Remember St. Paul's admonition in Romans 12:20 to heap burning coals on the heads of our enemies, the burning coals of conversion. Let us never miss an opportunity to love our neighbor with both the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.
O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto thine.
In this month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, I offer this reflection from St. Alphonsus Liguori as a companion piece to my previous post. How often have we despised love and returned ingratitude for the suffering and sacrifices, not only of our Savior Jesus Christ, but of others. How often have we taken for granted the love of Christ and failed to thank Him? Let us get up every morning thanking God for the new day, for everything that will take place in it, for all our blessings and benefits. And let us remember our duty to "love your neighbor as yourself."
Today, the bishops of the United States consecrate our country to the most Sacred Heart of Jesus. May that heart strengthen all our faithful bishops, our good shepherds for whom we are so grateful and convert the hearts of all our unfaithful bishops, the wolves and hirelings, for whose conversion we sacrifice and pray.
Every now and then I write poetry, not especially good poetry, mind you, just flights of fancy. It happens a lot when I'm on five-day silent retreats. Perhaps I'm a bit stir crazy by the fourth day, but I have lots of poems in the back of my retreat journals.
I call you friends because you've touched my life. Some of you with kind comments and promises of prayers I hardly deserve, others with nasty comments that invite me to humility and patience. And then there are the invisible readers some of whom I think also probably pray for me. How much I appreciate you all.
Those who are long-time readers of the blog have seen many articles from my dear friend, Fr. Tom Collins. He contributed numerous guest articles filled with wisdom and Catholic truth. What a gift!
Father had a stroke recently and died of complications on Monday. How much he will be missed.
So here I am since 2:30 a.m. wide awake and wishing I weren't. And yet, so many of the saints spent their nights in prayer. Sad to say, I'm more likely to be doing the cryptogram or sudoku puzzles in the Epoch Times in the middle of the night. And sometimes, I do the worst thing for sleep. I turn on the computer.
This morning my computer search took me to a saint whom I've never studied, Hildegard of Bingen. This 12th century saint, abbess and doctor of the church, intrigues me. Not only that, but I had to laugh when I came across this snippet of information:
While the secular world celebrates June as sodomy month, a sin that cries to heaven for vengeance; Catholics celebrate the Sacred Heart of Jesus. So here are a few quotes from the saints on which to meditate. The Sacred Heart graphically reveals to us the tremendous love of Jesus Christ for sinful men. May we express our gratitude by offering all our wounds to Him in atonement for our sins.
Every wedding we attend reminds me of our own wedding back in 1969, but family weddings are special. What struck me today during my morning prayer was the memory of the nuptual blessing -- that you might see your children and your children's children.
I've been reflecting for the past few days on the accusations against the rector of the diocesan cathedral, Fr. Patrick Posey. An accuser has come forth claiming abuse over thirty years ago. I don't know Fr. Posey personally, but his reputation from friends who do know him is praiseworthy. So here we have someone come forth with thirty-year-old accusations. No matter how this resolves, Fr. Posey will always be under a cloud. How do you disprove something that supposedly happened thirty years ago, especially in an era of the lie? And what's the quote about a lie traveling around the world before the truth gets out of bed?
I've been receiving a number of comments from "unknown" who says he's a Muslim and claiming this:
Our religion commands us to love those who hate us and to do good to our enemies, but how do you want people to treat Muslims because of the 'truth' you tell about Islam? Do you even see Muslims as individual souls, the way God sees them, or as a monolith you fear even though as I pointed out in my comment you didn't publish, Jesus tells us constantly not to be afraid. He is with us always and He thirsts for souls. It's one thing to try to get the speck out of your brother's eye when you have a log in your own (and I'm sure I have one in mine or you would publish my comments), but what happens when you don't even think of the other person as a person you would even try to help but just take your big log and bash them to death?
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Do you ever feel like you are walking on a tilted plane? Every step is a challenge with the likelihood of falling. If you sit down on a tilted bench, you feel like you are falling off. Eating is a challenge because all the dishes want to slide off the table. What would it be like to never have a moment's rest, but to always need to be vigilant so we don't fall, including falling out of bed.
