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| Refugee Youths in Spain attack Holy Week Procession with Rocks and Projectiles |
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Posted by: Stone - 04-18-2022, 01:19 PM - Forum: Anti-Catholic Violence
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Muslim Youths Attack Easter Week Processions in Spain — Pelt Christians with Rocks and Projectiles — Police Called In (VIDEO)
![[Image: easter-procession-grenada-spain-screengrab.jpg]](https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/wp-content/uploads/easter-procession-grenada-spain-screengrab.jpg)
Easter procession in Grenada, Spain (screengrab)
GP | April 17, 2022
A group of Muslim migrants from a local shelter pelted Christians with rocks and projectiles at an Easter procession in Granada, Spain during Holy Week.
This is not the first time this has happened. On Palm Sunday, a group of North Africans had tried to attack the Easter procession in El Vendrell (Tarragona).
Here is video of the attack in Tarragona.
Medforth.biz reported:
Quote:A group of unaccompanied minor refugees from the Bermúdez de Castro hostel in Granada disrupted the Catholic procession in the early hours of Holy Thursday morning (…) Fortunately, the quick intervention of the police prevented serious incidents.
Total outrage in Granada. The procession had been on the road for about an hour and a half, and as it went down the Cuesta del Chapiz, a large number of objects began to rain down on those present. All of these projectiles came from the migrant shelter mentioned above, as several sources confirmed.
The president of Vox Granada, Onofre Miralles, condemned the events through his networks: “Yesterday I had the honour of accompanying the procession. I was informed that objects were thrown at the procession from the reception centre for underage migrants. They are directed against our culture and our tradition. I demand action on the part of the Region of Andalusia”.
This is the umpteenth attack on a Catholic procession during Holy Week. It is not the first incident and unfortunately it will not be the last. Last Sunday, a group of North Africans had tried to attack the Easter procession in El Vendrell (Tarragona).
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| Regina Caeli Laetare: Holy Saturday until Trinity Sunday |
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Posted by: Stone - 04-18-2022, 06:46 AM - Forum: In Honor of Our Lady
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Regina Caeli Laetare
From Holy Saturday until Trinity Sunday instead of the praying the Angelus
Taken from here.
![[Image: Regina%20Caeli.jpg]](https://www.catholicharboroffaithandmorals.com/Regina%20Caeli.jpg)
Anthem to the Blessed Virgin
There is a venerable tradition connected with this joyous Anthem. It is related that a fearful pestilence raged in Rome, during one of the Easters of the pontificate of St. Gregory the Great. In order to propitiate the anger of God, the holy Pope prescribed a public procession of both people and clergy, in which was to be carried the portrait of our Blessed Lady painted by St. Luke. The procession was advancing in the direction of Saint Peter's; and as the holy Picture, followed by the Pontiff, was carried along, the atmosphere became pure and free from pestilence. Having reached the bridge which joins the City with the Vatican, a choir of Angels was heard singing above the Picture, and saying: "Rejoice, O Queen of heaven, alleluia! for He whom thou deservedst to bear, alleluia! hath risen, as He said, alleluia!" As soon as the heavenly music ceased, the saintly Pontiff took courage, and added these words to those of the Angels: "Pray to God for us, alleluia!" Thus was composed the Paschal Anthem to our Lady. Raising his eyes to heaven, Gregory saw the destroying Angel standing on the top of the Mole of Hadrian, and sheathing his sword. In memory of this apparition, the Mole was called the Castle of Saint Angela, and on the dome was placed an immense statue representing an Angel holding his sword in the scabbard.
Regina Caeli
Regina caeli, laetare, Alleluia.
Qua quem meruisti portare, Alleluia.
Resurrexit, sicut dixit, Alleluia.
Ora pro nobis Deum, Alleluia.
V. Gaude et laetare, Virgo Maria, Alleluia.
R. Qua surrexit Dominus vere, Alleluia.
Oremus
Deus, qui per resurrectionem Filii tui, Domini nostri, Jesu Christi, mundum laetificare dignatus es, praesta, quaesumus, ut per ejus Genitricem Virginem Mariam perpetuae capiamus gaudia vitae: per eumdem Christum, Dominum nostrum. Amen
Queen of Heaven
O Queen of heaven, rejoice, Alleluia.
For He Whom thou didst merit to bear, Alleluia.
Hath risen as He said, Alleluia.
Pray for us to God, Alleluia.
V. Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary! Alleluia.
R. Because the Lord is truly risen, Alleluia.
Let us pray
O God, Who by the resurrection of Thy Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, hast vouchsafed to make glad the whole world, grant, we beseech Thee, that, through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, His mother, we may lay hold of the joys of eternal life. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen
(The Sovereign Pontiff Benedict XIII, by a brief, Injuntae nobis, Set. 14, 1724, amended by the Sacred Penitentiary Apostolic, Feb. 20, 1933, granted a plenary indulgence, once a month, to all the faithful who, everyday in the morning, at noon, and in the evening at sunset, shall say devoutly the Angelus Dominie, with the Hail Mary, three times, or at Eastertide the Regina Caeli, on any day when, being truly penitent, after confession and communion, they shall pray for peace and union among Christian princes, for the extirpation of heresy, and for the triumph of Holy Mother Church; also an indulgence of ten years, on all the other days in the year, ever time that they shall devoutly say these prayers.)
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| The Love of Jesus Christ in Being Willing to Satisfy the Divine Justice for Our Sins |
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Posted by: Stone - 04-18-2022, 06:42 AM - Forum: Lenten Devotions
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The Love of Jesus Christ in Being Willing to Satisfy the Divine Justice for Our Sins
I.
We read in history of a proof of love so prodigious that it will be the admiration of all ages. There was once a king, lord of many kingdoms, who had one only son , so beautiful, so holy, so amiable, that he was the delight of his father, who loved him as much as himself. This young prince had a great affection for one of his slaves; so much so that, the slave having committed a crime for which he had been condemned to death, the prince offered himself to die for the slave; the father, being jealous of justice, was satisfied to condemn his beloved son to death, in order that the slave might remain free from the punishment that he deserved: and thus the son died a malefactor's death, and the slave was freed from punishment.
This fact, the like of which has never happened in this world, and never will happen, is related in the Gospels, where we read that the Son of God, the Lord of the universe, seeing that man was condemned to eternal death in punishment of his sins, chose to take upon Himself human flesh , and thus to pay by His death the penalty due to man: He was offered because it was His own will (1). And His Eternal Father caused him to die upon the cross to save us miserable sinners : He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all (2) . What dost thou think, O devout soul , of this love of the Son and of the Father?
Thou didst, then , O my beloved Redeemer, choose by Thy death to sacrifice Thyself in order to obtain the pardon of my sins. And what return of gratitude shall I then make to Thee? Thou hast done too much to oblige me to love Thee; I should indeed be most ungrateful to Thee if I did not love Thee with my whole heart. Thou hast given for me Thy divine life; I , miserable sinner that I am, give Thee my own life . Yes, I will at least spend that period of life that remains to me only in loving Thee, obeying Thee, and pleasing Thee.
II.
O men, men! let us love this our Redeemer, who, being God, has not disdained to take upon Himself our sins, in order to satisfy by His sufferings for the chastisement which we have deserved: Surely He hath borne our infirmities, and carried our sorrows (3).
St. Augustine says that our Lord in creating us formed us by virtue of His power, but in redeeming us He has saved us from death by means of His sufferings: "He created us in His strength; He sought us back in His weakness (4)."
