(With the firing of former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, things have taken a new and dangerous turn. Former CIA Director John Brennan was unhinged in his reaction, with former U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power warning how dangerous it is to anger Brennan. Up until the firing came, McCabe seemed unworried about anything but losing his pension. The thing is, McCabe thought he was the Deep State equivalent of a Mafia “made man,” and thus untouchable for any offense he committed. The howls of outrage you heard Friday were the first real stabs of fear from the Deep State “made men,” finally terrified that their status may not make them immune to the law, but actually make them targets for the potential criminality in the coup conspiracy they participated in. It is astonishing to me that the fraudulent investigation continues, while the real investigation into the coup conspiracy grinds on ever so slowly. But it is grinding surely…and it is a relief to see that the conspirators are finally genuinely fearful that their efforts to topple someone else may end by toppling them. But that relief is modified by the reality that as the noose tightens, desperation grows. The conspirators have never shown any concern for any but their own power and careers, so we grow ever closer to a starkly dangerous moment.
The media and all the Democrats are in a tizzy over a company Trump hired to mine Facebook data. Never mind that they considered it genius when Obama did it on a much larger scale with both Facebook and Google. Data-mining is as old as politics. Only the technology has changed. In a campaign, you gather as much information about the voter base from publicly available sources as you can, then organize your resources to try to persuade them to vote for you. It is market research and advertising. Facebook’s most valuable asset is its database – and it has made no secret that it sells and profits from it. The press screams about the right to privacy when Republicans do normal political tasks that they applaud Democrats for doing. You have no right to privacy when you voluntarily enter a public space. Facebook IS a public space. If this controversy serves to propel anti-trust legislation against the social media giants, that will be a great benefit and I am all for it. I can understand a little public confusion from ordinary folks who don’t ponder that your right to privacy evaporates when you enter a public forum, but I am utterly disgusted by some Republicans who choose to play the chump, hoping to get a good headline from the New York Times or Washington Post. Those few Republicans who are screaming for an investigation are chumps. They know how innocuous this is – and they have done plenty of data-mining themselves in every campaign they have ever waged. This is just an effort to distract people. The next big scandal will probably be the revelation that the pollsters Trump hired “disclosed” the opinions they solicited from people to him. Someone get the smelling salts.
I will have the piece on “The Ballad of the Ordinary Man” up by next Monday. I have one more piece that is a pre-requisite to that one that must go up. Meantime, I repeat this piece from last September. The False Gods are shaking – and shrieking as they fall.-CJ)
By Charlie Johnston
“There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship.” – David Foster Wallace
Some people on the right are completely dissatisfied with Congress. Others are completely dissatisfied with Donald Trump. Others are dissatisfied with various branches of the federal government. People on the left are dissatisfied with everything. Fair enough. What do you think God might be trying to tell us with this historically low approval of everything relating to government?
Founding Father and second U.S. President John Adams warned us bluntly when, after the adoption of the Constitution, he said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” While red-state Americans are still largely religious (if not as moral as once we were), blue-state Americans are not irreligious: they have simply replaced God by making government their god. As with ours, their god is a jealous one: it will have no other god before it. So we do not have a battle between faithful people and dissolute slackers. Rather, we have an existential battle between adherents of two altogether incompatible Gods; the true God and a false god. For most of our history, our disputes were policy disagreements between moral and religious people. Sometimes, the disputes involved different interpretations of what God meant by what He said. As Abraham Lincoln said, in his Second Inaugural Address, about the North and South, “Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other.” But whatever disputes there were about the nature of God or interpretations of His commands, almost all agreed that His commands were binding – and that He is author both of man and of the rights of man. All expected to give account to a just God for their actions in this life.
Because the Christian God emphasizes free will, rather than forced conversion, the nation was the most tolerant of religious minorities of any in history. Whatever problems there were in living this tolerance because of the cussedness of man (and there were many), it was a foundational principle of the new nation. It worked, so long as what religious – and irreligious – minorities wanted was tolerance. It was unprepared for the rise of a large, irreligious and immoral minority which was implacably hostile to religion, itself, declaring it the enemy.
In Fyodor Dostoevsky’s master work, “The Brothers Karamazov,” Ivan Karamazov’s central insight is often paraphrased as, “If God does not exist, everything is permitted.” Life is just a vicious grapple for power, wealth and influence – and all means, no matter how underhanded or dishonorable, are legitimate. Honor, itself, is a meaningless concept. Society degenerates into a primitive tribalism engaged in a constant struggle for power. Unless one faction becomes powerful enough to impose its will on all the others, it is just an unending battle between roving bands of rival warlords. The Marxist Dialectic demonstrates how such a philosophy destroys the very basis of language, itself, by how it redefines truth and lies. In the Marxist Dialectic, truth is whatever advances the cause of Marxism and a lie is anything that damages the cause: objective fact has no bearing whatsoever in the matter – except to confuse the useful idiots. All is the will to power. Religion and morality are the only constraints dangerous to this worldview.
That is why our politics is so impotent now. It was designed to arbitrate claims between different groups who subscribed to the same foundational principles – and to enforce the rights of those minorities who simply sought tolerance (real tolerance – not the redefined version that the anti-God left uses to try to impose its will on all). It was never designed to mediate a death struggle between people of faith and those trying to destroy faith. It is wholly incapable of this, for those of faith are constrained by concepts of honor, fair play and the traditional meanings of words like ‘truth’ and ‘tolerance.’ Their opponents are free to abuse power in any way that is effective in accomplishing their goals. The main difference between the modern iteration of tribalism and its ancient forebears is the modern tribalists’ pretension to enlightenment in justifying their grubby cause.
This battle has resulted in the erection of many false gods. There are the gods of sex, money, power and notoriety. But the granddaddy of them all is government. The anti-God left does not see government as a means of mediating competing claims from various groups of free, sovereign people, but as the means to impose its imperial will upon all. Gain control and it is self-will triumphant. It has resulted in the perversion and near destruction of many ancient philosophical concepts. The one that bothers me the most is the new, hideously impoverished definition of “love,” which the left defines as “preferred form of genital stimulation.” Gone is the understanding of love as so willing the good of others that you will sacrifice your own wants and even needs to accomplish it, replaced by a banal determination to get whatever pleasure you want, whenever you want it. Whenever some chump leftist tries to justify that definition by asking, “What’s wrong with love,” I feel physically ill.
One might take some satisfaction in knowing that, if the anti-God left actually succeeded, it would not find peace and love – only endless violent struggle within its own factions. Self-will run amok is never satisfied. Fat lot of good that would do our children and grandchildren, though. I have no desire to consign them to the misery of such an ugly new world because I was too timid or lazy to man my post and, instead, betrayed my God and them.
The point is that this is an existential struggle. It cannot be mediated. A religious and moral people cannot co-exist with an anti-God left committed to its destruction. One or the other must prevail.
John Hawkins did a nice piece in Townhall that neatly summarized the problem. (Warning: while I admired the article, I found the picture accompanying somewhat offensive). Fr. Bill Bowling, Pastor of St. Augustine Church and Holy Name of Mary Church in Lebanon, Kentucky, recently wrote an incisive piece, quoting St. John Paul the Great, on his Facebook page:
“What is the “mark of the beast?”
(Rev. 13:16-18) “Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or on the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom: let him who has understanding reckon the number of the beast, for it is a human number, its number is six hundred and sixty-six.”
Gradually, we are seeing the unfolding of this beast system on earth, and technology seems to be the most proficient means of promulgating this beast system which overtakes the economy, culture, and sense of morality in order to captivate the whole people of the world. It sets itself inexorably against the Church in order to eliminate it from the earth. Only now is the technology available to make real what St. John described in the Book of Revelation. See the prophetic words of St. John Paul II regarding the unfolding of this end times mystery.
