I was just struck by this number the other day. I realized that it's 12x12...x1000. So potentially a symbolic number.. Some kind of fulfillment or perfection (12×12) of the holiest followers of Christ over the ages (1,000).
I'm not saying this never happened, or that Christians were never fed to lions. I'm saying that after the first few times, the officials realized it was not having the desired effect. People witnessing these martyrdoms were so inspired by the courage the martyrs showed that they sought out Christians to find out WHY these people had such faith.
I recall our priest giving a homily on this when I was in high school. It is 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel. Since 10 of the tribes are "lost" and have presumably intermarried with the gentile nations, this is a number that represents ALL of mankind.
'I'm saying that after the first few times, the officials realized it was not having the desired effect.' I'd be interested in seeing the evidence for this. Some people may very well indeed have been inspired by the death of the Martyrs. But when we as a Church look at the death of the Martyrs and so, for instance place some of their names in the Canon of the Mass we have a much, much deeper Mystical appreciation of their Sacrifice. We are saying that their blood , their self sacrifice watered with their own blood the tree of the Faith. That because of their self giving others, many many others sprang to life in the Faith. This is very , very different to saying simply that people were inspired by watching their deaths. The death for instance of St Lawrence the Deacon in Rome is for instance often taken as signalling the beginning of the End of the Roman Persecution. This is a Mystical take. We are living in a Post Christian society were people have rejected Christ. These people have their own agenda's which by their very nature is anti Catholic; often profoundly so. So when we see phrases like, 'The Media says', 'Scientists say', 'Sociologists say', 'Historians say'.. or whatever other, 'experts' say we should I think be very much on our guard when it goes against out own Catholic understanding of things. As my mother used to say , 'If you believe all you hear, you'll eat all you see...'
Padraig what do you think of the neurumberg trials and the people implicated on spirit digest. Do you think this will make it to trial and convictions.
I have been watching in the past Senators Cruz and Rand Paul (who is himself a Doctor) interviewing Dr Fauci before Senate hearings and my mouth kind of dropped open at the accusations they were making against him. For instance financing gain of function research ( weaponising Covid 19) in China and doing a cover up in their release of the virus in China. They openly pointed the finger at Dr Fauci of being guilty of mass murder. This caused me to blink a little as I wondered if Dr Fauci could not institute legal proceedings against the Senators for slander and libel. But perhaps these Senate Hearings are covered by legal immunity? I don't know. The thing about the the Nuremberg War Crimes was that the Nazi State which were the main backers of these War Crimes was utterly defeated. So they could proceed to trial and execututions. The main power backers of these present accused are certainly not defeated; they are still in power. If the defendants go down , many Governments and powerful backers will go down with them. So it isn't going to happen. Perhaps when they are all dead history will convict them all. I certainly hope so.
He has been rather interesting to me. He began to doubt this stuff a year ago when he had Brent Weinstein and his wife on his show. This is a very large, liberal show and voice. I wonder if he will be "cancelled" now.
I admire him in many ways. Alright he is misguided but he is not afraid to tell the truth at times. I sense sometimes his audience going quiet as though not knowing what to make of him. It would not take much for them to turn on him, though, clearly, they admire him very much.
I agree but yet I wonder who is the real man vs the character he has created. I suppose the real man and the character have similarities.
He is not a believer. The person without Faith is by definition insane. There is little hope, I suppose, in finding consistency in the insane.
I don’t like this guy one bit, but on this, he’s absolutely right. He gets it because he had a vaccine injury and in his own research on this, he found the truth. This video is truth regardless that it is coming from Jimmy Dore….same with Bill Maher.
I would say that the very,very worst thing that could happen to you in this life is to loose your Faith. I recall very vividly the day I lost mine (I had I suppose been loosing it for years). It was the hottest summers day I can recall and it was in London and I was 19 years old. For some reason I was walking along a disused railway track and it suddenly came to me that I no longer had Faith. I had such a huge sense of freedom. I could do as I liked, be what I liked. Yes at the same time this was the start of the most unhappiest periods of my life. A descent into utter and complete misery. The same is true of Bill Maher and anyone else without Faith. Oh yes they can laugh and joke but deep down the death of Faith is the Death of Joy. The End of Peace, it is the Great Soul Killer. But I think all men have a hunger for the Truth.
It is hard to quantify the spiritual graces gained nor the tremendous treasures won for the Church and humanity by Martyrs and victim souls. Many have gone unknown but the graces they won are numerous and freely bestowed. (Just look at the many unexplained conversions! such as the former satanist Zachary King, this truly shows unmerited graces were won/merited by some other source!) St Mother Theresa of Calcutta reminds us that Jesus said 'if you give a glass of water in my name you have given it to me" she further says and this small act becomes infinite! as it is joined to the sacrifice of Christ. Spiritually the blood of the Martyrs (white or red) is the flower, fruit and seed who invigorate the life blood of Our Lords Church! It is these souls who merit many graces for us and in union with Our Lady they stay the hand of God's just chastisement.
I had a similar experience. I was raised in a Protestant background and for me it was very easy to slip away and deeper into mortal sin, especially without the sacrament of reconciliation (or even an awareness of what mortal sin was.) I didn't wake up one day as an unbeliever... instead I just realized over time I identified less and less with my upbringing until one day I finally just said it out loud. I had firsthand experience of the substitutes for God (wealth/pleasure/power/honor) years before i had read anything by Aquinas. There were definitely good moments in my life during those years but tons of anxiety and emptiness as I tried to deal with aging and some of the suffering that comes along in life with no satisfactory explanations. It's a very dark road to walk.
St Therese of Liseaux, when she was a child, was puzzled as to how some souls could be higher in heaven and some lower. Her elder sister took a glass and filled it with water. Then she took a tiny little thimble and filled it with water too. She then explained to the little Therese that both thimble and glass were filled to the brim and so were equally happy. I think then that the effects on souls of turning from God are different in effect depending on the size of the cups of their hearts. In other words their capacity to love. Rather like cars , some like high octane fuel some such plain ordinary diesel. Some can get bye on very little some require loads and loads of love. Before my own falling away I was always in Church or reading the lives of the saints or whatever. I don't think God was ever too very far from my thoughts. I also liked being on my own a lot. So loosing what was for me the center of my life, the bottom of my world fell out. Others I think can mosey along a lot better without God. Though all cars require fuel, so all souls require God/love. It's just some souls veer off the road and crash to a halt a lot quicker than others because they require a lot more and higher grade fuel. People forget that the opposite of love is not hate. The opposite of love is indifference. This is why Jesus said that He would rather we burned hot or cold but that the tepid He would spit out of His mouth. That is what is so very,very terrible and wrong with the World nowadays. It is not that people are rejecting God; it is that they are indifferent to Him. They simply no longer care one way or the other. This leaves them, frankly, mad. I have counted up the amount of mental illness among the people I work with and it is quite staggering. I don;t think my hospital is so unusual in this. They have run out of the fuel of God's love and are crashing and burning all over the place. But because virtually everyone has wound up nuts it has become normalised. No one notices. Madness is the new normal.
My brother one time had a girl friend , Brede, a simple hard working country Irish girl. Brede worked as companion for a very wealthy young English noblewoman who owned enough land and money that she was set for life and would never have to worry about work or money the rest of life, no matter how much she spent. But this noblewoman was always very, very unhappy and would spend days and days not even get out of her bed. The local Doctor was never away from her door and curious Brede asked what was actually wrong with the rich lady? To which the Doctor replied, 'She is bored and does not know what to do with her life' I think this is , in essence why so many in the World are nuts. Their lives are empty.