How much do I not owe Thee, O Jesus my Saviour! Oh, if I were to give my blood a thousand times over, if I were to spend a thousand lives for Thee, --it would yet be nothing. Oh, how could any one that meditated much on the love which Thou hast shown him in Thy Passion, love anything else but Thee? Through the love with which Thou didst love us on the cross, grant me the grace to love Thee with my whole heart. I love Thee, infinite Goodness; I love Thee above every other good; and I ask nothing more of Thee but Thy holy love.
"But how is this?" continues St. Augustine. How is it possible, O Saviour of the world, that Thy love has arrived at such a height that when I had committed the crime, Thou shouldst have to pay the penalty? "Whither has Thy love reached? I have sinned; Thou art punished (5)."
And what could it then signify to Thee, adds St. Bernard, that we should lose ourselves and be chastised, as we well deserved to be ; that Thou shouldst choose to satisfy with Thy innocent flesh for our sins, and to die in order to deliver us from death! "O good Jesus, what doest Thou? We ought to have died, and it is Thou who diest. We have sinned and Thou sufferest. A deed without precedent, grace without merit, charity without measure (6)." O deed which never has had and never will have its match! O grace which we could never merit! O love which can never be understood!
III.
Isaias had already foretold that our blessed Redeemer should be condemned to death , and as an innocent lamb brought to the sacrifice: He shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter (7). What a cause of wonder it must have been to the angels, O my God, to behold their innocent Lord led as a victim to be sacrificed on the altar of the cross for the love of man! And what a cause of horror to heaven and to hell, the sight of a God extended as an infamous criminal on a shameful gibbet for the sins of His creatures! Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us (for it is written , Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree): that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Jesus Christ (8). "He was made a curse upon the cross," says St. Ambrose, "that thou mightest be blessed in the kingdom of God (9)."
O my dearest Saviour! Thou wert, then, content, in order to obtain for me the blessing of God, to embrace the dishonor of appearing upon the cross accursed in the sight of the whole world , and even forsaken in Thy sufferings by Thy Eternal Father, --a suffering which made Thee cry out with a loud voice, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me (10)? Yes, observes Simon of Cassia, it was for this end that Jesus was abandoned in His Passion in order that we might not remain abandoned in the sins which we have committed: "Therefore Christ was abandoned in His sufferings that we might not be abandoned in our guilt (11)." O prodigy of compassion! O excess of love of God towards men! And how can there be a soul who believes this, O my Jesus, and yet loves Thee not?
IV.
He hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood (12). Behold, O men, how far the love of Jesus for us has carried Him , in order to cleanse us from the filthiness of our sins. He has even shed every drop of His blood that He might prepare for us in this His own blood a bath of salvation: "He offers His own blood," says a learned writer, "speaking better than the blood of Abel: for that cried for justice; the blood of Christ for mercy (13)."
Whereupon St. Bonaventure exclaims, "O good Jesus, what hast Thou done (14)?" O my Saviour, what indeed hast Thou done? How far hath Thy love carried Thee? What hast Thou seen in me which hath made Thee love me so much? "Wherefore hast Thou loved me so much? Why, Lord, why? What am I (15)? " Wherefore didst Thou choose to suffer so much for me? Who am I that Thou wouldst win to Thyself my love at so dear a price? Oh, it was entirely the work of Thy in finite love! Be Thou eternally praised and blessed for it.
O all ye that pass by the way, attend and see if there be any sorrow like to My sorrow (16). The same seraphic Doctor, considering these words of Jeremias as spoken of our blessed Redeemer while He was hanging on the cross dying for the love of us, says, " Yes, Lord , I will attend and see if there be any love like unto Thy love (17)." By which he means, I do indeed see and understand, O my most loving Redeemer, how much Thou didst suffer upon that infamous tree; but what most constrains me to love Thee is the thought of the affection which Thou hast shown me in suffering so much, in order that I might love Thee.
V.
That which most inflamed St. Paul with the love of Jesus was the thought that He chose to die, not only for all men, but for him in particular: He loved me, and delivered Himself up for me (18). Yes, He has loved me, said he, and for my sake He gave himself up to die. And thus ought every one of us to say; for St. John Chrysostom asserts that God has loved every individual man with the same love with which He has loved the world: "He loves each man separately with the same measure of charity with which He loves the whole world (19)." So that each one of us is under as great obligation to Jesus Christ for having suffered for every one, as if He had suffered for him alone.
F or supposing, my brother, Jesus Christ had died to save you alone, leaving all others to their original ruin , what a debt of gratitude you would owe to him! But you ought to feel that you owe Him a greater obligation still for having died for the salvation of all. For if he had died for you alone, what sorrow would it not have caused you to think that your neighbors, parents, brothers, and friends would be damned, and that you would, when this life was over, be forever separated from them? If you and your family had been slaves, and some one came to rescue you alone, how would you not entreat of him to save your parents and brothers together with yourself! And how much would you thank him if he did this to please you! Say, therefore, to Jesus:
O my sweetest Redeemer! Thou hast done this for me without my having asked Thee; Thou hast not only saved me from death at the price of Thy blood, but also my parents and friends, so that I may have a good hope that we may all together enjoy Thy presence forever in paradise. O Lord! I thank Thee, and I love Thee, and I hope to thank Thee for it, and to love Thee forever in that blessed country.
VI.
Who could ever, says St. Laurence Justinian, explain the love which the divine Word bears to each one of us, since it surpasses the love of every son towards his mother, and of every mother for her son? "The intense charity of the Word of God surpasses all maternal and filial love; neither can human words express how great his love is to each one of us (20)!" So much so, that our Lord revealed to St. Gertrude that He would be ready to die as many times as there were souls damned, if they were yet capable of redemption: "I would die as many deaths as there are souls in hell (21)."
O Jesus, O treasure more worthy of love than all others! why is it that men love Thee so little? Oh! do Thou make known what Thou hast suffered for each of them, the love that Thou bearest them , the desire Thou hast to be loved by them , and how worthy Thou art of being loved . Make Thyself known, O my Jesus, make Thyself loved .
VII.
I am the good shepherd, said our Redeemer; the good shepherd gives his life for his sheep (22). But, O my Lord, where are there in the world shepherds like unto Thee? Other shepherds will slay their sheep in order to preserve their own life. Thou, O too loving Shepherd, didst give Thy divine life in order to save the life of Thy beloved sheep. And of these sheep, I , O most amiable Shepherd, have the happiness to be one. What obligation, then, am I not under to love Thee, and to spend my life for Thee, since Thou hast died for the love of me in particular! And what confidence ought I not to have in Thy blood, knowing that it has been shed to pay the debt of my sins! And thou shalt say in that day, I will give thanks to Thee, O Lord. Behold, God is my Saviour; I will deal confidently, and will not fear (23). And how can I any longer mistrust Thy mercy, O my Lord, when I behold Thy wounds? Come, then , O sinners, and let us have recourse to Jesus, who hangs upon that cross as it were upon a throne of mercy. He has appeased the divine justice, which we had insulted. If we have offended God, He has done penance for us; all that is required for us is contrition for our sins. O my dearest Saviour, to what have Thy pity and love for me reduced Thee? The slave sins, and Thou, Lord , payest the penalty for him. If, therefore, I think of my sins, the thought of the punishment I deserve must make me tremble; but when I think of Thy death, I find I have more reason to hope than to fear. O blood of Jesus! thou art all my hope.
VIII.
But this blood, as it inspires us with confidence, also obliges us to give ourselves entirely to our Blessed Redeemer. The Apostle exclaims, Know you not that you are not your own? For you are bought with a great price (24).