(John Paul II, Dom. et Viv., 56) “Further on this second beast is identified with the false prophet because his role consists in leading men astray and getting them to worship the first beast. Because he has real (but evil) power he is able to work prodigies similar to those performed by the prophets (for example, Elijah, who brought fire down from heaven: cf. Kings 18:38) and can even seem to vie with the power of the life-giving Spirit by breathing life into the images of the beast. He symbolizes those regimes and ideologies which reject God and put man on a pedestal. Materialism works in the same deceptive way as the beast does, for “though it sometimes also speaks of the ‘spirit’ and of ‘questions of the spirit’, as for example in the fields of culture or morality, it does so only insofar as it considers certain facts as derived from matter (epiphenomena), since according to this system matter is the one and only form of being. It follows, according to this interpretation, that religion can only be understood as a kind of ‘idealistic illusion’, to be fought with the most suitable means and methods according to circumstances of time and place, in order to eliminate it from society and from man’s very heart.”
Do not take the “mark of the beast.”
(Rev. 14:9-11) “If anyone worships the beast and its image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also shall drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured unmixed into the cup of his anger, and he shall be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up for ever and ever; and they have no rest, day or night, these worshippers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.”
This brings us to the real choice we have today: to bow down to the golden calves and Baals the anti-God left insists we worship with them, or to proclaim the one True God with relentless fidelity – and relentless charity in victory, not neglecting the battle that is necessary to secure the blessings of faith, liberty and freedom to our descendants. The True God will prevail, as He always has. He is not on our side: we must choose to be on His. Remember His words from Deuteronomy 9:4-6:
“Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land’; whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you…Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people.”
Finally, get out of your mind childishly sentimental notions of Rescue. Remember that when Moses rescued the Israelites, shortly after they began their long pilgrimage, they stood at the shores of the Red Sea with the Egyptian Army in hot pursuit. Remember that when Jesus came and spent three and a half years explaining to His disciples that He had come to rescue all of mankind, that Rescue took the form of a brutal crucifixion. Jesus only let His disciples wander in confusion and panic for three days, not 40 years, before showing them the rest of the story and His transcendent power. The point is, Christian Rescue is not for the faint of heart nor the sunshine soldier. It will not be as you – or I expect – but it is certain. It is not a reward for your goodness, but the time to prove your steadfast fidelity.
So gird your loins and proclaim the one, True God, whatever the cost. Not only is it the side that will win; it is the only possibility that will give your children and grandchildren a chance at a happy, prosperous life. Do not worry if your primary motivation is love for your children: self-sacrificing love is always love of God, Himself.
A Sign of Hope 
Thanks for this review, Charlie, and for placing current events into an expanded context. Slogging we are… We CAN do this, for Christ’s power is made perfect in our weaknesses.
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Amen. Standing ready, in trust and hope. PAX
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You keep us grounded in reality, Charlie. May all of Heaven and Purgatory pray for us to be strong and faithful. It is so tempting to wonder what comes next in this crazy world, but that is a temptation to be resisted; harder for some of us than others!
God bless you all.
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“I had the strength of faith and boundless trust in God’s love. All those who have the strength of faith are stronger. Faith makes you live according to what is good and then the light of God’s love always comes at the desired moment. That is the strength which sustains in pain and suffering. My children, pray for the strength of faith, trust in the Heavenly Father”
Our Lady to visionary Mirjana.
This recent message supposedly from Our Lady seems to suggest we ready ourselves for comming events. She continues-“My children, your battle is
difficult. It will be even more difficult”.
She seems to be asking us to prepare ourselves for what lies ahead….”Know that not a single creature who belongs to God will be lost but will live forever. Every pain has its end and then life in freedom begins there where all of my children come – where everything is returned”.
As our country moves closer and closer to a final confrontation Our Lady seems to be asking not just us but the whole world to ready themselves, to fix their faith like flint on God. To “practice” this by praying for and trusting in His protection or, His future, whatever He chooses it to be for us.
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Thanks for this analysis, Phil. I, too, noticed these nuances in Our Lady’s words. Seems to me, this entire world is a tinderbox, ready to ignite new levels of this decisive conflagration, both exteriorly and interiorly. We’ve been waiting, watching and praying for, it seems, a lifetime for this. Blessed be God in all HIs Ways! Ave Maria!
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Yes, we are living in trying times. Today’s mass readings (Daniel 3:14-20,24-25,28) speak of those who demonstrated strength: the boys thrown into the burning funace. My personal hero’s btw.
Further todays Gospel (John 8:31-42) Jesus speaks of to whom do we belong…
I would have posted both here, but it is too much text…better to read for yourselves.
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First reading
Daniel 3:14-20,24-25,28
God has sent his angel to rescue his servants
King Nebuchadnezzar said, ‘Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, is it true that you do not serve my gods, and that you refuse to worship the golden statue I have erected? When you hear the sound of horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, or any other instrument, are you prepared to prostrate yourselves and worship the statue I have made? If you refuse to worship it, you must be thrown straight away into the burning fiery furnace; and where is the god who could save you from my power?’
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to King Nebuchadnezzar, ‘Your question hardly requires an answer: if our God, the one we serve, is able to save us from the burning fiery furnace and from your power, O king, he will save us; and even if he does not, then you must know, O king, that we will not serve your god or worship the statue you have erected.’
These words infuriated King Nebuchadnezzar; his expression was very different now as he looked at Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. He gave orders for the furnace to be made seven times hotter than usual, and commanded certain stalwarts from his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and throw them into the burning fiery furnace.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar sprang to his feet in amazement. He said to his advisers, ‘Did we not have these three men thrown bound into the fire?’ They replied, ‘Certainly, O king.’ ‘But,’ he went on ‘I can see four men walking about freely in the heart of the fire without coming to any harm. And the fourth looks like a son of the gods.’
Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed, ‘Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego: he has sent his angel to rescue the servants who, putting their trust in him, defied the order of the king, and preferred to forfeit their bodies rather than serve or worship any god but their own.’
Gospel
John 8:31-42
If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed
To the Jews who believed in him Jesus said:
‘If you make my word your home
you will indeed be my disciples,
you will learn the truth
and the truth will make you free.’
They answered, ‘We are descended from Abraham and we have never been the slaves of anyone; what do you mean, “You will be made free”?’ Jesus replied:
‘I tell you most solemnly,
everyone who commits sin is a slave.
Now the slave’s place in the house is not assured,
but the son’s place is assured.
So if the Son makes you free,
you will be free indeed.
I know that you are descended from Abraham;
but in spite of that you want to kill me
because nothing I say has penetrated into you.
What I, for my part, speak of
is what I have seen with my Father;
but you, you put into action
the lessons learnt from your father.’
They repeated, ‘Our father is Abraham.’ Jesus said to them:
‘If you were Abraham’s children,
you would do as Abraham did.
As it is, you want to kill me
when I tell you the truth
as I have learnt it from God;
that is not what Abraham did.
What you are doing is what your father does.’
‘We were not born of prostitution,’ they went on ‘we have one father: God.’ Jesus answered:
‘If God were your father, you would love me,
since I have come here from God;
yes, I have come from him;
not that I came because I chose,
no, I was sent, and by him.’
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I like the Easter Island statues. The first Catholic missionary priest sent to live on Easter Island alone with the natives was Father David Reddy. He happened to be a close family friend, so every few years when he was allowed to take a little vacation time back in Western New York, I would get to see him. He was a ham radio operator, loved cats, learned Spanish so he could understand when people went to Confession, and performed simple sleight-of-hand magic tricks to entertain children … he always had a very warm and friendly personality towards everybody.
