The Dark Side of the Moon

The Dark Side of the Moon, by Anonymous is a book about the terrible events that occurred when Russia took over Poland and exported to slave labor camps all those people who had ever had anything to do with national Polish loyalty.  It is maybe one of the saddest books I've ever read.  

General Sikorski Monument

Polish general and beloved hero, Wladyslaw Sikorski collected these accounts with the desire to preserve them and share them with the world which needed to know what went on so far away it might as well have been the other side of the moon, shut off from world press and beyond anyone's imagination.  The general died in a mysterious plane crash the soviet pilot managed somehow to survive.  His widow later published  the information he had collected, but did not take any credit, leaving the authorship unknown.  

Islam Conquering the World through the Halal Movement

Halal is sacrifice to Allah, in other 

words, sacrifice to an idol which is 

forbidden for Christians and Jews

Thanks to Creeping Sharia and Kirralie Smith for the following information:

Halal certification fees of billions is a modern day invention which began in the 1990s. There are three choices for Muslims for dealing with non-Muslims: 1) violent jihad, 2) conversion, 3) dhimmitude through jizya tax. It is this third choice of dhimmitude in the form of jizya tax that we are dealing with when it comes to halal certification where Muslims exercise dhimmitude (slavery) over Western civilization. It is a global push for Islamization. 

And where does the money go? Sixty percent of halal food is controlled by Muslim Brotherhood organizations and ends up funneled into the hands of Islamic organizations which support terrorism. It is being done by stealth and we fund it every day through our grocery purchases.

Always Read with your Critical Thinking Scan in the On Position!

Just because a man wears a roman collar
doesn't mean he's telling the truth.

I picked up a book of Easter season daily readings written in 1980 and I'd say it shows all the
evidence of post Vatican II...mmm...for want of a better word...confusion. Today, for Friday of the 2nd week of Easter I read this:

...we have the assurance -- if a work is of God, it cannot be destroyed. To fight it is to fight against God....And as we look about us at people who have survived heroic tests of endurance or at institutions that have continued to exist over the centuries, we ought to be convinced that such expressions are godly. Otherwise, they would have died a long time ago. There are many such institutions which deserve much more respect than we often give them. They must have proven not only that they are from  God but also that their motivation is divinely inspired.

Hooray for Fra' Matthew Festing!

Fra' Matthew Festing, former Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, was a member of the Grenadier Guards. I hope he hears their marching song this weekend when HE IS IN ROME despite orders from Pope Francis to stay away from Saturday's election there of the order's new Grand Master. Fra' Festing has every right to be in Rome and millions of people pray he is elected to replace the current puppet placed there by Pope Francis. This is for Fra' Festing:

What Difference Does it Make?

         

Upon this rock

A book fell into my hands last week that I never expected to read, but which I am excited to tell you about because it has given me yet another reason to be grateful that I found my way to the Catholic Church 49 years ago.  At first, I planned only to read the introduction, but I knew from the first few words, this was going to be a book I would not be able to put down.  The title is  Let There Be No Divisions Among Them, Why All Christians Should be Catholic, by Rev. John MacLaughlin, first published in 1891.  It begins this way,

Introduction

       "In the following pages, I propose to answer the question, ‘Is one religion as good as another?’

In other words, I propose to discuss indifferentism, the popular theory that teaches that all Christian creeds find equal favor in the eyes of God and that it doesn’t matter which branch of Christianity a man belongs to, provided he be a good man after his own fashion."

Reading Acts of the Apostles for the Easter Season

Send me, Lord!

If I had to choose a favorite book in the Bible I think it would be Acts of the Apostles. What an adventure it relates about the early days of the Church.

When someone asks me about the Bible or comments on its difficulty, I always suggest they read Acts first. It's easy to understand and shows the zeal and commitment of the apostles after they receive the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. What an adventure story with Paul being shipwrecked and marooned, jailed and beaten. (Robinson Crusoe and the Count of Monte Cristo have nothing on Paul.) What models those early evangelizers offer us!

Where Will You Be on May 13th?

My kitchen shrine to Our Lady and Jacinta.

