don Alessandro

RC Priest astonished by the world... in both senses of the word.

[don Alessandro @DonAlessandroRM]

E' uscita la nuova edizione, a cura della San Paolo, di DISCERNERE DA GIOVANI, VOL. I "GLI OSTACOLI". L'arte del discernimento per adolescenti e giovani.

[don Alessandro @DonAlessandroRM]

In risposta all'intervista rilasciata da @IlVeroUltimo sul Corriere della Sera: https://t.co/N9q4VVVBPK

[ACS-Italia @acs_italia]

Il #15febbraio 2015 ventuno cristiani venivano decapitati dall'#ISIS sulla spiaggia di #Sirte, in #Libia. La madre di due di loro, Samuel e Beshoy, ci ha detto: «Sono madre di martiri, sono fiera di loro».
#ACSitalia li ricorda nella preghiera!

[James Flanagan @FlanaganOnFaith]

Just saying…

[Matteo Matzuzzi @matteomatzuzzi]

“215 bambini indigeni sepolti in una chiesa cattolica canadese". Dopo due anni e mezzo, non è stato trovato neanche un osso. “Forse erano movimenti delle radici”. Intanto, però, sono state profanate 96 chiese. Cronaca di una follia https://t.co/54TF9PkbVq

[Sabrina F. @itsmeback_]

Il CEO della Pepsi è stato registrato mentre diceva che non avrebbe mai permesso alla sua famiglia di toccare nessuna delle sue bevande.
Mark zuckerberg mette del nastro adesivo sulla fotocamera e sul microfono del suo portatile.
Steve Jobs ha proibito ai suoi figli di usare l'iPad.
- Bill Gates ha limitato rigorosamente l'uso della tecnologia da parte dei suoi figli.
- L'amministratore delegato di McDonald's afferma che non mangia nemmeno il cibo della sua stessa azienda.

Spegni la TV, accendi
il cervello e agisci.

[Maria Rachele Ruiu ن @M_Rachele]

Susanna Tamaro su #Gender , #disforia e salvatori. O meglio Orchi?

"Da molti anni ormai mi chiedo però che cosa ne sarebbe stato di me se, a sette, otto, nove anni, fossi stata presa sotto l’ala protettiva dei falchi del #gender? Mi avrebbero convinto della liceità delle mie inquietudini e, come nella più cupa delle fiabe, con il sorriso suadente di chi in realtà è un orco, mi avrebbero rassicurato, avrebbero saputo come risolvere i miei problemi e io avrei baciato con riconoscenza le mani di quegli angeli che promettevano di dissolvere il dardo infuocato che da sempre feriva il mio cuore. Psicologi, pillole, ormoni e poi il grande salto di diventare ciò che avevo sempre sognato: un maschio.

Sono fermamente convinta che la storia giudicherà i cambiamenti di sesso imposti ai bambini e ai ragazzi come un crimine. Un crimine ideologico, perché se io, sognando di essere un ufficiale, avessi accettato di fare il grande passo, non mi sarei trasformata in un maschio ma in un essere bisognoso di cure a vita, perché la natura è estremamente più forte della cultura o dei nostri desideri e, per contrastarla, a parte le conseguenze degli interventi chirurgici, avrei dovuto ingurgitare ormoni fino alla fine dei miei giorni perché tutto l’imponente apparato biochimico del mio corpo avrebbe continuato a gridare solo una cosa: sono una femmina!"

👇
https://t.co/ycmuOIgrXr

[Father V @father_rmv]

Did you know that the pretzel has a deep spiritual meaning for Lent? In fact, it was the ancient Christian Lenten bread as far back as the fourth century. In the old Roman Empire, the faithful kept a very strict fast all through Lent: no milk, no butter, no cheese, no eggs, no cream and no meat. They made small breads of water, flour and salt, to remind themselves that Lent was a time of prayer. They shaped these breads in the form of crossed arms for in those days they crossed their arms over the breast while praying. Therefore they called the breads "little arms" (bracellae). From this Latin word, the Germanic people later coined the term "pretzel."

Thus the pretzel is the most appropriate food symbol in Lent. It still shows the form of arms crossed in prayer, reminding us that Lent is a time of prayer. It consists only of water and flour, thus proclaiming Lent as a time of fasting. The earliest picture and description of a pretzel (from the fifth century) may be found in the manuscript-codex No. 3867, Vatican Library.

That many people eat pretzels today all through the year, that they take them together with beer in taverns and restaurants, is only an accidental habit. In many places of Europe, pretzels are served only from Ash Wednesday to Easter, thus keeping the ancient symbolism alive.