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Thank you for always bringing me back to my true perspective. It’s so easy to get caught up in the world. I remember that God said many times “Be not afraid.” I cling to that, because I know how weak I am.
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Here is a beautiful article by Fr. John A. Perricone, showing the answer to our problems:
https://www.crisismagazine.com/2018/bless-father-sinned?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CrisisMagazine+%28Crisis+Magazine%29
…”Andrew Sullivan is hardly a credible source for the hearty Catholics who read these pages, carrying all the bona fides of the secularist Left. However, a recent piece of his presented a compelling taxonomy of our circumstance through the lens of the opioid crisis:
It is a story of pain and the search for an end to it. It is a story of how the most ancient painkiller known to humanity has emerged to numb the agonies of the world’s most highly evolved liberal democracy. Just as LSD helps to explain the 1960’s, cocaine the 1980’s, and crack the 1990’s, so opium defines this new era. I say era, because the trend will, in all probability, last a very long time. The scale and darkness of this phenomenon is a sign of a civilization in a more acute crisis than we knew, a nation overwhelmed by a warp-speed, post-industrial world, a culture yearning to give up, indifferent to life and death, enraptured by withdrawal and nothingness. America, having pioneered the modern way of life, is now in the midst of trying to escape it….”
The rest of the article is brilliant- found the link to it at http://pewsitter.com/page_1.html
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“The point is, Christian Rescue is not for the faint of heart nor the sunshine soldier.”
Indeed!
When I think of the most saintly people I have known in my life, they all seemed to have an inner toughness that was evident, in difficult times but also evident in good times. Perseverance, constancy,…it ain’t easy brother
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I continue to bump into this gem of a video. A beauty.
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Thank you Beckita! That got this Momma’s heart full to overflowing this morning…joy, joy! Oh, and the eyes were overflowing too! Blessings to all today!
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God bless you, LPYL.
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For all those strong, loving mums and their beautiful children! 💕💐💕
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OH Beckita, thank you for posting this! I just saw it yesterday for the first time and sobbed all the way through, remembering the joy our Andy brought to us! We lost our son who had Down Syndrome coming on 9 years ago this April 8. He was 23 years young. The fourth of our six children, he was truly a gift to our family! The Easter season is hard for me, as my heart always reminds me of that anniversary which my mind tries so hard to forget. God is my refuge, in Him I trust.
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Oh reetscharlie! So sorry for the passing of your dear Andy nine years ago. May he intercede to bring you renewed joy amidst the hard time of Easter when the memories flood your heart. May Andy pray for us all. Looking forward to meeting him one day, reets!
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Thank you, Beckita….we look forward to seeing him again! I talk to him all the time and ask him to pray for his family that we will all be together one day. I truly believe he was protected and guided by our Blessed Mother and the Angels, as some of his changes in behavior the last few weeks he was with us and his parting words to me revealed. Andy was a gem among pebbles, as his light and love touched countless people of all ages. We still here stories of how he touched lives. We were so blessed!
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Beautiful, reetscharlie! ❤️
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Reetscharlie, I have tears in my eyes after reading your comment; I am so sorry for the loss of your dear Andy. Our youngest, Anne-Marie, was born with Down Syndrome almost 5 years ago. During my pregnancy, I asked God to please give us a perfect child; and He did, beyond our wildest imaginings. Hands down, she is the best thing that has ever happened to our family; and if I had to guess, I’d guess that you’d say something similar about Andy. I will keep you and your family in my prayers as the anniversary approaches.
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Beautiful, Mick!
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Dear Mick, I rejoice with you in the gift of your sweet Anne-Marie! As you already know she will bring you great joy and untold blessings of love, light, honesty, patience and the best hugs you can ever imagine! Please hug her and kiss her for me! Blessings to you and your family!
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Reets Charlie, Anne-Marie has been duly hugged and kissed on your behalf. You and your loved ones are in my prayers. 🙂
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Bakhita ,
I love this video! Teaching the blind to see and the deaf to hear. God’s chosen ones via the dumb.
Love is our connection.
Love.
? What race ethnicity are you {is the question}
Love {the answer}
Love is within their hearts; all time, every day, each moment looking at the workd with child eyes.
Child like: trust in Jesus.
I miss Medjugorje. I miss Medjugorje in The America’s.
[Hope]
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Very sweet video, B. I had the honor of teaching Kung fu to a small group of these special little people in Colorado Springs, but it was I who learned the most. They definitely give the best hugs ever. The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.
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“They definitely give the best hugs ever”: True that. 🙂
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Amen, Patrick.
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This is a beauty!! I have posted it to my Face Book page.God gives these special children to special people. May God bless them all!!
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Amen! ❤
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Ok I only watched it 3 times. Just 3
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connie, the families in this video and their love warms my heart! ❤
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Amazing video post Beckita! I gotta stop watching those at work 😥 God makes no mistakes, and I pray so hard for those who feel in the right to say abortion is the answer…..
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Amen, Bill. Happy work day!
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Over the years, I’ve diplomatically “read the riot act” to 3 teachers who mentioned amniocentesis to check for Trisomy 21 and then subtly connected positive findings with having a discussion with the woman about abortion…and one was actually at a Catholic university (Xavier). Furious, heart pounding, but kept my cool (barely).
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17
If our God, whom we serve, can save us* from the white-hot furnace and from your hands, O king, may he save us!
18
But even if he will not, you should know, O king, that we will not serve your god or worship the golden statue which you set up.” Dn 3: 17-18.
This must be an example of the “steadfast fidelity” that will get us through this.
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For you were called for freedom, brothers. But do not use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh; rather, serve one another through love. For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you go on biting and devouring one another, beware that you are not consumed by one another. I say, then: live by the Spirit and you will certainly not gratify the desire of the flesh. (Gal 5:13-16)
But if you go on biting and devouring one another, beware that you are not consumed by one another. That line strikes me as what seems to be happening before us right now, this devouring of one another, I continue to ask our Lord what has happened to us because I can only shake my head in quiet disbelief as to the disordered people we have become. My, the angels must crying as they did when He died on the cross, but they had the resurrection to rejoice in 3 days later. Sometimes I wish it was 3 days later so we could rejoice. Finally, get out of your mind childishly sentimental notions of Rescue – that is not easy to do, it would be lovely if we could have a solid, bop on the head type of rescue. I remember reading once that if it made a difference, Our Blessed Mother would appear to each person, one on one, but it would not make a difference. If ten 10.0 earthquakes happened simultaneously throughout the world, it wouldn’t make a difference either. We cannot be convinced of God’s Love for us if we don’t even know who He is and what He did for us. So as we continue to devour one another, we who know what He did for us continue to pray, pray, pray. And that Rosary becomes a more powerful weapon against the evil that encompasses us. We will not be discourages by the noise around us, we march on methodically and with fortitude and we have hope because we have faith in a Most Gracious and Glorious God who loves us. Pray for conversions and reparation of sin, for the scales to be removed from the blind, for stony hearts to be molded and shaped into hearts that love. Pray for gentleness, kindness, and pray for patience. Pray that we get out of God’s way, with a trust that He’s got this. Love. I do. Diane
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Diane, you said you remember that Our Lady said she would appear to each person (if necessary, if I’m remembering the same thing) and I think I remember also that the Miracle will be as big as it needs to be too. If Mother needs more ammo to amplify such astonishing events – I’m with you – let’s give it to her!
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Amen.
