In The Beginning.....

There are questions for which simple folk (like me) cannot hope to find the answer. Some scientific types try to, and even the most humble of intelligences (mine is not that humble) look at the difficult ideas that they come up with. The Origins of Life is one of those big questions. The Tavern's Supplier has given us an answer which most people find all too easy to dismiss while they look for something they can grasp and claim some credit for themselves.

We do like to keep busy. Human beans have, we are to understand from the clever types, a long history of development, and while early folk grasped 'Art' and even a bit of technology - think of flint tools and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon -  it has nonetheless taken until only very recently for Science to arrive and find the tools to look more deeply and rigorously. And some answers were devised. 

So, having established to the satisfaction of very few thinking folk, in the era when we moved on a little from sailing ships,  that the entire Universe shebang came into existence with a very loud noise (that no-one could hear as there was no one around) from nothing and nowhere, by accident, randomly, we have arrived at the point where the question has changed to 'Where did Life come from'.  It is thought by some to be an easier question. Hah !

And here we start to look at the attempts to answer. So, very briefly, as an introduction, we have...... a drum roll......

There. Simplified for you. Except.......the panspermia bizzo is just a TATWD guess - Turtles All The Way Down. Where and how did that life, floating about originate?

The life in a bottle bizzo didn't sail either as 'Science' demands repeats and it never has been. It was very probably a soiled sample, despite some saying that it is a viable hypothosis. 

Let's look deeper.  Deeper in the sea.  The deep-sea vent theory suggests that life may have begun at submarine hydrothermal vents spewing key hydrogen-rich molecules. Their rocky nooks could then have concentrated these molecules together and provided mineral catalysts for critical reactions. Even now, these vents, rich in chemical and thermal energy, sustain vibrant ecosystems. A few too many 'mays' and 'coulds' though.

A probable future for deep sea divers and bathosphere drivers, but not an answer that is likely repeatable. As yet there is no evidence that life originated there, but heck, I am a simple man. How do I know.

Other 'hypothoses' have been considered. On the shoulders of Giants and the backs of turtles, the chemical scientists keep plodding on, cooking up recipes. The probability of an answer coming up soon is, well.... 

So far the recipe eludes us, so what about that Probability bizzo?

What is the liklihood of life arising all on it's todd? Given the 'right' conditions, that is. Is it possible? Or Probable?

That would be a place to start and it can bring in the carpenters and plumbers and electricians of the Science world.... The Mathematicians.  These are the guys that provide the basements and walls, the pipes and circuits for the architects of the sciences. And the tasty meals while they 'think'.

Now we are cooking !!

For the meaty main course below, I rely heavily on a good chef.

http://www.originthefilm.com/mathematics.php

Today, origin of life research continues under the assumptions of materialism. Researchers believe that if they can explain the formation of a building block or a possible energy source, they are making progress toward solving one of the most baffling mysteries of science. 

The major factor they consistently fail to address is the source of the information that is the hallmark of life. 

It’s not enough to get the building blocks of a cell any more than it is to get iron ore for a skyscraper. 

The building blocks need to be assembled and arranged in a purposeful way. That’s the sequencing problem for RNA, DNA and proteins.

Since protein machines do most of the work in living cells (both modern and primordial), their existence merits explanation.

Proteins are constructed from precisely sequenced chains of amino acids. Most proteins in the simplest life forms (Achaea) range from 156 to 283 amino acids in length. Some shorter proteins exist (more accurately called “polypeptides”), but most of them have simpler roles in the cell, acting as signaling molecules or cofactors. Some proteins contain many hundreds or thousands of amino acids. 

We chose a smaller-than-average protein of 150 amino acids to illustrate the difficulty of sequencing any protein by chance—including those required in the first living cell.

We consider the PROBABILITY

The estimated probability for a 150-amino-acid protein comes from the work of Douglas Axe and Stephen Meyer. Axe published a paper in 2004 that calculated the fraction of useful proteins in random chains of amino acids. A “useful” protein must be able to fold into a stable structure to perform any function. Compared to the huge number of random chains that would not fold, the number of proteins with this ability is miniscule.

After carefully measuring the tolerance to change in particular enzymes, Axe estimated that only one in 1074 chains of 150 amino acids would fold and be functional. This implies that you would have to search through 1074 chains of that length to find a single useful protein. So we start by looking for one protein (any chain of 150 amino acids) that could be useful in a primitive cell by spontaneously folding into a stable shape.

In his book, Signature in the Cell, Stephen Meyer recognized two additional constraints for the chance origin of a protein. 

First, amino acids need to be “one-handed.” In nature, amino acids (except the simplest, glycine) come in two forms: left-handed and right-handed. All living things use only the left-handed form. 

This is what gives proteins the ability to fold. 

Experiments show that random chains using both hands become useless lumps of molecules. Indeed, living cells cannot tolerate wrong-handed amino acids, and employ quality controls to ensure their amino acids are left-handed. The earliest imaginable life form could have used either left-handed or right-handed building blocks, but would have to select one or the other--and stick with it. 

With that constraint, Meyer assumes an additional 1-out-of-2 chance the correct form would be selected at each point in the chain (after the positioning of the first building block). For 150 amino acids, that becomes 0.5-149 or one chance in 1045.

Let's look at that in an easier-to grasp-manner.

The second constraint concerns the type of bond that must form between amino acids. Proteins use peptide bonds in which the H atom on one end joins with the OH atoms on the other end, releasing H20—a water molecule. 

(This, incidentally, is why proteins cannot be expected to form spontaneously in water, because peptide bond formation would go against chemistry’s law of mass action; such bonds would be far more likely to break than join.)

