Something to Look Forward to in Woodstock

Local craft brewery coming.

Thinking about Descartes...Again

Why do I keep thinking about Rene Descartes? I think it's because he so perfectly exemplifies the evils of our day. His Cogito ergo sum infected humanity with a legion of devils perhaps the worst of which was to make every individual a tinpot god positing that anything he thinks must be true. Descartes should have stuck to math.

His famous statement actually is obviously wrong. It makes more sense to say "I breathe therefor I am," since we never stop breathing until we die, whereas we don't "think" 24 hours a day. Do we stop existing when we're sleeping?

Descartes' "I think, therefor I am," has it exactly backwards. "I am, therefor I think," makes more sense; although I would say, "i am (with a small i), therefore I think...and breathe, and eat, and work, etc." Each of is, after all, a creature made in the image and likeness of the great I AM. It is "in Him we live and move and have our being."

Descartes, however, has thrown out all reality that begins with the senses. They can't be trusted. Odd position for a scientist. What's easily observable, like a tree, can't be trusted to exist, but anything a man can imagine does. Descartes' dualism separates the mind and spirit of man from his body. Man isn't a union of body and soul, but a mind attached to a machine. It's the perfect philosophy for the pro-abort. As one deathscort in Falls Church used to tell me. Abortion just frees up the soul of the baby to be placed in a new body. I wonder...would Descartes have been proud?

Descartes is often called the Father of Modern Philosophy which is apt because he certainly reflects the heresy of Modernism, the synthesis of all heresies. He could also be called the Father of virtual reality since his philosophy made the individual thinker the arbiter of his own personal reality. "What's true for me is true for me; what's true for you is true for you." No wonder we live in a mad world; it's governed by a philosophy of madness, one that's getting madder by the minute.

Girl Scout Cookie Boycott

I know it's hard to say no to the cute little girls outside the grocery store, but those sales help spread abortion. So please, DON'T DO IT if you love babies waiting to be born and their moms!

See more here, here, and for much more type Girl Scouts in my blog's search box.

Can Anyone Explain Cardinal O'Malley?

His behavior, from the near canonization of Ted Kennedy to being anointed by a faux priest, is just a total head-shaker. With shepherds like these who needs Church enemies? God help us!

Cathy McMorris Rodgers Responds to State of the Union

I liked her pro-life tone, but what a missed opportunity to challenge the administration for the Benghazi cover-up, the misuse of the IRS and the Justice Department to target political enemies, the attack on religious freedom, etc.? Obama got off easy -- again.



Read more here... (Hat tip to Gary.)

What's Wrong with Common Core?

If you care about your children and grandchildren, watch this! Common Core is outcome-based education in new clothes. Read your children the great stories. They sure aren't getting them in public school!

The Joy of Grandkids

As I'm recoverivg from surgery, I've been delighted to get mail from my grandchildren. Next to prayers, messages from the young 'uns is the best medicinal tonic. So here's what I see every day to feed my immune system and move me toward wellness.

Evangelii Gaudium: Chapter II

Well, I'm moving slowly through the papal exhortation arriving at chapter two titled Amid the Crisis of Communal Commitment. The title itself is interesting and perhaps somewhat ironic. After all isn't "communal commitment" a good thing vs a "crisis?" Or is the pope pointing rather to the lack of communal commitment?

He calls on the evangelist to have the spirit of a missionary beginning by recognizing the signs of the time. After describing advances in society, he points out the reality that many, even most, are excluded:

In Mourning for Marlise Munoz and her Baby

Vigil Memorializes Mom and Baby

What kind of father agitates to murder his own child? Contrast this story with the case of Susan and Jason Torres.

Sunday Meditation: Kissed by Christ

It's been a challenging week. Monday morning started with outpatient surgery at UVA to repair a massive rotary cuff tear. The rest of this week has meant dealing with pain and limited mobility. Try tying your predominate arm against your chest and see how easy it is to get dressed, feed yourself, etc. It can be comical to say the least.

