The COVID Chickens are coming home to roost!

There's a great post on Substack about the COVID debacle and those responsible for killing millions of people across the globe with their poisonous "vaccines." They made a virus much more lethal to humans and, by accident or perhaps deliberately, let it escape the gain-of-function lab where it was created. Dr. Science Fauci showed his arrogance and hubris in recent weeks and there is some satisfaction to see him finally exposed for the villain he is. Read the article:

The Delicious Humiliation of the Man Who Poisoned the World and the Ignominious Death of 'The Science'.

Sunday Meditation: Authority and Obedience vs. Truth

Recently, I was absolutely staggered by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re telling Archbishop Vigano that, “We must obey the Pope even if the Pope does not obey the Lord.” 

Really?

Where's Your House? What Land Do You Live In?

Did you ever dream about being in a house? In many cases dreaming about houses relates to a person's identity. Think about the expression, "That really hits me where I live." What does that mean? Doesn't it indicate those things that are most important to you, in fact, those things at the very center of your being, where you live? Knowing ourselves is foundational to the spiritual life. Self-delusion is no virtue and, in order to know ourselves, we need to see ourselves in relation to God and His will for us. If you want to know yourself, get to know God!

Sunday Meditation: "My People Shall Not Be Confounded Forever." Joel 2:27

There's a saying often attributed to Abraham Lincoln that echoes the prophet Joel. It goes something like this:

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.

Thought for Monday on the Truth. Yes, Virginia, Truth Exists!

I had the great privilege of attending two retreats with Fr. John Hardon. The second in Windsor, Canada during the Fall of, I think 1999, was probably his last. Cardinal Raymond Burke (a bishop at the time) participated and Fr. Hardon passed the torch of the Marian Catechists to him. Those retreats were two of the greatest blessings of my life along with the two decades of the Spiritual Exercises retreats with Fr. James Buckley. God has blessed me abundantly with such great priest guides and continues to do so. The revival of the Church begins in the cradle and is magnified in the seminary. May God give us many holy priests to lead His Church. 

Fr. Hardon, Servant of God, please pray for us.

The Miracle of Conversion, A Mystery of God's Grace: Aqua's Story (Part 1)

16th century painting of St. Paul on the road to Dmamascus

Editor's comment: One of my regular readers, Aqua, left a comment about his conversion that intrigued me. So I asked him if he would tell his story. He graciously accepted and I offer it here in two parts. To see God's grace at work reminds us that He, indeed, is our rock and our salvation. May God bring us all to conversion every day and fill us with the joy of living in His presence. Convert us, Lord, and make us Yours.

Aqua's Conversion Story

I was asked to say a few words about my Catholic conversion story, and how it changed me from who I was to who I am. So ... here it is.

Sunday Meditation: Catholicism and Liberalism Can't Coexist! Why? Because of What it Means to be Catholic.

The fullness of the truth and the glory of God expressed in art, architecture, and music are found in the Catholic Church. She invites us to a closer union with God through the true, the good & the beautiful.

To know and understand the world you live in serves in many ways to free one from the tyranny of confusion and chaos that swirls around us. The fact is that we live in Liberalism Land. I could call it Liberalism Loony Land for it often seems we slog through a Slough of Despond where everything is upside down, backwards, and inside out. A number of isms control the narrative today, a predominant one being liberalism, a philosophy of lunacy.

Are You a Faithful Catholic? Joe Biden Isn't!

Joe Biden champions intrinsic evils that endanger his soul. Pray for him! Don't vote for him. Catholics who do are guilty of all the evils he champions! To support the murder of the innocent, is to reserve your spot in hell. That Joe Biden pretends to be a faithful Catholic, makes his guilt all the worse. Don't share in it!

Fr. Tom Collins: The Politically Incorrect Observations of a Warrior Priest

Editor's comment: Much evil occurs within the Church from promotion of a false notion of "social justice" that has nothing to do with the doctrine taught by Christ or His Church. Fr. Collins points that out specifically in his observations. God bless him for his willingness to speak the truth. We feel blessed to call him friend!

Understanding the Crisis in the Church: Homily of Cardinal G.L. Müller on the Feast of the Solemnity of Mary, January 1st

I'm working on the Les Femmes quarterly newsletter's winter issue. The lead article always involves lots of research preceded by prayers to our editor, the Blessed Mother. What does she want me to write about this quarter? 