Puts the moccas on the undersea vents idea.  

Other bonds between amino acids, however, are possible. They result in clumps of useless “tar” as biochemists call it. Meyer assumed another 1-out-of-2 chance that each bond would be a peptide bond (a generous assumption). That decreases the probability by another 1045.


Putting the probabilities together means adding the exponents. The probability of getting a properly folded chain of one-handed amino acids, joined by peptide bonds, is one chance in 10^74+45+45, or 

one in 10^164 .  

This means that, on average, you would need to construct 10^164 chains of amino acids 150 units long to expect to find one that is useful.

So, now we have one.

Or not.

Given time, maybe. 

Well more time than we have had it seems.

So far, we have advanced so far as to be confronted with the extreme UNliklihood of Life arising by itself at all.

Personally, being a simple fellow, and having exchanged pleasantries many a time with my Supplier's angelic barrel hauler, I am content with not knowing the exact means by which the 

Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life...

......managed it. 

I am simply in awe that He did.

Can we get further? Well, I, for one, cannot. I am busy with the here and now. I have pints to pull, tables to wipe and even more interesting customers to engage with. And you, of course.

Enjoy your drinks.

Pax.

The Rude Girls Over the Hedge

Love thine Enemies. That's a tough call sometimes. I have made mention before of the hordes of detractors that congregate outside the Tavern's hedges. A rude, motley, often hilarious mob they are, even as they hurl epithets and more (Gordon Bennetts) than are healthy. The SJWs, the feminists, the marxist zombies, the socialists, the brain dead and.... the young: they are a colourful lot in need. I take a variety of drinks out to them on hot days (hot drinks on cold days too).

Does my occasional kindness make a difference? Time might tell.

The rude, nasty girls especially often attract this old chap's attention !  

Don't get me wrong here. Hahaha.  Once they were charming little girls, the apple of a daddy's eye: and something went awry when they hit puberty. They got stuck in immaturity coupled with their growing sense of sexual power and hubris, and of course, breasts. These pretty, bodily, defining accessories became weapons when taken in hand ('scuse the pun) by feminists.

I was very pleasantly surprised when Steven Ertelt dropped by to tell of the Wonderous Ways my Supplier has of making some 'Good' out of the bad.  What lesson can be learned from what he had to say?  

We may hate the actions of 'pro-choice' people, for example, spouting their 'My Body, My Choice' mantras, and may especially find the screetches and actions of groups like Femen to be terrible, but we must not hate the people. God has work to do with them, by them and for them. Our task is to Love them and pray for His Grace that changes their ways. Cold and hot drinks are a small way of us expressing that Love. 

You have heard of Femen?  From Wiki.....
FEMEN
Фемен
Femen Logo.svg
Founded 10 April 2008; 10 years ago
Type Protest and activist group
Focus Women's liberation
Location
Paris, France (main headquarters)
Key people Anna Hutsol, Oksana Shachko, Alexandra Shevchenko, Inna Shevchenko (that is Inna, pictured at the top), Yana Zhdanova.... and in South America,  Sara Fernanda Giromin, also known as Sara Winter
Website femen.org

Femen (Ukrainian: Фемен), stylized as FEMEN, is a Ukrainian radical feminist activist group intended to protect women's rights. The organization became internationally known for organizing controversial topless protests against sex tourism, religious institutions, sexism, homophobia, and other social, national, and international topics. Founded in Ukraine, the group is now based in Paris.

The organization describes itself as "fighting patriarchy in its three manifestations – sexual exploitation of women, dictatorship and religion" and has stated that its goal is "sextremism serving to protect women's rights". Femen activists have been regularly detained by police in response to their protests.

Initially, Femen gained attention by demonstrating in skimpy or erotic clothing. For example, on 21 September 2008 in front of a Turkish embassy, a dozen Femen members were dressed as nurses with smudged makeup and high pink heels; however, at the 24 August 2009 demonstration on Ukrainian independence day, Oksana Shachko went topless. 

The main driveresse of the group, Inna Shevchenko, a quite pretty girl, has made her position clear in an interview. It is really a collections of 'half-truths' mixed with immature understandings and lots of wild, unfocussed blame, but hey, don't let my opinion stop you forming your own.  She was someone's little girl once.

Since this approach obtained such great publicity, it rapidly became FEMEN's signature approach. While most of the protests have been confined to bare breasts, in October 2010 Shachko exposed her buttocks outside a locked toilet in a demonstration to protest the lack of public toilets in Kiev, and four of the group members staged a similar protest in Kiev in February 2011.

Femen protest in Kiev during the 2010 Ukrainian presidential election against the election of Victor Yanukovych. The signs read "The War Begins Today" and "Stop Raping the Country." Since May 2011, a host of international news outlets have started to report about the organization's actions; this has sharply heightened FEMEN's international profile.

From late 2011, the Ukrainian Femen activists started to hold more international protests. In December 2011, three Femen activists stated that the State Security Committee of the Republic of Belarus had abducted and terrorized them after they staged topless protests in Minsk. On 8 April 2013, five Femen members "topless ambushed" Russian President Vladimir Putin (accompanied by German Chancellor Angela Merkel) at the Hanover trade fair.

After Inna Shevchenko chopped down a wooden cross overlooking Maidan Nezalezhnosti in Kiev on 17 August 2012, she stated that she had received several death threats and that her front door had been kicked in. Fearing arrest, she sought asylum in France and moved to Paris. There, in September 2012, she established a training facility for activists for Femen in France.

End Wiki.