Therefore, O my Jesus, I cannot any longer, without injustice, dispose of myself, or of my own concerns, since Thou hast made me Thine by purchasing me through Thy death. My body, my soul, my life are no longer mine; they are Thine, and entirely Thine. In Thee alone, therefore, will I hope. O my God, crucified and dead for me, I have nothing else to offer Thee but this soul, which Thou hast bought with Thy blood ; to Thee do I offer it. Accept of my love, for I desire nothing but Thee, my Saviour, my God, my love, my all. Hitherto I have shown much gratitude towards men; to Thee alone have I, alas! been most ungrateful. But now I love Thee, and I have no greater cause of sorrow than my having offended Thee. O my Jesus, give me confidence in Thy Passion; root out of my heart every affection that belongs not to Thee. I will love Thee alone, who dost deserve all my love, and who hast given me so much reason to love Thee. And who, indeed, could refuse to love Thee, when they see Thee, who art the beloved of the Eternal Father, dying so bitter and cruel a death for our sake? O Mary, O Mother of fair love, I pray thee, through the merits of thy burning heart, obtain for me the grace to live only in order to love thy Son, who, being in himself worthy of an infinite love, has chosen at so great a cost to acquire to Himself the love of a miserable sinner like me. O love of souls, O my Jesus! I love Thee, I love Thee, I love Thee; but still I love Thee too little. Oh, give me more love, give me flames that may make me live always burning with Thy love! I do not myself deserve it; but Thou dost well deserve it, О infinite Goodness. Amen. This I hope, so may it be. Amen
1. "Oblatus est, quia ipse voluit." --Isa. liii . 7.
2. Proprio Filio suo non pepercit, sed pro nobis omnibus tradidit illum." --Rom . viii . 32 .
3. Vere languores nostros ipse tulit , et dolores nostros ipse portavit."--Isa . liii . 4 .
4. "Condidit nos fortitudine sua, quaesivit nos infirmitate sua."--In Jo. tr . 15.
5. Quo tuus attigit amor? Ego inique egi , tu poena mulctaris." --Medit. c. 7.
6. "O bone Jesu! quid tibi est? Mori nos debuimus, et tu solvis? Nos peccavimus, et tu luis?--Opus sine exemplo, gratia sine merito, charitas sine modo:'--Apud Lohn . Bibl. tit . 110, $ 3.
7. "Sicut ovis ad occisionem ducetur. "--Isa. liii . 7.
8. "Christus nos redemit de maledicto legis, factus pro nobis male. dictum, quia scriptum est : Maledictus omnis qui pendet in ligno ; ut in gentibus benedictio Abrahæ fieret in Christo Jesu."--Gal. iii . 13 .
9. "Ille maledictum in cruce factus est, ut tu benedictus esses in Dei regno."--t.pist. 47.
10. "Deus meus ! Deus meus ! ut quid dereliquisti me?"--Matt. xxvii . 46.
11. "Ideo Christus derelictus est in penis, ne nos derelinquamur in culpis." --Lib. xiii , de Pass. D.
12. "Dilexit nos, et lavit nos a peccatis nostris in sanguine suo."--Apoc. i . 5 .
13. "Offert sanguinem melius clamantem quam Abel ; quia iste justitiam, sanguis Christi misericordiam interpellabat."--Contens. 1. 10, d . 4, c. 1 , sp. 1 .
14. "O bone Jesu! quid fecisti?"
15. "Quid me tantum amasti? quare, Domine, quare? quid sum ego?"--Stim . div. am. p. I , C. 13.
16. " O vos omnes qui transitis per viam! attendite , et videte si est dolor sicut dolor meus."--Lam . i . 12.
17. "Imo, Domine, attendam , et videbo si est amor sicut amor tuus, "
18. "Dilexit me, et tradidit semetipsum pro mene."--Gal. ii . 20.
19. " Adeo singulum quemque hominum pari charitatis modo diligit, quo diligit universum orbem."--In Gal. ii . 20.
20. "Praecellit omnem maternum ac filialem affectum Verbi Dei immensa charitas; neque humano valet explicare eloquio, quo circa unumquemque moveatur amore."--De Tr. Chr. Ag. c . 5 .
21. "Toties morerer, quot sunt animae in inferno."--Rev. 1. 7 , c . 19.
22. " Ego sum Pastor bonus. Bonus Pastor animam suam dat pro ovibus suis."--John , x . 11 .
23. " Et dices in die illa: Confitebor tibi , Domine! . . . Ecce Deus Salvator meus; fiducialiter agam, et non timebo."--Isa. xii . 1 .
24. "An nescitis quoniam . . . non estis vestri? Empti enim estis pretio magno."--1 Cor . vi . 19.
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| St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori: A Meditation on Paradise for the Paschal Season |
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Posted by: Stone - 04-18-2022, 06:28 AM - Forum: Articles by Catholic authors
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The Joys of Heaven
I.
Oh, happy are we if we suffer with patience on earth the troubles of this present life! Distress of circumstances, fears, bodily infirmities, persecutions and crosses of every kind, will one day come to an end; and if we be saved, they will all become for us subjects of joy and glory in paradise: Your sorrow (says the Saviour, to encourage us) shall be turned into joy.
So great are the delights of paradise, that they can neither be explained nor understood by us mortals: Eye hath not seen (says the Apostle), nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for those who love Him. Beauties like the beauties of paradise, eye hath never seen; harmonies like unto the harmonies of paradise, ear hath never heard; nor hath ever human heart gained the comprehension of the joys which God hath prepared for those who love Him.
Beautiful is the sight of a landscape adorned with hills, plains, woods and views of the sea. Beautiful is the sight of a garden abounding with fruit, flowers and fountains. Oh, how much more beautiful is paradise!
II.
To understand how great the joys of paradise are, it is enough to know that in that blessed realm resides a God Omnipotent, Whose care is to render happy His beloved souls. St. Bernard says that paradise is a place where “there is nothing that thou wouldst not, and everything that thou wouldst.” There shalt thou not find anything that is displeasing to thyself, and everything thou dost desire thou shalt find: “There is nothing that thou wouldst not.” In paradise there is no night; no seasons of winter and summer; but one perpetual day of unvaried serenity, and one perpetual spring of unvaried delight.
No more persecutions, no jealousies are there; for there do all in sincerity love one another, and each rejoices in each other’s good, as if it were his own. No more bodily infirmities, no pains are there, for the body is no longer subject to suffering; no poverty is there, for everyone is rich to the full, not having anything more to desire; no more fears are there, for the soul being confirmed in grace can sin no more, nor lose that supreme good which it possesses.
III.
“There is everything that thou wouldst.” “Nihil est nolis, totum est quod velis.” In paradise thou shalt have whatsoever thou desirest. There the sight is satisfied in beholding that city so beautiful and its citizens all clothed in royal apparel, for they are all kings of that everlasting kingdom.
There shall we see the beauty of Mary, whose appearance will be more beautiful than that of all the Angels and Saints together.
We shall see the Beauty of Jesus, which will immeasurably surpass the beauty of Mary.
Smell will be satisfied with the perfumes of paradise. Hearing will be satisfied with the harmonies of heaven and the canticles of the blessed, who will all with ravishing sweetness sing the divine praises for all eternity.
Ah, my God, I deserve not paradise, but hell; yet Thy death gives me a hope of obtaining it. I desire and ask paradise of Thee, not so much in order to enjoy, as in order to love Thee everlastingly, secure that it will never more be possible for me to lose Thee.