I wish I could say that I will be in Fatima for the 100th anniversary of the first apparition of Our Lady to the three little shepherd children: Jacinta and Francisco Marto, and Lucia dos Santos. That's where Pope Francis will be and during his visit he will canonize Jacinta and Francisco. Praised be to God!

 I love those little ones who present such a heroic example of piety and sacrifice. The penances they embraced to "save poor sinners from hell" would challenge the strongest adults. They even suffered a spiritual martyrdom when they kept Mary's secret to the point of believing they would be boiled in oil for their faithfulness. 

If you haven't read their story, make it a priority. As the Scripture says, "A little child shall lead them." (Isaiah 11:6)

Since I can't be in Fatima I intend to be at a Marian shrine. In fact, I intend to do that on all the anniversaries of the apparitions. Mary appeared to the children six times -- on the 13th of the month from May through October when she displayed a miracle of the sun for the world. Only once did she come to the children later than the 13th-- on August 19th-- because the little ones were prevented from going to the Cova de Iria, the site of the apparitions, by the mayor of Ourem who kidnapped them and held them in jail for two days. Our Lady appeared a few days after their release.

I saw God at the pet shop Friday night

Mother Teresa said, “Where there is love, there is God.” I saw God at the local pet shop Friday night where I stopped after work to buy food for our family’s pet rabbits.

The aisle with rabbit food also has food for guinea pigs, hamsters, gerbils and ferrets plus cages and various products for each type of animal. I was looking at bunny treats when God quietly slipped into the aisle and stood beside me. He appeared as Love.

An old hunched over woman shuffled into the aisle. She had close cropped grey hair in no particular style, old Bermuda shorts, a T-shirt and a dingy pink sweater. The right side of her face was darkened with some sort of bumps on her skin and she had very few remaining teeth.

We were beside each other, kind of shoulder to shoulder but facing opposite directions since she was looking at hamster cages on the other side of the aisle. I looked at her and she looked at me. We both smiled. Then I went on trying to choose pet food for the rabbits.

Suddenly a boy about age 7 raced into the aisle. He was excited and trying to make up his mind which of the 3 hamster cages he liked best. One cage had a circular staircase with a box at the top for the hamster to sit in, another had an attached ball so the little thing could run to its hearts delight and the third had several tunnels and tiny box houses on top.

On this Divine Mercy Sunday Let's Pray for Mercy on Holy Mother Church

The Church is in crisis primarily because of the casual treatment of the Eucharist. Several cardinals and bishops are boldly expressing their concern about the loss of faith and calling for more reverence in the liturgy. Lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi, "as we worship, so we believe, so we live."

Robert Royal and Fr. Gerald Murray discuss this on The World Over in the video (after the page break). It is well worth reflecting on during your Divine Mercy devotions today.

Love the Holy Mass. Approach the altar in fear and trembling and with deep gratitude, because to eat the Body of the Lord and drink His Blood unworthily is a disaster for your soul!

How Does the Evil One Mess with You?

Two hives down with contents now in the belly of the beast!

If you're a beekeeper like I am, there is one thing that really messes with your bees. (Well, there are other things, but this one is a weapon of mass destruction.) I'm talking about bears! A bear got into our bee yard during the night between Spy Wednesday and Holy Thursday. We had four hives in the bee yard. He wiped out one completely and munched through about a dozen frames of nectar/pollen. He upset another hive turning it upside down which may have protected the bees since he couldn't pull out the frames without righting the box. He dragged half a dozen frames into the woods where he apparently munched in private and left several other demolished frames in the bee yard.

Guest Post: Evolution vs. Intelligent Design

by David Martin

Pope Francis made waves in October 2014 when he told the Pontifical Academy of Sciences that
evolution was set in motion by God through a “big bang.” He said, “Evolution in nature is not at odds with the notion of creation because evolution presupposes the creation of beings that evolve.”

The problem is that God did not create beings that evolve. Supporters of Francis’ statement argue that the discoveries of science in nature do not contradict creation. This is true if something factual is discovered in nature, but evidence supporting evolution or the “big bang” theory are not among these discoveries, no more than evidence supporting aliens has ever been discovered.