Hey, apart from cutting down crosses, protesting against the Church, protesting for a woman's 'right' to murder babies, and bailing up a few politicians, what is there to dislike about these ladies?  They are spunkey, loud and damnably funny at times and often quite nice to look at. Ok, gawp at, by some.

So, Steve told us of one leading breast, Sara Fernanda Giromin, who has found a better purpose for herself and her mammaries. 

Founder of Feminist Group That Goes Topless to Protest Abortion Becomes Pro-Life, Apologizes

Chances are you’ve heard of the pro-abortion feminists who protest topless for abortion at The Vatican or infiltrate Catholic Churches to push their radical abortion agenda. In Spain, once time, as the Spanish government pushes a pro-life proposal to roll back some of Europe’s most pro-abortion laws, extreme feminists from Femen showed their anger by hurling objects at Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela as he attempted to enter a local Catholic Church before Mass.

https://www.lifenews.com/2015/12/30/founder-of-feminist-group-that-goes-topless-to-protest-abortion-becomes-pro-life-apologizes/?fbclid=IwAR2jtw-GjQE4U_NNtQyyamacSBYheaZS0922VoGnHto6rj51CHB0vsoE2PY 

In October, the the violent mob of Femen abortion activists attempted to desecrate an Argentine cathedral and threw stones and bottles at Catholics praying the rosary in front of the church on Sunday.

Now, shockingly, the founder of the Brazilian chapter of Femen has become pro-life and is apologizing for her actions. Here’s a report from Red Alert Politics:

Sara Fernanda Giromin, also known as Sara Winter, was not merely feminist. She was the founder of Femen Brazil in 2012 and later of Bastardxs. Both groups gained nation and worldwide attention for their angry bare-chested protests.

Winter is reportedly upset with how the feminist movement “uses women as objects” and “covers up pedophilia in its ranks.” While Sara’s own religious beliefs are not clear, she did apologize to Christians and referred to feminism as “a religious sect.”

I saw the feminist movement cover up for PEDOPHILES. I saw the feminist movement PERSECUTE WOMEN … I am a witness to the fact that today in the feminist movement women are not of any importance but serve as fuel for the fires of hatred that the feminist sect cannot allow to die.

Fortunately, Winter is now pro-life.

There are still reasons to celebrate, other than Sara having a complete change of heart three years later. She has not only denounced and exposed feminism, but is pro-life.

Sara aborted her first child, but gave birth to her second, a son. It was he who helped her change her attitude on abortion. In October she repented and asked for forgiveness. She also implored “women who are desperate to abort” to “think carefully about it.” Sara was “very sorry I did it” and spoke of how “I don’t want the same for you.”

A report in The Blaze has more on Winter, whose real name is Sara Fernanda Giromin, recanting her pro-abortion views.

“I have repented of having had an abortion and today I ask for forgiveness,” Giromin wrote, claiming that after the birth of her baby, “life has taken on a new meaning.”

“Please, women who are desperate to abort, think carefully about it. I was very sorry I did it. I don’t want the same for you,” she added.

In a YouTube video published earlier this month, Giromin, who founded Femen Now at age 19, apologized to Christians for her past transgressions.

 What she is saying, in brief, is ......On 04/10/14, I and another activist from the Coleção Bastardas organized a feminist protest in front of the Candelária Church in Rio de Janeiro. The purpose of the act was to protest against the homophobic statements of the presidential candidate of the republic Levy Fidelix.
Sadly, letting me get carried away by extremism, I ended up offending thousands of religious and non-religious people.
Now I come here with all the humility of the world to ask for forgiveness.

(ps: Dark circles are indicative of who has small baby.)

Winter is proof that, like so many other pro-life advocates who have come from the ranks of the abortion industry over the years, even the hardest heart can be softened.

I suspect someone took her a kindly drink one time when she was protesting. But more likely, IMHO, the men who were saying the Rosary outside the Cathedral were praying for her. 

Have a cool drink.

Love the little ones. They will grow big and some bent out of shape by destructive winds. 

Pray for them.

Pax

The Ruination of Women

There are so many fine, good women in the world, and like the many fine and good men, they generally stay quietly living their lives and raising the families instead of knitting beside the Guillotine. That is where in the past we found “les tricoteuses de laGuillotine” and Madam Defarge. She didn't go away. The evil woman has never gone away. There are some women, many women who love death. The more gruesome the better.

Yes, I know. We could mention all the evil men who seem always to be in the way too, but today we heard a voice from the deep giving thought to the womenfolk of old and new who are taken by evil. 

Possessed, one might say.

Women possess emotions. It is the conventional wisdom that women are more emotional than men. I doubt that, m'self, but there we go. Women possess the wide range palette of emotions and display them readily.

But the wicked women have a 'Limited Range'. 

And I heard about it while down in the crypt. 

I occasionally let someone look through the door, but generally it is a place where I go to Worship. To Pray. Alone. But this time I had invited a chap to sit and talk down there instead of in the bar. His words spoke of important matters. Spiritual as well as down to earth. 

Michael Matt sat in the quietness and dark and took a hard look at the George Soros-backed Women's March in D.C., New York, London, Rome and all around the world-- and asks the question: What are they really protesting and what does it mean for our countries and for all of us? 

And what's with the little reddish hats? Do these not harken back to "les bonnet rouges"--the red "liberty hats" worn by the terrorists who beheaded Catholic France back in 1789? What's the connection? 

Why do these women hate us? 

Why do they hate pro-lifers? 

What does their rabid defence of partial-birth abortion reveal about the end of our civilization? 

Men can be wicked. Women can be wicked. 