What’s worth noting here is that avoidance has become the default response to relationship friction. Nearly three-quarters of respondents (73 percent) said they feel inclined to distance themselves from a friend or loved one during difficult moments, rather than communicate openly to solve the problem. [source]
The Easter season ended with the feast of Pentecost last Sunday. Looking back we see how the Passion began -- with the betrayal of Judas with a kiss. We have spent Lent and Eastertide thinking about Jesus, offering prayers and sacrifices and giving alms. Then we spent 50 days rejoicing at our salvation proved by Christ rising from the dead.Some days I feel like a bobble head doll just shaking my head over the insanity in the Church. What's the latest? Listening centers instead of confessionals for the pope's Corpus Christi trip to Spain. Truth these days is stranger than fiction.
It seems to me that we all make life too darn complicated. In many ways we get lost in the weeds. And yet, the prescription for a happy life is really very simple. The Baltimore Catechism set it down in question #6:
6. Q. Why did God make you?
A. God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in heaven.
Life is filled with uncertainties. But we can all be certain of one thing. We will leave this world with no attachments. No one can take anything on the final journey. And yet, don't we all cling to earthly things with a death grip? Strange expression, eh, since death will tear everything from our hands? I often think of Gulliver tied down by the Lilliputians with a million little threads. Isn't that what we are like with all our petty desires and concerns that occupy our thoughts and attention.
I'm fascinated by words and as I thought about the steadiness of the candle flame I wondered where the word came from and about it's meaning. I got this from an etymology site:
steady(adj.)1520s, "firmly fixed in place or station" (displacing earlier steadfast, which came to be used of persons and characters), from stead + adjectival suffix -y (2), perhaps on model of Middle Dutch, Middle Low German stadig.
We weren't alone. A young man motorcycling through Virginia on the way to visit his mom in Maryland was also enjoying the view. We had a lovely conversation and I've been praying for him.
As a professional working with the increasing population of estranged parents, I had created a training to illuminate this popular movement and its emotional impact. The reality that many of the current estrangements were seeded and rooted in therapy rooms compelled me to create space for deeper understanding. Instead, I was met with vitriol and hostility on a professional platform—an intensity that stunned me. Only later did I realize that many of the keyboard screamers were themselves estranged. My words had tapped into their stories and threatened their perceived peace.
There was a time when I totally trusted Phil Lawler's take on things. I read several of his books with pen in hand and made margin notes to return to later. A trusted source, he was my regular go-to source as I slogged along in the Church crisis. So I was truly disappointed in his recent articles on the SSPX situation and upcoming consecrations. I was staggered when he said there was no state of necessity since it's up to Rome to make that decision. Really? If I see a child about to run into the street and be hit by a car, I'm not waiting for a policeman to tell me I can jaywalk. I also disagree with Lawler's interpretation of Fr. Pagliarani's statement that “In an ordinary parish, the faithful no longer find the necessary means to ensure their eternal salvation.” Perhaps that statement was overbroad, but certainly not untrue.
Let's start here with a few syllogisms of logic:
Have you ever had a good friend who ditched you after a disagreement? In these days of TDS and disputes over religion, it seems pretty common. I still mourn over some lost friends. I pray for one who died years ago. I'm confident she and I will be friends again worshiping together before the throne of God. Until that day, I think of her kindly and pray for the repose of her soul and our happy reunion.
Happy Mothers Day to all my daughters, daughters-in-law, sisters, sisters-in-law, all Mother Superiors of religious orders, and all grandmothers and great grandmothers. I especially wish a Happy Mother's Day to all you women who, although not biological mothers, serve in a motherly role to your relatives and friends and all the children you know. Every woman has a mother's heart if she nurtures her gift and looks for those who need it. This is not a day that excludes any woman at all, but recognizes the grace of motherliness which all women possess. Thank a mom today, your own or someone who treated you like her precious child. And don't forget, above all, to thank our heavenly mother Mary.
O Mary, Queen of heaven and earth and Mother of the Church, pray for us.