But I've never had a second that I wasn't filled with wonder at the Lord's special care for me - most especially through the love and tenderness of my dear husband. Tuesday morning gave me a special surprise. We didn't take down our Christmas tree because the family room recliner is serving as my "hospital bed" and I wanted the cheery lights as I recuperate. But as I looked at the tree in the morning, I noticed that two ornaments lined up to remind me that Jesus was right there with me. A silver snowflake and a white ceramic angel formed a perfect miniature monstrance to remind me of Christ right there in my sick room. From a distance, the circular center looks just like the host. One could say the alignment was just a coincidence, but you won't convince me of it. I know it was a little kiss from the Lamb of God to remind me He's right here with me. Thank You, Jesus.

See if you can see what I saw on Tuesday morning to brighten my day..

The Poisoning of the Young

You can see the problem. How do we turn it around?

NEW VA Attorney General Flips Off Voters

Hey, it worked for the tyrant-in-chief.



Read more...

To compare two guys engaging in anal sex to discrimination based on race is an absolute insult to those who worked, and even lost their lives, for civil rights. There is no civil right to do what is impossible. Two men or two women cannot marry!

And the AG's statement about not telling his kids whom they can marry is ridiculous. Should a father be able to marry his daughter if he "loves" her? Just think -- Daddy wasn't abusing his young teenager; he was adding her to the harem. Once marriage is defined by each individual person, there is no limit. Who are you to tell me I can't marry my: mother, sister, brother, two friends, son, daughter, or pet. It's up to me! Woody Allen was just ahead of his time.

We live in an age of insanity where people make up their own reality to accommodate their favorite sin: lust, greed, gluttony, etc. The ultimate result is unhappiness. Pray to Our Lady of Guadalupe. She converted millions of Aztecs in just a few years. Our culture needs that same grace of conversion.

Framework in Place for U.S. Police State

Under the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) American citizens can be arrested by the military and held indefinitely in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878. Listen to the interview below and realize that tyranny is rising. Under the Constitution, Americans have the right of habeas corpus, i.e., to be brought before a judge and hear the charges against them. Not under Comrade Obama! How many of us are on the homeland terrorist list? Pro-lifers, pro-marriage groups, defenders of the 2nd amendment, journalists, etc.? Fight while you still can. They will use this draconian legislation to muzzle opposition. Hang on to your rosary!



Read more....

Time Out...

I'm on forced time out this week....and for many weeks ahead. On Monday I had surgery to repair what the doctor described as a"massive" rotary cuff tear. When I tell people how I did it they laugh, so I've been a real source of entertainment. Fact is, we were visiting our son and his family in Austin for Thanksgiving and took the grandkids to a skateboard park. (You can no doubt see what's coming.) The kids made it look so easy, I decided to try it. A split second later....

That was November 30th and now,here I am almost two months later facing months of recovery and physical therapy and trying to do things with only one arm. I know personally now what people mean when they call someone. "My right hand man." That's my husband.

The good news is that I should get return of full range of motion. And the not quite so good news is that it will take lots of work to get back what was so easily lost. But it's also been an opportunity: to appreciate my husband who is taking such good care of me, to realize how hard it is to be the wounded Jew dependent on others, to experience a little what those in chronic pain experience every day, to shift, at least for a time, from being an activist to being a contemplative.

As He has with every other event in my life including having cancer at 39, God is demonstrating that "All things work together for good to those who love the Lord and serve according to His purpose." May He be praised now and forever!

Sunday Meditation: Are You Drunk with Malice or Drunk with Joy?

I've always wondered how the pharisees could see Jesus perform miracles and still refuse to accept Him. After all, they saw Him cure the man with the shriveled arm. Think of watching a shrunken arm stretch out and fatten up with muscles and tendons. You can't fake it! And then there was the paralytic lowered from the roof and Jesus' saying his sins were forgiven and ordering him to take up his mat and go home. Many of the people there would have known the paralytic personally. They could have no doubt that the cure was legitimate. The blind and paralyzed cured, the possessed freed, even the dead raised. And how do the pharisees react?

"Hey, Jesus, who are you to forgive sins?" and "What's the big idea of healing on the Sabbath?"