Both are of great interest to satan. He wants all human beings. He tries to get all. He wants those too who try to be good. 

He fears man and he fears woman.

He has a Limited Range of emotions.

His are limited to Fear, Anger, Hatred and.... Spite.

He fears and hates man because Christ chose to become man. 

He fears and hates woman because Mary, Mother of Christ, will crush his head. It is she who will command the army that wipes him and his evil from the world. 

It is in his interest to destroy women, womanhood, their ability to bring life into the world. 

He hates the Compassion and Love of women: he hates their Nurturing; their Empathy. These he will take every opportunity to destroy. 

It is at the root of Feminism. Its 'cause'.

The very Good woman is especially hated.

And feared.

Almost the last evil of that time and the one horror that ended the French Revolution was the judicial mob-murder of the Carmelite Nuns. 

They were as innocent of sin as the babies in the womb that our modern evil women hate and fear. And kill.

Those women, those Nuns, did not fear: they were not angry; they did not hate. They had no spite.

I had much to pray about.

You can find more about and by Michael at http://www.theremnantunderground.org

And then I had Ale to pull and pour.

And to listen to others. So up the steps I had to go, into the light.

No guillotine in the Tavern.

Drink up.

Pax

Sanctificetur Nomen Tuum

Down in the Crypt half the morning going through my operating procedure notes. Well, it is just a step from the barrels that I have to hook up. But such chores do give me the opportunity to get on my knees. One runs a Tavern according to routines and SOPs. 

It is essential to know one's place in the scheme of things and that others have 'gone before'.  They have given us a wealth of guidance.  SOPs. What good is a Knight that does not know humility or its essential stabilising role; what use one that does not see the higher purpose to which his profession calls? Even a retired Knight who only occasionally puts his old armour on and then just to see if it still fits. (It doesn't, I am sad to say, such is old age and avoirdupois).

I am not a bit embarrassed to say that I pray daily.  Morn and night. Indeed, often during the day too. It is a duty.

Many of the several hundred thousand visitors to the Tavern have seen me busy and listening to all the conversations of others  (and what a great bunch of customers they are too. Some are far better men and women than I and I am happy to hear what they say ) as I pull pints and wipe tables, without realising that prayer takes up much of the thought that goes on at those lower levels of  my consciousness. When my own daily doings thoughts quieten, I can hear the Rosary being recited, and not just by me. 

But down in the quiet of the Crypt I hear it very clearly. And there, at the start, I say that which my Supplier gave me to say.

That is on Page one of the SOPs, listed under 'Start Here'.

Of course over time there have been variations on the theme. I say it in English. Of course. But also in Latin. The Pater Noster. It is the language of the Church and has been for nigh on 2000 years.  It is a beautiful language too. 

In Church, where I attend a Traditional Latin Mass, it is often sung. I don't sing out loud there as I have a dreadful voice, but I do quietly to m'self so as not to put off those around me. In the Crypt, alone, I can let rip. 

There are other Traditions though, especially in the 'Eastern', or 'Orthodox' Church. 

The Pope was in Georgia (not the US State one) recently for a superb ceremonial featuring a big hairy Monkish priest and a young, clear-voiced girl leading the standing congregation. They sang in Aramaic. The same, eternal prayer given to us. 

 It must move you. Surely.

Some say that my Supplier, who always sends me notes in English as he knows my limitations, spoke Aramaic, and perhaps He did. But He was a Jew, and today's Jews speak Hebrew (when they are not speaking English or other languages). So I am pleased that someone explained how to me, as one would to a seven year old in a classroom.

A Good Knight, even one turned Tavern Keeper, prays morn and night. He is a warrior in a Great Battle. 

Just as a modern aviating knight goes through his check-lists, so he must also have his prayers to check off before going into battle or on the practice joust.

The habit is essential.

We are so prone to error that care has to be excercised constantly. 

So he will attend to the Manufacturer's Operating Manuals and His Operating Procedures. We listen to the guidance of better men. Especially that particular better One. And he will cross himself before letting the brake off.

And he will find me, often, on my knees in the Crypt (the Briefing room?) below the hubub of the tavern's many room. There is a small sign on the door.

Et ne nos inducas in tentationem.

Pax

The Crucifixion

The Tavern stopped service for a few hours. It is Good Friday. Well, not closed the doors, just put the towels over the pumps. Customers gathered to do the Stations of the Cross. Some were permitted to look through the door to the Crypt. We contemplated the journey through the streets of Jerusalem to the Hill where my Supplier was ritually slaughtered. 

Believe me, you would not have liked to have been there. There are those who are ignorant of the process of crucifixion. There are those that do not even believe that Christ was crucified, let alone that He was the Son of The Almighty Father, Creator of Heaven and Earth and of all things visible and invisible. I am not one of them.

Neither is David Warren who spoke up:

 “No good deed goes unpunished,” in this world, and in the extreme, it is impossible that the Man who embodies perfect goodness will not be executed.

 https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2018/03/30/god-is-dead/

When and where might be open to discussion; the pretexts will be quite flexible; but the fate of the perfect saint is sealed from the beginning. So it has been with Christ’s martyrs through the centuries; and so it began with Christ himself.

But many do believe as I and David do and even amongst them there is only a little understanding of what it means to a human body. Too many take it for granted. So a Doctor spoke to the matter. Dr. C. Truman Davis

A Physician testifies about the Crucifixion

About a decade ago, reading Jim Bishop’s The Day Christ Died, I realized that I had for years taken the Crucifixion more or less for granted — that I had grown callous to its horror by a too easy familiarity with the grim details and a too distant friendship with our Lord. It finally occurred to me that, though a physician, I didn’t even know the actual immediate cause of death.