O Mary, my Mother, O Star of the Sea, it is for thee, by thy prayers, to conduct me to paradise.
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| St. Bernadette’s Incorrupt Relics Tour the U.S. for the First Time Ever |
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Posted by: Stone - 04-17-2022, 07:08 AM - Forum: General Commentary
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Very Novus Ordo-y but important nonetheless...
St. Bernadette’s Incorrupt Relics Tour the U.S. for the First Time Ever
![[Image: bernadette-tour-700x438.jpg]](https://www.churchpop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/bernadette-tour-700x438.jpg)
Church Pop | Apr 8, 2022
This is so exciting!
The incorrupt relics of St. Bernadette Soubirous will travel through the United States for the first time ever this year. The tour began in Miami, Fla. on April 7, 2022 and will conclude on Aug. 4, 2022 in Los Angeles, Calif.
The relics will visit several additional states, including Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Texas, South Carolina, and Wisconsin.
Click here for the full itinerary.
The website explains that the Sisters of Nevers distributed the relics “to various houses of their congregation.”
The relic traveling in a reliquary to the United States is an ex-carne (from the flesh) relic.
Rector of the Sanctuary of Lourdes Olivier Ribadeau Dumas expressed deep joy and enthusiasm for this U.S. tour of St. Bernadette’s relics.
He says he “deeply rejoices in this pilgrimage,” where “this little Bernadette, in her simplicity, in her joy, who is coming to join you, who is coming to invite you to pray to the Virgin Mary in complete trust, to renew your confidence in the one who became the handmaid of the Lord.”
Here’s his video below:
The website also says the faithful may obtain a plenary indulgence through the veneration of the relics, along with following the three usual conditions: receiving sacramental confession, holy communion, and praying for the Holy Father, as well as detaching oneself from all sin.
Here’s a video of the relics entering the first U.S. Church – Our Lady of Lourdes in Miami.
St. Bernadette and Our Lady of Lourdes, please pray for us!
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| St. John Chrysostom: Homily on "Father, if it be possible..." |
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Posted by: Stone - 04-16-2022, 07:55 PM - Forum: Fathers of the Church
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Against Marcionists and Manichæans
On the passage Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not as I will but as you will: and against Marcionists and Manichæans: also, that we ought not to rush into danger, but to prefer the will of God before every other will.
1. I lately inflicted a severe stroke upon those who are grasping and wish to overreach others; I did this not in order to wound them but in order to correct them; not because I hate the men, but because I detest their wickedness. For so the physician also lances the abscess, not as making an attack upon the suffering body, but as a means of contending with the disorder and the wound. Well today let us grant them a little respite, that they may recover from their distress, and not recoil from the remedy by being perpetually afflicted. Physicians also act thus; after the use of the knife they apply plasters and drugs, and let a few days pass while they devise things to allay the pain. Following their example let me today, devising means for them to derive benefit from my discourse, start a question concerning doctrine, directing my speech to the words which have been read. For I imagine that many feel perplexed as to the reason why these words were uttered by Christ: and it is probable also that any heretics who are present may pounce upon the words, and thereby upset many of the more simple-minded brethren.
In order then to build a wall against their attack and to relieve those who are in perplexity from bewilderment and confusion, let us take in hand the words which have been cited, and dwell upon the passage, and dive into the depths of its meanings. For reading does not suffice unless knowledge also be added to it. Even as the eunuch of Candace read, but until one came who instructed him in the meaning of what he was reading he derived no great benefit from it. In order therefore that you may not be in the same condition attend to what is said, exert your understanding, let me have your mind disengaged from other thoughts, let your eye be quick-sighted, your intention earnest: let your soul be set free from worldly cares, that we may not sow our words upon the thorns, or upon the rock, or by the way side, but that we may till a deep and rich field, and so reap an abundant harvest. For if you thus attend to what is said you will render my labour lighter and facilitate the discovery of that which you are seeking.
What then is the meaning of the passage which has been read Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me? What does the saying mean? For we ought to unlock the passage by first giving a clear interpretation of the words. What then does the saying mean? Father if it be possible take away the cross. How do you say? Is he ignorant whether this be possible or impossible? Who would venture to say this? Yet the words are those of one who is ignorant: for the addition of the word if, is indicative of doubt: but as I said we must not attend to the words merely, but turn our attention to the sense, and learn the aim of the speaker, and the cause and the occasion, and by putting all these things together turn out the hidden meaning. The unspeakable Wisdom then, who knows the Father even as the Father knows the Son, how should he have been ignorant of this? For this knowledge concerning His passion was not greater than the knowledge concerning His essential nature, which He alone accurately knew. For as the Father knows me He says even so know I the Father. John 10:15 And why do I speak of the only begotten Son of God? For even the prophets appear not to have been ignorant of this fact, but to have known it clearly, and to have declared beforehand with much assurance that so it must come to pass, and would certainly be.
Hear at least how variously all announce the cross. First of all the patriarch Jacob: for directing his discourse to Him he says Out of a tender shoot did you spring up: by the word shoot signifying the Virgin and the undefiled nature of Mary. Then indicating the cross he said You lied down and slumber as a lion, and as a lion's cub; who shall raise him up? Ibid Here he called death a slumbering and a sleep, and with death he combined the resurrection when he said who shall raise him up? No one indeed save he himself — wherefore also Christ said I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it again, John 10:18 and again Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. John 2:19 And what is meant by the words you lied down and slumber as a lion? For as the lion is terrible not only when he is awake but even when he is sleeping, so Christ also not only before the cross but also on the cross itself and in the very moment of death was terrible, and wrought at that time great miracles, turning back the light of the sun, cleaving the rocks, shaking the earth, rending the veil, alarming the wife of Pilate, convicting Judas of sin, for then he said I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood; Matthew 27:4 and the wife of Pilate declared Have nothing to do with that just man, for I have suffered many things in a dream because of Him. Matthew 27:19 The darkness took possession of the earth, and night appeared at midday, then death was brought to nought, and his tyranny was destroyed: many bodies at least of the saints which slept arose. These things the patriarch declaring beforehand, and demonstrating that, even when crucified, Christ would be terrible, said you lied down and slumber as a lion. He did not say you shall slumber but you slumbered, because it would certainly come to pass. For it is the custom of the prophets in many places to predict things to come as if they were already past. For just as it is impossible that things which have happened should not have happened, so is it impossible that this should not happen, although it be future. On this account they predict things to come under the semblance of past time, indicating by this means the impossibility of their failure, the certainty of their coming to pass. So also spoke David, signifying the cross; They pierced my hands and my feet. He did not say they shall pierce but they pierced they counted all my bones. And not only does he say this, but he also describes the things which were done by the soldiers. They parted my garments among themselves, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. And not only this but he also relates they gave Him gall to eat, and vinegar to drink. For he says they gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. And again another one says that they smote him with a spear, for they shall look on Him whom they pierced. Zechariah 12:10 Esaias again in another fashion predicting the cross said He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before his shearer is dumb, so opens he not his mouth. In his humiliation his judgment was taken away. Isaiah 53:7-8
