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| St. Jean Vianney, patron of parish priests |
In these times, so like the ignorant days after the French Revolution when many people had lost the sense of the sacred and the knowledge of Catholic doctrine, we need priests who will instruct the ignorant, counsel the doubtful, admonish sinners, and pray diligently for the living and the dead. Just a handful like St. Jean Vianney, the patron of parish priests, could turn our pagan culture back to God.
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| How many bishops are willing to walk in the footsteps of martyr Bishop John Fisher? |
That is not a proper image for the Catholic Church.
The pope is not a dictator with the ultimate power to throw out bishops on a whim because he doesn't happen to like them. Unfortunately, the bishops themselves have promulgated that image by the unjust treatment some have dished out to their spiritual sons. Cancelled priests are a growing problem. I know some of them and it is disturbing to see how unjust some bishops are. The sad truth for those bishops is that you reap what you sow. They will be measured out the same measure and rotten fruit they've dished out to others. Get ready for it, Your Excellencies!
I wish my parents had found an underground church during those evil days. What a joy if all our family had been able to "keep the faith." Many of my relatives are no longer practicing Catholics. I pray every day for their return because the surest road to heaven is the Catholic Church; the surest guides on the right path are the faithful shepherds defending the doctrine and sacred tradition.
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| Better not wait to get off the tracks until the train is five feet away! |
Perhaps discussing the rumoured nuke to be dropped on the TLM on the third anniversary of Traditionis Custodes (July 16th) is premature. Why not wait and see and just be silent and let the chips fall where they may? After all, isn't the best course to live in the present moment? That's certainly one approach, and I won't argue with those who choose it.
On the other hand, there is something to be said for taking measures when a disaster is likely to happen. You don't wait until the hurricane is upon you to board up the windows. You don't wait until the train is five feet away before you get off the tracks. An article at OnePeter5 recommends that Catholics get ready, especially considering the accuracy of previous "rumors" reported by Rorate Caeli. Their track record is excellent. So let's check out the article by Carina Benton:
Cleaning closets and drawers merits a low spot on the chore list. Laundry, dusting, vacuuming, dishes, meal prep...they all take precedence over the unseen clutter that attacks you when you open a closet door.
Every summer Defend Life of Baltimore, headed by pro-life hero Jack Ames, conducts what they call a "Face the Truth" tour in over a dozen locations in Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. With giant signs revealing the horrifying truth about the murder of the innocent, they line major highways revealing the truth about abortion that government and media hide. It's all exposing the lie that abortion is like clipping a toenail or removing a tick.
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| St. Claude de la Colombiere |
One of my go-to books for morning prayer is Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence, a book co-authored Fr. Jean Baptiste Saint Jure, S.J and by St. Claude de la Colombiere, S.J. (1641-1682) [Yes, Virginia, there once was a day when the Jesuits gave us holy and wise priests.] St. Claude was the spiritual director of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, who did so much to promote devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. What good saints to invite into our life during this month devoted to the Sacred Heart.
The past two mornings I've been reading a few pages over and over again trying to burn them into my brain and my heart. The main point is that EVERYTHING we experience comes from the will of God. EVERYTHING. "Nothing happens to us in life unless God wills it so." Fr. John Hardon, another holy Jesuit, often said that. I was blessed to attend two retreats with him before he died in 2000 and, like his brother priests, he emphasized over and over that EVERYTHING comes from God.
Can you believe it?
I just watched a great video where the speaker talked about the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) to five groups/individuals: little children, a young Catholic who attends both the Novus Ordo (NO) and the Traditional Latin Mass, an atheist raised Catholic, a diocesan pastor of an NO parish, and a lay theologian. Fascinating! Check it out! especially the final segment with the theologian. He makes a very interesting distinction between the holy and the sacred. Really, it's only about half an hour. The beginning with the little ones was charming and lovely. "Out of the mouths of babes."
I'll answer a question with a question, two questions in fact. Was it wrong for Catholics to disobey the pope when he said everyone should get the COVID jab? Were Catholics who refused to obey the pope challenging the authority of Holy Mother Church?
Simple answer to both questions: NO! NO! HELL NO!
My daily spiritual reading for several months has included a few pages from the wonderful book, The Life and Glories of St. Joseph. I never realized how much the Church knows about this silent saint of the Scriptures. The Fathers of the Church and the Mystics all cast light on St. Joseph giving us a stunning portrait of his life and virtues. As patron of the universal Church and the "pillar of families," St. Joseph offers us his powerful intercession. All we have to do is ask for it.
Here's a brief thought about this great and powerful saint from the book which I heartily recommend if you want to know more about him.:
I can't tell you how many people lambasted me for not drinking the COVID Kool-Aid. "You don't care if people die!" I heard numerous times when I said I wouldn't get the jabbed and wouldn't wear a mask. Just about everything mandated was worse than useless, and made the situation worse. Masking and social distancing, staying inside, closing schools, gyms, the beaches and other outdoor sites was stupid!