The Fathers and Doctors of the Church Rejected Evolution

Adam and Eve began to experience the
effects of sin from the moment they
disobeyed God and were expelled from
the Garden of Eden: disease and death!

They taught that creation was the work of God alone, that the "works of nature" (according to St. Thomas Aquinas) presuppose creation. You can't extrapolate from the natural order back to the beginning of things.

Harmful mutations, disease, etc. are all due to sin. The "bondage of decay" is due to original sin. As soon as Adam and Eve were driven from the garden, they began to suffer the consequences of sin: degeneration and ultimately death. Of course they were so physically perfect it must have taken hundreds of years for their bodies to deteriorate to the point of death.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says nothing about evolution per se, but it says plenty about creation that points away from evolution:

We believe that God needs no pre-existent thing or any help in order to create,nor is creation any sort of necessary emanation from the divine substance. God creates freely "out of nothing." (CCC 296)

 Just like Genesis says!

When the Tail Wags the Dog...Be Careful Whom You Trust.

How many untruths have you swallowed whole today? How many have you "forwarded?"

OnePeterFive has an important article by Steve Skojec about a website that claimed to provide inside information about scandalous goings on at the Vatican. And Just Like That, Fra Cristoforo Vanished

Evolution is Incompatible with Catholic Doctrine

All the Fathers of the Church believed in the Biblical teaching of Genesis chapter 1. There is nothing contradictory between science and creation. However, there is definitely a contradiction between evolution and Catholic truth. And trying to have it both ways with theistic evolution which ultimately denies original sin since evolution requires eons of chance changes with interim organisms dying and new ones arising. At the ripe time of evolution, God then infuses a human soul into a creature that becomes in His image and likeness. (See my previous post on why evolution makes no logical sense to a Catholic believer.) Lots of problems. Theistic evolution denies the immortality of Adam and Eve as originally created and denies original sin as the origin of death, since death preceded Adam and Eve. Evolution is a direct attack on the faith and must be vigorously repudiated by serious Catholics!

Beekeeping Adventures: Captured Our First Swarm Today!

We are feeling proud of ourselves tonight even if we didn't exactly look like pro beekeepers as we muddled through capturing a swarm. But it all worked out and we now have an additional colony in our bear-protected bee yard. If you're interested in beekeeping at all, check it out. 

Nonsense on the Internet and the Loss of Reason!

Mean nuns preparing for a day of terrorizing the faithful.

I occasionally visit the blog of a silly Catholic woman just to see which orthodox members of the faithful she is attacking at the moment. She means well, I'm sure and says she goes to daily Mass. I have no reason to doubt her word. I'm sure she considers herself orthodox, but that doesn't prevent her cheerleading for the latest Francis outrage and condemning clergy and laity who dare to call him on things (like St. Paul called out St. Peter).

Her latest diatribe involves why Catholics are falling away from the Church today compared to the vibrant Church of yesterday before Vatican II. Lo and behold, the filled churches of yesteryear were not due to the reverence of the Mass or the piety of the people, or the inspiring preaching and sacred music. No, they were filled to the brim out of...get ready for this....

Rampant Female Genital Mutilation in Tennessee - I told you so.

I’m not one of those people who shies away from saying, “See, I told you so.” I just don’t say it with the same singsong voice I did as a child, because now it isn’t a taunt. It’s a factual statement: “See. I told you so.”

When I’m right I know I’m right. I knew I was right when I said it and no one believed me because orthodox Catholics are not to be taken seriously, not to be believed. So when other people who have more clout and believability than I do say the same thing and it makes the newspaper headlines, goes viral on the Internet or hits the nightly news, I smugly feel I have the basic human right to say, “See. I told you so.” But then I like to be really sure that they know they were wrong in not believing me in the first place, so these days after the “See. I told you so,” factual statement I often add:  “You didn’t believe ME when I told you, but since so-and-so said it and it’s on the news, you believe THEM. So why didn’t you believe me to begin with?”

The Easter Celebration has Just Begun!

I love Easter -- a whole season of celebration. Check out our Easter Sunday fun and let's all make plans to celebrate and thank God for such a great gift for the entire Easter Season which doesn't end until Pentecost. That's fifty days of joy and thanksgiving! Alleluia, Alleluia!