Well...it was a dilemma until I started reading and hearing lots of comments from clerics including a number of bishops saying those who express concern about some of the actions of the pope are "divisive" and even guilty of "treason." Any questioning (dubia?) is greeted with stony silence and/or accusations of breaking unity with the Holy Father. There was even a bishop's outburst telling journalists who dare to question anything the pope does to get out and join the Lutheran Church if they don't like the pope's style of teaching and governing.

Two Thumbs Up up to Janet at Restore D.C. Catholicism for Helping Stop a Public Scandal in Raleigh Diocese

Pastor says he made decision to cancel speech by gay Durham City Council member

Let's summarize the situation. Immaculata Elementary School in Durham invited a lesbian City Council member, Vernetta Alston, to speak during black history month. Alston is "married" to her lesbian partner. She backs positions that are "intrinsically evil" and in direct opposition to Church teaching. Janet was contacted by a concerned parent and entered the fray with a post calling for people to contact the parish and the diocese to rescind the invitation which never should have been made in the first place. The pastor says he didn't know about it. If that's true, he needs to rethink his government of the parish and protection of the children from scandal. Here's what he said about the situation:

We Need More Hero Bishops with the "Heart of a Lion"

Archbishop Cordileone, a Bishop with Backbone. May God give us more like him! 

‘All our detractors can do is call us names’

Cordileone, the Lion Hearted Archbishop of San Francisco, Teaches Us to Defend the Truth

Enjoy Atheist Penn Jillette...

...as he puts heretical Catholic, Piers Morgan, to shame.

An atheist can be a truth seeker and this man obviously is one. He respects the internal consistency of Catholic orthodoxy. His logic is impeccable. If we believe that the Holy Spirit speaks through the Church, then Catholics (Take note, Piers!) MUST accept what is defined as doctrine. To do otherwise is, as Jillette points out, the position of Martin Luther. So be consistent, Piers. Either stop dissenting and be a real Catholic or go join a Protestant sect. ECUSA (Episcopal Church USA) would fit you nicely and it's strongly linked to the Brits' collapsing Anglican Church. 

Pray for Penn Jillette! His defense of the Church in the video deserves our thanks!

New Catholic E-Magazine Joins the Culture War

There's a great new Catholic website joining the raging spiritual battle and I like the way they think. Dr. Peter Kreeft who teaches at Boston College (one of the few sane voices there, I think) is a contributor and has this to say on how to win the culture war:

To win any war, the three most necessary things to know are: (1) that you are at war, (2) who your enemy is, and (3) what weapons or strategies can defeat him.
You cannot win a war (1) if you simply sew peace banners on a battlefield, (2) if you fight civil wars against your allies, or (3) if you use the wrong weapons.Here is a three point checklist for the culture wars.
1. We Are at War...

2. Our Enemy...

3. The Weapon...

Read complete article here.

Patti Maquire Armstrong has an excellent article on contraception calling for Catholics not just to oppose it, but to "want more children." Openness to life, no not just openness, but the celebration of life should reflect the Biblical imperative that they will know we are Christians by our love. And love is fruitful. Armstrong puts it this way:

I am not telling you to have more children if you do not want them. I am telling you to want them....If our homes and hearts are not open to more children, then we need to go back and open them. We do this by putting God at the center. Whatever stands in the way of openness to life, needs to be pushed aside. Souls, life, God, eternity….these are of the greatest value. The rest will fade away, just as it should. For it is the world that should be fading away and not us. Read the rest here....

There are numerous articles on faith and family, angels and saints, philosophy and practical living. A hungry soul longing for the truth could spend hours on this site filling himself with the nourishing food of the true faith.

So add The Integrated Catholic Life to your favorites and visit often. And if you know someone exploring Catholicism, send them to a place where they will find something they can chew on rather than pabluum or poison.

Michael Voris Pegs it Again: The Relationship between Theological and Moral Error

Do You Want to Leave Me Too?

Today's gospel is from John chapter 6, the teaching on the Holy Eucharist, the "Bread of Life." Jesus' meaning is unmistakable for those "with eyes to see and ears to hear." Only by ignoring what He says, can anyone believe that He is speaking in symbolic terms.

Say a prayer to the Holy Spirit and listen to His words:

"I myself am the living bread come down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread he shall live forever; the bread I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world.... [At this point the Jews begin to murmur and quarrel about His meaning so He reaffirms it.] Let me solemnly assure you, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you."

Does this sound like symbolic language? Jesus goes on becoming more and more explicit, "He who feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has life eternal, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood real drink. The man who feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him....Unlike your ancestors who ate and died nonetheless, the man who feeds on this bread shall live forever."