It isn't easy these days under the tyranny of Governor Abigail Spanberger to find much light in Virginia. But yesterday the Supreme Court of Virginia set off some colorful fireworks. The judges declared that the redistricting election was unconstitutional, since the Democrats violated procedural rules for amending the state constitution. The Democrats immediately made plans to appeal to the Supreme Court based on the dissenting opinion of Judge Cleo Powell. You can read the decision and dissent here. It was close, four to three, like the vote on the amendment itself which squeaked through. But the wording of the amendment was a lie and a fraud:
In 1972 Brian Moore wrote a short novel titled Catholics about a remote abbey on an island off the coast of Ireland. [online here] It's the year 2000 and the monks continue to offer the Latin Mass after Vatican II and even after Vatican IV. The Protestants have long been acclimated to the new Church and the new faith. The move now is to incorporate the Buddhists and a conference is scheduled in which the head of the order is participating.
The monks have become an embarrassment and stumbling block to the new church. Ever since a television crew televised the Mass thousands of Catholics from all over the world flock to the liturgy offered on the mainland. The crisis comes when the head of the order in Rome sends a young priest to examine the abbey and order the monks to immediately adopt the new mass. There are no more private confessions. No one is required to believe that the bread and wine really become the Body and Blood of Christ at the consecration. No clergy are allowed to resist. They are ordered to conform.
He was the son of John Shakespeare, a recusant who kept the faith, a local low-level politician who resigned his office rather than take the oath of supremacy. His son William's missing years were probably spent being educated on the continent which explains his broad knowledge of Italy, particularly Venice. Another indication of his Catholicism was his ownership of a house in London used for secret Masses. It was exposed when a floor collapsed under the weight of several hundred Catholics hearing the Mass. [Brief article on Shakespeare's Catholicism.]
In the old calendar, today is the feast of Pope St. Pius V, a courageous reformer. He put into Catholic practice many of the reforms of the Council of Trent. His holiness was obvious to the flock he served. An interesting bit of trivia relates to his impact on publishing and printing. He ordered that all books have the author and publisher announced on a title page. Prior to that many printers omitted the authors and their own responsibility for the book. Think of that the next time you look to see the publisher of a book and the date it was printed. I did that just yesterday with two books by Walker Percy to see which one was published first.
Papolatry refers to the excessive reverence or worship of the pope. It is derived from the combination of "papa," meaning pope, and "latry," which denotes worship or adoration.
Really! Yes, some Catholics put the pope right up there with Jesus Christ, the head of the Church. After all, since the pope is the "visible" head of the Church, he must be a saint who never gets anything wrong. Right?
Poor Wheeling-Charleston, a diocese that covers the entire state of West Virginia! What has Pope Leo done to you, conservative state that cooperates with ICE? He's named a bishop committed to the illegal invasion as your spiritual father. In fact, the bishop is himself an illegal invader who's never apologized for or repented of his own criminal entry into the country. Let's face it, most of those who enter illegally claim a right to be here and a right to help themselves to the wallets of citizens. Hospitals closing and schools overwhelmed? Citizens victimized by criminals? No problemo for the leftist thugs.
During my middle school years, my parents rented a lovely home on Juniper Lane in Falls Church, Virginia. The street got its name from an enormous Juniper tree that occupied a plot along the road. I think it was in the center and the road went around it on both sides, but that memory may not be accurate. At any rate, it was an impressive sight! Much more than the picture above.
Our SSPX community in Linden, VA recently started a website that is now online. I invite and encourage you to visit virtually and then join us for Sunday Mass if you live in the area or are visiting. If you've never been to a Traditional Latin Mass it will no doubt seem a little uncomfortable at first. What's going on? Why is the priest doing that? Where am I in the book?
If the Society and priests who minister to me are about to be declared schismatic and excommunicated, I want to know the rationale and justification for their consecrating bishops without a papal mandate. Canon law 1387 from the 1983 revised code of 1917 says this about those consecrations:
Can. 1387 Both the Bishop who, without a pontifical mandate, consecrates a person a Bishop, and the one who receives the consecration from him, incur a latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See. [For anyone who wants to read the law, the entire 1983 code is online here.]
My husband and I went to the opera last Sunday -- not a complicated opera, but a simple opera. We saw Hansel and Gretel in the English version at Shenandoah Conservatory. What a delight! And, as I watched, I thought how right G.K. Chesterton was in his essay on Fairyland where he describes the mistaken notion of poets to think the fairies operate with a freedom that is really license to do exactly as they please. Chesterton vehemently disagrees:
I think the poets have made a mistake: because the world of the fairy-tales is a brighter and more varied world than ours, they have fancied it less moral; really it is brighter and more varied because it is more moral.