There seems to be no reason why our Christian families should not return to this beautiful custom of our ancient Roman fellow-Christian, especially since we still have these breads everywhere. The children will be delighted and greatly impressed when they hear the true story of the pretzel

From The Year of the Lord in the Christian Home by Rev. Francis X. Weiser, S.J. (Collegeville, Minnesota, The Liturgical Press, ©1964) p. 89, pp. 93-94.

[Joshua Charles🇻🇦 @JoshuaTCharles]

Dr. David Anders—the virulently anti-Catholic Calvinist who pursued a PhD to disprove the Church and prove the “reformation”—came out Catholic after a decade of study.

It was agonizing for him. But he followed the truth.

He did much for my conversion.

https://t.co/dstHrfc7ru

[Trad West @trad_west_]

"Christianity is anti-science"

[Sachin Jose @Sachinettiyil]

Today is the feast day of the 14 year old Mexican martyr Jose Sanchez del Rio. Viva Cristo Rey!

[Sabrina F. @itsmeback_]

Sono una capsula di allumino con dentro
4 grammi di caffè.
4 grammi di caffè a 0,40 euro, fanno 100 Euro
al kg.
Per una tonnellata di alluminio vengono prodotte quattro tonnellate di residui sotto forma di arsenico, titanio, cromo, piombo, vanadio, mercurio.
Sostanze che vanno ad inquinare l’ambiente.
Grazie ad una produzione di una tonnellata di caffè a settimana sono la regina del mercato.
Il caffè che uso è quello che costa di meno.
Quando le polveri tradizionali vengono torrefatte a 200/220° in 20 minuti per me la torrefazione è a 1000°C per 90 secondi.
Anche questo per risparmiare.
Però il mio caffè è schiumoso e buono.
Semplicemente perché non contengo solo caffè ma anche un po' di grassi animali, e additivi top secret.
In più le macchine che vengono utilizzate hanno enormi costi economici ed ambientali per la loro produzione e per il loro smaltimento.
E non dimenticare l’energia elettrica che usano.
Ma attento, ti dono non solo caffeina ma anche furano che ingoi con piacere.
Il furano è una sostanza organica (prodotto intermedio utilizzato nell'industria chimica come solvente per le Resine durante la produzione di lacche e come agglomerante nella fonderia).
È volatile, lipofilo e CANCEROGENO per il fegato.
Contento tu…
(testo tratto da “Mouvement pour la Terre”, tradotto e rielaborato)
Smettetela di usare capsule in alluminio e ritornate alla caffettiera tradizionale, non inquina e fa bene alla vostra salute. Inoltre il residuo del caffe lo potete spargere nei campi coltivati come concime.

- Giovanni De Maso

[Joshua Charles🇻🇦 @JoshuaTCharles]

This is eerily similar to a lot of post-Christian relativism. Makes me think of this line of thought:

Muslims: “We are the true religion!”

Christians: “We are the true religion!”

Hindus: “We are the true religion!”

Post-Christian: “God is found in all religions.”

What’s lost is what is TRUE.

Making the Church “invisible” is a thoroughly gnostic capitulation to competing truth claims. You don’t find a hint of this in Scripture, or among the ancient Church Fathers, and it’s why protestantism really has only two answers to conflicts of biblical interpretation: more schism, and/or dumbing down the list of “essentials” one must believe even further.

The invariable result is this: the “invisible church” includes “all believers in Christ,” which means it consists of self-defining individuals (“I believe in Jesus,” with endless disagreement about what that means), rather than individuals conforming themselves to an external and unchanging standard of truth—the “I believe” of the Creed within the Catholic Church.

This is why so many Christians—including many Catholics—are falling left and right. This modernist conception of religion cannot build, it can only destroy civilization. It is premised on an implicit skepticism that stems from the denial that there is a living apostolic authority in the world. It is a religious system built by orphans.

It is no wonder this has been the trajectory of the West the last 500 years.

[rebelEducator @rebelEducator]

Homeschooling your kids?

Here are 10 resources you should know about (that can help you deliver an education better than public school ever could) 👇

[don Alessandro @DonAlessandroRM]

Qualcosa di sinistro incombe all’orizzonte…

[Dario D'Angelo @dariodangelo91]

🚨🇮🇹 Il ministro della Difesa #Crosetto a La Stampa: "Abbiamo trasformato le forze armate con l’idea che non ci fosse più bisogno di difendere il nostro territorio e che la pace fosse una conquista di fatto irreversibile. Le forze armate, in questo quadro, al massimo partecipano a missioni di pace, senza arrivare a scontri veri e propri. Ora i recinti sono stati abbattuti, non ci sono più regole. (...) Lo scenario peggiore? Doversi difendere sul proprio territorio. Altra cosa che va prevista è intervenire in Paesi lontani per difendere gli interessi italiani (...) So che è un discorso difficile da accettare perché tutti noi tendiamo a nasconderci in una comfort zone. (...) Noi non vogliamo la guerra, i riservisti non servono per fare la guerra, ma per difendersi, in supporto alle forze armate regolari, e solo nel caso, poco probabile, di un attacco diretto".