Monday Thoughts on Darwinian Evolution

The Greek philosopher Parmenides, 6th c. B.C.:
 "Out of nothing, nothing comes."

I found myself at our Easter festivities in an interesting discussion on evolution with one of our guests. It got me thinking about all the reasons I think evolution doesn't make sense, especially in terms of a loving and personal God. So let's just look at a few.

#1 -- God so loved the world that He sent His only Son to suffer and die for us. Did Jesus walk out of the sea one morning as an adult and begin His ministry? NO! Like each of us made in God's image and likeness, Jesus was conceived in the womb of mother. She was specially prepared to be His holy tabernacle, preserved from original sin to be a fitting prenatal home for the Christ child. Would a God who did that create the first human in the womb of an animal and have that infant child raised by a brute beast? I sure can't see that! The Bible tells us God called us by name. He loves us intimately. His first miracle was at a wedding feast. God loves the family and so I cannot believe our first parents were raised by monkeys or wolves. It doesn't compute.

Actual Chronology of Scene at Empty Tomb

PART II 
(See here for Part I)
and Part III

ACTUAL CHRONOLOGY OF SCENE AT EMPTY TOMB

Emphasizing Major Role of the Blessed Mother and

Lesser Role of Mary Magdalen

    

The actual chronology of the scene at the empty tomb (John 20:1-18) from the Gerhard book is summarized below. Note the prominence and importance of the role of our Blessed Mother, who is featured in close personal embrace, close personal address, and intimacy with her Son, Jesus, after referring to Him, in conversation with the angels, as “my Lord.” This is a significant variation from “the Lord,” spoken twice by Mary Magdalen. Moreover, note the fact that Jesus puts exact verbatim words into His mother’s mouth to have her foretell to the disciples that she, like Jesus, will experience a personal ASSUMPTION into heaven.

      Also note the lesser status of Mary Magdalen, who acts as messenger and reporter to the disciples just as she had lesser status at the cross, where her name was mentioned last among the four persons listed. At the cross, she is in attendance, yes, but she does nothing. It is the mother and the disciple whom Jesus loved who fill the sponge with soldiers’ wine and wrap it in hyssop in response to Jesus’ cry of thirst (John 19:29). It was a bold act of faith on the part of the new mother and new son that brought forth Jesus’ final words: “It is completely finished,” followed by the breathing forth of the Spirit onto His new family.

The Preeminence of the Blessed Mother in the Garden of the Resurrection

PART I
(PART II and PART III)

The Myth of Mary Magdalen’s Intimate Association with Jesus

The BRETHREN and the DISCIPLES are 2 different sets of 
people (John 2:12).  Jesus sent His Mother to the BRETHREN

(John 20:17) while the Blessed Mother sent Mary Magdalen 
to the DISCIPLES (John 20:18).

Every year at Easter, the secular media, newspapers and television rush to inform their audiences that Christianity is nothing less than a gigantic fraud perpetrated for over 2,000 years, a conspiracy of power that long held a monopoly on the things of the soul and is now being exposed. 

What attacks against Christianity share in common is totally unscientific, undocumented and unsupported speculation intended to destroy the heart of the Christian Faith, namely, that Jesus Christ rose physically from the dead, and was God, not just a mortal man. The outright bigotry inherent in their wild assertions is evident for all logical educated persons to see.

Holy Saturday Rest and Preparations for the Easter Sunday Celebration

2016 lamb cake

Preparing for Easter family dinner is a favorite time -- the celebration and feast after the fast, the assurance that joy is the ultimate fulfillment of suffering.

I was up early this morning because I woke at 5:00 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep. The sky was just beginning to lighten when I came downstairs. Is that the way it was that first Easter morning as Mary and the other women came to the tomb? Quiet except for the birds chirping as they began their day?

Prayers, coffee, a peek outside to make sure the bee yard rests undisturbed across the field, a pat for the dog who isn't ready to get up just yet.

And now the preparations. The lamb cake mixed and baked and ready to be iced. The turkey breast in a bowl of cold water to defrost, anticipation of the grandchildren coming to color eggs and help decorate the lamb. And Jesus and Mary at the center of it all.

