Fr. Tom Collins: WE PROCLAIM CHRIST CRUCIFIED!

How many bishops, priests and laity,
pay lip service to the faith, but don't live it?

In view of sufferings being endured by so many faithful Catholics through the exposure of the clergy sex abuse scandals and the slanderous assaults upon Catholics, who seek to reverence and conform to the whole truth of God, there is a great danger of becoming caught up in a spiritual quagmire of discouragement, depression and despair.

This danger is compounded by the rather apparent inability of the Church’s hierarchy to unite in both proclaiming and holding themselves accountable to the whole truth of God. The doctrine that the Church always and everywhere proclaims the same saving truths seems to be more of a myth than a reality, as so many of our leaders promote such deviations from divine truth as the supremacy of sin-seared consciences over such truth, a tolerance for various forms of sexual perversions, the promotion of codependence as a form of compassion and the displacing of the doctrine of evocation (i.e., God is calling forth all of Creation into a more profound communion with His sanctifying love and truth) with the new paradigm of a self-gratifying and self-fulfilling evolution.

Yes, Catholics, You May Attend an SSPX Mass!

Are empty churches a metaphor for the lost faith
of so many Catholics including bishops & priests?

My husband and I rise every morning, get dressed for the day, and head to our little parish church, St. John Bosco in Woodstock, VA to pray the daily Mass in our Magnificat and receive Communion spiritually. Thank God the bishop hasn't ordered us all locked out! This morning when we arrived there were two people in the church. When we left we were the only ones there worshiping, but two painters had arrive to work on repainting the interior of the church. (Proper distancing was respected.)

Although I'm grateful for televised Masses for shut-ins, I can't watch the Mass on TV without being disturbed and upset. Why is that, I've wondered? This morning, as I was praying, and reading St. Jean Vianney's 25th Eucharistic Meditation (on attending daily Mass) as the "sermon," I received the answer.

Spy Wednesday: Judas Betrays Jesus

Giotto 'The Betrayal of Christ', 1303-06 (Fresco)

Wednesday of Holy Week is traditionally called "Spy Wednesday" because Judas bargained with the High Priest to betray Jesus for thirty silver pieces (Matt 26:14-16; Mark 14:10-11; Luke 22:1-6). In Poland, the young people throw an effigy of Judas from the top of a church steeple. Then it is dragged through the village amidst hurling sticks and stones. What remains of the effigy is drowned in nearby stream or pond. (Read more...). 

For a brief meditation on Judas' betrayal, go here. 

The Laugh of the Day: Of Silly Trolls and Tattletales!

Several trolls like to visit my blog and fly around like moths to a flame. They hate what I do and say, but can't stay away. Frankly, I find that puzzling. If you don't like someone's opinions and their posts, why do you waste your time reading them? Do you just like to fight? Really...get a life!

Weird! It's the Madhatter's Tea Party!

I visited my spiritual director today and we agreed that the times are weird. Very weird! I've
described them as "surreal." Some days I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone. Other days it's more like the Madhatter's tea party. Frankly, I'd like to join the dormouse and go to sleep until it's all over!

Holy Week Monday: It begins. The repentant woman anoints Jesus for his burial....

And standing behind at his feet, she began to wash his feet, with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment....And turning to the woman, he said unto Simon: Dost thou see this woman? I entered into thy house, thou gavest me no water for my feet; but she with tears hath washed my feet, and with her hairs hath wiped them. Thou gavest me no kiss; but she, since she came in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet.My head with oil thou didst not anoint; but she with ointment hath anointed my feet. Wherefore I say to thee: Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much. But to whom less is forgiven, he loveth less. (Luke 7:44ff)

Sign the open letter urging our bishops to "RESTORE THE SACRAMENTS!"

Question for the Day: Is the Pope Catholic?

Will someone not rid me of
this troublesome archbishop?

Is the pope Catholic?

It used to be a joke. Someone would ask a rhetorical question, the answer an obvious and emphatic yes:

Question: Do bees buzz? (As a beekeeper I had to get that one in!) 

Answer: Is the pope Catholic?

Unfortunately, in the era of Pope Francis, the answer is no longer a rhetorical "obvious and emphatic yes."

Does the pope, in fact, exhibit a Catholic mind and heart? Or does he join the list of popes and anti-popes who scandalized the faithful and took wrecking balls to the Church?

Hey, Catholics, We're called to be Warrior Witnesses! EVEN NOW, ESPECIALLY NOW!

Hey Church! What are you doing to fight the culture of death?

If you can't be on the front lines physically, you can be a front-line warrior through prayer and penance.

Are you a warrior for Christ ready to take risks for the Lord?

Churches locked but bi$hop$ still want The Money. O.Ver.My.Cold.Dead.Body.

No Mass, no Sacraments, no Easter
but bishops want the flow of
$$$$$ to continue unabated.

Opening lines to The Money Song from Cabaret

A Mark, a Yen, a Buck or a Pound 
Is all that makes the world go around,

That klinking, clanking sound,

Can make the world (of the bishops) go 'round. 

(notice the bishop's Emcee' gold teeth @ 0:25 in video below)

After decades of offering stones to the faithful, the bishops suddenly have links to orthodox websites and activities for the laity to engage in "to keep our Faith", "to be close to Jesus" while we're now jobless and imprisoned in our homes. To remind you of the stones we are given, here's a partial list posted in the comment section of one of last year's blog posts. Thank you to the unknown person who sent this.

Coronavirus: It's Not All Bad News! Praise God for the Good He Will Bring from It!

We are called to be saints. (Fra Angelico)

One of my favorite Scripture passages is this:

All things work together for good for those who love the Lord and serve according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28) 

The Douay-Rheims translates Paul's passage this way:

And we know that to them that love God, all things work together unto good, to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints.