How's Your Blood Pressure? Lower it from the Knees!

Reading the headlines these days is enough to send your blood pressure through the roof. The war in Iran is showing signs, not of de-escalation, but a strategy of horizontal escalation that gives a weaker power the ability to respond to a stronger power. [See Why Escalation Favors Iran.] Reading about it definitely gives one pause about the wisdom of starting the fight. Did we learn anything from Vietnam? And now Hezbollah has joined Iran with coordinated, simultaneous missile attacks.

Dymphna Pegged It: Uncle Ted is Dead. The Horror Continues....

Dymphna has a short post on the death of Theodore McCarrick. It's enough!    

UNCLE TED IS DEAD

Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, of infamous memory, is dead at 94. The horror is not over. His buddies who protected him and lied for him are still running the church in America. [Read the rest here....]

Death comes to us all. I wonder where the high potentate of the American church is now. God knows; I leave the wicked cardinal to him. Did Satan lose his grip in the end? Did McCarrick repent? I have to grit my teeth to say, "Let us hope so." Our God of justice and mercy will decide. 

If Today You Hear His Voice, Harden Not Your Hearts.

Our Lady wept over our sins at Akita.
It's time for us to weep and repent!

It seems like the 3:00 a.m. hour is my middle of the night call to prayer. It's 4:15 now and I've been reading the Book of Daniel. This sobering passage brought me up short:

O Lord, we are shamefaced, like our kings, our princes, and our fathers, for having sinned against you.....we rebelled against you and paid no heed to your command, O Lord, our God, to live by the law you gave us through your servants the prophets. Because all Israel transgressed your law and went astray, not heeding your voice, the sworn malediction, recorded in the law of Moses, the servant of God, was poured out over us for our sins. You carried out the threats you spoke against us and against those who governed us, by bringing upon us in Jerusalem the greatest calamity that has ever occurred under heaven. [ the Babylonian captivity]...this calamity came full upon us. As we did not appease the Lord our God, by turning back from our wickedness and recognizing his constancy, so the Lord kept watch over the calamity and brought it upon us. You, O Lord, our God, are just in all that you have done, for we did not listen to your voice. (Daniel 9:8-14)

Are You the Wolf or the Sheep?

I remember a popular song a number of years ago called Hungry Like the Wolf. (See the video below.) It's about a man stalking and running down a woman who's his prey. The song graphically portrays the predator, hungry like the wolf, who says, "I'm on the huntdown after you." This song illustrates many relationships today particularly on college campuses.

How do you view others? Are they objects to be used, to be preyed upon, to be exploited? Matt Archbold has a great article on this called The Scariest Conversation I've Ever Heard. I recommend you read it. The first step in conversion is recognizing our sinfulness. If we use others as objects or prey to satisfy our own greed or lust, we're in big trouble. Jesus never used the wolf as a positive image. Wolves don't go to heaven. They attack the sheepfold and they attack the shepherds. If you recognize yourself in Duran Duran's song....well....read the previous post.

Seek God's Forgiveness: It's There for the Asking!

The only sin God can't forgive is the one that is unrepented. If you've had an abortion or helped someone get an abortion, run to the Lord of Life and ask for his forgiveness. Remember, he leaves the ninety-nine sheep for the one lost. Don't remain in opposition to the God who loves you so much. Seek his forgiveness. It's there for the asking. Just look at the cross where his arms are open wide. He's already paid for our sins. If you're Catholic go to confession. The priest, speaking with the voice of Christ, will rejoice over your sorrow for sin and will offer you the healing that can only come from reconciliation with the Lord of Life. Don't wait!

Please pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy today, for all those involved in killing babies waiting to be born.

Apocalypse Now? The Pope's Warning

Fulton Sheen often warned that the clock of the world was approaching midnight, the hour of destruction. Pope John Paul II warned that the 21st century would be a new springtime of evangelization or it would not be at all. And now the pope warns us that we cannot continue on the path of moral relativism and "self-asserting subjectivity" without paying the ultimate price. To read the pope's Advent address in total go here. Today, the Feast of the Holy Innocents calls us to a somber reflection on our culture of death that destroys so many millions of the most innocent every year. It can only end, as Mother Teresa said, in nuclear war. Pray for our poor world. On the cusp of a new year, we must turn back to God and repent;or face the consequences.