How Are You Honoring the Feast of the Visitation?

My husband and I are off with seven grandchildren to pray for our president and our country. We will make a visitation to the town of Front Royal where a small group of pro-abortion liberal Democrats meet every Wednesday with their meme and slogan signs attacking Donald Trump and calling for his impeachment on "trumped up" charges that he consorted with Russia. They wave their flags and claim to support the Constitution while they work to destroy our Constitutional government.

We will be on the opposite side of the road with our rosaries praying for our president and our country.

You don't have to be a Trump enthusiast to recognize that he is our president and deserves our respect and prayer support. If you're reading this I hope you will join us virtually by praying the rosary, or at least a decade, for the president and his administration many of whom are solid pro-lifers something we rarely see in an administration, Democrat or Republican. Especially pray for our poor, divided country.

Our Lady of the Americas, pray for us and for the conversion of those who support the murder of the innocent.

Pictures to follow later this afternoon! And here they are.

With their flags and their rosaries, little patriots learning a big civics lesson and 
observing the Biblical admonition to pray for those who hate you.

Memories of Pearl Harbor

Before we leave behind Memorial Day, I want to share memories from my dad who was a Pearl Harbor survivor. (Thank God, or I wouldn't be here!) Almost 2500 hundred died in the attack and about 1100 were wounded. My dad lost a number of classmates from the Naval Academy that day.

He didn't talk much about the war, but later after he retired he was interviewed by a Baltimore paper and shared some of his memories as did two other servicemen there that day:

The day dawned a subtropical red, then a brilliant gold over the U.S. Pacific fleet nestled in Pearl Harbor in the quiet of that Sunday morning. 

It was a perfect time to sleep. Or go to breakfast. Or church. 

Dec. 7, 1941.

Pat Buchanan on "Dishonoring Confederate War Dead"

Editor's note: Will the iconoclasts demand the removal of Washington and Jefferson from Mt. Rushmore next? When will this lunacy end? 

DISHONORING CONFEDERATE WAR DEAD

by Patrick Buchanan

On Sept. 1, 1864, Union forces under Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, victorious at Jonesborough, burned Atlanta and began the March to the Sea where Sherman's troops looted and pillaged farms and towns all along the 300-mile road to Savannah.

Captured in the Confederate defeat at Jonesborough was William Martin Buchanan of Okolona, Mississippi, who was transferred by rail to the Union POW stockade at Camp Douglas, Illinois.

For a century, Americans lived comfortably with the honoring, North and South, of the men who fought on both sides.

By the standards of modernity, my great-grandfather, fighting to prevent the torching of Georgia's capital, was engaged in a criminal and immoral cause. And "Uncle Billy" Sherman was a liberator.

Under President Grant, Sherman took command of the Union army and ordered Gen. Philip Sheridan, who had burned the Shenandoah Valley to starve Virginia into submission, to corral the Plains Indians on reservations.

It is in dispute as to whether Sheridan said, "The only good Indian is a dead Indian." There is no dispute as to the contempt Sheridan had for the Indians, killing their buffalo to deprive them of food.

Today, great statues stand in the nation's capital, along with a Sherman and a Sheridan circle, to honor these most ruthless of generals in that bloodiest of wars that cost 620,000 American lives. 

Read more....

More False Teachers: Proof of the "Diabolical Disorientation" of our Time

Belgian Brothers to allow euthanasia for mentally ill patients

Well, really...instead of driving out demons (some of which are in your head) Jesus should have just euthanized everybody who wasn't "normal" in the eyes of the world. The "Brothers of Charity" will have to change their name to the "Brothers of No Charity."

The euthanasia proponents always claim there are safeguards in place, but these things (like abortion) have a way of becoming killing on demand. The worst part is that someone in his/her right mind who chooses this is likely to enter eternity under a portal that reads, "Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here." 

Fulfillment of the Prophecy that "False Teachers" will Arise Among Us!

Remember the Bible verse from Isaiah  offering a warning to those who call good evil and evil good? That same warning is recalled frequently in the New Testament. St. Paul writes in his second letter to Timothy:

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions. (2 Timothy 4:3)

Peter also blew the warning trumpet when he wrote:

The Genie is Out of the Bottle. Will Pope Francis Resign Next?

