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| A hero in a roman collar! |
One of the things I mentioned briefly during my talk was the reality that there are traitors in roman collars. In the early days of the pro-life movement there was a real chance of passing a human life amendment to protect all lives from the moment of conception until natural death. That amendment wasn't deep-sixed by the feminists but principally by one priest -- Monsignor (later Bishop) James McHugh. As head of the USCCB's pro-life office, he had many contacts with laity fighting for life. It is an understatement to say he was not helpful, but actually threw roadblocks in the path to saving the unborn.
My friend Dexter Duggan who writes for The Wanderer has an excellent piece on his substack site relating to the attack on Iran.
Another Undeclared War Drops on Our Doorstep
Reading up on professional, paid trolling I wondered if there are paid trolls out there who go after the websites, blogs, social media pages, etc. of orthodox/traditional Catholics. I have no illusions about the influence of my blog. I generally have 300-400 visitors a day. If something I write strikes a chord, I can get as many as 700-1,000 visitors, but that's rare.
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| Mary Magdalene embracing the cross. |
How great are the trials that beset the Christian, from the cradle to the gave! Sometimes those who are least deserving of pain suffer the most. Te nearer they approach God, the more thoroughly they are purified by the fire of suffering. The more earnestly they strive to serve God, the more they are misunderstood, despised, repudiated, and persecuted by the world. Sometimes they receive like treatment even from their friends."Because...I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you" (John 15:19). Even those who are nearest to us and whom we justly hold in high esteem desert us. Even those in whom we trusted consider themselves justified in deserting d rejecting us. These sufferings are certainly the deepest and most bitter.
Sometimes God Himself seems to have taken the side of our enemies.
I've always been fascinated by the Big Bang Theory of the origin of the universe and life itself. Can you imagine anything more fitting than the Word saying "Light" and the incredible explosion of creation? My brother was a physicist and he got hung up on the fact that the sun wasn't created until the fourth day. But really, the universe is filled with light; the sun wasn't the only heavenly body of fire.
You can't make this stuff up! Democrats virtue signal about how much they care, but the only thing we see evidence of is that they care about power, money, and their personal elitist lifestyles. And this guy thinks he should be president?
When you get stirred up over something someone posted on social media or a blog comment or an in-person confrontation, what do you do? I think the sensible first response is to hit the pause button. Step 2 is to ask yourself these questions: "What's going on here? Why am I upset? What is this person's motivation? What's the best way to respond?"
There are a number of answers to the question, What's going on here? It's an important place to begin in order to prevent being pinned to a board like an insect, which is exactly what some people seem to want. So what's going on? Here are some possibilities:
Jesus gave us the roadmap to happiness. Love God with your whole heart, mind, soul, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. That's the highway to heaven? And once we get to the finish line Peter and his successors hold the keys to heaven's gates.
The Church tells us, "Extra ecclesiam nulla salus," Outside the Church there is no salvation. But what exactly does that mean? Can only baptized Catholics go to heaven?
You can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.
It's tie to never be confounded and fooled again by liars and deceivers working for the enemy. Some people become deceivers out of ignorance. We saw a lot of that during COVID. Low information folks trying to convince those of us doing the research that all the scientists and doctors questioning Fauci et al were quacks and we needed to get with the program. Most of them were just foolish not malicious. But others among the doctors, pharmacists, those profiteering, the mainstream media, etc. were not innocent. They deliberately lied and withheld the truth. And many people died because of it.
The latest hoax being pushed by the Democrats was sparked by the removal of Senator Padilla from Christi Noem's press conference after loudly interrupting her opening statement and moving toward the podium as he shouted. He identified himself as a U.S. senator. Even if he did, how could security personnel be sure it was true? Do you recognize him as a U.S. senator? Was that a ploy to get close to the Secretary? Did he have a weapon? Padillo was acting like the proverbial bull in a china shop moving aggressively toward the podium and resisting any efforts by security to stop him.
