Good and Evil Face Off in Woodstock

A small portion of the Patriots in Woodstock
rallying for Charlie Kirk.

Larry and I returned today from a two day stay in Staunton. It was not a planned vacation. We had tickets for a conference on regenerative farming being hosted by the Brownstone Institute. When they sent an email saying they had a long waiting list for the event, we decided younger folks would benefit more than we would. So we gave up our tickets. But I had booked a hotel reservation already paid for that couldn't be canceled. So instead of the conference we decided to take a mini vacation in Staunton. We planned a late lunch in Salem on Thursday with our five grandkids who attend Virginia Tech followed by two nights in Staunton doing a little exploring of the area. 

At the hotel, we watched a lot of the coverage on Charlie Kirk and marveled at the statement from his wife, Erika. What a testimony of faith and love! No hate, no unbridled anger, just determination to carry on Charlie's goal of "making heaven crowded."

Thought for the Day from C.S. Lewis and The Last Battle

As regular readers know, I read the Epoch Times and love it! My favorite section is Life and Culture. This week Marlena Figge has a wonderful article on the C.S. Lewis' series, the Chronicles of Narnia focusing on the final book, The Last Battle. Some readers may be a little confused because she discusses the books, not according to their publication order, but their chronological order. Like the Star Wars series, Lewis began in the middle with The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, when the four children of the Pevensie family were evacuated from London and went to live with a professor in the country. One rainy day playing hide and seek, the youngest, Lucy, hides in an old wardrobe, an entrance into the wintry world of Narnia where she meets Tumnus, the faun, and begins an incredible adventure with her siblings.

Our Decisions Have Eternal Consequences! What Will They Be for You?

Father Tom Collins gave this homily on the Gospel of St. Luke chapter 13: 1-9. Lent is a great time to reflect on the nature of evil and our need for repentance and conversion. Where are your decisions taking you? God gave us free will, not so we could choose "whatever," but so we could freely choose the good. Do your choices reflect the right use of free will or are you using your choices to capitulate with evil?

The Devil You Say!

Many today don't believe in the existence of the devil. It's convenient not to believe because if the devil doesn't exist there isn't any hell. So you can believe in a nice fluffy God who looks like the Pillsbury Doughboy and who has his angels making tea and cinammon rolls in preparation for your arrival.

Well, one U.S. bishop isn't afraid to talk about the devil. Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput speaking in Rome recently said, “It is very odd that in the wake of the bloodiest century in history – a century when tens of millions of human beings were shot, starved, gassed and incinerated with superhuman ingenuity – even many religious leaders are embarrassed to talk about the devil. In fact, it is more than odd. It is revealing.

“Mass murder and exquisitely organized cruelty are not just really big 'mental health' problems They are sins that cry out to heaven for justice, and they carry the fingerprints of an Intelligence who is personal, gifted, calculating and powerful.... If we do not believe in the devil, sooner or later we will not believe in God.”

The Archbishop focused on the responsibility of believers to evangelize the world. Why, to make sure as many people as possible are spared "the loss of heaven and the pains of hell."

Read more here....

Years ago when I was on a weekend retreat, I spent a late night in the stairwell with another retreatant who didn't believe in the existence of hell. She did after our long conversation. But it isn't surprising that people have stopped believing. I attended a funeral of a priest who committed suicide a number of years ago. The homilist, a senior priest in the diocese cast doubt on the possibility that anyone goes to hell. I was shocked because he never asked for prayers for the poor dead priest! I wanted to scream, "Did you care about your friend? Ask people to pray and fast that he experienced final repentance."

Do a Bible search with a concordance. Jesus talked about hell (Gehenna) more than almost anything else warning people NOT TO GO THERE.

At Fatima the Blessed Mother showed the three shepherd children a terrifying vision of hell. Was she a child abuser? NO! She is good mother who warns us about danger. Those three little ones engaged in heroic sacrifices to, as Jacinta said, "save poor sinners from hell."

St. Robert Bellarmine said that priests should preach often on the four last things: death, judgment, heaven, and hell. We would all do well to reflect on them often. Ultimately, our elternal salvation is the only thing that matters. What a tragedy to lose heaven for the world.

Heaven: Don't Risk it for the World!

An email friend recently wrote to me after reading my essay in Love in the Ruins. In our email exchange she promised to send me a CD that tells of her "miraculous conversion" 14 years ago from a "militant, pro-abortion, anti-catholic feminist" who was a "member of NOW, NARAL and a volunteer at Planned Parenthood," to a woman "in love with my faith." How I look forward to hearing her story.

Our correspondence reminded me of a book on my library shelf that tells the stories of a number of converts or reverts to the Catholic faith. Prodigal Daughters was edited by noted Catholic author Donna Steichen whom I consider a beloved friend and mentor. In examining the index, I saw that I know several of the women who tell their stories and I eagerly read them. They are simple but compelling stories.

And so I sent an email to my new on-line friend. I shared with her the feeling I had after reading the conversion stories of these lovely women. "It makes me realize that every person has a story to tell. Some are comedies (those that end happily in salvation) and some are tragedies (those that end in condemnation), but we are, each of us, a novel in progress and only in the end will the author of life who watches us cross the last t and dot the last i, determine the end of the story. Oh if only we can help those around us have happy endings to their stories!"

I think my New Year's resolution must be to remember that every person I meet, no matter how muddled their thinking or evil their actions, is a precious creation of our gracious God. We are all works in progress. Each person's story is a novel, each life a painting. Some among us, the saints, have lives that produce canvases worthy of great art museums. Some of us will produce more modest works like calendar art or a child's watercolor displayed on the refrigerator. All of us, however, are the beloved of the Father. He desires every one of us to be with Him in heaven. He will plunge us into hell, but only if we refuse heaven. The trapdoor to hell opens and the evil one falls by the weight of his own pride.

Hell is a mercy to those who ultimately choose evil and reject God. Evil cannot exist in the presence of God; it would be annhilated. Which is why Milton shows Lucifer plummeting into hell once he commits his audacious act of defiance against God.

The Almighty Power
Hurld headlong flaming from th' Ethereal Skie
With hideous ruine and combustion down
To bottomless perdition, there to dwell
In Adamantine Chains and penal Fire,
Who durst defie th' Omnipotent to Arms.

Nothing on earth is worth risking the loss of heaven. As the Lord says:

I have set before you this day life and good, and on the other hand death and evil: That thou mayst love the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways, and keep his commandments....
But if thy heart be turned away, so that thou wilt not hear, and being deceived with error thou adore strange gods, and serve them:
I foretell thee this day that thou shalt perish....
I call heaven and earth to witness this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Choose therefore life, that both thou and thy seed may live. (Deuteronomy 30 - Douay version)