[Joshua Charles🇻🇦 @JoshuaTCharles]

REALITY: OUTSIDE THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, CHRISTIAN FRAGMENTATION GETS WORSE AND WORSE

These two pie charts are based on 2011 Pew Research data.

The first one is how Pew presents the makeup of global Christianity.

The second one is what it looks like if you actually break the data down by ecclesial governance. I did this based on Pew’s own numbers. CAVEAT: since Pew didn’t provide data on numbers for the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches, I made them all equal. In reality, the Russian Orthodox Church has the vast majority of Orthodox, and many of the other ones are much smaller. But even the Russian Orthodox and the churches in communion with it would be a very small part of the pie.

Truth be told, among the protestant sects, the data could be broken down even further and the fragmentation increase even more.

For example, I put hatch marks on the “Non-denominational” and “Baptist” segments of the pie, because most non-denominational sects are individual congregations, or small groups of them at best. Likewise with many baptist congregations (though you could arguably make a larger pie piece with the Southern Baptist Convention, etc.). Similarly, with Lutherans, there’d be further divisions between “Missouri Synod” and others. The same between conservative Anglican communions and the Church of England, various Presbyterian groupings, etc.

So even this pie chart, with all the divisions it reveals, does not fully reveal the extent of fragmentation outside the Catholic Church.

What I am not saying: everything is fine and dandy in the Catholic Church. By no means. You can have a family where children don’t obey their father, or the father himself has become abusive, causing angst among the children.

But at the end of the day, as Christ commanded, they have remained one family; and this family has remained far more united than all the sects outside it. It has done this with greater numbers, from more countries, cultures, and backgrounds, and over far more time than any other communion. Even when there is a disobedient Catholic (including priests), every Catholic is under the same pastors, doctrine, etc.

That’s either a freak accident of history, or the manifestation of Christ’s promises in history, despite the calamities of human sin and corruption. If you look for historical examples of a global society with such numbers, diversity, and lasting this long, you won’t find it.

When I hear accusations against the papacy itself being a HINDRANCE to unity, I can’t help but think of these charts. The reality is quite literally the opposite.

The alternatives have endlessly fragmented into countless sects who claim different, and often contradictory things about Christ and His Gospel. When they do so, the “fathers” who speak for them can speak for just slivers of the pie—many of which were born recently, with no basis in history from the time of Christ. When disobedient or bad Catholics do the same, everyone knows who the authority in the family is, and that the disobedient child doesn’t speak for the family.

This visual data offers confirmation of Christ’s promise to His Church, and the danger of leaving it. It a testimony to the reality Christ articulates in John 17. Pointing this out is not triumphalist. It is an expression of joy in Christ’s promises, and a desire that others may share in this joy.

I joked with a former Mormon woman I sponsored into the Church last Easter as she sat next to me after being Confirmed: “Welcome to the largest, most dysfunctional family in the world.” Having this unity does not mean everything is always wonderful and jolly. In a similar way, the Ten Tribes of Israel who broke away from Judah eventually disintegrated into oblivion. But that didn’t mean Judah was without its problems. Far from it. But God maintained Judah’s existence—even through the destruction of the Temple, exile, etc.

The same is true of the Catholic Church. The evidence is quite literally before our eyes.

[Emese Balog ن @EmeseInBudapest]

How Dark were those Ages really?

(Aachen Cathedral, consecrated in 805)

[Science girl @sciencegirl]

Optical illusion, is the horse walking towards or away from you

[🇻🇦Bug Hall🌱 @Bug_Hall]

Saint Genesius, patron of actors, and our example;

Genesius was an A-list actor. Like all well-to-do Romans, he hated Christians.

During a performance, in which he was mocking the Christians, he had himself baptized.

At that moment he truly received sanctifying grace.

👇

[Il Timone @il_Timone]

«La preghiera indebolisce ogni azione del diavolo», le riflessioni del teologo José Antonio Fortea, esperto demonologia e autore di testi importanti come "Summa Daemoniaca" ed "Exorcistica" https://t.co/GEFqYFZMoA

[Agenzia ANSA @Agenzia_Ansa]

L'abbraccio è un toccasana, abbassa la pressione e rafforza le difese. Oggi la Giornata mondiale. Bondi (Sip): "Mai trascurare la fisicità" #ANSA https://t.co/FZIjzhZDmT