Suicide Clinics: Abandon Hope, You Who Enter!

One of my favorite novels is Canticle for Leibowitz by Arthur Miller. After a nuclear war, the government sets up a facility to euthanize those suffering from radiation sickness. The abbot of a local monastery sends his monks to picket the place round the clock with a sign reading "Abandon hope all you who enter here." I was reminded of that scene in the book today when I read about the Swiss suicide clinics and their rising death toll. 

Swiss Suicide Clinics Kill Four People Every Week, 1700 People Dead Since 1998

Dignitas, a misnomer if ever there was one, is the largest death camp in Switzerland, but only one of the facilities that will kill someone for a hefty price. (Exit, a more appropriate name, is another.) Dignitas has opened a similar suicide mill in Germany and, let's face it, the demand is increasing. While the scope of the killing doesn't rival abortion -- yet --, as the population of elderly increases and legalization of assisted suicide advances watch for its exponential rise. And for the rise of mistakes -- like the 62-year-old dying man who wasn't dying after all. Oops! 

People would do well to remember that we do not own ourselves. We belong to the Creator and only He has power over life and death. One usurps God's prerogatives at his peril! An eternity of hell involves a lot more suffering than a few years of pain on this earth.

Are there people in your life with serious illness or dementia? Let them know how important they are and how much they are loved -- not just by you, but by their Maker. Only God knows how responsible a suicide is for taking that evil and drastic step, but the act is objectively mortally sinful. And how sad for a suffering soul not to recognize the value of offering up that suffering for his own salvation and that of others.  

When Is Your Property Not Your Property?

When the government wants it! Agenda 21's goal: abolish private property! Communism fell from grace so the new effort to impose socialism on the world is wrapped in environmentalism. As they say, "Green is the new red." And California is in the lead. So if they want your neighborhood to be "open space" look out. You happen to have ten acres? Hey, the government wants it, good-bye. Confiscation is already happening.

California Law Would Abolish Private Property

Agenda 21 let's government confiscate your property

EPA steals family's property!

This video [on the website above] shows one facet of AGENDA 21 implementation; arbitrary and wholesale confiscation of land and forbidding human habitation or use. This is real life right now, not the future or any speculation. It has been happening to people all over the US. Here, it is under the bizarre pretext of labeling areas as "wetlands" where there is no water, and has never been recognized as such by anyone but rogue uncredentialed bureaucrats.

These federal organizations need to be disbanded. God save us from these bureaucrats! The Sackett's case inspired a novel called Breaking Point.  Thank God they won their case before the Supreme Court giving citizens the right to immediately appeal EPA garbage. But what we really need is the elimination of the EPA. It's unbelievable that these bureaucrats have the power to ruin families.

Planned Parenthood has Plenty to Hide!

And they think they can do it. Like all child abusers they don't want anyone clued in to how they groom and molest children both physically and mentally. But hey, they got a government grant to do it so it must be a-okay!

Planned Parenthood Denies Lawmakers’ Request to See Its Graphic Sex Ed Curriculum
Just think, rake in millions in tax dollars, but you refuse to let a state legislator see the curriculum. Well, duh, it's porn. And you wouldn't want parents and others in the community to get ahold of it and advertise it around. Those pesky parents might be up in arms. Face it, PP is worse than the proverbial dirty old man in a trench coat who jumps out from the bushes and exposes himself. They actually do it in the classroom giving it a veneer of respectability and make the kids think it's okay. It's mental rape! I wonder, do they just use pictures of anal sex as in show and tell or do they conduct lab sessions with the kiddies? Here's just a taste of what's up for the youngsters:

The program is aimed at 11, 12, and 13-year-old students teaching graphic information that includes teaching children to put condoms on wooden dildos and pro-homosexual behavior.

Well, heck, isn't that what you want your 5th, 6th, and 7th graders learning? When I was eleven I was still playing with my dolls. I didn't know what a dildo was until long after I was married and I've never seen one except pictures. I don't think I suffered from ignorance of these things. In fact, there were only a few STDs at the time and kids weren't the ones getting them. Now, thanks to PP and other groups pushing promiscuity on kids, millions of teens are infected every year. Teen statistics are shocking and yet folks continue to push the same failed agenda of more and more and more sex talk on kids. PP's measure of success is how many kids can get on birth control and in their abortion mills. It's how they make their money and keep their empire going, folks.