The Gospel writers don’t help us much on this point, because crucifixion and scourging were so common during their lifetime that they apparently considered a detailed description unnecessary. So we have only the concise words of the Evangelists: 

“Pilate, having scourged Jesus, delivered Him to them to be crucified — and they crucified Him.”

I have no competence to discuss the infinite psychic and spiritual suffering of the Incarnate God atoning for the sins of fallen man. But it seemed to me that as a physician I might pursue the physiological and anatomical aspects of our Lord’s passion in some detail. What did the body of Jesus of Nazareth actually endure during those hours of torture?

This led me first to a study of the practice of crucifixion itself; that is, torture and execution by fixation to a cross. I am indebted to many who have studied this subject in the past, and especially to a contemporary colleague, Dr. Pierre Barbet, a French surgeon who has done exhaustive historical and experimental research and has written extensively on the subject.

Apparently, the first known practice of crucifixion was by the Persians. Alexander and his generals brought it back to the Mediterranean world — to Egypt and to Carthage. The Romans apparently learned the practice from the Carthaginians and (as with almost everything the Romans did) rapidly developed a very high degree of efficiency and skill at it.

A number of Roman authors (Livy, Cicer, Tacitus) comment on crucifixion, and several innovations, modifications, and variations are described in the ancient literature.

For instance, the upright portion of the cross (or stipes) could have the cross-arm (or patibulum) attached two or three feet below its top in what we commonly think of as the Latin cross. The most common form used in our Lord’s day, however, was the Tau cross, shaped like our T. In this cross the patibulum was placed in a notch at the top of the stipes. There is archeological evidence that it was on this type of cross that Jesus was crucified.

Without any historical or biblical proof, Medieval and Renaissance painters have given us our picture of Christ carrying the entire cross. But the upright post, or stipes, was generally fixed permanently in the ground at the site of execution and the condemned man was forced to carry the patibulum, weighing about 110 pounds, from the prison to the place of execution.

Many of the painters and most of the sculptors of crucifixion, also show the nails through the palms. Historical Roman accounts and experimental work have established that the nails were driven between the small bones of the wrists (radial and ulna) and not through the palms. Nails driven through the palms will strip out between the fingers when made to support the weight of the human body.

The misconception may have come about through a misunderstanding of Jesus’ words to Thomas, “Observe my hands.” Anatomists, both modern and ancient, have always considered the wrist as part of the hand.

A titulus, or small sign, stating the victim’s crime was usually placed on a staff, carried at the front of the procession from the prison, and later nailed to the cross so that it extended above the head. This sign with its staff nailed to the top of the cross would have given it somewhat the characteristic form of the Latin cross.

But, of course, the physical passion of the Christ began in Gethsemane. Of the many aspects of this initial suffering, the one of greatest physiological interest is the bloody sweat. It is interesting that St. Luke, the physician, is the only one to mention this. He says, “And being in Agony, He prayed the longer. And His sweat became as drops of blood, trickling down upon the ground.”

Every ruse (trick) imaginable has been used by modern scholars to explain away this description, apparently under the mistaken impression that this just doesn’t happen. A great deal of effort could have been saved had the doubters consulted the medical literature.

Though very rare, the phenomenon of Hematidrosis, or bloody sweat, is well documented. Under great emotional stress of the kind our Lord suffered, tiny capillaries in the sweat glands can break, thus mixing blood with sweat. This process might well have produced marked weakness and possible shock.

After the arrest in the middle of the night, Jesus was next brought before the Sanhedrin and Caiphus, the High Priest; it is here that the first physical trauma was inflicted. A soldier struck Jesus across the face for remaining silent when questioned by Caiphus. The palace guards then blindfolded Him and mockingly taunted Him to identify them as they each passed by, spat upon Him, and struck Him in the face.

In the early morning, battered and bruised, dehydrated, and exhausted from a sleepless night, Jesus is taken across the Praetorium of the Fortress Antonia, the seat of government of the Procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate. You are, of course, familiar with Pilate’s action in attempting to pass responsibility to Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch of Judea. Jesus apparently suffered no physical mistreatment at the hands of Herod and was returned to Pilate. It was in response to the cries of the mob, that Pilate ordered Bar-Abbas released and condemned Jesus to scourging and crucifixion.

There is much disagreement among authorities about the unusual scourging as a prelude to crucifixion. Most Roman writers from this period do not associate the two. Many scholars believe that Pilate originally ordered Jesus scourged as his full punishment and that the death sentence by crucifixion came only in response to the taunt by the mob that the Procurator was not properly defending Caesar against this pretender who allegedly claimed to be the King of the Jews.

Preparations for the scourging were carried out when the Prisoner was stripped of His clothing and His hands tied to a post above His head. It is doubtful the Romans would have made any attempt to follow the Jewish law in this matter, but the Jews had an ancient law prohibiting more than forty lashes.

The Roman legionnaire steps forward with the flagrum (or flagellum) in his hand. This is a short whip consisting of several heavy, leather thongs with two small balls of lead attached near the ends of each. The heavy whip is brought down with full force again and again across Jesus’ shoulders, back, and legs. At first the thongs cut through the skin only.

Then, as the blows continue, they cut deeper into the subcutaneous tissues, producing first an oozing of blood from the capillaries and veins of the skin, and finally spurting arterial bleeding from vessels in the underlying muscles.