2. Now observe I pray how each one of these writers speaks as if concerning things already past, signifying by the use of this tense the absolute inevitable certainty of the event. So also David, describing this tribunal, said, Why did the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things? The Kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. And not only does he mention the trial, and the cross, and the incidents on the cross, but also him who betrayed him, declaring that he was his familiar companion and . For, he says, he that eats bread with me did magnify his heel against me. Thus also does he foretell the voice which Christ was to utter on the cross saying My God, My God why have you forsaken me? and the burial also does he describe: They laid me in the lowest pit, in dark places, and in the shadow of death. And the resurrection: you shall not leave my soul in hell, neither shall you suffer your Holy One to see corruption; and the ascension: God has gone up with a merry noise, the Lord with the sound of the trump. And the session on the right hand: The Lord said to my Lord sit thou on my right hand until I make your foes your footstool. But Esaias also declares the cause; saying, for the transgressions of my people is He brought to death, Isaiah 53:8 and because all have strayed like sheep, therefore is he sacrificed. Isaiah 53:6-7 Then also he adds mention of the result, saying by his stripes we have all been healed: Isaiah 53:5 and he has borne the sins of many. Isaiah 53:12 The prophets then knew the cross, and the cause of the cross and that which was effected by it, and the burial and the resurrection, and the ascension, and the betrayal, and the trial, and described them all with accuracy: and is He who sent them and commanded them to speak these things ignorant of them Himself? What reasonable man would say that? Do you see that we must not attend merely to the words? For this is not the only perplexing passage, but what follows is more perplexing. For what does He say? Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me. Here he will be found to speak not only as if ignorant, but as if deprecating the cross: For this is what He says. If it be permissible let me not be subjected to crucifixion and death. And yet when Peter, the leader of the apostles, said this to Him, Be it far from you Lord, this shall not happen unto You, He rebuked him so severely as to say; get you behind me Satan, you are an offense unto me, for you savour not the things which be of God, but those which be of men: Matthew 16:22-23 although a short time before he had pronounced him blessed. But to escape crucifixion seemed to Him so monstrous a thing, that him who had received the revelation from the Father, him whom He had pronounced blessed, him who had received the keys of Heaven, He called Satan, and an offense, and accused him of not savouring the things which be of God because he said to Him, Be it far from you Lord, this shall never be unto You— namely crucifixion. He then who thus vituperated the disciple, and poured such an invective upon him as actually to call him Satan (after having bestowed such great praise on him), because he said avoid crucifixion, how could He desire not to be crucified? And how after these things when drawing the picture of the good shepherd could He declare this to be the special proof of his virtue, that he should be sacrificed for the sake of the sheep, thus saying, I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep? John 10:11 Nor did He even stop there, but also added, but he that is an hireling and not the shepherd sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep, and flees. John 10:12 If then it is the sign of the good shepherd to sacrifice himself, and of the hireling to be unwilling to undergo this, how can He who calls Himself the good shepherd beseech that he may not be sacrificed? And how could He say I lay down my life of myself? For if you lay down your life of yourself, how can you beseech another that you may not lay it down? And how is it that Paul marvels at Him on account of this declaration, saying Who being in the form of God counted it not a prize to be on an equality with God, but emptied Himself taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross. Philippians 2:6-8 And He Himself again speaks in this wise, For this cause does my Father love me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again. John 10:17 For if He does not desire to lay it down, but deprecates the act, and beseeches the Father, how is it that He is loved on this account? For love is of those who are like minded. And how does Paul say again Love one another even as Christ also loved us and gave Himself for us? Ephesians 5:2 And Christ Himself when He was about to be crucified said Father, the hour has come: glorify your Son, John 17:1 speaking of the cross as glory: and how then does He deprecate it here when He urges it there? For that the cross is glory listen to what the evangelist says the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:39 Now the hearing of this expression is grace was not yet given because the enmity towards men was not yet destroyed by reason that the cross had not yet done its work. For the cross destroyed the enmity of God towards man, brought about the reconciliation, made the earth Heaven, associated men with angels, pulled down the citadel of death, unstrung the force of the devil, extinguished the power of sin, delivered the world from error, brought back the truth, expelled the Demons, destroyed temples, overturned altars, suppressed the sacrificial offering, implanted virtue, founded the Churches. The cross is the will of the Father, the glory of the Son, the rejoicing of the Spirit, the boast of Paul, for, he says, God forbid that I should boast save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Galatians 6:14 The cross is that which is brighter than the sun, more brilliant than the sunbeam: for when the sun is darkened then the cross shines brightly: and the sun is darkened not because it is extinguished, but because it is overpowered by the brilliancy of the cross. The cross has broken our bond, it has made the prison of death ineffectual, it is the demonstration of the love of God. For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that every one who believes in Him should not perish. John 3:16 And again Paul says If being enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. Romans 5:10 The cross is the impregnable wall, the invulnerable shield, the safeguard of the rich, the resource of the poor, the defense of those who are exposed to snares, the armour of those who are attacked, the means of suppressing passion, and of acquiring virtue, the wonderful and marvellous sign. For this generation seeks after a sign: and no sign shall be given it save the sign of Jonas; Matthew 12:39 and again Paul says, for the Jews ask for a sign and the Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. 1 Corinthians 1:22 The cross opened Paradise, it brought in the robber, it conducted into the kingdom of Heaven the race of man which was about to perish, and was not worthy even of earth. So great are the benefits which have sprung and do spring from the cross, and yet does He not desire to be crucified I ask? Who would venture to say this? And if He did not desire it who compelled Him, who forced Him to it? And why did He send prophets beforehand announcing that He would be crucified, if He was not to be, and did not wish to undergo it? And for what reason does He call the cross a cup, if He did not desire to be crucified? For that is the word of one who signifies the desire which he has concerning the act. For as the cup is sweet to those who are thirsty so also was crucifixion to Him: wherefore also He said With desire have I desired to eat this Passover with you, Luke 22:15 and this He meant not absolutely, but relatively, because after that evening the cross was awaiting Him.