Armor up! Close your eyes or stand in front of the mirror and put the belt of Truth around your waist, Place the Breastplate of Righteousness on your shoulders, put on the sandals that spread the Word of God (visualize this as much as you can. Faith is your shield (I have a shield that almost looks like a bubble of protection around me) that protect you from the evil darts and snares that are constantly thrown at you. Then place on your head the helmet of salvation upon your head asking for Wisdom to get through your day and wave high the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. I use it to sever and cut all strongholds held against you and your family. Whenever I feel if am under attack I throw my shoulders back and say Armor up. Lord, help me to get my gear on and Armor Up. Love. I do. Diane
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Beautiful, Diane. I have found the finest armor to be comprised of a sacramental life. https://olol.org/the-sacramental-life
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So visual Diane! Thank you.
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Amen to the armor, Diane! Every day starts with that, the Blood of Christ, angels, and every other thing in my litany, but for all my family, not just me! We have been given so many weapons by the Lord and Holy Mother Church. I start with the Helmet of salvation, and don’t forget the Mind of Christ. To be hidden in Mama’s heart is important also, hidden under her mantle and in her Refuge. Dear St. Joseph, please go everywhere with us!
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Beautiful insight Katherine! ❤
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“O how happy, my daughter, is the man who during the short instant of his life seeks to anticipate the divine science which he is so soon to possess by experience! This is true wisdom,
not to wait to know the end until the end, but rather to run toward it at the beginning of the race, not with so many doubts but with some security of attaining it.”
(Our Lady to Mary of Agreda, Coronation par. 608. Mystical City of God.)
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I know not everyone here is on the Facebook platform, so I thought I’d share from conservative Catholic writer Matt Walsh: https://www.dailywire.com/news/28549/walsh-repentance-matt-walsh
He discusses the “terrible lie that is destroying Christianity in America and leading souls to hell….”. Matt has written a lot lately about Pop-culture topics (gun control a lot), however, this one is going to stir up the hornets for sure! This one comes right from our Catholic faith, and many people just don’t want to hear this one. Great read and true! (Matt, if you are a TNRS’er, which I think you might be, GOOD JOB!)
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Amen.
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That subtle distortion of truth about our faith is a tragic one because it ruins true confidence in God, substituting it for a positive attitude which can, frankly, become sheer presumption. It’s these subtle ideas that cut us off from access to the true joy which Christ offers us. We should think positively about ourselves and about the strength and love of our God, but that idea must be married to an understanding of our own humility before God and an awareness of our sin. An awareness which then gives glory to God’s goodness and mercy. Otherwise the Children of God become spoiled brats, and even worse, learn not to trust that love. The saints have all lived examples of how to marry joy and sorrow, penitence and confidence, justice and mercy. That is the inner balancing effect that learning to love God has in the soul. I think that the real danger to this line of positive thinking based faith is something even more deadly . . . it makes us forget that God’s action in the soul is a real thing. We start thinking of faith as a self-help mental trick for good feelings . . . a fake balance . . . and start focusing on faith as a formula for inner peace and not a relationship. Paradoxically, a joyful relationship with God is built on a cross.
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Amen.
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Otherwise the Children of God become spoiled brats – Amen
Great little paragraph summarizing how some view God.
Even the Vatican is creating a mess by not allowing criticism of our Pope, talk about a feel good religion. Yikes. Love. I do. Diane
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Fr Celsos latest talk
What is coming is awful.
The vast majority of mankind will die.
Evil will exhaust itself.
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Yes, Anne. Fr. Celso has often expressed this concept at Divine Will meetings: evil will exhaust itself. His comment about purification is reflected in many a message from Our Lord and Our Lady for these times. And whenever such sobering words as “The vast majority of mankind will die” are expressed, we can remember that such words are not set in stone. Rather, they are warnings, therefore, a call for mitigation via prayer and sacrifices, such as fasting. I can tell you, I often receive emails from Fr. C’s distribution list. For the most part, they consist of content that comes from heavenly message receivers. No one… absolutely no one, not Fr. Celso, nor any prophet receiving mystical input knows exactly what, how, where, and when all will happen. Yes, we’re gonna suffer. Yes, we humans have created the path we are traveling on this current Way of the Cross. Sometimes, though, I look at situations in the world such as what Syria has gone and is going through and the evil of human trafficking and the abuse that occurs in too many homes and, I think, the suffering to come will be a relief for many people now living and dying. We are tempted to fear in knowing these things will come but, truly, we can choose to allow the fear to be felt without clinging to it.
How often Our Lady has promised to be our Safe Refuge in the Storm. How often we can bring to mind that dying is not awful. The really awful awful is what Our Lady of Fatima conveyed: too many poor souls go to hell because not enough good people are praying for them. “If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.” (Romans 14:8)
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Amen! ❤
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Thank you Beckita for your balanced comment. I believe we are being warned very seriously but also hope more understand to respond to the prompting of the Spirit and truly leave old habits and put on a new self. ….and ask Our Lady to help us become like little trusting children. Come Holy Spirit and renew the face of the earth.
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Katherine I really enjoyed your comment , I think I’ll take it to stations tonight when I go (and if the stars align and I get to go..hehe)
Beckita..I have often said that dying isn’t awful. My kids even call me an alien sometimes because I have often said “this is not my home”…I love my family and don’t wish to leave them but I have never felt like this was home
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Love it, Robyn! We really are exiles making our way Home. So true, that this reality does not diminish our love for our dear ones.
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https://www.garabandal.us/prph_chastise.html
[By Rev. Francois Turner, O.P. for GARABANDAL Oct -Dec 1985]
“…Are announcements of chastisements conditional or unconditional?
Jeremiah’s answer is fundamental and fully relevant. I must quote him:
Indeed, like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in My hand, house of Israel. Sometimes I threaten to uproot and tear down and destroy a nation or a kingdom. But if that nation which I have threatened turns from its evil, I also repent of the evil which I threatened to do. Sometimes, again, I promise to build up and plant a nation or a kingdom. But if that nation does what is evil in My eyes, refusing to obey My voice, I repent of the good with which I promised to bless it (Jer 18:6-10).
There is no reason to think that it would be otherwise under the New Covenant. Jeremiah’s answer deals with prophecies addressed to a people, made at a definite time, in order to obtain a conversation from them. Such is the prophecy made at Garabandal although addressed to the world (Fr. Turner).”
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Beautifully articulated exegesis from Fr. Turner. So well worth the read. Thanks for sharing it, Sean.
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This particular thread has many quotes on dying, and in the last few articles comment section we have seen some of us die or our loved ones die. This reminds me of the scripture passage and that the followers of Jesus thought He would return in their lifetime-until some among them started dying.
Obviously many of us hoped the “Rescue” will happen while we are alive and will spare us suffering and death. This is natural as we were created to be eternal so death is actually “unnatural”. But we are still eternal and have the choice where we will spend this eternity which makes the term “death” different understanding in the mouth of an eternal being. In Luke 17:33 we are told “if we save our life, we will loose it”. Quite the dichotomy but if understood properly it is not equating just our life here on earth but also our life in the next world. And so a proper understanding of prophecy must be in its meaning of the world or “life” to come which we are told is a complete mystery to us now. Death is really a transformation since being eternal, we are merely transformed. An infant’s mind and body doesn’t die but grows (transforms) to adulthood. Same with our soul. Our Lady said:
“O how happy, my daughter, is the man who during the short instant of his life seeks to anticipate the divine science which he is so soon to possess by experience!”
She is saying that a man that seeks the will and understanding (infused knowledge) of God while still on this earthly plane is anticipating this eternal experience and is spiritually reaching into the next life were the veil is lifted.