What a Holy Week! It's Been a Real Bear!

And I mean that literally.

On Wednesday we were doing some work with two of our behives -- moving a frame of brood from a queen-right hive to a queenless hive. After we finished that in our satellite bee yard, I went down to check out the four hives in the lower yard. Unfortunately I took my veil off since I wasn't going to be working with the bees, but something attracted one of the girls to my face and she stung me on the lip. My whole face started to swell and we decided I better go to the emergency room. So I spent several hours being pumped full of steroids, anti-histamines, and anti-itch meds along with some anti-nausea medicine since I was feeling sick to my stomach.

Read more....

More Bad News from the Vatican re. Dissent-Lover Fr. James Martin, S.J.

Fr. Martin introduced Metallica in 2013 

Well I guess it isn't surprising to see modern Jesuits sticking together. As my mom always said, "Birds of a feather flock together." And Fr. Martin certainly shares the same feathers with Pope Francis, praising many disordered actions and dissing those who love the orthodox faith as Christ taught it.

So, get to the point, you say.

All right, here it is.

Three Fatima Apparitions

Three Fatima Apparitions - O secreto de Fatima,
painted by Cristina Rubalcava in 2003

What Better Way to Promote Marriage between a Man and a Woman? Thank You, Judge Gorsuch!

Well, now we have two truly honorable married men in high levels of governement -- Judge Neil Gorsuch and Mike Pence.

The media made a big negative deal out of Mike Pence saying he won't eat alone with a woman. Omigosh, you'd have thought he'd personally taken away the women's vote and passed a law that they have to wear burkas and can't go out in public without walking three steps behind their husbands.

God is the Master Scientist over all the Minor Scientists

Atheists often claim they are scientific and that Christians are anti-science. It's balderdash of course. Many of the greatest scientific advances came from devoutly religious scientists. Sir Isaac Newton, the Father of Modern Science was a believer, although not an orthodox one. While he lived before Darwin, he was aware of the theory of atheistic evolution for man's origins and he rejected it as nonsense. He wrote:

An Atheist Cop Who Came to Christianity from the Evidence!

I've been writing about Lee Strobel's conversion story. But here's another conversion narrative from a police detective, a Los Angeles homicide detective J. Warner Wallace, who also came to Christianity from the EVIDENCE! His 2013 book is Cold-Case Christianity. 

Who more reliable to present the evidence for the life, death, and resurrection of Christ than an atheist whose job is investigating homicides? Look at the evidence and see where it takes you. If you're already a believer, share it with others who may not have a firm belief. We who have faith may not need the overwhelming evidence. Others do. Share it!

Where's Your Faith this Holy Week?

Last Friday I went to see The Case for Christ. It's the conversion story of one man's journey from atheism to faith. Lee Strobel, a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, decided to try to prove that Christianity was false because he was angry when his wife converted. As an investigative reporter with a legal background he pursued his research as though he were putting Christianity on trial. Where did the evidence lead? What did the witnesses, the forensic evidence, the documents, etc. show and how did they impact the verdict? He was a man looking for the truth with the hope it would uphold his atheism. It didn't. Ultimately, he had to follow the evidence to its conclusion and accepted Christianity.

That got me thinking about another man, the so-called scientist Richard Dawkins who wrote The God Delusion. I'm always intrigued by atheists like Dawkins who mock Christians by talking about the "great Teapot in the sky" and use other disparaging and dismissive comments to discredit Christian belief. I've seen Dawkins ridicule a college coed who had the audacity to ask him, "What if you're wrong?" He can't fathom such a thought and, yes, responded by mocking her. Unlike scientists who question and test their theories and answer objections by re-examining the evidence -- Dawkins knows and believes with a maniacal and fanatical faith. Yes, faith!

Meditation for Palm Sunday: I Crucified Him by MY Sins!

We hailed you on Palm Sunday, O Lord, and then screamed
 "Crucify him!" five days later. Forgive us, O Lord,
and grant us your salvation.

In many ways I hate reading the passion on Palm Sunday. Not because it's long and I get tired of standing. No, not that, but the stark reminder that MY sins, MY wickedness, caused the Lord I know and love to die a horrifying death.