The small balls of lead first produce large, deep bruises which are broken open by subsequent blows. Finally the skin of the back is hanging in long ribbons and the entire area is an unrecognizable mass of torn, bleeding tissue. When it is determined by the centurion in charge that the prisoner is near death, the beating is finally stopped.

The half-fainting Jesus is then untied and allowed to slump to the stone pavement, wet with His own blood. The Roman soldiers see a great joke in this provincial Jew claiming to be king. They throw a robe across His shoulders and place a stick in His hand for a scepter.

They still need a crown to make their travesty complete. Flexible branches covered with long thorns (commonly used in bundles for firewood) are plaited into the shape of a crown and this is pressed into His scalp. Again there is copious bleeding, the scalp being one of the most vascular areas of the body.

After mocking Him and striking Him across the face, the soldiers take the stick from His hand and strike Him across the head, driving the thorns deeper into His scalp. Finally, they tire of their sadistic sport and the robe is torn from His back. Already having adhered to the clots of blood and serum in the wounds, its removal causes excruciating pain just as in the careless removal of a surgical bandage, and almost as though He were again being whipped the wounds once more begin to bleed.

In deference to Jewish custom, the Romans return His garments. The heavy patibulum of the cross is tied across His shoulders, and the procession of the condemned Christ, two thieves, and the execution detail of Roman soldiers headed by a centurion begins its slow journey along the Via Dolorosa.

In spite of His efforts to walk erect, the weight of the heavy wooden beam, together with the shock produced by copious blood loss, is too much. He stumbles and falls. The rough wood of the beam gouges into the lacerated skin and muscles of the shoulders. He tries to rise, but human muscles have been pushed beyond their endurance.

It did not end with the Romans.

The centurion, anxious to get on with the crucifixion, selects a stalwart North African onlooker, Simon of Cyrene, to carry the cross. Jesus follows, still bleeding and sweating the cold, clammy sweat of shock, until the 650 yard journey from the fortress Antonia to Golgotha is finally completed.

Jesus is offered wine mixed with myrrh, a mild analgesic mixture. He refuses to drink. Simon is ordered to place the patibulum on the ground and Jesus quickly thrown backward with His shoulders against the wood. The legionnaire feels for the depression at the front of the wrist. He drives a heavy, square, wrought-iron nail through the wrist and deep into the wood.

Quickly, he moves to the other side and repeats the action being careful not to pull the arms to tightly, but to allow some flexion and movement. The patibulum is then lifted in place at the top of the stipes and the titulus reading “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” is nailed in place.

The left foot is now pressed backward against the right foot, and with both feet extended, toes down, a nail is driven through the arch of each, leaving the knees moderately flexed. The Victim is now crucified. As He slowly sags down with more weight on the nails in the wrists excruciating pain shoots along the fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain — the nails in the writs are putting pressure on the median nerves. As He pushes Himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, He places His full weight on the nail through His feet. Again there is the searing agony of the nail tearing through the nerves between the metatarsal bones of the feet.

At this point, as the arms fatigue, great waves of cramps sweep over the muscles, knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain. With these cramps comes the inability to push Himself upward. Hanging by his arms, the pectoral muscles are paralyzed and the intercostal muscles are unable to act. Air can be drawn into the lungs, but cannot be exhaled. Jesus fights to raise Himself in order to get even one short breath.

Finally, carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs and in the blood stream and the cramps partially subside. 

Spasmodically, he is able to push Himself upward to exhale and bring in the life-giving oxygen. 

It was undoubtedly during these periods that He uttered the seven short sentences recorded:

The first, looking down at the Roman soldiers throwing dice for His seamless garment, 

“Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

The second, to the penitent thief, 

“Today thou shalt be with me in Paradise.”

The third, looking down at the terrified, grief-stricken adolescent John — the beloved Apostle — he said, 

“Behold thy mother.” 

Then, looking to His mother Mary, 

“Woman behold thy son.”

The fourth cry is from the beginning of the 22nd Psalm, 

“My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?”

Hours of limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain where tissue is torn from His lacerated back as He moves up and down against the rough timber. Then another agony begins…A terrible crushing pain deep in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart.

One remembers again the 22nd Psalm, the 14th verse: “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.”

It is now almost over. The loss of tissue fluids has reached a critical level; the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the tissue; the tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air. The markedly dehydrated tissues send their flood of stimuli to the brain.

Jesus gasps His fifth cry, 

“I thirst.”

One remembers another verse from the prophetic 22nd Psalm: “My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou has brought me into the dust of death.”

A sponge soaked in posca, the cheap, sour wine which is the staple drink of the Roman legionaries, is lifted to His lips. He apparently doesn’t take any of the liquid. The body of Jesus is now in extremes, and He can feel the chill of death creeping through His tissues. This realization brings out His sixth words, possibly little more than a tortured whisper, “It is finished.”

His mission of atonement has completed. Finally He can allow his body to die.

With one last surge of strength, he once again presses His torn feet against the nail, straightens His legs, takes a deeper breath, and utters His seventh and last cry, 

"Father! Into thy hands I commit my spirit.”

The rest you know. In order that the Sabbath not be profaned, the Jews asked that the condemned men be dispatched and removed from the crosses. The common method of ending a crucifixion was by crurifracture, the breaking of the bones of the legs. This prevented the victim from pushing himself upward; thus the tension could not be relieved from the muscles of the chest and rapid suffocation occurred. The legs of the two thieves were broken, but when the soldiers came to Jesus they saw that this was unnecessary.

Apparently to make doubly sure of death, the legionnaire drove his lance through the fifth interspace between the ribs, upward through the pericardium and into the heart. The 34th verse of the 19th chapter of the Gospel according to St. John reports: “And immediately there came out blood and water.”