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Amen! Our Blessed Mother’s message (in part) given to Mirjana by Our Lady, March 18, 2018
“My children, pray for the strength of faith, trust in the Heavenly Father, and do not be afraid. Know that not a single creature who belongs to God will be lost but will live forever. Every pain has its end and then life in freedom begins there where all of my children come – where everything is returned.”
❤
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Todays second reading, Liturgy of the Hours. wow.
Second Reading
From a homily by Saint Gregory Nazianzen
We are soon going to share in the Passover
We are soon going to share in the Passover, and although we still do so only in a symbolic way, the symbolism already has more clarity than it possessed in former times because, under the law, the Passover was, if I may dare to say so, only a symbol of a symbol. Before long, however, when the Word drinks the new wine with us in the kingdom of his Father, we shall be keeping the Passover in a yet more perfect way, and with deeper understanding. He will then reveal to us and make clear what he has so far only partially disclosed. For this wine, so familiar to us now, is eternally new.
It is for us to learn what this drinking is, and for him to teach us. He has to communicate this knowledge to his disciples, because teaching is food, even for the teacher.
So let us take our part in the Passover prescribed by the law, not in a literal way, but according to the teaching of the Gospel; not in an imperfect way, but perfectly; not only for a time, but eternally. Let us regard as our home the heavenly Jerusalem, not the earthly one; the city glorified by angels, not the one laid waste by armies. We are not required to sacrifice young bulls or rams, beasts with horns and hoofs that are more dead than alive and devoid of feeling; but instead, let us join the choirs of angels in offering God upon his heavenly altar a sacrifice of praise.
We must now pass through the first veil and approach the second, turning our eyes toward the Holy of Holies. I will say more: we must sacrifice ourselves to God, each day and in everything we do, accepting all that happens to us for the sake of the Word, imitating his passion by our sufferings, and honouring his blood by shedding our own. We must be ready to be crucified.
If you are a Simon of Cyrene, take up your cross and follow Christ. If you are crucified beside him like one of the thieves, now, like the good thief, acknowledge your God. For your sake, and because of your sin, Christ himself was regarded as a sinner; for his sake, therefore, you must cease to sin. Worship him who was hung on the cross because of you, even if you are hanging there yourself. Derive some benefit from the very shame; purchase salvation with your death. Enter paradise with Jesus, and discover how far you have fallen. Contemplate the glories there, and leave the other scoffing thief to die outside in his blasphemy.
If you are a Joseph of Arimathea, go to the one who ordered his crucifixion, and ask for Christ’s body. Make your own the expiation for the sins of the whole world. If you are a Nicodemus, like the man who worshipped God by night, bring spices and prepare Christ’s body for burial. If you are one of the Marys, or Salome, or Joanna, weep in the early morning. Be the first to see the stone rolled back, and even the angels perhaps, and Jesus himself.
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$500 million from taxpayers to planned parenthood in omnibus spending bill. Haven’t we been promised that murder Inc would be defunded? This is reprehensible. Thoughts, Charlie?
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Charlie said that we’d be faced with many options that would be bad, worse and truly atrocious. There are 1000’s of pages to this bill and new discoveries being made about how this may pay off in the long haul. Sharyl Atkinson tweeted out yesterday: “I’m pretty sure some big revelations and changes are coming. Not everyone will be happy with them. But if we’re lucky, they ultimately benefit all of us. A lot of bad stuff has been going on.”
Remember that Charlie expressed in The Signs of Timesblog post (I have printed), “It pleases God that, in this time of our scourging (which we richly deserve), seldom will we be given simple choices between right and wrong. More often our options will be bad, worse, and truly atrocious. How we choose under those circumstances will purify and enlighten us…”
Currently, my Illinois candidates for Governor options in November are:
a write-in, which will not win the election = BAD
Bruce Rauner (R) – who bigly broke his promises about taxation and supporting Prolife = WORSE
Billionaire J.B. Pritzker (D) – who I believe to be part of the ‘machine’ = TRULY ATROCIOUS
Pray, hope and don’t worry – St. Padre Pio
Pray, Discern, and Pray some more – JLynnByrd 😉
❤
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Amen, Jen.
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Love your last sentence, JLynn. 😀
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Yes, Jen! And having no decent choice of a candidate to vote for is certainly our reality now!
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This is sadly true in many cases.
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Yes, this was my reaction as well. Horrible. Though, I guess Trump is displaying the true colors of all sides. He is showing them (us) what we want. For the life of me, I can’t fathom anyone who understands Life commences at conception and knowingly agree to a week old ban on abortions past a certain date.
It is an abomination against Natural Law. Cease all abortions immediately.
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Looking forward to Charlie’s insight on this as well. At the same time, I did read many comments on Fr. Richard Heilman’s FB page yesterday when he announced he was off the Trump Train. It seems there’s a lot of nuances to spending in this bill. Commenters stressed that it is *not* a firm federal budget bill. Rather, it is an omnibus bill which, again according to comments, means that Trump has a great amount of discretion concerning how the money is actually spent. On the other hand, here’s the piece from the editors at National Review which lays the blame squarely on the failure of the Republicans: https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/03/omnibus-spending-bill-disgrace-federal-budget/
This article, to me, affirms that our current governmental system is badly broken. This is something many have acknowledged for a long time. In my own visits with Charlie, my eyes have been opened to the deep fractures within the Republican party. What I sense, interiorly/intuitively, is that we’re seeing something develop before our eyes… it could well be that President Trump’s term in office is a false dawn of success and we may, indeed, reach a point where the current system crumbles before us. Not to be afraid if this is what occurs. We have been told, if it does come tumbling down, God has a New Way for us.
Prayers continuing amidst every next right step.
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Agreed, Beckita: I’ve been thinking for quite some time that Trump’s presidency is most likely a false dawn.
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I also agree with this, Mick. However, a long false dawn can bring many benefits and bring many souls to God, if that long FD is used to bring the truth out for all to see. By the time these next several years run their course, everyone will know or be able to know about everything, so if people still choose against God, they will have no excuse.
One of the big issues I’ve had in evaluating everything up until Trump was elected (and some of it since then) is that so much truth was still not known, so how could people truly make a fully informed Choice for or against God? They couldn’t. I think Trump’s false dawn is all about making all the truth public so all can “judge righteous judgment.”
Those who see the truth and choose God during this FD will be strong lights when things go down again. So I recommend that we all not dismiss these years simply because they don’t turn out to be the full Rescue, ie, “just a false dawn.” I firmly believe this false dawn is fully part of the Rescue and *vitally* important and necessary.
But, hey, interesting as this thesis may appear, this is just my opinion. 🙂
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Your opinion is filled with wisdom, SteveBC. (Of course, that’s my opinion. 😉 ) Well said about the unmasking which has revealed so many formerly unknown truths. I translate what you’re saying into: Embrace each moment, trusting that God will draw good from everything.
Absolutely love this point: “…a long false dawn can bring many benefits and bring many souls to God…” May it be!
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I am only guessing here, but I think Trump took this deal even though he knows it’s a bad one because I think he gets what he wants for the department of defense and feels that he can’t afford to wait to make a better deal or risk loosing part of what he was looking for for defense. He really seems just as frustrated with the Republicans as the rest of us. He’s running a country that is deeply divided and confused. I think he thinks that there’s a VERY real possibility that we will go to war soon and it would be smart to prepare for that sooner rather than later. He is the commander in chief, his principle job is the security of this country. We made this mess here and Trump, I think, is trying to work with what he’s been handed and stay true to the president’s Prime Directive, if you will. Sometimes all there are are different kinds of bad deals. The system isn’t broken, it’s reflecting the country. The country is a cultural disaster. How could Congress become anything else? Of COURSE Trump’s presidency is a “false dawn”, but not because the guy isn’t trying or because he is a Democrat in Conservative clothing, it’s a false dawn because we have lost the ability to give ourselves direction, and so our country is like a dog chasing its tail. Trump, and all of us, will do the best we can given our station. This evil will just have to burn itself out before we find our direction again.