PP really stands for "porno pushers," "promiscuity players," and "pandering pimps." Giving them tax dollars is like giving arsonists gas cards. STOPP them!

Can't Stop Cheering: Congressman Jim Moran Quitting

About time! Faux Catholic Moran has disgraced himself for long enough: fraud, wife beating, pro-abortion supporting, insider trading -- scandal after scandal. If you had a rap sheet like Moran's, you'd be in jail. He was my Congressman for more years than I care to remember. We had more than one confrontation. I particularly remember a fundraiser at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria where he went out of the way to avoid us by going in the back entrance. Seemed appropriate for a man who excelled at backroom deals.

Good-bye and good riddance to this disgraceful liberal. He epitomizes everything wrong with the Democrat party. But the worst consequence is illustrated in his own son! Looks like Patrick followed Daddy's example to a T. Moran has buckets more to answer for than his own political chicanery.  Read more below:

America's Worst Congressman

Moran's Insider Trading Exposed

An Election-Eve Corruption Story: The scandal of U.S. Rep. James Moran is a civics lesson in abuse of power.

Rep. Jim Moran’s Son Beats Girlfriend

Contraception: It Increases Abortion!

I recently re-watched the confrontation between Sean Hannity and Fr. Tom Euteneuer where Hannity defended the fallacy of the false alternative. "Wouldn't you rather have people use contraception than have abortions?" Hannity kept asking. Problem is, contraceptive use doesn't STOP abortion it INCREASES abortion. I knew that from years ago (1976 perhaps?) when I attended Fr. Paul Marx's Marriage and Family Life Workshop at St. John's in Minnesota. The head of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children from the UK described what happened when the family planners invaded Aberdeen, Scotland, a beautiful city by the sea. After introducing and promoting contraception, promiscuity, abortion, and all the associated problems increased exponentially. 

A recent study confirms that outcome. Study: Contraceptive Use, Multiple Partners Linked to Higher Rate of Abortion. Here are a few highlights of the study:

And You Thought the Homosexual Clergy Problem was Behind Us?

I can think of several dioceses that might have the pink triangle for their logo! God help us. Remember when Bishop Bruskewitz made a motion at the bishops' meeting in Dallas to study the relationship between dissent and the homosexual clergy problem? He couldn't even get one bishop to offer a second to his motion. He called his brothers at the time, "This pathetic bench of bishops." What an understatement!

Well, the beat goes on...and on...and on. Which reminds me...pray for the repose of the soul of Fr. Robert Nugent who with Sr. Jeannine Gramick founded New Ways Ministry. The two paraded around the country shilling for the homosexual agenda until the Vatican finally, after years, put a stop to it -- at least under Catholic auspices. May God have mercy on this scandalous priest whose philosophy was "I'm Okay, You're Okay" no matter how sinful your choices. How many did he ensnare with his siren song?

Well, now he knows the truth. I wonder how his philosophy went over at the personal judgment. I pray he repented and sent his heretical views to hell where they came from before he stood face to face with Jesus who died to save each of us from the seven deadly sins. God doesn't want to lose any of His children, but He will never violate our freedom to reject Him. But what a tragedy to lose the eternity of heaven for this blink of an eye in the world. In the end, the choice between God's way and our way is all that matters. Please Lord, help me to be faithful and to live and die in your friendship.

Conversion Begins When God Puts a Missionary in Your Home

I wonder how long these parents will be atheists. Let's pray for this family: for the daughter as she prepares for baptism and for the parents that she will lead them into the faith.

My wife and I are atheists, but our daughter wants to be baptised Catholic

More Bad News at the Boy Scouts

The second nail is being driven into the Boy Scouts' coffin with the naming of Robert Gates to the helm. Gates, you'll recall, was the one who, as Secretary of Defense, threw out Don't Ask Don't Tell and allowed open homosexuals in the military. Gay activists are already heralding his selection as a sign that things are going their way at the Boy Scouts. 