Benedict set a precedent that let the genie out of the bottle. Will papal resignation become the rule rather than the exception?

Hilary White, the Rome reporter for LifeSiteNews, has a chilling article at The Remnant predicting that the Vatican manipulators have exhausted the usefulness of Pope Francis and will move next for a Parolin conclave following another resignation. Here's just a bit of her assessment:

Bergoglio himself has been recorded saying that he thought his pontificate would last about 4 years. And here we are. We know that certain people put him in place for certain reasons. He was to accomplish some very particular tasks and I think he has done so. I think overall, his job was to complete the demolition project of the radical revolutionaries of the Vaticantwoist project; that is, the total reconstruction of the Catholic Church along the lines of their vision.

One More Win for the Barbarians

Nash Farm Battlefield museum to close after commissioner requests removal of Confederate flags

1913 Gettysburg reunion unites patriots from South and North -- Shall we black out the Confederate flag from history books?

We truly are living in George Orwell's 1984 where history is dropped down the memory hole when it's considered politically incorrect, and every citizen must be brainwashed or shamed until he will spout the current lie as truth. And so, the statues of southern generals are coming down in New Orleans, state symbols are being purged of the Confederate flag, and any symbol of Southern pride must be destroyed or banned.

Book Review -- The First Christians: Acts of the Apostles for Children

I often buy Catholic books for my grandchildren. When I saw The First Christians: The Acts of Apostles for Children by Marigold Hunt, I snapped it up since Acts is one of my favorite books of the Bible. It is also the perfect one for children to begin with because it's such an adventure story describing the apostles travels, persecution, miracles, and shipwrecks. What could capture a child's imagination more easily? 

Before I started reading the book, I noticed that it was not a new publication, but was originally published in 1939 by Sheed and Ward, a bastion of orthodoxy in the old days. Frank Sheed and Maisie Ward, were in fact, well known for their "soapbox preaching" as members of the Catholic Evidence Guild which presented Catholic teaching in public in an easily understandable style. They were frequent lecturers at Speakers Corner in Hyde Park, London. 

Guest Post: Francis Calls Keepers of Doctrine "Fanatics"

By David Martin

Solicitous concern over the purity of doctrine reflects the truest love of God and neighbor, since doctrine, as with any of the Ten Commandments, is not an ideal that may be watered down or dismissed to suit ones fancy, but an eternal command set in stone for man's sanctification. In the same way a healthcare expert does not tolerate poison in the diet, so a true priest will never tolerate poison in the spiritual diet. It has to be pure, which means it has to be clear, without which it is poison. 

But Pope Francis has now come out and slammed conservative Catholics who earnestly maintain that purity of doctrine be preserved. Concerning such people, the pope said in his Friday morning homily: "They are fanatics about things that are not clear, such as these fanatics who go about there, sowing discord in order to divide the Christian community."

Wicked Evil ISIS burns Cathedral in Marawi, Philippines

Marawi, Philippines, Tuesday May 23, 2017. ISIS terrorists set fire to the Cathedral of Mary Help of Christians (Maria Auxilidora) in Marawi, Philippines and captured Father Teresito Suganob and a number of parishioners.

Maria Auxiliadora Cathedral, Marawi, Philippines - Before

Maria Auxiliadora Cathedral, Marawi, Philippines - Now

The Music That Kills the Soul

More mementoes from the "Religion of Peace"

The website for Gatestone Institute posted a story today about the tragedy in Manchester England I think is worth reading.  It mentions the fact Muslims hate the "music of the west."  Here is the link to that story.

I am a free market capitalist.  I don't believe in censoring literature and music except in extreme cases such as public defilement of religious icons for the sake of sensationalism.  Other than that, I think the consumer should be free to enhance or destroy his life as he chooses.  If you want to fill you head with mushy erotic novels instead of history and philosophy and religion, you have the free will that allows you to do that and a government that makes it possible.  If you want to listen to discordant filth set in motion with vulgar costumes and dancing, that too is your choice. 

Learn About Fatima and Our Lady's Call to Conversion!

Why is Fatima so crucial? After all, Catholics are not required to believe in apparitions; they aren't part of the deposit of the faith that all of us affirm in the Creed.