That is, there was an escape of water fluid from the sac surrounding the heart, giving postmortem evidence that Our Lord died not the usual crucifixion death by suffocation, but of heart failure (a broken heart) due to shock and constriction of the heart by fluid in the pericardium.

Thus we have had our glimpse — including the medical evidence — of that epitome of evil which man has exhibited toward Man and toward God. 

It has been a terrible sight, and more than enough to leave us despondent and depressed.

This, endured, for me: for you: for all mankind.

Drink deep.

Christ drank from a bitter, bitter cup, to bring us a far better one.

Pax

Freedom By Religion

I am not a believer in Freedom of Religion. I do believe however that one Religion has freed us: one Religion that is the basis of what we call 'Western Civilisation'. And we are fast losing that Freedom along with that Religion.

Those who spout the mantra of 'freedom of religion' seem not to think of just what that means. They allow in all sorts of belief systems, some of which are antithetical to our Christian way of life.  They give equal weight and value to ideologies that poison our society: ideas and beliefs that have led and are  leading us down the steep slope to perdition.

Christianity is hard. It is tough. Most people do not even try being religious today, yet they benefit from what Christianity has given us. At the same time they distort the messages of Love for one's neighbour, compassion and Charity with excesses that contradict the clear messages given to us by my Supplier.

Few today would say "Thy Will be Done" when faced with the hard obligations of Christ's commands. Even Christ Himself had difficulty in the Garden. Even He had to pray for the Strength that only the Father can give.

Most of us are asleep. Some are tucked in very comfortably indeed and have forgotten what they are here for. We are betraying our western, Christian Principles.

So a reminder today from Simon Smart and a tale from Everett Piper just to consider while you sup your pints before tonight's Last Supper and the betrayals that followed. 

Simon Smart is the director of the Centre for Public Christianity. He stood to speak:

Christianity is still the foundation of our most treasured convictions

 In his Easter message last year, British Prime Minister David Cameron was not the least bit shy about identifying his country's religious foundation. "Yes, we are a nation that welcomes, embraces and accepts all faiths and none", he said, "but we're still a Christian country."

No politician would get away with that in Australia. The first church built here was burnt to the ground by the convicts and ever since we've had a somewhat uneasy relationship with organised religion.

 https://www.smh.com.au/opinion/christianity-is-still-the-foundation-of-our-most-treasured-convictions-20160322-gnonb9.html

The crucifixion of Jesus was a crucial turning point in the history of Western morality.

But despite our apparent lack of religiosity, as a culture we remain thoroughly marinated in the juices of an ancient story, the climax of which is celebrated around the country this weekend. The first Easter Sunday led to claims of an empty tomb and, in the West, life has never been the same since.

The reality is, despite fewer and fewer of us having a hope of being able to articulate the details of that story, it is ingrained in the fibre of Western history as the moment when a revolutionary understanding of the value of every individual germinated and began to grow. The idea that the creator of the universe would enter the human drama as a child and then, in order to redeem it, willingly submit to a brutal and humiliating death, shaped our culture in profoundly important ways.

The Jewish tradition of the poor being the ones God loves was picked up and extended by early Christianity and its account of the crucifixion. For educated people in the ancient world, the grotesque execution of Jesus was the worst kind of humiliation, one that couldn't possibly have anything to do with divinity. 

But for the Christian, this humiliation was profoundly meaningful – salvation itself! 

The low point became the high point – the great inversion. 

Jesus urged those who wanted to be great, to also become the servant, or slave, of all.

Atheist philosopher Alain de Botton recognises the value of this radical shift.

Among Christianity's greatest achievements has been its capacity, without the use of any coercion beyond the gentlest of theological arguments, to persuade monarchs and magnates to kneel down and abase themselves before the statue of a carpenter, and to wash the feet of peasants, street sweepers and dispatch drivers.

The idea that those without status were actually the unique concern of God represented a radical enunciation of an ethos Westerners now consider self-evident but that was hitherto unimaginable.

"One finds nothing in pagan society remotely comparable in magnitude to the Christian willingness to provide continuously for persons in need, male and female, young and old, free and bound alike," says historian and theologian David Bentley Hart.

It had a lasting impact. People now simply take it for granted that institutions of public welfare, like free hospitals and soup kitchens or free education, are a social good whether or not they are economically beneficial. We may only pay lip service to care for the marginalised, but we do so knowing this is a moral good, even a moral responsibility. 

Over the centuries people absorbed this sensibility into their moral DNA, and while there have been terrible failures along the way, the world is a substantially kinder, more compassionate place than it would otherwise have been.

And it matters where these foundational concepts comes from. The great atheist critic of Christianity, Friedrich Nietzsche, insisted that the death of God meant the death of objective morality. Having lost the transcendent, the ground on which ethics rests becomes decidedly unsteady.

Australian moral philosopher Raimond Gaita – who is not a believer – writes that only someone who is religious can speak seriously of the sacred, but such talk nonetheless informs the thoughts of most of us whether we are religious or not.

"We may say that all human beings are inestimably precious, that they are ends in themselves, that they are owed unconditional respect, that they possess inalienable rights, and, of course, that they possess inalienable dignity. In my judgment these are ways of trying to say what we feel a need to say when we are estranged from the conceptual resources we need to say it … Not one of them has the simple power of the religious way of speaking."

There's no doubt we are losing that way of speaking and thinking. Many will think that is a good thing. But this weekend, whether you combine hot cross buns with hymns and prayers or are more focused on getting your boat out onto the water or your campground sorted, it's worth pondering the foundation on which some of our most treasured convictions rest – and asking ourselves what it is that gives them the resonance of both beauty and truth.