The frog is in the water and the temperature continues to be turned up. It's a sad day for a once noble institution. There's no way this can end with anything but the full integration of open homosexuals in scout leadership positions. It's just a matter of time, and gay activists take the long view. 

Famous Name Leads Scouts in 'Gay' Change

Isn't It Strange When a Protestant Christian Like Phil Robertson....

...sounds more like a modern prophet than the bishops of the Church? And isn't it tragic when we can't talk about the fires of hell because it's just not pastoral. Gosh! If I saw somebody barreling down a road and I knew the bridge was out and the driver was likely to plunge into a canyon, I sure wouldn't consider it loving to let them go on their merry, ignorant way. Our bishops need to read the dreams of St. John Bosco and some of the sermons on the four last things by saints of the Church. A reckoning is coming and those who do not repent will find themselves in the pen with the goats being prodded down the road to hell with pitchforks. See what you think about this Vortex. I know lots of people don't like Mike Voris, but he sounds and acts like a man. Now isn't that refreshing?

"In Sickness and in Health, Til Death Do You Part?"

This is what marriage is all about -- and it all starts with the love of God! True love is sacrifice! Praise God for men like Bill and the love he reflects toward his wife Glad! Read more here.

The Reality of Same Sex Parenting: Read and Weep!

Boy 1 and His “Loving” Parents – “The Unimaginable Twisting of Every Principle of Parenthood”

Connecticut Homosexual Couple Abuse Adopted Kids

Homosexual Offers 5-year-old Adopted Son to Undercover Cop

A Married Mom and Dad Really Do Matter: New Evidence from Canada

Is Gay Parenting Bad for Kids?

Let's face it, even if a child in a same sex household is not physically abused like those in the first three articles, the situation is disordered and the child is taught to believe perversion is normal. That is psychological and emotional abuse even if, as I said, the child is not physically molested. For a little boy or girl to be exposed to same sex parents kissing and fondling each other is hardly conducive to developing a normal attitude toward sexuality. For a child, like Lisa Miller's little Isabella (see here and here), to be forced into overnight visitation with the former partner of her biological mom, is wrong. 

Adult children of homosexual couples are still rare, but their numbers are growing and they are speaking out. Like abortion, where it was years before post-aborted women became "silent no more," we are just beginning to see the impact of rearing children in these disordered and perverted situations. The adult children are beginning to speak out (another here) and their message is not welcomed by gay activists. No matter how loudly they profess that there's no difference between hetero and homo parents, the kids know it isn't true and some live the sad reality of their parents promiscuous same-sex lifestyles. Can it happen in heterosexual relationships? Of course! That's irrelevant. Heather doesn't need two mommies; she needs a mom and a dad who love each other from the moment they say, "I do.", and keep their vows for life. The breakdown of marriage is hurting children and same-sex marriage just escalates the devastation!

Pray for the kids. And for those trying to paint Pope Francis as promoting the gay agenda. Here's his opinion of same-sex marriage and adoption: 

Bishop: Pope ‘Shocked’ By Gay Adoption, ‘Encouraged Me to Speak Out’ 

Out of the Mouths of Babes: Eat Organic!

The Christmas Season Comes to an End

Tomorrow is the last day of the Christmas season, the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. It's a transition feast that sees the close of Christ's hidden life and the beginning of His public ministry. From this point, John, the herald of the Messiah, will decrease and Jesus will increase.

I offer in anticipation of the feast Raphael's rendition of the Baptism of Christ. I love it because Jesus is not some wimpy-looking, glassy-eyed holy card picture, but a strong man with muscles well-developed from hard manual labor. I can see this Jesus in my imagination building houses in Nazareth, carrying support beams for walls and roofs, turning over the tables of the money-changers with ease, and standing in the boat strong arms upraised demanding the wind and waves to be quiet. I can see him in the garden saying "It is I," and His persecutors collapsing to the ground before Him. He hides His divinity, but it is there in His humanity and in Raphael's great picture I can see it even as the angels bow before Him. Praised be to you, Lord Jesus Christ!