I have a friend who says she never reads fiction. She considers it a waste of time. That's unfathomable to me! My response is to recall a fictional conversation between Anne Shirley and Marilla in the novel Anne of Green Gables beautifully depicted in the movie where Anne is played by Megan Follows and Marilla by Colleen Dewhurst. Anne asks Marilla if she can call her Aunt Marilla. Marilla says no, just call her Marilla since she doesn't believe in people using names that are not their own. "You could imagine you're my aunt," Ann suggests. Marilla replies, "No I could not." "Don't you ever imagine things differently from what they are?" Ann asks. "No!" is Marilla's short reply. With a sigh and a little headshake Ann takes Marilla's hand lamenting, "Oh Marilla, how much you miss."
My dear friend Jack Ames of Defend Life organizes a Maryland Face the Truth Tour every summer. It's a week of multiple stops each day using huge pro-life/abortion signs to expose communities to the truth about child-killing in the womb. Jack asked me to give a talk on the preliminary prep/training day about the early history of the pro-life movement. My qualifications? I'm old and started working in the pro-life movement in 1972 before Roe v. Wade. Some of the early heroes I'll be talking about directly impacted my own involvement in pro-life activism through their witness and inspiration. How much I thank God for all of them!
Sitting at my computer this morning I experienced an interesting optical illusion. Looking across the field through the "frame" of two tree trunks, I saw the head of a roman wearing a laurel wreath in profile. He looked very much like this:
As the wind blew his mouth opened and closed as if he were speaking. Of course, I knew it was just an illusion created by my brain, but it fascinated me and got me thinking about illusions and truth.
When our children were young we had a car with no radio. So we entertained the kids by telling stories. Larry told fairy tales and I told Bible stories. A favorite from Daddy was The Three Little Pigs. Mom and Dad filled up their napsacks with all kinds of goodies and sent them off to make their way in the world, build their own houses, and outsmart wolves.
I've always loved the scene in Bambi about Spring arriving and all the creatures being "twitterpated!" I couldn't help thinking of that this morning as I watched a mama doe amble through the yard followed by a newborn, the littlest I've seen this Spring. We have deer in the yard every day and the does know Camp Kreitzer is a safe haven. They often leave their babies here while they go off to forage. Last year we had twins settled down on the side of the driveway just lolling in the sun. What a delight to go out and see them every morning.
It's hard to believe what Bishop Michael Martin is doing in Charlotte. Under Bishop Jugis the diocese thrived. Under this new bishop, the wreckovation is in process bigtime. The four pastors at the parishes where the TLM is being eliminated begged him not to do it. They pointed out there was no disunity in their parishes. The bishop didn't bother to visit any of the four parishes; he simply stomped on the flock with hobnailed boots. As of yesterday, the bishop has delayed his orders because of a significant backlash not only in his diocese, but across the country. The planned date of implementation is now October 2nd. [Source]
Today is my oldest sibling's birthday, my brother Ray. The first of ten living children he began his life in Hawaii when my dad, a recent Naval Academy grad, was stationed at Pearl Harbor. Ray always called himself the youngest Pearl Harbor survivor since my mom was only a few weeks pregnant when evacuated to the mainland. Ray ended his life here in Woodstock and continues to be loved and missed.
The pope sent a strong message against cohabitation and in favor of Christian marriage during the Jubilee of Families. What a needed message for our modern world! And what a repudiation of Francis' scandalous remarks that cohabitation is true marriage. It isn't!
I recently had a conversation with a handyman doing some work for us. He and his live in partner both came from sad family situations. His mother was divorced several times. Her parents were divorced as well. They've been together for sixteen years, but have no intention of marrying. Compounding the tragedy is the fact that he's a lapsed Catholic.
My husband checked the bees today. Two of our three hives were overrun with ants. Ants are interesting creatures. Not as interesting to me as the bees, and a nuisance for beekeepers, but still amazing little bugs. The first thing they do when the nest is threatened is to rescue the babies. You can see the grown up ants scurrying to carry off the eggs to safety.
