Do You Like Poetry? Here's One that's Worth Memorizing.

Hat tip to The Catholic Thing for publishing this beautiful poem by Lope de Vega. And a prayer of gratitude to Longfellow for translating it into English. It reminds me of Thompson's The Hound of Heaven. 

                        TOMORROW    

Lord, what am I, that with unceasing care
Thou did’st seek after me, that Thou did’st wait
Wet with unhealthy dews before my gate,
And pass the gloomy nights of winter there?
Oh, strange delusion, that I did not greet
Thy blest approach, and oh, to heaven how lost
If my ingratitude’s unkindly frost
Has chilled the bleeding wounds upon Thy feet.

How oft my guardian angel gently cried,
“Soul, from thy casement look, and thou shalt see
How He persists to knock and wait for thee!”
And oh, how often to that Voice of sorrow,
“Tomorrow we will open,” I replied,
And when the morrow came I answered still “Tomorrow.”

Lope de Vega

— translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Wisdom from St. Francis de Sales who would make a great Lenten companion

Yesterday was St. Francis de Sales' feast day. What a great saint! I'm often a day late and a dollar short, so I was reading about St. Francis this morning. He is one of my favorite saints and I often quote from his wise sayings. You no doubt have heard that you can catch more flies with a spoonful of honey than with a barrel of vinegar. St. Francis actually said more that 100 barrels of vinegar. No slouch he for emphasizing reality!

I often quote him because of his great help as a spiritual director, so let me offer a second of his many inspiring bits of wisdom in my own words.

First:

Those who commit scandal commit spiritual murder. Those who allow scandal to damage their faith, commit spiritual suicide.

Septuagesima Sunday: Time to Start Thinking and Planning My Lent!

We all want to make a good Lent, right? It's coming in only a few weeks, so now is the time to begin planning how we will make the best of it. How will we apply prayer, fasting, and almsgiving in our daily lives?

My husband and I have decided to study Bishop Schneider's compendium of the faith, Credo, as our prayer and study. I recently ordered both the books and the study guides. We've decided to begin today and make part of our observance of Sunday, reading and studying the faith so we can share it more effectively.

Pornocracy, pt. 3: Good out of Evil Papal Corruption

I'm moving on today to part three of T.S. Flanders five-part series on Pornocracy in the Church which is well worth reading and reflecting on. There is nothing new under the sun as Ecclesiastes tells us, and certainly that is true of papal corruption.

But what is even more true is that God is so good that, while He doesn't desire evil, He desires us to love Him freely. He could have made us little robots who could only choose good, but, in His goodness, with full knowledge of how we would abuse our freedom, He loved us enough to give us free will anyway.

So what does He do in His infinite goodness? He brings good out of every evil act and He wills the good He will accomplish. Think of the Easter Exsultet which rings out the joyful news of salvation:  "O happy fault of Adam that earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer." 

Biden's 2024 Plans for New White House

The Shifting Sands of Modernism

It is enlightening to contrast the weak and false justifications of Modernism presented by its supporters, against the strong and solid foundation on which the teaching of the Catholic Church is based.

Consider the slippery and sliding foundations and constantly shifting justifications given to support the Modernist edifice, as follows:

Pornocracy Part 2: The Coming Reign of Antichrist

Noah's Sacrifice (1847-53) by Irish painter Daniel Maclise

Remember when God lost His patience with the sinful world and told Noah to build an ark? He sent a flood which, like baptism, cleansed the world for a time. He set the rainbow in the sky as a sign of his never-ending love. But nothing surprises God. He knew man would continue to rebel.

How Many Times Do I Have To Say Those Four Little Words?

Me - "Susie the Prophet"
witnessing terrible visions of the future

I wrote about this (de-dollarization) a year ago.

Celebrate Life in the Work of Hungarian Painter, Mihaly Munkascy!

The other day I illustrated my post on "The Case Against Pope Francis" with a painting of Jesus before Pilate. One of my readers asked about the artist so I did a little research to identify him and look at his other work. I was unfamiliar with Mihaly Munkascy and am glad to remedy that deficiency. Judging from his body of work, he loved children.  They are prominently featured in many of his paintings.

The History of "Pornocracy" in the Church. Hint: It Didn't Begin with Pope Francis.

Storm clouds over the Church are nothing new. Don't panic. Pray harder!

Several sedevacantists like to haunt my blog and try to convince me that Francis cannot be the pope. No matter how many times I refuse to jump on their bandwagon, they pursue their single-minded message. I don't post their comments any more. They have nothing new to say.

Now, to be fair, maybe they're right, but I remain unconvinced due to the history of the Church and the papacy. If the Church and the papal throne had been occupied over the millennia by saints (and nothing but), perhaps I could agree. But evil popes are not a rarity and, even good popes often had bad men as advisors, some of whom waited in the wings hoping to "win" in the next conclave.