Nevertheless, Fatima represents an urgent message for the world confirmed by a massive miracle of the sun seen by over 70,000 people. Some weren't even at the site, but saw the dancing sun from miles away. Not only that, but the miracle was prophesied months before it happened and many who came to scoff, including atheists, were converted on the spot.

Other apparitions are associated with miracles. Many confirmed miraculous healings occur at Lourdes, for example. But the miracle of the sun at Fatima is unique in the history of the Church. It was publicly announced beforehand as a message so that people might believe.The miracle set Our Lady's call there to penance in reparation for sin in bold relief. Listening to and obeying her message is crucial if we really desire peace in our world.

President Trump in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Please watch President Trump's amazing speech in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The entire video below is 33 minutes, but HERE is a 2:53 minute clip from Fox News. Note the reactions of the audience. They range from slight nods of the head to admiration.

Guest Post: David Martin's Open Letter to President Trump on his Visit to the Vatican

May God anoint this meeting and bring blessings for the
common good of all people. Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.

Editor's Note:

Pope Francis will meet with President Trump on May 24th. Let us all pray that God's will be done as this meeting takes place.

According to Reuters, the pope promises to "be sincere" about their differences on subjects like immigration and climate change. Will he also be sincere about their agreement on subjects like religious freedom and abortion?

The Gift of Pope Francis: Exposing the Anti-Church

We are witnessing St. John Paul II’s prophecy of an ‘anti-Church’: Catholic priest

Wow! This is one courageous priest. Read this to understand the times we are living in, but then take to heart Pope St. John Paul's words, "Be Not Afraid." We rest in the hands of our heavenly Father who will never abandon us even in times of trouble. 

Pray, hope, and don't worry.

"You're Awesome!" And "Fearfully, Wonderfully Made"

I was reading my Magnificat before Mass this morning and it got me thinking about one of my little granddaughters. She loves to come up to people, look them in the eye with a big smile on her face, and say in a breathless, little voice..."You're AWESOME!" It's almost a family joke. We always smile and reply. "Oh, Josie, you are awesome too."

The reading that reminded me of this little sweetheart was a reflection on Magnificat's cover art, a bas relief by Donatello depicting Mary and Jesus in an intimate gaze of love, or, as the writer puts it, -- "Two gazes immersed in one another wherein each contemplates an original, unique mystery."

That, however, wasn't what made me think of my granddaughter. It was what the author wrote next:

Have You Heard the One about the Catholic School Superintendent....

Support Mark Smythe!

...in Florida who is threatening a teacher for quoting St. John Bosco on the evils of Islam? Read the article from Catholic World Report here. Is anybody really surprised? The principal defended the teacher, but the diocese is threatening his metaphorical beheading (or is it the beheading of the intelligence of the students?).

The superintendent, Henry Fortier, made it clear that St.John Bosco does not fit with the currently approved approach to Islam.according to the "living witness of Pope Francis." Of course Pope Francis' "living witness" also includes purging the Fatima message of all reference to sin, conversion, punishment, and the need for penance and reparation. At the recent canonization of Jacinta and Francisco none of that, you know, negative stuff was even hinted at. No more warnings. Fatima is a message of peace. Here's how Professor Robert de Mattei described the pope's message at the canonization:

The tragic dimension of the Fatima message, which rotates around the concepts of sin and punishment, has been put aside. Our Lady had said to little Jacinta that wars are nothing other than punishment for the sins of the world and that the sins which carry most souls to hell are the ones against purity. If today we are experiencing “a [world]war in pieces” , as Pope Francis has often repeated, how can we not connect this to the horrifying explosion of present-day immorality, which has gone as far as legalizing the inversion of the moral laws? Our Lady once again had said to Jacinta, that if there had not been any amendment and penance, humanity would have been punished, but in the end Her Immaculate Heart would triumph and the entire world would be converted.

Make America Great With Islam

Las Vegas Muslims troll
President Trump's campaign slogan

These people are not fooling around. Islam means business today just as it did when Muhammad was alive 1400 years ago. Read the May 16th story from Winds of Jihad HERE first, then I will give you a lesson from the dusty pages of history books from a time long ago - 1930 - before political correctness, the OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation), and immigration as a trade off for the privilege of buying Saudi oil.