Evolutionists Ignore What They Can't Explain

Yup...don't confuse them with facts.

FOX News Comes Out! Promoting the Gay Agenda

I've never been a big fan of FOX News. We all know Sean Hannity is a pro-contraception Catholic from his fight with Fr. Euteneuer. I heard Bill O'Reilly, another Catholic, say he favored giving children to homosexual couples, a real abomination! And Megyn Kelly argues that denying same-sex marriage is like denying interracial marriage. Wow! Just wow!

I understand if you watch FOX since the other news channels are soooooo bad. But don't kid yourself, FOX is loaded with moral eunuchs and sadly, some of the worst publicly identify as Catholics like Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly. Are these cafeteria Catholics okay because they are politically and economically "conservative?" Not from the viewpoint of orthodoxy. They are heretics, i.e., they reject tenets of the faith. That's what a heretic is, one who throws out one or more dogmas, dogmas not opinons. Dogmas are immuatable laws of God revealed through his Church.

As for Megyn Kelly, well, she is the new darling of the homosexual movement. After you see Mike Voris' episode of Dispatch click on the link from Pete LaBarbera, a champion fighting the evil of sodomy and its targeting of children. As for FOX, I'm done. All these "conservatives" care about is money and even that focus is distorted since they favor an unbridled crony capitalism that treats the worker as a slave of the free market. Yup! I'm done with FOX.



Unfair, Unbalanced and Afraid: Fox News’ Growing Pro-Homosexual Bias and the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association

Obamacare Deconstructed: Wow!

The lies that went into imposing the biggest power grab by government in our history.

Time for Cardinal O'Malley to Dispose of the Garbage in Boston

Msgr. Paul Garrity needs to be removed from a parish. Put him in a closet in the chancery. Better yet, send him to a monastery for a long period of discernment!

No Homeschooling Freedom:Hitler's Policies Still Rule in Fascist German Judges

Judge: Homeschooling a 'concrete endangerment' to kids:

A judge has issued a stunning verdict in a homeschooling case in Germany, ordering that the parents cannot have custody of their children because the family might move to another country and homeschool, posing a “concrete endangerment” to the children....The judge, in his ruling, said that even though the Wunderlich children were academically proficient, well-adjusted socially and without educational deficiencies, he was horrified by homeschooling.

What horrifies me is a judge who thinks he has the right to decide for parents how to educate their children. His judgment is what's horrifying and, as Mike Farris points out, the attitude is common among American judges as well. Children are the future and tyrants always go after education to mold the minds of the young. That the ban on homeschooling in Germany was implemented by Adolf Hitler says it all. That the neo-fascist judges in Germany are removing children from their families and giving them to social workers when they are "well-adjusted socially and without educational deficiencies" is shocking. Who do they think they are? But, hey, the kids might not learn how to put condoms on bananas and be tolerant of deviant behavior!

An unofficial translation of the court document is available here. Pray for this family and for another homeschooling family, the Romeikes, who are fighting to stay in the United States against the opposition of the Obama administration. Pray the judges on the Supreme Court do the right thing!

Hope and Change? The Poor Get Poorer Under Obama

And it's only costing taxpayers $20 trillion + to do it!

Well, What Should We Make of This?

Important Sign of the Times: After 14 years, First Saturday TLM abolished at Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome

Antonio Socci: In the Vatican there is a NEW PROGRESSIVE INQUISITION, and their first victims are the Franciscans of the Immaculate

I only occasionally attend the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM), but I have great sympathy for those who love it and choose to attend exclusively or almost exclusively. And, frankly, I do not understand what appears to be the abrogation of Ecclesia Dei and Summorum Pontificum of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI to make the TLM more available. Is Socci right about a "new progressive inquisition?"

Putting Away Your Christmas Decorations?

I'm not -- at least not yet. After all, the three wise men only arrived for a visit yesterday and the Church celebrates this great feast for an entire week. It certainly took the magi more than a week to travel from their far off country to Bethlehem. Wouldn't it be courteous to allow them a few days to bask in the "Son"shine?