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Boy, did you hit the nail on the head here, Katherine!
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very scary Beckita, but Jesus I Trust In You.
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Amen! ❤
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Kim, there are several places in the bill where strong restrictions and outright prohibitions are placed on abortions and forced sterilizations in the US and internationally, and also at least one requirement that no person in the medical field be required to recommend or perform abortions or sterilizations. I don’t know if these elements can be used to restrict or eliminate the $500M for PP. However, since this is an Omnibus bill rather than a Budget bill, Trump can basically do whatever he wishes with the $1.3T provided. Obama used these bills for eight years and a lot of that money went to political supporters and a lot of the money simply disappeared. It is absolutely legal for Trump to remake the spending in this Bill in any way he pleases, just as Obama did.
Note also that there are many other items in the bill (that nobody read before passing it, except for Trump’s team before he signed it). Some provide money for the various Offices of Inspector General in the government, most of which were decapitated by Obama during his eight years. *Someone* was very active in putting some very nice items in this bill.
Even as Trump complains about having only $1.6B for the Wall, he is starting to build it on *Monday* (which means the plans and set-up processes are already well advanced, good businessman that he is), and it appears he is declaring the Wall a national security infrastructure project that can now be turned over to the Army Corps of Engineers. Over the past year one of the agencies he has spent time remaking is the ACoE, what a coincidence. The ACoE also receives in this Bill an $80B funding amount which can be assigned to projects as Trump directs. So the Wall is entirely funded as far as I can tell.
Never judge Trump by his cover. 🙂 Trump is very subtle. We are supposed to have faith in God foremost, but a little faith in Trump seems like a good first position to take. Even as it *appears* that he has lost, he has won much of what he wanted, and so have we.
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❤ Pray, discern, wince, repeat!
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Ha! Another good one, JLynn!
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Laughing out loud, Jen! Love the wincing part.
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Thanks for this further explication, SteveBC. Pretty amazing.
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SteveBC=Wisdom. Yes Beckita, Steve was rumored to be one of thee three Wise Men mentioned in the Bible. 😉
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Nah, BD, I was the previously half-starved kid they hired to follow along behind to clean up after the camels. I kept hoping they would drop a few crumbs of frankincense I could pawn along the way, but they kept that stuff in little boxes carefully stowed with their luggage, more’s the pity. But they did feed me well! Nice guys.
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Love it, SteveBC. 😉 🙂
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SteveBC: 🙂
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Gosh, Stevebc– wondering what the point of an omnibus bill is then, if the president doesn’t have to follow what it says. Can he still defunded pp then?
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Kim, Obama used these omnibus bills to exert more power and pay off political supporters, among many other things. His Democrats and the upper level Republicans were fine with that, since they were some of the beneficiaries of his largesse. That was the whole point – to allow corruption. It got to be a habit for them. If you know America is going down, you want to grab as much of the loot as you can while you can, right?
Trump used that habit to get what we the people need instead of to feed the corrupt networks of the elites. Now they will learn to exercise their Constitutional duties and write and pass actual budgets and do what they are supposed to do. One of the great Constitutional crimes over the past few decades has been Congress’s dereliction of duty, constantly ceding power to the Executive branch. This will make them mad and light a fire under them to take back their rightful power, which is another reason Trump went along with this – once. They will do it to spite Trump, which isn’t a very good reason, but the result will be a return to a truer separation of powers. Another instance of Trump’s subtlety. I will go out on a limb and predict that Trump will somehow rub their noses in this outcome, just to make sure they react as they should (and as they should have years ago when Obama did it).
To your final question, as far as I can tell, and I am not an expert here, I believe language elsewhere in the bill could be used to deny PP any funds from this bill’s monies, but it seems Trump can do whatever he wishes. I think it would be interesting if he documents that he used PP funds to build the Wall. Poetic justice. Two birds with one stone.
EDIT: Here’s an unrolled Twitter thread that does a decent job of explaining this, although I believe the president has more flexibility in this case than this man indicates:
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/977677766668636160.html
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Gosh, your closing thought would be an awesome turn of events, Steve!
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Charlie I read this article last week and am eagerly awaiting your next..This morning I came across 3 articles on a website I read written by a doctor who does research..He realized he could use his abilities to watch for “the signs of the coming Christ” his name is Scott and site is prophecy update I believe..The articles are from all over the world and quite interesting.. anyway if anyone is interested look these up..”The Economic Endgame Explained”.. “Trump Trade Wars A Perfect Smokescreen For A MarketCrash”..White House Soap Operas Distract From Real Glibal Dangers”.. please don’t think I am worried about my money and place my hope on the material.. I am far from that mindset..I truly believe God raised Pres. Trump but the evil he is up against is beyond anything I could imagine..What do you think? He is being set up isn’t he? Thank GOD for our Faith and wisdom God has given us to see clearly ,help us Lord to stay strong in our faith and help all those we can..I believe as you stated Charlie the storm is raging and it is truly frightening
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Robin, I visited the site, Prophecy Update, which you mention and my concern is that there are sites, such as this one, which promote many a prophet who is not vetted, who does not have an authority over him or her, assisting in discernment. It is so easy to say, “The Lord told me this.” It is also so easy to be fooled in interpreting prophetic words and visions. Many of the articles included on this Prophecy Update site are the opinion of others. To say one has studied prophecy for many years does not reveal how accurately an individual interprets prophecy. Interpretation is HUGE. We are smack dab in the midst of major confusion, chaos and division, a time ripe with invitations to go down rabbit holes replete with misinformation and disinformation. It is a time of great danger, yet, a time to trust God completely, keep our focus on praying and continuing to take the next right steps before us.God bless us, one and all.
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“We are smack dab in the midst of major confusion……God bless us , one and all”
Beckita, that covers so many situations ….. And in general……. Everywhere!
There is such Truth in that statement and a great comment to use so as not to get “pulled in”to situations.
Rise above!!
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I just finished reading a novel written in 1907 by an Anglican Priest who converted to Catholicism in 1904. Lord of The World by Robert Hugh Benson. It is making a comeback in popularity.
https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2015/07/10/the-fiction-of-robert-hugh-benson/
Both Pope Benedict and Pope Francis have recommended that Catholics read this book.
Benson has been described as a cross of G.K. Chesterton and H.G. Wells. His book is a dystopian apocalyptic tale set in the early 21st century. Our time. It will make your jaw drop. How he could anticipate the state of the world in our time from the context of 1907 is simply amazing. Most amazing is his anticipation of transcontinental air travel and radio communications. It is set in his vision of modern day London.
His subject matter is the contest between Christianity and Humanistic Pantheism. A transcendent supernatural God vs a spirit of Man. Individualism vs Collectivism. Set against Christianity is a Divinity of Humanity. Man as Divine. Man as God.
In the Novel, historical development on the material level is …. well …. awesome. The problem society faces is that the World has been divided into three spheres of influence. The Eastern Empire, Europe, and the American Republic. The Church has dwindled away to near irrelevance. Tolerated but viewed with suspicion as a superstitious remnant.