*Our lesson begins right after the death of Muhammad:

"The Caliphs continued the efforts for the spread of Islam which Mohammed had initiated. Soon after 650, Armenia was taken, and the victorious armies of Islam pushed on to Turkestan and India. In Asia Minor the armies of the Greek emperor successfully resisted the invaders. Blocked in their advance on Europe from the east, the Saracens sought to gain entrance from the south. [But now Europe has opened up its eastern front by allowing mass immigration of millions of Muslims through Asia minor.] From Egypt they extended their conquests along the north coast of Africa. Marmarica, Cyrenacia, Carthage, Numidia, and Mauretania were overrun, and in 700 the last Christian stronghold, Ceuta, on the Strait of Gibraltar, fell. From here a mixed horde of Arabs and Moors crossed over into Spain, and in the memorable battle of Jeres de la Fontera (711) put an end to the Gothic kingdom which had endured for three centuries. The remnants of the Goths fled into the fastnesses of the Asturias, from which the Saracens strove in vain to dislodge them.

Guest Post: Common Mistakes People Make When They Offer Condolences

By Suzie Kolber

Editor's note: I recently had several friends experience the loss of loved ones. Another has a sister nearing death and she is already grieving over her impending loss. How difficult it is for those surrounding someone suffering over the death or dying of family or friends to know what to say or do. I hope this helps.

Talking to someone who has just lost a loved one is never easy. In fact, many people avoid the situation by staying away or sending a generic card. They are afraid of saying the wrong thing. While there is no one right way to offer condolences, there are a few mistakes well-meaning people often make. Learn from others so you don’t make the same errors.

Saying “It will get better.”

Am I "Filled with Anger and Hatred?"

I sometimes get accused of being filled with anger and hatred in the comments section of the blog. Why? Because I (and my colleagues) dare to say that some things are evil. That proves we are (take your choice) hate-filled, intolerant, mean, racist, homophobic, Islamophobic, and (as one critic described me) an ugly cow. (Moooo!)

That didn't make me angry actually; I just laughed. But, yes, I do get angry:

• about laws that allow "doctors" to drag little babies out of the womb into the birth canal, stab them in the back of the neck and suck out their brains before delivering their poor, little, lifeless bodies. 

Teaching Islam to American Christian Children - Part I

Your child's school? Your child?

PART I 

Christians bowing down to Islam

"What can we say about the silence of two and a half billion Christians indifferent to the suppression of their own history? Is this not deliberate cultural suicide?

"What is happening is a well programmed political policy which implies an ideology, planning, goals and responsibilities. It's called the Great Replacement and it seeks to integrate Christian-Muslim civilizations (which ultimately ends with Islam being dominant in all areas therefore, in the end, the dhimmitude of the West) hence the affirmation that Islam is a religion of peace, open-borders immigration and the mixing of populations.

Islam Rising to Conquer America

"Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, encouraged us to build mosques and fill them by worshiping Allah with prayers, learning, and obedience of Allah. He said, The one who builds a mosque for the sake of Allah, Allah will build him or her a place in Paradise."

Washington, DC

And Happy Mothers Day to Our Blessed Mother and to Holy Mother Church!

Decline of faith at Fordham and Xavier

At Fordham, "Fair is foul is not fowl and foul is fowl is not fair."

For reasons of their own, leaders of Catholic colleges are choosing to bestow their highest honors on people who publicly oppose the Church on key moral issues. This despite the bishops’ instruction 13 years ago to stop the nonsense.

It is as if some college leaders—and these are prominent, influential leaders in the Church—delight in taunting the bishops, year after year, to do something about the repeated scandals. The Church stands firm on principle, while our society (especially academia) rejects truth because it’s fashionable to do so.

"In the End, My Immaculate Heart Will Triumph." Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!

Does your heart sometimes cry out..."When?...When, Mary, will your Immaculate Heart triumph? In the midst of wars and terrorist attacks and the martyrdom of so many Christians around the world...when, O kind Mother, will your Immaculate Heart triumph?"

The Most Important Woman in the Bible

Our Blessed Mother Mary is the most important woman in the Bible

PART III

(PART I and PART II)

Some so-called Catholic scholars such as Sr. Elizabeth Johnson and Fr. James Martin, SJ, wishing to stretch the importance of Mary Magdalen, stress two points among others, namely, that Mary Magdalen’s name is always listed first whenever the women disciples are listed, and also that she was the first person to whom Jesus appeared upon his Resurrection.