When we do take down our decorations later this month, always with a sigh of regret for retiring the cheerful little lights and the brilliant star that has welcomed us home these past weeks, we will begin a new tradition. (I'm always looking for new traditions to add meaning to the old.) I found a prayer for putting away Christmas decorations on the website of the Gregorian Institute of Benedictine College. I'm going to print it out and put it with the decorations. Perhaps we'll have cookies and hot chocolate (or a glass of wine and some cheese) as we remove the ornaments remembering the child who made this one in third grade and the crocheted Santa from my elderly aunt, now deceased, and the reindeer heads made from grandchildren's handprints. The memories will rest on a shelf in the basement to be resurrected like the Phoenix next December.

Will you join us in the prayer?

“Lord Jesus, today we will put all of our Christmas decorations away. Soon, we will enter into Ordinary Time.

“Our house will look ordinary again, but Lord, you know and we know that our house has a secret. Deep inside it, all of our Christmas decorations are still here. The blessing of Christmas is always with us, kept in the deep, quiet places of the house. 

“And Lord, our lives will become ordinary again, but you know that each of us has the grace of baptism. The grace you gave us is always with us, in the deep, quiet places of our soul. 

“Help our house be a house with Christmas at its core, and help our souls be a place where Jesus always dwells. Help us live the grace of Christmas every day, only without all the trappings. Amen.”

Welcome the Wise Men!

Velazquez, Adoration of the Magi, 1618

I love the Epiphany! What a story: signs in the sky, a long journey into the unknown to find a treasure beyond all counting, an encounter with evil along the way, and another with angels. Yes, it is an adventure to rival all adventures.

We would be wise to imitate the magi. After all, doesn't every home need wisdom? What could be wiser than to leave everything to seek Him who is the way, the truth, and the life as the magi did?

If we are wise, we will imitate them. We will use 2014 to enrich our relationship with Jesus -- to seek him every morning when we rise and every evening before we go to bed.

What lover doesn't go out of his way to try to please the beloved no matter the effort involved. Jesus longs for us, for an intimate friendship. We are children of the Father; every hair on our heads is counted. Should we not respond to such love with as great a measure as we can?

Yes indeed, wise men and women still seek Him and will until the end of time! Let's not waste the new year chasing after trash that will rust and rot. I want to choose the treasure I can take with me into the next world -- the love of Jesus, May I respond to Him and become a burning furnace of love in return!

Bill Whittle Calls for Common Sense Resistance to our Dystopian Culture

I read an interesting column today by Bill Whittle, a conservative political commentator whose insightful observations always set me thinking. He said that many popular films of the last few decades are set in post apocalyptic dystopias and named a long string including the recent Hunger Games. He could have included as well the fascination with evil threats hanging over the world like Tolkien's Ring Trilogy and The Hobbit series.

Whittle asks the question:

Why? Why especially is this so popular among young people? When I was a kid it was Apollo Missions and Star Trek: the future was bright, optimistic and unlimited. Why now is there nothing like that out there? Why is it all ruin and savagery? 

This is his conclusion:

It provides us, especially teenagers, a chance to vicariously ask ourselves the question that those who go into combat on our behalf do not have to speculate on: namely, how would I do? Could I handle it? What if all I had was an axe? [Or as another era reacted to evil -- a pitchfork.]

Bill Whittle wants to give people, especially the young, a way to respond to our own dystopian culture and he's dropping what has become a pejorative term, "conservative," in favor of a term without the baggage, "common sense resistance." We certainly need a return to common sense. When Christians like Phil Robertson are lambasted for articulating nothing more than Biblical morality, it's time for common sense resistance. (Like the response that made A & E and Cracker Barrel back down from removing Phil from the show.) When idiot feminists label all normal sexual relationships between men and women rape, but same-sex depravity is "love," it's time for common sense. When coming out of the closet is an act of heroism, but wearing a pro-life T-shirt is harassment, it's time for common sense.

If you've never seen Bill Whittle, check out this video. We're living in the shadow of Mordor and it's high time the lovers of truth and common sense challenged the evil empire in our own back yard.