Virginia Supreme Court declines to overturn injunction to temporarily halt certification of redistricting vote
The laity are not members of the Society so if rumors turn out to be true, I presume we will be told we cannot fulfill our Sunday obligation by going to Mass at SSPX chapels and that they do not have the authority to forgive sins so sacramental confessions will be invalid. And, of course, so will the sacrament of Confirmation and Matrimony. Whew! The sword of Damocles will be over our heads wielded by Cardinal Fernandez of kissing and porno book fame. Really, it boggles the mind. So while Pope Leo embraces and dialogues with Patriarch Bartholomew of the schismatic Easter Orthodox Church, he refuses to meet with the SSPX.
What a father, eh?
Are Catholics masochists who turn every landscape into a dystopian city of suffering? What do you think?
In his homily this morning, Father mentioned reading an article by a psychologist who stated that Catholics worship pain and suffering. His evidence? Our churches have a bloodied crucified man at the center, many of our saints suffered gruesome martyrdoms, we offer a Mass with the unbloody sacrifice of the slain Lamb of God, etc. And, of course, there's the guilt factor. Father didn't mention that, but it's part of the picture painted by disbelieving psychologists. The Church lays a guilt trip on their followers who need to spend significant time (and money) de-compressing with a professional who will relieve them of their guilt. All those poor Catholics who wear a metaphorical hair shirt, if not a real one, are paralyzed by unending guilt that needs to be eliminated by drugs or talk therapy. Hmmm.
Many of us have known for decades that the Southern Poverty Law Center is an evil, lying grifter group. Now we have the proof. Let us hope and pray they get dismantled and the fraudsters go to jail!
“For those who believe in God no explanation is necessary. For those who do not believe in God no explanation is possible.”The quote is often attributed to Franz Werfel who wrote Song of Bernadette, because the film included a similar quote in the introduction. It does not appear in the historical novel, however, although Werfel's powerful testimony to the Lourdes miracles proclaims it without words.
Tazewell County Circuit Court Judge Jack Hurley Jr. issued an injunction barring certification of the election results pending appeal. The judge reaffirmed prior rulings, declared the referendum unconstitutional and the amendment process of HB 1384 unconstitutional.
God bless Judge Hurley and his tribe. I would love to see a class action lawsuit against the Democrats by voters. I'm no lawyer; is that even possible? I would join in a nano-second and contribute to the legal expenses. Virginia is my patria.
The redistricting results are in. The barbarians have destroyed the gates of the city and are burning, looting, and setting all on fire. The white witch reigns and will no doubt sign the bill which will make voting in any general election in the future pointless. I'll still go to the polls and cast my vote realizing it won't matter because Virginia will go with the popular vote of the nation even if every voter in the state disagrees.
We need to change the Virginia seal because the tyrant has risen and executed the patriot!
Fr. Joseph Gill has an important article at Crisis Magazine about the Novus Ordo, The Novus Ordo and the Interior Life. Don't miss it!
Does your diocese have a good shepherd? Does your parish? How can you tell? Scripture says, "By their fruits you shall know them." The measure of a good shepherd is how zealously he defends the faith and protects his flock from scandal. If you are fortunate enough to have a good shepherd, be sure to express your gratitude.
And now I have a story to tell from my own two dioceses, Richmond and Arlington. Arlington is blessed to have many faithful priests. How grateful I am for them because they have kept Arlington from going the way of so many places that have essentially lost the faith altogether. Fr. John Hardon, S.J. warned about the crisis of faith for years and predicted that entire dioceses would lose the faith. Has that happened in your diocese? He described the crisis in a 1997 article that outlined what has become ever more obvious. Who can deny it today?
Whenever someone tells me that people didn't understand the Mass that was the norm for centuries, I ask myself whether that was really true. Do we only understand the spoken word? And, in fact, does the spoken word sometimes fail to impart a message? My contention is that the answer to those questions is NO and then YES.
Satan may prowl around the world seeking whom he may devour. But there are other predators out there as well. I thought about that this morning when I looked out at the bee yard and realized we'd had a stalker prowling the bee yard who did a number on one of the hives. The worst part was we knew that hive had a queen. Now we don't know whether she survived the assault.