In contrast, Fr. John Gerhard, SJ, cites that Mary Magdalen’s name was listed last among the 4 women present at the Crucifixion (John 19:25), and presents strong biblical evidence that the Blessed Mother, not Mary Magdalen, was the first person to whom Jesus appeared upon His Resurrection on Easter Sunday.

"I am the bishop dressed in white." - Pope Francis

"I am the bishop dressed in white." - Pope Francis
Page 9, Missal of the visit to Fatima, May 12-13, 2017

Seriously? He's "the bishop dressed in white"? He's the center of the message of Fatima? 

After 4 years of reinterpreting the Catholic faith for us, Francis, never one to leave any teaching unmolested, now helpfully corrects our Blessed Mother, setting her and the 3 children straight on just who is the "bishop dressed in white." It's him. It's he! It's Francis.

Will We Listen to Our Lady's Warnings as We Recall her Apparitions?

The time is late. Will you listen to the messages of Our Lady?

It is surely fitting on the eve of the 100th anniversary of Fatima to recall Our Lady's warnings and respond to her appeals. Sin will bring on WW III if we fail to listen and convert.

Note that the final appearance of Our Lady during each of these apparitions was October 13th, the anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima, when the sun plunged toward the earth. Many thought it was the end of the world.

Are we on the verge of an apocalyptic event on the 100th anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun? I don't know, but I do know the time is late!

Please, if you aren't praying the rosary every day, start now. Plead with Our Lady for her intercession. Make peace with your family and friends. Pray for the conversion of sinners and do penance. Our Lady, Queen of the Holy Rosary, pray for us.

May each of us listen to Mary's motherly warnings and respond in love.

Fulton Sheen: "We Live by What We Slay" - A Reflection on the Mass

Traditional Latin Rite Sacrifice of the Mass

I recently read The Ottaviani Intervention, compiled by Alfredo Cardinal Ottaviani, Antonio Cardinal Bacci, and A Group of Roman Theologians (who are not named). It is a Critical Study of The New Order of Mass, written shortly after the close of Vatican II.
Because I came into the Catholic Church in 1968, I barely remember attending mass at which the Novus Ordo mass was not in use. I did not realize at the time the change was made that I was witness to a great change in the Church, a change that would reverberate throughout the world causing more damage than we dare to imagine.

The Ripples of Ecumenical Confusion Continue: Now It's about the Validity of Anglican Orders

Pope Leo XIII: Anglican Orders are "null
and utterly void." Apostolicae Curae

I recently watched a video that showed an under-ocean volcano that started with strange ripples and
then spewed up rock to make a new island. Fascinating creation in the physical world, eh? But what would such an event do in the spiritual world? And is that what we see happening today in the Church with the constant introduction of new theories about the Catholic faith and the headlong race to knock down all inconvenient obstacles to ecumenism? Are these ripples like an underground volcano that threatens to create a new Church...or turn the Church into one more Protestant sect?

The latest novelty on the ecumenical front (As if eulogizing Martin Luther weren't enough!) suggests that Anglican orders are valid. That's what Cdl. Francesco Coccopalmerio did recently when he made statements that appear to undermine Pope Leo XIII's 1896 papal bull, Apostolicae Curae, stating unequivocally that Anglican orders are “absolutely null and utterly void.”

Canon lawyer Ed Peters in his interesting and informative blog makes a strong case supporting Leo XIII's conclusion that Anglican orders are not valid, at the same time pointing out that they nevertheless can be a source of grace for the recipient.

Guest Post: An Invalid Abdication

by Richard Cowden Guido

It wouldn't be the first time in Church
history that more than one man
 claimed to occupy Peter's seat.

Editor's Note: This article extends the discussion of "This Disastrous Papacy" and "In Response to This Disastrous Papacy." I hope readers find it thought provoking. 

Since the great St. Vincent Ferrar incorrectly recognized an antipope as a legitimate one, arguably it is forgivable if SSPX folk & others, for a time, make a comparable error in our own era.