Peace…World Peace…is the problem. The English and the rest of Europe have long since adopted an attitude of disarmament and mutual cooperation. While the East has been a continuous place of strife and warfare. Now they have acquired the Benisheine Bomb. A weapon that with a single bomb can destroy a whole city. The European West is at the mercy of the Eastern Hordes and World War is threatening and the politicians are worried. What is holding the East back from ransacking the European sphere of influence in the World? America. America is negotiating with the Eastern Empire to get them to adopt the wisdom of World Peace. They send a diplomat to do the negotiating. A mysterious young man from Vermont who has had a remarkable 3 year political rise from obscurity to the brink of being the Savior of The World. Sound familiar? Sound interesting? The Anti-Christ is a young American?
Here is an excerpt from the book that eerily describes the problem facing the Church today. It describes a rationale for abandoning the Transcendental God in favor of Man as True God. It is Man that has brought about World Peace at Last. The final stage being the emergence of this amazing young American diplomat who has ended War forever. Where has this Silent God been in the face of the horror of War?
“What has been done is as follow. The Eastern Peril has been forever dissipated. It is understood now, by fanatic barbarians as well as by civilized nations, that the reign of War is ended. “Not Peace but a sword,” said Christ; and bitterly true those words proved to be. “Not a sword but Peace” is the retort, articulate at last from those who have renounced Christ’s claims or have never accepted them. The principle of love and union learned however faltingly in the West during the last century has been taken up in the East as well. There shall be no more an appeal to arms, but to Justice; no longer a crying after a God Who HidesHimself, but to Man who has learned his own Divinity. The Supernatural is dead; rather we know now that it has never yet has been alive. What remains is to work out this new lesson, to bring every action, word, and thought to the bar of Love and Justice; and this will be, no doubt, the task of years. Every code must be reversed; every barrier thrown down; party must unite with party, country with country, and continent with continent. There is no longer the fear of fear, the dread of the hereafter, o the paralysis of strife. Man has groaned long enough in the travails of birth; his blood has been poured out like water through his own foolishness; but at length he understands himself and is at peace.
The responsibility is incalculable, but victory is certain. Let us go softly, humbled by the knowledge of our crimes in the past, confident in the hope of our achievements in the future, toward that reward which is in sight at last –- the reward hidden so long by selfishness of men, the darkness of religion, and the strife of tongues – the reward promised by one who knew not what he said and denied what he asserted –- Blessed are the meek, the peacemakers, the merciful, for they shall inherit the Earth, be named the children of God, and find mercy.
“Oh, mother,” said Mabel, kneeling by the bed; “cannot you understand what has happened?”
“Mother,” said the girl, “let me tell you again. Do you not understand that all which Jesus Christ promised has come true, though in another way? The reign of God has really begun; but we know now who God is. You said just now you wanted Forgiveness of Sins; well you have that; we all have it because there is no such thing as sin. There is only Crime. And then Communion. You used to believe that made you a partaker of God; well, we are all partakers of God, because we are human beings. Don’t you see that Christianity is only one way of saying all that? I dare say it was the only way, for a time, but that is all over now. Oh! And how much better this is! It is true — true. You can see it to be true. Look how Christianity has failed — how it has divided people; think of all the cruelties – the Inquisition, the Religious Wars; the separations between husband and wife and parents and children — the disobedience to the State, the treasons. Oh!, you cannot believe that these were right. What kind of a God would that be! And then Hell; how could you ever have believed in that? … Oh! Mother, don’t believe anything so frightful … Don’t you understand that God has gone – that He never existed at all – that it was all a hideous nightmare; and that now we all know at last, what the Truth is … Mother! think of what happened last night — how He came –the Man of whom you were so frightened. And think what He has done – and how He has healed all the old wounds – how the whole world is at peace at last — and what is going to happen. Oh! Mother, give up those horrible old lies; give them up; be brave.”
If you read this guy Benson in conjunction with Charlie’s observations and warnings it will send a chill down your spine.
The apostasy leading to the fate of the Church in the 21st century is a product of many influences which tend toward regulation, confiscation and gradually tightening persecution of Christians and at last to the outright hunting down and killing of Christians. Lawful killing of Christians.
Seems that we may be entering the gradually tightening persecution stage as we speak. The last stage may be not far behind.
The Mark of The Beast is 666. The Mark of the Beast is a HUMAN number.
This is the real War we Christians are facing and are going to have to fight. Like it or not.
I highly recommend the book. It is not for the faint hearted. It will scare you. The end of the book is particularly controversial. I will give you one hint: Remember the last episode of the Sopranos?
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Ed, I read Lord of the World several years ago. I wholeheartedly agree with you that it is not for the faint-of-heart, and that it is well worth reading in these times. I am a big fan of Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson, especially of his children’s books (which, thankfully, are not terrifying).
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The stark reality of Benson’s vision of our time is summarized in this recent article in Breitbart London.
http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2018/03/23/israeli-priest-every-five-minutes-christian-dies-middle-east/
“Israeli Priest: ‘Every Five Minutes, a Christian Dies in the Middle East’
“While the persecution of Christians in Europe is real, “it can in no way be compared to the brutal and physical persecution suffered by Christians in Africa and the Middle East,” Orbán said last October.
The greatest danger threatening us today, he added, “is the indifferent silence of the European elite who are renouncing their Christian roots, despite the fact that the fate of Middle Eastern Christians should wake Europe up to the fact that, no matter how unbelievable it may still seem, what happened there could also happen to us.”
It can happen here in the U.S. too. Incipient suppression of Christianity in America is already at work as we can all see around us especially in the Social Media. Unless it is confronted head on and our children are taught …. where is all the money in Catholic education going to from pre-school to post graduate studies in “Catholic” Universities ….. we will surely face the same fate as our Christian brethren in the Middle East.
On my recent trip to the Holy Land our tour guide said that the latest data showed that In Israel less than 1% of the population is Christian. They can barely keep the churches open and would fail at that if not for the tourist/pilgrims when the basket is passed.
Have you read the novel Silence by Shuzako Endo? Or seen the film.
That novel is about Apostasy. Apostasy the hard way. Apostatize or die a horrible death. They made Apostasy easy. Simple. Just step on this wooden image of Christ. And go home and have a nice day.
Lined em up. Step right here Mrs Tanaka. No? Well, continue on down the beach to the stake beyond the high tide line is waiting for you. Have a nice day Mrs Tanaka.
Silence? What Silence? The Silence of God in the face of the destruction and despair of His people.
Endo does a wonderful job examining the mystery of God’s Silence in the face of pain and torture.
Benson does a wonderful job examining Apostasy in a time of Material Superabundance. Justified by The Silence of God. Man delivers where God remains Silent. World Peace. And material well being. What’s not to like when God remains silent.
Benson outlines the dangers and allure of Soft Apostasy when God fails to deliver. And the shows how the progression from Soft Apostasy the easy way to the stigmatizing of Christianity as the “enemy” is but one small step for Man leading to a vast leap of Mankind into total catastrophe.
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Such tragic consequences have come from the EU writing their Christian roots out of the most recent constitution. Pope St. John Paul II worked and wrote tirelessly to alert all to the pressing dangers in such action. For example: “‘The explicit recognition in the treatise of the roots of Christianity in Europe would become the principal guarantee of the future of the continent,’ the Pope said.” Full article: https://euobserver.com/institutional/12425
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Interestingly, I came upon this 2003 Saint Pope John Paul II encyclical while searching ‘unbaptized adults’. The target audience? Europe. I just finished it. It was a good read, about 3-4 hours with prayer in between. I printed it out and highlighted a few portions, notably pertaining to confession. The mass general absolution is a no, no; it should be individual.
http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_20030628_ecclesia-in-europa.html
He speaks on what we are living now. Especially a ‘portent coming down from Heaven…clothed with the sun…”… Of course, I immediately thought “hymm….(Charlie’s)…”
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Monsignor Benson’s book is astonishingly prescient. I’ve read it twice: once in the early 1990s and once in recent years.