3. He then who calls the thing glory, and rebukes the disciple because he was trying to hinder Him, and proves that what constitutes the good shepherd is his sacrificing himself on behalf of the sheep, and declares that he earnestly longs for this thing, and willingly goes to meet it, how is it that He beseeches it may not come to pass? And if He did not wish it what difficulty was there in hindering those who came for that purpose? But in fact you behold Him hastening towards the deed. At least when they came upon Him He said Whom do you seek? and they replied Jesus. Then He says to them Lo! I am He: and they went backward and fell to the ground. John 18:6 Thus having first crippled them and proved that He was able to escape their hands, He then surrendered Himself, that you might learn that not by compulsion or force, or the tyrannical power of those who attacked Him, did He unwillingly submit to this, but willingly with purpose and desire, preparing for it a long time before. Therefore also were prophets sent beforehand, and patriarchs foretold the events, and by means of words and deeds the cross was prefigured. For the sacrifice of Isaac also signified the cross to us: wherefore also Christ said Abraham your father rejoiced to see my glory and he saw it and was glad. John 8:56 The patriarch then was glad beholding the image of the cross, and does He Himself deprecate it? Thus Moses also prevailed over Amalek when he displayed the figure of the cross: and one may observe countless things happening in the Old Testament descriptive by anticipation of the cross. For what reason then was this the case if He who was to be crucified did not wish it to come to pass? And the sentence which follows this is yet more perplexing. For having said Let this cup pass from me He added nevertheless not as I will but as You will. Matthew 26:39 For herein as far as the actual expression is concerned we find two wills opposed to one another: if at least the Father desires Him to be crucified, but He Himself does not desire it. And yet we everywhere behold Him desiring and purposing the same things as the Father. For when He says grant to them, as I and Thou are one that they also may be one in us, John 17:11 it is equivalent to saying that the purpose of the Father and of the Son is one. And when He says The words which I speak I speak not myself, but the Father which dwells in me, He does these works, John 14:10 He indicates the same thing. And when He says I have not come of myself John 7:28 and I can of my own self do nothing John 5:30 he does not say this as signifying that He has been deprived of authority, either to speak or to act (away with the thought!), but as desiring to prove the concord of his purpose, both in words and deeds, and in every kind of transaction, to be one and the same with the Father, as I have already frequently demonstrated. For the expression I speak not of myself is not an abrogation of authority but a demonstration of agreement. How then does He say here Nevertheless not as I will but as You will? Perhaps I have excited a great conflict in your mind, but be on the alert: for although many words have been uttered I know well that your zeal is still fresh: for the discourse is now hastening on to the solution. Why then has this form of speech been employed? Attend carefully, The doctrine of the incarnation was very hard to receive. For the exceeding measure of His lovingkindness and the magnitude of His condescension were full of awe, and needed much preparation to be accepted. For consider what a great thing it was to hear and to learn that God the ineffable, the incorruptible, the unintelligible, the invisible, the incomprehensible, in whose hand are the ends of the earth, who looks upon the earth, and causes it to tremble, who touches the mountains, and makes them smoke, the weight of whose condescension not even the Cherubim were able to bear but veiled their faces by the shelter of their wings, that this God who surpasses all understanding, and baffles all calculation, having passed by angels, archangels, and all the spiritual powers above, deigned to become man, and to take flesh formed of earth and clay, and enter the womb of a virgin, and be borne there the space of nine months, and be nourished with milk, and suffer all things to which man is liable. Inasmuch then as that which was to happen was so strange as to be disbelieved by many even when it had taken place, He first of all sends prophets beforehand, announcing this very fact. For instance the patriarch predicted it saying You sprang from a tender shoot my son: you lied down and slumber as a lion; Genesis 49:9 and Esaias saying Behold the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall call His name Emmanuel; Isaiah 7:14 and elsewhere again We beheld Him as a young child, as a root in a dry ground; Isaiah 53:2 and by the dry ground he means the virgin's womb. And again unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, Isaiah 9:6 and again there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall spring out of his root. Isaiah 11:1 And Baruch in the book of Jeremiah says this is our God: no other shall be reckoned by the side of Him: He found out every path of knowledge and gave it to Jacob His servant, and Israel his beloved. After these things also He appeared upon the earth, and held converse with men. And David signifying His incarnate presence said He shall come down like the rain into a fleece of wool, and like the drop which distills upon the earth because He noiselessly and gently entered into the Virgin's womb.
4. But these proofs alone did not suffice, but even when He had come, lest what had taken place should be deemed an illusion, He warranted the fact not only by the sight but by duration of time and by passing through all the phases incident to man. For He did not enter once for all into a man matured and completely developed, but into a virgin's womb, so as to undergo the process of gestation and birth and suckling and growth, and by the length of the time and the variety of the stages of growth to give assurance of what had come to pass. And not even here were the proofs concluded, but even when bearing about the body of flesh He suffered it to experience the infirmities of human nature and to be hungry, and thirsty, and to sleep and feel fatigue; finally also when He came to the cross He suffered it to undergo the pains of the flesh. For this reason also streams of sweat flowed down from it and an angel was discovered strengthening it, and He was sad and down-cast: for before He uttered these words He said my soul is troubled, and exceeding sorrowful ever unto death. Matthew 26:38 If then after all these things have taken place the wicked mouth of the devil speaking through Marcion of Pontus, and Valentinus, and Manichæus of Persia and many more heretics, has attempted to overthrow the doctrine of the Incarnation and has vented a diabolical utterance declaring that He did not become flesh, nor was clothed with it, but that this was mere fancy, and illusion, a piece of acting and pretence, although the sufferings, the death, the burial, the thirst, cry aloud against this teaching; supposing that none of these things had happened would not the devil have sown these wicked doctrines of impiousness much more widely? For this reason, just as He hungered, as He slept, as He felt fatigue, as He ate and drank, so also did He deprecate death, thereby manifesting his humanity, and that infirmity of human nature which does not submit without pain to be torn from this present life. For had He not uttered any of these things, it might have been said that if He were a man He ought to have experienced human feelings. And what are these? In the case of one about to be crucified, fear and agony, and pain in being torn from present life: for a sense of the charm which surrounds present things is implanted in human nature: on this account wishing to prove the reality of the fleshly clothing, and to give assurance of the incarnation He manifests the actual feelings of man with full demonstration.
This is one consideration, but there is another no less important. And what is this? Christ having come to earth wished to instruct men in all virtue: now the instructor teaches not only by word, but also by deed: for this is the teacher's best method of teaching. A pilot for instance when he makes the apprentice sit by his side shows him how he handles the rudder, but he also joins speech to action, and does not depend upon words alone or example alone: in like manner also an architect when he has placed by his side the man who is intended to learn from him how a wall is constructed, shows him the way by means of action as well as by means of oral teaching; so also with the weaver, and embroiderer, and gold refiner, and coppersmith — and every kind of art has teachers who instruct both orally and practically. Inasmuch then as Christ Himself came to instruct us in all virtue, He both tells us what ought to be done, and does it. For, he says, he who does and teaches the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:19 Now observe; He commanded men to be lowly-minded, and meek, and He taught this by His words: but see how He also teaches it by His deeds. For having said Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the meek, Matthew 5:3-4 He shows how these virtues ought to be practised. How then did He teach them? He took a towel and girded Himself and washed the disciples' feet. John 13:4-5 What can match this lowliness of mind? For He teaches this virtue no longer by His words only but also by His deeds. Again He teaches meekness and forbearance by His acts. How so? He was struck on the face by the servant of the high priest, and said If I have spoken evil bear witness of the evil: but if well why do you smite me? John 18:23 He commanded men to pray for their enemies: this also again He teaches by means of His acts: for when He had ascended the cross He said Father forgive them for they know not what they do. Luke 23:34 As therefore He commanded men to pray so does He Himself pray, instructing you to do so by his own unflagging utterances of prayer. Again He commanded us to do good to those who hate us, and to deal fairly with those who treat us despitefully: Matthew 5:44 and this He did by his own acts: for he cast devils out of the Jews, who said that He Himself was possessed by a devil, He bestowed benefits on His persecutors, He fed those who were forming designs against Him, He conducted into His kingdom those who were desiring to crucify Him. Again He said to His disciples Get you no gold nor silver neither brass in your purses, Matthew 10:9 thus training them for poverty: and this also He taught by His example, thus saying, Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has not where to lay His head. Matthew 8:20 And He had neither table nor dwelling nor anything else of that kind: not because He was at a loss to obtain them, but because He was instructing men to go in that path. After the same manner then he taught them also to pray. They said to Him Teach us to pray. Luke 11:1 Therefore also He prays, in order that they may learn to pray. But it was necessary for them not merely to learn to pray but also how they ought to pray: for this reason He delivered to them a prayer in this form: Our Father which art in Heaven hallowed be your name, Your kingdom come: Your will be done, as in Heaven, so on earth. Give us this day our daily bread: and forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors: and lead us not into temptation: Luke 11:2-4 that is into danger, into snares. Since then He commanded them to pray lead us not into temptation, He instructs them in this very precept by putting it in practice Himself, saying Father if it be possible, let this cup pass away from me, thus teaching all the saints not to plunge into dangers, not to fling themselves into them but to wait for their approach, and to exhibit all possible courage, only not to rush forwards themselves, or to be the first to advance against terrors. Why so, pray? Both to teach us lowliness of mind, and also to deliver us from the charge of vainglory. On this account it is said also in this passage that when He had spoken these words He went away and prayed: and after He had prayed He speaks thus to His disciples Could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. Matthew 26:39-41 Do you see He not only prays but also admonishes? For the Spirit indeed is willing, He said, but the flesh is weak. Matthew 26:41 Now this He said by way of emptying their soul of vanity, and delivering them from pride, teaching them self-restraint, training them to practice moderation. Therefore the prayer which He wished to teach them, He Himself also offered, speaking after the manner of men, not according to His Godhead (for the divine nature is impassable) but according to His manhood. And He prayed as instructing us to pray, and even to seek deliverance from distress; but, if this be not permitted, then to acquiesce in what seems good to God. Therefore He said Nevertheless not as I will but as You will: not because He had one will and the Father another; but in order that He might instruct men even if they were in distress and trembling, even if danger came upon them, and they were unwilling to be torn from present life, nevertheless to postpone their own will to the will of God: even as Paul also when he had been instructed practically exhibited both these principles; for he besought that temptations might be removed from him, thus saying For this thing I besought the Lord thrice: 2 Corinthians 12:8 and yet since it did not please God to remove it, he says Wherefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in insults, in persecutions. 2 Corinthians 12:10 But perhaps what I have said is not quite clear: therefore I will make it clearer. Paul incurred many dangers and prayed that he might not be exposed to them. Then he heard Christ saying my grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. 2 Corinthians 12:9 As soon then as he saw what the will of God was, he in future submitted his will to God's will. By means of this prayer then Christ taught both these truths, that we should not plunge into dangers, but rather pray that we may not fall into them; but if they come upon us we should bear them bravely, and postpone our own will to the will of God. Knowing these things then let us pray that we may never enter into temptation: but if we do enter it let us beseech God to give us patience and courage, and let us honour His will in preference to every will of our own. For then we shall pass through this present life with safety, and shall obtain the blessings to come: which may we all receive by the favour and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with Whom be to the Father, together with the Holy Ghost, glory, might, honour, now and for ever world without end. Amen.