He suffered His agony in the garden for MY sins. He underwent the cruel trial for MY sins. He fell under the weight of the cross for MY sins. It was MY sins that were reflected in the mocking, the scourging, and the crowning with thorns. It was MY sins that hammered the nails into His hands and feet and drove the spear into His side. Father, forgive me; I didn't know what I was doing.

Like Amazing Grace says, I once was lost, but now am found. Why? Because He saved a wretch like Me. Help me, Lord, this Holy Week, to come face to face with all my past sins. I deserve eternal damnation, but by Your stripes I'm healed. I repent of all my sins and ask that you help me to never sin against you again. My sins make me want to hide, like Adam and Eve in the garden.

"By Their Fruits Shall You Know Them" - and by their Nutty Nuns too!: The Seamless Garment of Lust

Fr. James Martin, S.J. and Sr. Jeannine Gramick,
promoters of the seamless garment of lust.

When clergy and religious go wrong, they go very wrong and we see evidence of that every day and all around us especially with those who attack God's law against sodomy, a sin that cries to heaven for vengeance. They, of course, are kinder than Jesus and happily tickle the ears of those on a fast track to hell. Clearly, these clerics and religious have more in common with the high priest Caiphas, who didn't believe in the resurrection of the body, than they do with Jesus who proclaimed the truth and called sinners to conversion. On Judgment Day many misled by their lies will curse them for it.

Let's take a look at a few:

First there's Fr. James Martin, an all-too-typical example of today's Jesuits who are more likely to be defending lust and other capital sins in the name of tolerance, than teaching doctrine. Martin's new book, Building A Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBT Community Can Enter into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity, is all about building a bridge to hell.

The Holy Martyrs of Compiègne of the French Revolution

Did the sacrifice of the Carmelite martyrs
 end the Reign of Terror?

Last night I finished reading The Song at the Scaffold, the novella by Gertrud von Le Fort which tells the story of the fourteen Carmelite martyrs of Compiègne during the French Revolution. I always wonder when I'm reading historical fiction how accurate the story is. Le Fort focuses on the youngest member of the congregation, a timid and fear-filled novice, the daughter of a skeptic who supported the ideals of the revolution.

[Spoiler alert!]

Living in a World of Chaos

I'm going to a funeral Mass this afternoon. It's for a mom of eight. She was only fifty and most of the children are still at home, the youngest only seven. Death wasn't sudden for her. She's been battling cancer for several years and her last months were a marathon of suffering, both physical and emotional, not only for her but for her immediate and large extended family. They suffered with dignity, faith, cheerfulness, and confidence in the Lord. At the wake last night the viewing line extended to the back of the church for almost an hour as friends and family gathered and waited to pray and pay their respects.

Rescue workers assist toddler caught in sarin gas attack.

It's in that context that we came home from to listen to the news about the sarin gas attack and our bombing of the airfield in Syria, and, of course, to see the terrible pictures of the innocent little ones dead and dying. 

And now the Facebook wars have begun with all the armchair analysts taking sides. Assad did it! No, it was the rebels creating a false flag to get U.S. power behind them. It was an act of war. No it was a tactical event against terrorism. It was the right thing to do in the face of an atrocity. There were no U.S. interests involved, we should have stayed out of it.

My head is spinning!

Cardinal Robert Sarah: Desacralizing and Trivializing the Liturgy Causes a Serious Crisis of Faith

Church Pop recently summarized a talk given by African Cardinal Robert Sarah about the liturgy. This is particularly timely since my book club is discussing this month the Vatican II document on the liturgy. The Church is certainly in crisis and degrading the liturgy, which hit a zenith in the '80s, played a significant part. The uglification of churches, clown Masses, jazz Masses, polka Masses, butterfly vestments, silly songs, liturgical dancers, puppet processions, removing crucifixes and tabernacles from the sanctuary, and other idiotic variations have turned full churches into empty spaces in many places. And sadly things continue particularly where bishops are married to the world.

Pray for the Repose of the Souls of two Catholic Heroes, John Vennari and Malia Wells

Please also pray for the repose of the soul of Malia Wells, a courageous Catholic home-schooling mother of eight who died on April 3rd. She leaves behind a large family including several young children.

