good Christian, FR, and I enjoy our tangos, much like my battles with Jabba. God bless.
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I stick with my book recommendation JH….. and have no quarrel with anyone 🙂
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I agree that the Christian persecution today is far more important than re-hashing the Iraq War. I didn’t bring it up. Unfortunately, I don’t expect any power to care. there are riots against Israel in France and our government is suppressing Christians. Things would have been different if McCain had won.Now our and their salvation is in the Lord. .
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“I stick with my book recommendation JH…and have no quarrel with anyone :-)”
Quite, Tom Fisher. But all work and no play makes Jack (my diminutive) a dull boy.
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“…exactly the sort of jejune question people here get tired of. Act your age. Or grow up.”
Asking if Jews and Muslims believe in Original Sin, may be jejune, even naive, JH – but an answer would be nice, all the same.
Just because you’re tired of my questions, it might be unwise to assume everyone else is.
…Anyway, I’m too old to grow up.
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“Asking if Jews and Muslims believe in Original Sin…”
No, that is not the question you asked in the first sentence of the last paragraph of your comment at 21:21. Too old to grow up you may be; but one is never too old to start telling the truth about oneself. In fact, that’s one of my personal Bidding Prayers: Lord, help me to see the truth about myself. All my personal Bidding Prayers consist of nine words. Mini Novenas. Oh dear, it’s now 23:59, and I’m about to turn into a pumpkin. Bye for now!
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Hey Toad,
With respect to Judaism, my understanding is no, not in the sense in which it was formulated by the Church Fathers.
As for Islam I really don’t know. I would presume not.
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Thank you kindly, Tom.
I clearly didn’t spell it put carefully and lawyerfully enough for JH.
If Original Sin is the source of every single one our earthly woes*, and if Jews and Muslims don’t believe in it – how then do they account for toothache? Eating too many toffees, possibly?
Another dopey question, no doubt.
*I don’t believe this, never have, never will, think it’s vicious, self-destructive – and have an insurmountable problem with the whole idea of Original Sin. “Indeed you do, Toad!” …I seem to hear the serried ranks of CP&S cry.
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Well Toad,
I will simply note that severe tooth decay can result in distinctive damage/loss in bone around the tooth. This is identifiable both in comparatively recent skeletons and the fossilized remains of toothed animals that lived long before our species graced this good earth.
There is no need whatsoever for a Catholic (or any Christian) to blame tooth decay on original sin.
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You don’t have to accept The Fall as the cause of all the evil in the world. It’s obviously present. I think its more important to deal with hat reality than to explore alternative explanations. That evil killed those folks on MH17. Sooner or later it will kill each of us. i find the contemplation in the post more satisfying than ascribing it all to random chance.
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p.s. I really do recommend Joseph Ratzinger’s Introduction to Christianity for a very good discussion of original sin and many other other issues.
A few years ago that book was a great help to me
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Ok so I know I should ignore those little thumbs, but I just noticed that my comment of 05:57 on this thread just earned one of those anonymous “down votes”: as a Catholic who holds (I’m pretty sure!) no heretical beliefs, can I be enlightened as to what I said wrong?…. mr/mrs/miss/ anonymous?
Sorry to be grumpy
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@ Tom
Yes, there is someone who is no friend of CP&S who is looking in here and giving “thumbs down” votes to many good comments! (I got one too on the “Genocide of Christians in Syria and Iraq” post for mentioning the tragedy that there had been no Mass in Mosul FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 1.600 years!) I’m beginning to wonder now whether we should disallow just any looker-in – who might be hostile to Catholicism – to down vote comments at random. On other blogs where voting of comments is allowed, the voter must be logged-in first; then at least one can see who has given one’s comment a “thumbs down”!
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Michael @ 14:23 yesterday
Thank you – that is an excellent link! I have only just now had time to read it. There is nothing wrong in putting the blame for such unnecessary disasters (like the above-mentioned missile attack on MH17) at the door of the guilty perpetrators, but let’s get our facts straight first on who they really are!
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@ Kathleen,
On reflection, I think things should be left as they are. I was being a bit too sensitive! It is good that people who don’t want to log in and make a post can still express their view non-verbally
And as you say:NO MASS IN MOSUL FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 1600 OR MORE YEARS.
The news this week is just about enough to make us despair. But we won’t
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@ Tom
Yes, I see your point when it’s just an opinion, a bad joke or something similar, but when a pro-Catholic comment gets a “thumbs down”, it would be helpful if the voter would clarify why they disagree… don’t you think? 🙂
P.S. And take a look at the comment just come through on the “Genocide etc.” thread (and unfortunately held up in Moderation during the GMT night) that I think is directed to me! It’s staggering.
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@Kathleen
I think that J.P.’s (you know who) patient and kind willingness to address every doubt that occurred to me over the period of a couple of years was instrumental in bringing me back to orthodoxy. If we let people express themselves, they may listen more than we realise?
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Yes, I’ve seen a recent curious upsurge in “down” votes affecting pretty well everyone posting comments here. I don’t think I’ve ever given a thumbs down on this blog. Oh well, water off a duck’s back.
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So you have noticed it too JH! 😉 And you are right, it should be simply “water off a duck’s back”.
I’m curious as to who it could be though… Bozoboy (no friend to Catholics) who has been looking in recently? Or dear Eccles’ Great-Anti Moly? Someone in favour of same-sex shackings up (we should refuse to call it ‘marriage’.) Or just an unknown troll? Oh well – life goes on.
Unlike you, I have given a ‘thumbs down’ occasionally to our Toad! But he relishes them (he told us so) so no matter there! 😆 To no one else though, as far as I can remember.
And Tom – yes, I know who you mean! 🙂 Any news, BTW?
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To go on record, Toad used, until recently, to give only himself the “thumbs down,” but since JH told him this was getting tiresome, he now only dishes out the odd thumbs up – and then only to others. As our beloved Pope says, “Who am I to point the thumb … etc.”
It is a dubious system anyway, allowing – as it does – easy and instant autogratification.
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