 

Good News for Non-GMO Consumers

Non-GMO Cheerios Headed for Grocery Shelves

General Mills is about to release their original brand of Cheerios in a non-GMO version. This is good news indeed. If the product does well, other cereal manufacturers are likely to follow. I don't usually eat cereal, but I plan to buy Cheerios for our visiting grandkids. If we can't get consumer labeling laws passed because of the big corporate lobbies, the next best thing is to buy foods voluntarily labeled. If this Cheerios brand does well, I predict other manufacturers will do the same. Bon appetit!

IVF: It's Not a Victimless Sin!

IVF is presented as a life-giving procedure. But for every life allowed to reach birth there are other lives snuffed out. And for the survivors of IVF, the lucky select ones, there is pain for the loss of siblings. One young woman's cri de coeur makes it clear that IVF can leave deep scars on the living. "Why me?" might be her cry. "Why did I survive? Why did my siblings have to die?" Read and weep:

I was one of three embryos created in the process, but I was the only one who survived. I mourn my siblings every single day. I can’t talk about them with my parents, because bringing the subject up inevitably causes fights, and they don’t feel the way I in the do. They don’t regret what they did, they don’t see anything wrong with IVF, and they don’t count my siblings as members of the family....

It hurts me every time I see in the news something about IVF, because the media treats it as if it’s okay. There’s never any mention that people die during the process. I don’t even know if there’s anyone else out there who feels the same way I do. If there is, I’ve never met them. Sometimes, I feel like a freak. The only person I’ve found who understands me at all is my local priest, who I’ve spoken to about everything, but I can’t be bothering him all the time! It’d be nice to have someone else who understood. [More here.]

Technology has made many things possible, but some of those possibilities involve monstrous sins. IVF seems to be a solution for those with fertility problems, but it is like Sophie's choice. The parents choose the children that live and the children that die. And in the process they help to legitimize human sacrifice. We have become the Aztec empire. Our world is drenched in the blood of victims sacrificed on the gleaming lab altar, but most people close their eyes to it. God help us all on judgment day for allowing this human sacrifice to continue with such little opposition.

For more on the moral issues relating to IVF see:

In Vitro Fertilization: the Human Cost

Malta's Bishops Speak Out Against IVF

Who's Vetting at the Vatican? Pro-Homosexual Firms Hired!

Vatican hires world's leading pro-homosexual corporations as advisors

This is so disheartening! Now the question: Is it stupidity, negligence, or malice? Randy Engel believes it's deliberate. Here are the two concluding paragraphs of her eye-opening article article:

I have no doubt that the Vatican officials and clerics who hired these morally bankrupt firms to "reform" the Vatican's administration and finances, and who have given God's enemies free access to administrative and financial secret data of all kinds, knew exactly what they were doing when they made the appointments. The fact that not a single Vatican official including the current occupant of the Chair of Saint Peter, has publicly raised the issue of possible moral turpitude practiced and advanced by these mega business firms confirms what all true Catholics know in their heart of hearts – that we are living in the shadow of the Antichrist. 

This is why, during this very Holy Season of the year, let each of us, in our own way, give thanks to the Blessed Trinity, Three Persons in One God, for their gift of Life and for their extravagant Love that fills our hearts with gratitude and gives us the courage and fortitude to persevere to the end. There is no cause to fret or despair in the face of the enemies of Christ including those who have found sanctuary in the very heart of the Vatican. After all, has not God already told us in Genesis how the Final Battle will end? And it is with this knowledge, this deeply held belief, that we can look towards a Blessed New Year as an opportunity to do battle here on earth for Christ and His Church so that we may wear a crown of everlasting glory in the Kingdom to come. And now, if you pardon me, I have to go sharpen my pen and my sword.

A big thanks to Randy for her fearless and unrelenting pursuit of truth. She is one of my heroes. May God give us all the strength to fight and not count the cost! Our Lady, clothed in battle array, pray for us who have recourse to thee.

Happy New Year!

Today is the first day of the new year, with (hopefully) no mistakes in it yet! Have a blessed 2014!