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| Cancer Vaccine in the works using mRNA technology |
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Posted by: Stone - 04-16-2022, 05:22 AM - Forum: Health
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Promising cancer vaccine in the works utilizing similar mRNA technology that combats COVID: Duke researchers
Duke researchers find potential in a cancer vaccine based on the same messenger RNA, or mRNA, technology used by COVID-19 vaccines
Fox News | April 15, 2022
COVID-19 vaccine technology doesn’t just fight viruses – it can combat cancer.
Duke researchers find potential in a cancer vaccine based on the same messenger RNA, or mRNA, technology used by COVID-19 vaccines to combat a type of breast cancer that over expresses a protein called HER2, according to a recent Fox 8 report.
"It is a product which is RNA nucleic acid which encodes a specific protein and then that can be encapsulated in something we like to call a lipid nanoparticle, which is really a little fat bubble, and that can be injected into your body and sort of teaches your body what to go after immunologically," said Dr. Zachary Hartman, assistant professor in the departments of surgery, pathology, and immunology at Duke University School of Medicine,
Hartman works in the lab at Duke that’s spearheading the research.
Dr. Herbert Kim Lyerly, who runs the lab, has been at Duke for almost 40 years, seeing first-hand how cancer therapy has evolved from chemotherapy, with its myriad side effects, to targeted immunotherapy, per the report.
"Think about that: in my career, a complete reversal of fortune for immunotherapy to be something to being considered an outsider, not likely to ever work, to being the most prominent form of cancer therapy and the development of new cancer therapeutics in the world, today," added Lyerly, George Barth Gellar professor of cancer research and professor of surgery, immunology and pathology at Duke University.
According to Clinical Cancer Research, the HER2 protein, which is associated with aggressive tumor growth, goes on overdrive in 20% to 30% of breast cancers, so treatments are targeted against this protein, but drug resistance limits its use, said Lyerly.
So in 2019, the Duke researchers found potential in a phase 1 clinical trial with a vaccine that induced anti-tumor growth in seven of the 22 patients who had recurrent breast cancer, with two continuing to survive at the time of the published research, according to an updated July 9, 2019 press release.
He told Fox News, "We have been working on this [vaccine mRNA] technology for many years. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the potency of the approach."
Although the current vaccine, which is a synthetic mRNA vaccine, is directed against breast cancer, it can be used for other cancers that express the HER2 protein, including lung cancer, stomach, and esophageal cancer, Lverly added.
"Vaccines stimulate the immune system, specifically killer T cells, that now are active and react to seek and destroy tumor cells. It programs the immune system to not ignore the tumor cells, but to recognize them as bad guys to kill them," Lyerly told Fox News.
He assuages some people’s concern that mRNA technology can be harmful by explaining the context of how mRNA vaccines work in our body during the pandemic, per the news outlet.
"You have mRNAs – billions of mRNA copies in your body, right now. And so, to be concerned that the introduction of an mRNA coding of a viral protein is going to be harmful to you, again, doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, because if you happen to be infected with a coronavirus, you’re going to have a thousand times more mRNAs from the virus invading your body."
Vaccination is the best way to protect against COVID-19, he added, who disclosed to Fox News that he has equity in AlphaVax, a biopharmaceutical company that has patents on mRNA vaccines.
But although the study’s vaccine works to a certain degree on its own against breast cancer, the tumor can recruit "backup strategies" to stay alive, according to a 2020 Duke press release.
So the researchers are now in the part of the research that tests whether a new treatment works, called a Phase 2 trial, that combines the vaccine with an immune checkpoint inhibitor called pembrolizumab, which when used alone showed limited benefit against breast cancer but when combined with the vaccine, carries a "one-two punch," the press release added.
"By working in tandem, the vaccine primes the immune system and the checkpoint inhibitor then rallies the T-cells to action, resulting in pronounced tumor reduction and long-term tumor-free survival," the press release said.
"I think that within my lifetime we will see cancer as a more managed disease," said Hartman.
"We’re going to turn the dial and be able to treat more and more of these kinds of cancers in the coming years and decades to where it’s not quite the same sentence it was 20 or 30 years ago. I don’t think we’ll ever be able to rid the world of cancer, but I think we will be able to prevent a lot of cancers and then a lot of cancers that we’ll be able to catch early and treat, we’ll have very effective treatments."
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| Abp. Viganò meditation for Good Friday: ‘Let us bend the knee before the Wood of Salvation’ |
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Posted by: Stone - 04-15-2022, 08:08 PM - Forum: Archbishop Viganò
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Abp. Viganò meditation for Good Friday: ‘Let us bend the knee before the Wood of Salvation’
In the silence of this Good Friday, when nature itself silently attends the immolation of God – of God! – almost incredulous at the hardness of so many hearts,
let us prostrate ourselves before the Cross.
![[Image: shutterstock_1780880084-810x500.jpeg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/shutterstock_1780880084-810x500.jpeg)
The crucifixion by Giotto in Scrovegni Chapel
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò
Fri Apr 15, 2022 EDT
(LifeSiteNews) – Astiterunt reges terræ, et principes convenerunt in unum, adversus Dominum, et adversus Christum ejus (Ps 2 :2). The kings of the earth and the princes have allied themselves against the Lord and against Christ.
The Psalm which begins the First Nocturn of Matins on this day declaims succinctly. Let us break their bonds; let us cast away their yoke from us! Is this not what we have been seeing happening right before our eyes for a long, too long, a time? Do not the powerful and the elite want to cancel every tie with God and rebel against His holy Law? Do they not seek to disfigure the image of the Creator in the creature and the likeness of the Holy Trinity in man? And how many times are we ourselves tempted to withdraw from the sweet yoke of Christ, ending by making ourselves slaves of the world, the flesh, and the devil?