Are you a gardener? Do you love to plant flowers and vegetables? Do you ever dig in the dirt thinking about all the gardens in the Bible? God obviously loves gardens. He created the Garden of Eden and formed the man from its rich, fertile soil. (Kind of makes you think of the expression "older than dirt" doesn't it?) Jesus spent many hours in the Garden of Gethsemane praying. I wonder what that garden was like? When he was there in the Spring and Summer what scents filled the air? What bird calls provided background music for his meditation? What plants grew after being watered by His blood?
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| Jonathan Emord: the right choice for Virginia |
We have two terrible senators in Virginia, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine. They are both extremist liberals who think killing babies and cheerleading for LGBT and transgender insanity are virtues. Tim Kaine is up for re-election this November. The GOP primary is June 18th and we have a chance to make a real difference by making Jonathan Emord the GOP candidate. LET'S DO IT!
There's a hoax going around the internet that the Kentucky Fried Chicken chain uses lab meat for their chicken. Not true! It made me curious about the policies of the chain. Is someone targeting them because of their views?
First let's look at the hoax which is pretty disgusting. If you've seen it you'll recognize it:
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| Who is she who comes forth as the morning rising...terrible as an army set in battle array? |
When you think of conquerors who comes to mind? Alexander the Great? George Washington? Julius Caesar? Constantine? Napoleon? Genghis Kahn? Charlemagne? The Conquistadores? Attila the Hun?
We think of some of these warriors with respect and others with horror. What does it mean to be a conqueror and what is the greatest victory over defeat?
The answer came to me this morning in The Imitation of Mary:
Of what value are all the heroes the word admires, as compared with the great men religion produces through the practice of virtue?
It is a more spendid thing to conquer one's own passions than to conquer nations.
It is much less difficult to conquer others than to conquer oneself.
The true Christian is not the kind of hero who owes his heroism to circumstances; he is not the accidental hero of a passing hour but a hero throughout a lifetime.
His glory is that he overcomes the obstacles in his path; his goal is to possess God and find rest in Him. Can there be a greater honor than to serve God and belong to Him? "To serve God is to rule."
Who is the greatest human conqueror in history? Our Lady. Let us walk in her footsteps which lead straight to Jesus!
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recoourse to thee.
When the world is in a mess, and what a mess we're suffering today, it's tempting to be discouraged and walk around like the character in the old L'il Abner comic strip with the black cloud over his head. He jinxed everybody around him. Well, give him a pitchfork, horns, and a tail and you have our nemesis who does, indeed, want to turn our gold into straw and our wine into water. Satan is the great inverter. Like Rumpelstiltskin he wants everybody including, not just our firstborn, but us and our children too for an eternity in his doomed kingdom. The joy of laughter and our words of thanksgiving to God make him howl in rage. He wants us to be dismal every minute of every day walking under a black thunder cloud.
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| honeybees behind the insulation |
We've been dealing with a honeybee hive that set up home in the ceiling of our garage. We thought they left when we turned on the air conditioner, but they were coming and going again a day later. The air conditioner servicemen came to look at the unit, but wouldn't go near it with the bees flying around. (Can't say I blamed them.) One thought they were yellow jackets. Those yellow demons are among the nastiest hornets ,so his trepidation was reasonable, even though he was wrong and busy honeybees tend to ignore people.
In the meantime, our daughter was scheduled to have her baby induced and the other four children (and four dogs) arrived to take up residence. And so began the swimming, biking, gaming days with lots of mealtime conversation and rosary decades for mom and baby. [See how long it takes you to figure out Max's riddle. "What is stronger than God, more evil than the demons, the poor have it, the rich need it, and you will die if you eat it?" I'm embarrassed to admit how long it took me to figure it out.]
I suspect that bishops eagerly add to the list of "credibly accused" to show how vigilant they are to protect the flock. Perhaps they feel it exonerates them for moving priests around to abuse again, lying to victims and their parents, and covering up criminal abuse. In too many cases any priest accused is presumed guilty unless proved innocent. That's a little difficult for accusations that are decades old and have no evidence except the word of someone who stands to gain big bucks for the accusation.
Yesterday's Mass homily focused on sins of the tongue. St. James in his epistle has plenty to say about that, comparing the tongue to the rudder of a mighty ship. The rudder may be small, but bears a large impact on the ship's movement and position. So does the tongue which may very well be responsible for more sins than any other organ in the body.
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| BEFORE Ariel Bibas - vicious enemy of HAMAS Before Oct 7, 2023 Loved beyond measure by his parents |
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| AFTER Ariel Bibas May 16, 2004 What HAMAS' hate has done to him |