Nonetheless according not to any ‘authority’ of Ann Barnhardt, but rather to the overwhelming & indeed QED evidence – in particular Benedict XVI’s own words on the matter – it remains that recognizing Jorge Bergoglio as other than an antipope is an error, & a manifest one.

For contrary to assertions against that evidence, Pope Benedict did not ‘properly, licitly’ resign or abandon the papacy, but has instead publicly asserted he sought only to resign an aspect of it, while maintaining the Papal office itself.

Something wicked comes this way...

This mosque is planned for Helsinki,
 Finland. Look for the same in 
your neighborhood soon.

...and it's Islam, folks. The news of Islamic attacks, rapes, female genital mutilations, genocide of Christians and so on ad infinitum rushes by so fast that before I can post it something else similar or worse happens in 5 other places around the globe and all at the same time every day, day in and day out. This is the future (basic black burqas for women and the unbridled killing of infidels for men) unless the West wakes up. But how do we wake up the Snowflakes?

Change by the Will of a Cat

Hi. I’m a cat. But I want to be a dog. I was born to be a dog and I always acted like a dog and even wore dog collars, not cat ones when I was young so that proves that I'm really a dog.

To show that I was supposed to be a dog, not a cat, I growled showing my teeth, I jumped on the couch and tore up all the pillows, snarled as people passed by, ran away from home, and licked my humans in the face just like a dog does. Everybody said, “Hey! That cat must really be a dog! It acts just like one!”

I began wanting to be a dog when I was a kitten, or at least that’s what my parents say. They have a picture of me dressed up in a dog collar in a frame which says Fido, and I really look like a dog.

Guest Post: In Response to "This Disastrous Papacy"

Take the key of repentance and
unlock the treasury of mercy

Editor's Note: I thought the insights and comments in this article were interesting enough to deserve a separate post. I hope my readers agree. Repentance is the key that unlocks the treasury of mercy. When was the last time you went to Confession?

by Catherine Donner

This article is in response to your post from Friday, May 5, 2017 entitled ‘This Disastrous Papacy and the Big Question!’ However, my comments will not address your Big Question.

My first comment is on your quotation from EWTN: ‘This religious submission of mind and will must be shown in a special way to the authentic Magisterium of the Roman Pontiff, even when he is not speaking ex cathedra…’ Surely the important word here is authentic. The current pope frequently makes statements contradicting the perennial teaching of the church. How can these be regarded as authentic?

On the Validity of Pope Francis' Election & A Reflection on Rigidity

They also swear not to form groups to
intervene in the election. 

An article was published a few months ago on Bishop Rene Gradica's website. It's long, but well worth reading. Bishop Gracida prefaced the article with this:

John J. Aréchiga is known to me to be a researcher of exceptional ability. For some time I have read the results of his research and at my urging he has agreed to allow me to publish several of his essays. This essay addresses a matter of critical importance to the Roman Catholic Church at this moment in its history. I publish this essay in the hope that it will contribute to the efforts of persons in the Church in authority who have the power to find solutions to the problems that currently afflict the Church. 

+Rene Henry Gracida, Bishop Emeritus of Corpus Christi

Election of Pope Francis Pursuant to Universi Dominici Gregis 

By John J. Aréchiga 27 March 2017 

An Epiphany of Nothing

A picture of nothing

First I’d like to say that this article is about God and the fact that He reveals Himself to all people, big and small, important and not important. I use myself only as an example because this truly happened, and I explain it as best I can in hopes that it may be of use to other people. 

When I was a child I could not see, that is, I could see, but just barely since my eyes were so damaged that they were unable to focus. Until I received the miracle of glasses I never knew that people were able to see individual leaves on trees or flowers in the fields and I had never before then seen stars in the sky.

Without the benefit of clear sight it was difficult to understand what was spoken to me since I couldn’t see facial expressions or word formations on people’s lips. In school, teachers seated me in the front row and thankfully I was intelligent enough to understand what was taught verbally even though I couldn’t see what was written on the blackboard. Of course if I held books close enough to my face I could see the words and read.