One must be willfully disbelieving to think this language is talking about a symbolic meal. How can that be? Many disciples left Him because of his insistence that His "flesh is real food" and His "blood is real drink." Why would they leave if He was speaking symbolically? And why do so many Christians believe this misinterpretation when their own common sense should speak the truth to their hearts?

Jesus was not a liar. When He says He is the Messiah Christians believe Him. When He says He is the Son of God; they believe Him. Why don't they believe His profession that "My flesh is real food?"

This is the essence of the Catholic doctrine of the REAL PRESENCE and it is the meaning of the daily bread we beg from God in the Our Father. God loves us so much that He remains with us today on the earth in every tabernacle in the world and He comes down from heaven at the Consecration of every Catholic Mass. He invites us to become part of His mystical body by eating His flesh and drinking His blood so that we might become more united to Him and "live forever."

When He showed His wounds to Thomas the week after His resurrection Jesus said, "Be not disbelieving, but believe." Today He calls all men in the same way to have faith in His Real Presence on the earth. Won't you respond as Thomas did? "My Lord and My God."

"If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts."

Papal Encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, available online

You can download Pope Benedict's new encyclical, Caritas in Veritate on the papal website. I plan to read most of it tonight at my weekly hour of Eucharistic adoration. I'm sure studying it in the Real Presence of Our Eucharistic Lord can't help but increase my understanding.

I've only read the introduction, but I'm excited at what Pope Benedict is articulating. Charity and truth, he says, are so intimately connected they cannot be separated. When charity is divided from truth it "degenerates into sentimentality." The relativism that results is a "fatal risk" threatening love that distorts it to the degree "it comes to mean the opposite."

We can certainly see this in the abortion debate where those promoting "choice" deny the biological truth of life's beginning. Their "charity" toward women is cold indeed, based on lies and distortions. And so the reality becomes "the opposite," not love but hatred for the unborn child in the womb who, even when fully developed and easily recognizable as a member of the human family, is treated as so much trash. The end result for the woman is hatred and rejection of both her unborn baby and her very self. Her fertility and her natural gift of nurturing become a curse rather than a blessing. Self-hatred is the result. That explains a lot, for example radical feminism's strident anger, its connections to lesbianism, and its sublimation and hatred for all things feminine.

But back to the pope's introduction - in the social sphere, the pope says, truth is essential not only to establishing a just society but a charitable one. "Charity goes beyond justice, because to love is to give, to offer what is 'mine' to the other; but it never lacks justice, which prompts us to give the other what is 'his', what is due to him by reason of his being or his acting. I cannot 'give' what is mine to the other, without first giving him what pertains to him in justice....justice is inseparable from charity, and intrinsic to it."

Thus, charity begins with justice, but never ends there. In the broader context it desires "the common good" which "is a great challenge for the Church in a world that is becoming progressively and pervasively globalized." The pope makes it clear that the Church does not interfere "in the politics of States." But instead she has a "mission of truth to accomplish, in every time and circumstance" which is at the "service of truth." Charity, truth, and justice -- a subject worth a lifetime of reflection.

To be continued.

Wake up!

Spitzenpopper just pointed me to a great blog called Old Jarhead written by a Vietnam Vet named Robert Hall. His blog post "I'm Tired" has been all over the internet and I'm sure lots of people can identify with the views he expresses there. Sick and tired might be more accurate.

I'm tired too. I'm especially tired of fighting with people who should be on our side: Catholics who prefer eating cafeteria style to eating at the rich banquet of doctrinal truth, of a hierarchy apparently more interested in protecting the institution than the flock, of so-called Catholic schools that feature "queer" film festivals, heretical speakers, and snide attacks on those who object. I'm tired of milquetoast, feel-good homilies that portray God as the King of Candyland and CCD programs modeled on coloring activity books.

So I'm rebelling. I will not be a mindless pew sitter quietly cooperating with the pay, pray, and obey mentality. I will spend every day studying the faith and I will share it with my children and grandchildren and anyone else who will listen. I will urge the laity to act like grownups by taking responsibility for their own faith development. If you don't have a Catechism of the Catholic Church on your bookshelf, get one. And read it. If you have a grandchild being baptized, study the section on baptism. Ditto for first Communion and Confirmation. If you've rejected Humanae Vitae without ever reading it I challenge you to study it. Pope Paul VI was a prophet.

A great way to fight fatique is to exercise - so let's all exercise those Catholic brain cells. That's fundamental. From there we can be salt and light to our poor country which is rapidly losing its soul.

Wake up! There's no time to be tired. You're a soldier in the Army of Christ fighting for the faith, not a community organizer collecting dead men's votes.