It is not a question you will hear in our Universities and Schools today. There the 'equally valued' alternative memes and mantras, impious pronouncements and the stench of hypocricy sound out to meet the wailing from the anti-Christ Minarets down the streets. Even a sound teacher or lecturer can be astonished not just at his colleagues' capitulations but the very grounding that the students bring. 

But, you might ask this old Tavern Keeper, "Who are you to judge?".  Everett answers. He is president of Oklahoma Wesleyan University.

‘Who are you to judge?’

“The Lottery” is a classic short story written by Shirley Jackson in 1948. It’s the tale of a rural, farming community in America of about three hundred residents. The town seems normal by all accounts as it prepares for a traditional, harvest-time event known as The Lottery.

 https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/mar/11/how-amorality-thrives-on-college-campuses/

Each year the name of every family is written on a piece of paper and securely stored in a locked box. On the morning of the annual gathering, the heads of each household draw from the box until a paper slip with a black spot is extracted. One of these clans is that of the “Hutchensons.”

Upon “winning” this first phase of the lottery, each member of the Hutchinson family joins the father to select another slip of paper out of another box until one member of that family — the mother, named Tessie — draws a piece of paper with the final black spot on it.

In spite of her cries, the townspeople, including her own husband and children, pick up rocks and stone her to death to ensure a more prosperous harvest.

I bet you didn't expect that !! 

For some 70 years, “The Lottery” has rightly been included in many literary anthologies for its..... 

shocking portrayal of the power of groupthink and the human inclination to accept evil.

For more than 30 years beginning in 1970, English professor Kay Haugaard used the story to spur corresponding discussions in her literature class at Pasadena City College. Ms. Haugaard says she could always count on some common reactions:

“Everyone thought it was scary because, as someone inevitably said, ‘The characters seem just like regular people — you know, like us!’”

“The story always impressed the class with the insight that I felt the author had intended: the danger of just ‘going along’ with something habitually, without examining its rationale and value. In spite of the changes that I had witnessed over the years in anthologies and in students’ writing, Jackson’s message about blind conformity always spoke to my students’ sense of right and wrong.”

Then in the 1990s, something started to change dramatically in how her students responded to the sobering tale. Rather than being horrified by it, some claimed they were bored by it, while others thought the ending was “neat.”

When Ms. Haugaard pressed them for more of their thoughts, she was appalled to discover that not one student in the class was willing to say the practice of human sacrifice was morally wrong! She describes one interaction with a student, whom she calls Beth:

“‘Are you asking me if I believe in human sacrifice?’ Beth responded thoughtfully, as though seriously considering all aspects of the question. ‘Well, yes,’ I managed to say. ‘Do you think that the author approved or disapproved of this ritual?’

“I was stunned: This was the [young] woman who wrote so passionately of saving the whales, of concern for the rain forests, of her rescue and tender care of a stray dog. ‘I really don’t know,’ said Beth; ‘If it was a religion of long standing, [who are we to judge]?’”

“For a moment, I couldn’t even respond,” reports Ms. Haugaard. “This woman actually couldn’t seem to bring herself to say plainly that she was against human sacrifice. 

My classes of a few years before would have burst into nervous giggles at the suggestion. This class was calmly considering it.”

At one point, a student explained she had been taught not to judge, and if this practice worked for them, who was she to argue differently.

Appalled by the student’s moral indifference, Ms. Haugaard concludes, “Today, for the first time in my thirty years of teaching, I looked my students in the eye and not one of them in my class could tell me that this society, this cultural behavior was a bad thing.”

Not one of these students would say human sacrifice is wrong? The whole point of “The Lottery” is to show the dangers of blindly following bad ideas. 

But Ms. Haugaard’s students had been taught that labels like good and evil, sacred and sinful, no longer applied as absolutes — and they responded accordingly. 

They had been taught that to assign moral values to actions was, in itself, wrong.

You may be tempted to conclude that this is an extreme anecdote and that this doesn’t happen anywhere else but in the politically correct meccas of Berkeley, Brown or Pasadena. Don’t be.

As a university president, I can assure you that if you were to conduct this same exercise today on campuses in heartland America, you would get the exact same blank stares of amorality that Professor Haugaard got on the crazy shores of the Left Coast some 30 years ago.

Remember this story the next time someone tells you it “doesn’t matter what you believe as long as it works for you.” 

Remember this when you hear, “that’s ‘just your opinion.” 

Remember this when the “tolerant” tell you they can’t tolerate your intolerance. 

Remember this the next time anyone says, “Who are you to judge?”

Remember this story and pray.

Pray: “God help us.”

Like Christ did.

He asked His Almighty Father that the bitter cup be taken away, but accepted that God's Will Be Done.

At His Last Supper he gave us not a bitter cup but one of His Covenant; 

His Blood.

"For this is the Chalice of My Blood, Of the New and Eternal Testament: the Mystery of Faith: Which shall be shed for you and for many unto the remission of sins"

To many, even many Christians, the Eucharest which is the central part of the Mass, is simply a symbol.

It is not.

It is Transubstantial; It transformed society and the individual, just as simple water and wine are transformed, transubstantiated into the Blood of Christ before us.

But we are in grave danger of pouring out His Precious Blood as a libation to false gods.

To be Christian is to acknowledge that we cannot 'do it' by ourselves. 

I shall be in the Crypt this evening.

The floors are mopped.

I may be there and at Mass for several days, on and off, so help yourselves to drinks.

Pax