Sunday Meditation: A Conversion Story

"We need just a fragment of contrition in our misery to release his love." Fr. Tadeusz Dajczer

When I read this quote, I immediately thought about a video I watched a few days ago about an atheist who was converted by a tragic experience that left him on a slab in a morgue. An atheist, Ian McCormack was stung by five box jellyfish, one of the deadliest creatures in the sea. What a story. He met God in a very personal way. God does not want the destruction of His children. He longs for our salvation. Remember the words of Mary at Fatima that many go to hell because there is no one to pray for them. Are you praying fervently for your loved ones? Probably. For your acquaintances? Maybe. How about for those you dislike and those who are actually enemies who have injured you? Hmm...I think we can all do better.

The only sad thing about this story is that Ian McCormack is not a Catholic. Let's pray for him to find the fullness of the truth in the Catholic Church.

Jesus Longs to be Your Friend! Will You Respond?

Jesus washing the feet of His friends. "Love one
another as I have loved you." John 13:34

Do you believe it? Can the Lord of the Universe, the Word through Whom everything was made really want to be your and my friend? That's like me wanting to be bosom buddies with one of the bees in our six colonies. No, it's like me wanting to be an intimate friend of every one of the bees (150,000+) in our six colonies. Only that's a bad analogy because I'm less than a bee to Almighty God. So can you believe it? Can I?

I hope so because it's true. Jesus knows you and me with all our sins and faults and flaws and, yes, He wants to come and dwell in intimate union with each one of us. What a thought! Does it make your heart sing? I thrill just to think of it!

A few days ago I did a post reflecting on Robert Hugh Benson's, The Friendship of Christ. Let's look at a few more of his thoughts that they might enrich our relationship with Jesus. He tells us that, while this friendship in some ways is comparable to that between two human individuals, it is totally different because, "A single individualistic friendship with Him...does not exhaust His capacities." Our energies might be exhausted by intimate friendships with two or three outside our families, but Christ "is not merely A Man; He is The Son...the Eternal Word by whom all things were made and are sustained."

This Disastrous Papacy and the Big Question!

Will the real pope please stand up!

I've always admired Phil Lawler for his integrity and clear writing as well as his charity. So when I saw his article, This Disastrous Papacy, in the March 16th issue of The Wanderer; I read it carefully.

He minces no words. Acknowledging that he criticized the two former popes for what he considered imprudent actions, he then stresses that "never did it cross my mind that [they] posed any danger to the integrity of the Catholic faith." Then he writes more pointedly about Pope Francis:

On Friendship: from Msgr. Robert Hugh Benson

Msgr. Robert Hugh Benson, a convert from Anglicanism and the son of the Archbishop of Canterbury, wrote a wonderful little pamphlet in 1912 titled, The Friendship of Christ. I'm blessed to have a copy. It's an especially significant little booklet in the Facebook age when people revel in their thousands of "friends" many of whom they've never met "face to face" and never will. This is how words are stripped of meaning. But that's a subject for another day.

Be a little child in Christ's presence;
It's the quickest way to His heart!

Real friendship, according to Benson, is "this mysterious thing...as mighty as it is mysterious." And part of that mighty mystery is that:

It is bound to rise, so far as it is true to the laws of its own development, to a pitch of passion far beyond that of ordinary relations between the sexes. Since it is independent of those physical elements necessary to a love between husband and wife, it can rise mysteriously higher in certain respects, than the plane which those elements sustain. It seeks to win nothing, to produce nothing -- but to sacrifice all.

Have you ever had a friendship like that -- a person you would call a "kindred spirit" or, as Anne of Green Gables described, a "bosom friend." This is no casual acquaintance, but a friend of the heart, one whom you would trust implicitly with your deepest secrets.

Canadian Bishops To Reconsecrate the Country to Mary in July

Let us rejoice that our neighbors to the north will reconsecrate their country to Our Lady of the Cape in July on the 70th anniversary of the 1947 consecration at the historic Marian Congress. Read about it here.

Trailer:



Full English Documentary:

Affirm a Mom Today: You May be a Lifeline!

One of our Les Femmes contributors, Jamie, is running a series (We are the Face of Motherhood) on postpartum depression and anxiety with stories from real moms. I recommend you share it with the young mothers in your life as an encouragement.

We live in challenging times when society has not only abandoned the family, but is attacking it in the name of Planned Parenthood, gender ideology, and political correctness. That is nothing new.

Have You Ever Met the Devil?