All of today’s liturgy resounds with the indignation of the Divine Majesty; of the dismay of the provident Father at the revolt of His children; of the sorrow of the Son over the ingratitude of man; of the bitter disappointment of the Paraclete at the insane obstinacy in evil of those who make themselves blind to the Truth and deaf to the Word of God.
The silence of the Bride of the Lamb, who yesterday stripped herself in her altars, recalling the division of her Lord’s garments, brings us back to the severe liturgy of Calvary, to the solemn sacred action of the Passion, whose divine celebrant intoned the antiphon Deus, Deus meus, quare me dereliquisti? – My God, My God, why have you abandoned me? (Ps 21:1), which was misunderstood by those who witnessed that rite.
Eliam vocat iste – He is calling Elijah – said those who were present, unaware of having before them the God Incarnate who was bringing to fulfillment, right before their eyes, exactly what David had prophesied in the twenty-first Psalm. Speravit in Domino, eripiat eum: salvum faciat eum, quoniam vult eum – He hoped in the Lord, let him deliver him: let him save him, since he desires him. And they repeated, as we read in the Passion: Si Filius Dei es, descende de cruce! – If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross! And again: Diviserunt sibi vestimenta mea, et super vestem meam miserunt sortem – They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. At the foot of the Cross, the soldiers rolled dice for the Lord’s seamless garment, without knowing that by this gesture they were taking part in the sacred representation prophesied by Scripture.
If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross! What foolishness. They did not understand that precisely because that man disfigured by the torments of the Praetorium, the scourging, the crowning with thorns, the ascent to Golgotha and the crucifixion was the Son of God, He did not want to descend from the cross.
The sacrifice of a man, even the most heroic and atrocious, could never have been able to repair the infinite gravity of original sin and the sins of all times: in order to be able to redeem us from being children of wrath and restore us to the order of Grace, it was necessary that God die on that cross, or rather the Man-God, He who from all Eternity had answered Ecce, venio – Behold, I come – to the voice of the Father; He who in view of whose Incarnation the divine Wisdom had prepared the Immaculate Virgin, the most worthy tabernacle of the Most High – Domus Aurea – the House of Gold, the Ark of the new and eternal Covenant, the Seat of Wisdom.
Foderunt manus meas et pedes meos: dinumeraverunt omnia ossa mea – They have pierced my hands and my feet: they have numbered all my bones. And those most sacred hands, those blessed feet that were pierced by nails, even though the Roman custom was that the condemned should only be tied to the cross, should have opened the eyes of a people who heard those words repeated in the synagogues, words that the High Priests knew by heart, words that the doctors of the Law taught to Jewish children. Potaverunt me aceto, the Psalm warned – they gave me vinegar to drink – while a soldier tried to give the dying Lord a drink with a reed.
We should ask ourselves if the ignorance of the Jewish people due to the corruption of the Sanhedrin does not sound like a terrible warning for today’s High Priests, who are equally responsible for the ignorance of the Christian people; and if the threat that the High Priests then saw in the meek Nazarene who performed miracles and preached the Gospel, to the point of plotting to send him to death by the hand of the civil authority, should not make the present High Priests tremble, who even today resort to the kings of the earth and to princes in order to impede His Kingdom, with the sole intention of maintaining their power and social prestige.
Vinea mea electa, ego te plantavi: quomodo conversa es in amaritudinem, ut me crucifigeres, et Barabbam dimitteres? Sepivi te, et lapides elegi ex te, et ædificavi turrim. These are the words of the Responsory of the First Nocturn of Matins: O my beloved vineyard, it was I who planted you: how could you have given me bitter fruit, to the point of crucifying me and setting Barabbas free? I fenced you off; I removed the stones from your soil; I built a watchtower for you.
To this vineyard, cultivated with so much care, Divine Wisdom cries her loving and tormented warning: Convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum – Be converted to the Lord your God – and repeats it during the pangs of the Passion, in contemplating the betrayal of Jerusalem, the apostasy of Israel. We tremble, dear children, in thinking of how great is the torment of Our Savior in contemplating the betrayal of those who, redeemed by His Most Precious Blood and purchased at the price of so much suffering, today once again condemn the Lord to death and choose to free Barabbas.
Tamquam ad latronem existis cum gladiis et fustibus comprehendere me: quotidie apud vos eram in templo docens, et non me tenuistis: et ecce flagellatum ducitis ad crucifigendum – You have come out to seize me, as a thief, with swords and clubs : daily I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not apprehend me : and behold, you lead me to be scourged and crucified. Every day we have heard the Lord teaching in our churches, through the mouth of His Ministers, and today there are those who move against Him with swords and clubs, as if he were a malefactor. Adversus Dominum, et adversus Christum ejus – Against the Lord, and against his Christ.
And if the torment of the Lord betrayed by his followers, abandoned by His Apostles, and denied and left alone at the mercy of His enemies is not sufficient to move us to detest our infidelities, let us think of the dreadful sorrow of His Most Holy Mother, who conceived, nursed, and raised the Man-God, saw him become an adult, and accompanied him for thirty years only to see him betrayed by those whom he had benefited most, sent to die by those who only a few days before had acclaimed Him as the Son of David and the King of Israel.
Let us contemplate Our Lady of Sorrows, whose Immaculate Heart was pierced by a sword, and remain standing at the foot of the Cross along with Saint John. In those terrible hours the Divine Maternity of the Most Blessed Virgin had to know in a unique and intimate way the Passion of Her most beloved Son, so as to merit for Her the title of Co-Redemptrix.
To Her torment at the sufferings of Our Lord was added Her suffering over our sins, the cause of so much grief for the Savior. Each one of them pierced the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, mystically uniting the Divine Son and the Most Pure Mother in the Passion. This should be enough, dear children, to make us detest our sins and spur us not only to convert but to make every breath, every beat of our heart, and every thought a cause of relief and comfort for Them, in a spirit of reparation and expiation.
In the silence of the Parasceve, when nature itself silently attends the immolation of God – of God! – almost incredulous at the hardness of so many hearts, let us prostrate ourselves before the Cross, repeating with Saint Venantius Fortunatus the solemn words of the hymn with which we will accompany the Blessed Sacrament from the Tomb to the altar:
O Crux, ave, spes unica! – Hail O Cross, our only hope! Let us bend the knee before the wood of salvation consecrated by the New Adam.
Salve ara, salve, victima – Hail, altar; Hail, victim.
Beata, cujus brachiis pretium pependit sæculi: statera facta corporis, tulitque prædam tartari. – Blest Tree, whose happy branches bore the wealth that did the world restore; The beam that did that Body weigh which raised up hell’s expected prey.
Let us make our own the consoling verses of Crux Fidelis:
Flecte ramos, arbor alta, tensa laxa viscera,
et rigor lentescat ille quem dedit nativitas,
ut superni membra regis mite tendas stipite.
Bend your branches, ancient tree,
relax your inward pith and rigor,
Make soft that native hardihood,
and stretch gently on your wood
the limbs of the celestial King.
Pange, lingua, gloriosi lauream certaminis
et super crucis trophæo dic triumphum nobilem,
qualiter Redemptor orbis immolatus vicerit.
Sing, my tongue, the glory
of the victorious fight,
and the trophy won on the Cross.
Tell of the noble triumph:
the Redeemer of the world conquered
by immolating Himself.
And so may it be.
+ Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop, 15 April 2022. Feria VI in Parasceve, Good Friday 2022.
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