tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31069882.post5852048013601488459..comments2023-12-16T16:17:43.886+00:00Comments on Fr Ray Blake's Blog: Prisons DarkFr Ray Blakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05584140126211527252noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31069882.post-79297986987168339772008-10-20T16:01:00.000+01:002008-10-20T16:01:00.000+01:00"Hanging, drawing and quartering has been, thank G..."Hanging, drawing and quartering has been, thank God, removed as a means of capital punishment since the eighteenth century."<BR/><BR/>If Man is capable of doing something in the eighteenth century, he is more than capable of doing it in the 21st. Abortion statistics suggest that we have not progressed since then. Mystical saints down the ages suggested that the final persecution of the Church, before our Lord returns in Glory, will even make the initial one seem moderate in comparison.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31069882.post-9287141363584166012008-10-19T22:44:00.000+01:002008-10-19T22:44:00.000+01:00I often find myself thinking of Fr. Ignatius Spenc...I often find myself thinking of Fr. Ignatius Spencer who, although not a Martyr, gave up much for Christ's church and died in a ditch.<BR/><BR/>Now, I don't want our priests to die in ditches, but it would be nice to think that more of them were at least willing to risk it.Simon Platthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16196039882299400327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31069882.post-30356435791353425042008-10-19T20:11:00.000+01:002008-10-19T20:11:00.000+01:00I always think in those situations where one is no...I always think in those situations where one is now called on to witness to the faith it is such a small thing to do now, for many of us in the west, anyway. How very little (relatively speaking) God asks of us. <BR/><BR/>Someone says something proabortion in the workplace? I don't let let it pass. Someone says something nasty about the Catholic faith? I don't let it pass. I don't have to come out guns blazing ... but I don't let it pass. Otherwise they just get courage to do it again. Never let the heathens win.gemoftheoceanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05521207668262592414noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31069882.post-32742457427060187972008-10-19T19:55:00.000+01:002008-10-19T19:55:00.000+01:00Old Believer,You should read (or maybe you already...Old Believer,<BR/><BR/>You should read (or maybe you already have read) the punishment for parricide under the Ancien Regime !<BR/>Charle Dickens gives the gory details somewhere in "A Tale of Two Cities".PeterHWrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08734936083886678494noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31069882.post-81315563514335479292008-10-19T16:49:00.000+01:002008-10-19T16:49:00.000+01:00Hanging, drawing and quartering has been, thank Go...Hanging, drawing and quartering has been, thank God, removed as a means of capital punishment since the eighteenth century.<BR/><BR/>The French did something, arguably, more awful with tying limbs to horses... one can work out the rest.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31069882.post-15421985096497932792008-10-19T13:52:00.000+01:002008-10-19T13:52:00.000+01:00I have been having exactly these thoughts recently...I have been having exactly these thoughts recently ! The nineteen year old parishioner is quite right. Better death than sin, but then mortal sin is deadly, anyway.<BR/><BR/>Peter, the first pope, denied Christ, so it's not suprising we go on doing the same.<BR/><BR/>Matyrdom ? I don't think I'd mind too much if it were a bullet or something quick, but not the ghasly tortures suffrered by the martyrs.<BR/><BR/>But then there is a slow form of martyrdom, which one might call pscychological martyrdom, which lasts all one's life. I suspect many good and orthodox priests know and understand this, and experience it in their own lives. They don't need it spelling out. But I suppose I mean the life of hope, expectation, joy, pain, frustration, all because a man has responded to the call "Take up your cross and follow me."<BR/><BR/>Brave men who have responded to this call !<BR/><BR/>Thank God for good priests.PeterHWrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08734936083886678494noreply@blogger.com