Cover of Life Magazine Feb. 2, 1948

Many of you have no doubt read The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis.  Not being a Lewis fan, I avoided this book for a while, but had it thrust on me by a friend whom I've encouraged to read some of my own favorites.  Having to swallow a dose of my own medicine and read one of her suggestions, I found it was surprisingly good for me to linger a while over a work of fiction.  The clever recognition and scrutiny of human nature was very amusing and sadly all too true.  And having allowed to be created in my mind this fictional dialogue between minions and the devil himself, it was with interest I read something online not long ago about an article Whitaker Chambers wrote in 1948 that was published in Life Magazine on February 2.  (The issue then cost 15 cents.  Today you can buy it for $19.95.) 

 The title of Chamber's article was The Devil.  I have recently discovered a copy of it in a book titled Ghosts on the Roof, Selected Journalism of Whittaker Chambers 1931-1959. 

What are these 2 silly women doing?

What are these 2 silly women doing?

1) The older "blonde" woman is washing the younger woman's hair.
2) The older woman is looking for lice in the younger woman's hair.
3) The younger woman is getting her head massaged.
4) The younger woman fell asleep; the older woman is trying to wake her up.
5) They're participating in a seance.
6) They're 2 of the 3 witches in Macbeth practicing their line, "Double, double, toil and trouble" while waiting for their cauldron to bubble.
7) They're members of an odd sect. (Correct answer)
8)  They're self-described empowered companions on a journey (to nowhere).
9) The older woman is anointing the younger with something, an egg perhaps.
10) They're friends of Harry Potter waiting for their broomsticks (I see a bright green one overhead making its landing). 
11) They're pathetic charlatans
12) They're trying to be what they will never be, and will go to their graves with their dreams unfulfilled.

Fortunately Nilsson has the answer for us. Sing it, Harry!

I’m going to conquer the world through the Missa Luba - one rapper at a time!

Snoop Dogg, soon to be history

Well, maybe not the whole world, but just my own corner of it, but if all good people would follow my suggestion 

maybe we’d at least get rid of rap filth blaring through car speakers. How many times have we been at stoplights or in parking lots only to have a car roll up behind or beside us and suddenly we feel our cars vibrate as if an earthquake is happening? We hear the deafening boom boom of drums and revolting death, drug and sex related lyrics of filthy smut.

I finally decided that I’d had enough! I go to the local Goodwill and often see an electrician friend there. Actually he’s the father of my granddaughter’s best friend and I’ve met him several times at my daughter’s house so we’re practically family. Anyway, he and I occasionally bump into each other at Goodwill and ask if the other has found any “good finds” lately. One day I told him I needed advice…that I was looking for car speakers but didn’t know how they would be attached and that since my car is small I didn’t want giant speakers.

What is the Cumulative Impact of Radiation on Children from IPADS and Cell Phones?

Parent Alert! You need to see this. What will be the unintended impact of all these devices in the years ahead? Breast cancer? Blindness? Brain cancer?



Put electronic devices in airplane mode when you don't need it. Or turn it off altogether. Don't put these devices close to your body. Don't let children use devices unless they are on airplane mode. If they are talking on the phone put it on speaker and keep it away from your head. Don't keep your phone in your pocket. And, like the video shows, women should never ever keep their phones in their bras. Treat these devices with common sense. [Hat tip to Signs and Wonders for alerting me to this video.]

Sanctify Your Work on this Feast of St. Joseph the Worker

St. Joseph working for the Holy Family
is a great model for our own families.

In honor of St. Joseph I'm reading Pope Saint John Paul II's Apostolic Exhortation, Guardian of the Redeemer. In Chapter IV, the saint reminds us that work is "an expression of love:"

Human work, and especially manual labor, receive special prominence in the Gospel. Along with the humanity of the Son of God, work too has been taken up in the mystery of the Incarnation, and has also been redeemed in a special way. At the workbench where he plied his trade together with Jesus, Joseph brought human work closer to the mystery of the Redemption....What is crucially important here is the sanctification of daily life, a sanctification which each person must acquire according to his or her own state, and one which can be promoted according to a model accessible to all people: "St. Joseph is the model of those humble ones that Christianity raises up to great destinies;...he is the proof that in order to be a good and genuine follower of Christ, there is no need of great things -- it is enough to have the common, simple and human virtues, but they need to be true and authentic."