Thought for the Day from Fr. Tom: Democrats See a Russian Under Every Bed

It is rather ironic that the Democrats, who fifty years ago ridiculed members of the John Birch 

Society for “seeing a Russian under every bed”, now insist that, even with no real evidence, intelligent people must assert that the Russians are now taking over America. 

After all, Hillary Clinton has already arranged for them to take control over 1/5 of all U.S. uranium, after their $100,000,000 “donation” to the Clinton Foundation.

Fr. Tom Collins

What Idols Do You Worship? Gender Ideology?

Worship the idol...or else the fiery furnace!

The first reading at today's Mass was about the three men hurled into the fiery furnace. Why? Because Shadrach, Meshak, and Abednego refused to bow down to the idol of gold made by King Nebuchadnezzar. He was so furious, in fact, that he had the furnace stoked seven times hotter than usual. And yet, those courageous men would not cower and bend their wills to the king's demand for blasphemy.

Today we have the same demands to blaspheme against God and his Holy Will. The death culture has made idols of gender theory, political correctness, and death choices (contraception, abortion, and euthanasia in all its deadly forms). Standing over all these idols is the Satanic god of TOLERANCE, tolerance of all that is shameful, degraded, and evil, but NO TOLERANCE for those who uphold Christian morality.

A Christian group put to the test the idol of gender idiology when they asked thirteen bakery owners who support gay marriage (some advertise on LGBTQ websites) to bake a cake with the slogan, "Gay marriage is wrong."  Every single one refused service. (Source) Really! Watch the video and listen to their accusations of hate (sometimes with profanities).

Be Vigilant, Parents. In an Evil Culture, Children are Targets!

Archbishop Chaput's "Strangers in Strange Land"

With his new 2017 book, Strangers in a Strange Land: Living the Catholic Faith in a Post-Christian World, Archbishop Charles Chaput has brought to the forefront of our minds just how far the liberal atheistic view of life has taken hold in the world, and especially in our own home country, the United States. We have recognized, to be sure, the steady deterioration of Christian life and perspectives in our world, but it was mostly relegated to the back recesses of our mind rather than our recognizing it as to the current depth of its penetration into the daily activities of the world in which we live. 

Archbishop Chaput brings to the forefront the tremendous damage already done to our country, ever since the mid-1960s, and the Second Vatican Council. If one compares the pre-1965 era with the post-1965 era, the effect is almost beyond belief as to the dramatic erosion of what was then a deeply religious country into a new Sodom and Gomorrah, where Christianity is laughed at, ridiculed, and totally dismissed as to its truth claims. Perhaps we are heading into the end times.

The LETTER TO DIOGNETUS, which Archbishop Chaput cites in his penultimate chapter, was a highlight of his book, because it was written about Rome when paganism was strong and Christians were new to the religious scene. We can learn much from this history about how to survive in a post-Christian world.

Archbishop Chaput advocates that Christians need to build the communities, the friendships, and the places where we can joyfully live out our Faith. As Chaput emphasizes: “If we truly love God, we’ll evangelize the world He made, and whose soul, He created us to be. After all, we’re disciples and friends–not just servants but friends–of the Lord of History who died and rose again to save the world.”

Sunday Meditation: Jesus wept over Lazarus to call us to repentance

"Lazarus, come out!" Painting by Duccio di Buoninsegna

Magnificat has an interesting meditation today about Jesus' mercy to Lazarus, a selection from the Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas. It relates St. Augustine's belief that the the four days in the tomb represent the "fourfold spiritual death of the sinner." The four deaths include 1) death through original sin which actually brought physical death into the world, 2) death through actual sin against the natural law - something we see big-time in our own culture of death where mothers kill their own children and those enslaved by their own lust sin against their own bodies and those of others, 3) death through actual sin against the written law of God in the Ten Commandments, and 4) actual sin "against  the law of the Gospel and of grace." Think of how often we fail to listen to God's admonitions in the Sermon on the mount when Jesus says, "You have heard it said....but I tell you" when He expands the Mosaic law to embrace a more all-encompassing love that refuses to "look at another in lust" or even to "become angry with your brother."