The whole novel is available online at http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14021 .
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Sister Bear, how are you coming along? Hope and pray you are healing more each day. God bless you. xo
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Thank you, AUDIEMARIE2014. I’m still with my twin, mending day by day, and am now a couple of weeks into physical therapy for my right hand. Such a learning experience! And also an “offering up” experience as I pray for all here and for many other. ❤
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*others*
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God bless you, Sister Bear–I’ll continue to pray for you!
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Haven’t forgotten you in prayer, Sr. Bear. May our Risen Lord bring new life to your temple of the Holy Spirit, for by His stripes we are healed! (((((((((Sr. Bear and her sister))))))))
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I’m sorry Beckita I wasn’t more clear on the info I left..I found the site you saw I’ve never and have no desire to read that stuff.This is a blog a Dr. has of articles from all over the world many dealing with Israel, Christian persecution in the Middle East etc. , the globalists, China etc. The articles are on world events as we wait and watch,he himself doesn’t make any prophecies only watches as we move further toward the abyss..
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Thanks for that clarification, Robin. 🙂
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Gee I have tried everything except using my old email address under my hubbies name so here goes, that is what I am doing. There is much I’d like to write, or at least some but WORDPRESS is keeping me from it. Don’t know how to get around it since changing my email address. I feel I am under fire…dagnabit anyway. I’ll feel really lucky if this gets posted in this mixed up jumbo…
1
1 S
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And I think it went, it got posted!! For the love of anyway! All under my old email address and my husbands name (except I was able to change it to Mary Thompson)(can’t figure that out either!)!!! WordPress will not nor has not accepted me under my new email address! Grrrr, one of life’s annoyances…………………..
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I opined on MILINET Blog the other day that perhaps an American Revolution/Civil War II in the very near future could be a very good thing as The Republic and the Faith/Civic Belief System devised by Our Founders quite simply can’t survive for another generation! ;-(
In Europe we have the below and I expect that the stats for USA Blue States and Blue (Democrat Party) controlled urban areas are not much better:
“‘Christianity as default is gone’: the rise of a non-Christian Europe”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/21/christianity-non-christian-europe-young-people-survey-religion
Is Geo. Orwell’s horrific future of “1984” going to be realized in 2024?
I’m a 1st Quarter Baby Boomer and grew up in a USA Patriot Family during a time when public schools religious, civic and moral values. My Church was pre-Vatican II Days of Catholicism. By the midpoint of the Baby Boom births the landscape had been changed .. Dramatically!! Vietnam, Drugs, “Free Love”, Socialism, Abortion and a hijacked Vatican II was forming “The Youth” …. I should really say distorting The Youth!! The Socialists and Lavender Lefties that spearheaded these “distortions” are now in control of the “Media”, Political Left Parties, “Education Systems” and many Catholic Dioceses & Parishes.
Oh!! …. and the above malefactors control FaceBook, Twitter, Yahoo, ……. ;-(
“Dr. Robert Epstein Discusses The Battle for Your Mind…”
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/03/24/dr-robert-epstein-discusses-the-battle-for-your-mind/
Nothing changes under the Sun! The godless Lavender Left/Socialist tactics are the same ones they used in the Paris Commune, Russian Revolution, German National Socialism …. China, Cuba, Venezuela, ………. take over the Media, exploit/produce national crisis, disparage/libel long held Faith & Morals, relentlessly attack current government/administration, appeal to base Human nature and extort the young/ignorant to mob rule!
For near 150 years the outcome has always been the same, blood, tears, tyranny and Human misery. Get Ready!! IT’s Time!
GOD SAVE ALL HERE!! …. and Happy Palm Sunday!
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PS: I see that Cdl. Dolan has, finally, Wised-Up … I wonder what triggered that!!??:
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018…dolan-democrats-have-abandoned-catholics.html
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❤
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Yes, CD, I was very surprised to see Cdl. Dolan admit that. He’s not exactly known as a conservative. Maybe the liberal bishops and cardinals might yet wake up; we can hope, anyway!
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Actually, Cdl Dolan IS a very orthodox Bishop. He turned the Milwaukee Archdiocese around after the abysmal tenure of Archbishop Rembert Weakland. Dolan was the Bishop whose political acumen I most respected (to be clear, I do not much admire Bishops political acumen as a whole. Maybe it is because they have been used to so much deference – but they are usually fumble-fisted and foggy. Yet it was the leadership of Cdl. Dolan and the late Cdl. George that the U.S. Bishops did not completely cave on the abomination that Obamacare is. Dolan lost his footing somewhat in the St. Patrick’s parade a few years ago and has struggled to get it back. I think this is the beginning of return of the authentic Cdl. Dolan.
Be careful. I speak when a Bishop gets way off track, but I hate that so many Catholics are so quick to dismiss a lifetime of fidelity because of a few missteps. Cdl. Dolan had long been a faithful, orthodox prelate and it was never credible that he had suddenly become heterodox because of some missteps.
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Thank you for your defense of our Beloved Cardinal Dolan. He, as well as Francis Cardinal George, are true Shepherds of the Church! Let us all pray for them. All of our Shepherds are working hard and suffering much.I should have referred to Cardinal George as the Late Cardinal George.He did well and deserves his Eternal
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Rest.
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Well Charlie …. I’m thinking that Cdl Dolan might have been a GreatGuy back in the Milwaukee Days but as far as I can tell watching NYC from the Hinterlands, these past 9 Years, Ol’ Dolan has been MIA. What I see is pics and videos of the Cardinal glad handin’, backslapping and Yukkin’ it up with The Usual Suspects while whispers of sex and financial scandals be brewing. The Democrat Party USA went full godless, abortion and perversion, and proudly so, at their 2012 Convention and I don’t recall Dolan being “In the Trenches” protesting this or the entirety of Obamanation/NY FarLeft Agenda 09-16. I think I misspoke above when I said he was MIA! He hasn’t been In-Action as far as I can tell …. unless you count photo-ops at Al Smith Dinners or Parades with …. ;-(
If Gen Benedict Arnold had he been killed at Saratoga instead of wounded, he would have gone done as one of America’s greatest heroes … but ego, $$$ and the love of a woman …… Old Story .. read The Bible ;-(
Now!! Somebody or something has caused a fire to be built under Cdl Dolan’s butt. I’d like to think that it’s a Wake-up Call from The Holy Ghost … but … I’m guessing it’s something more Earthly and probably unpleasant ….. like the latest, drip, Drip, DRIP, extreme unpleasantness at the Diocese of Saginaw. I’m guessing that the Boy’s in Saginaw were thought to be GreatGuys in the past too.
NO!! I’m not the least bit discouraged ’cause it all Must Come to Pass … God Wills It!
Bottom Line!! JESUS, I TRUST IN YOU!!
GOD SAVE ALL HERE!!
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Actually, CrewDog, the invitation of Obama to the Al Smith Dinner was one of the most deft moves Cdl. Dolan ever made. I admired it enormously at the time. You may recall that former Pres. and his minions had planned to allow no Catholic Priests at the Democratic National Convention. Instead of impotently screaming, Dolan very publicly invited Obama to the Al Smith Dinner. Had Obama declined, he would have very publicly have insulted New York Catholics. Having attended, if he locked out Catholic clerics from the Democratic Convention and allowed none to offer a prayer from the podium, Obama would have looked petty in a way even his media fan club was forced to notice. The press was asking, after the dinner, whether Obama would go forward with his plan to keep Catholics from the podium. He relented.
Not a huge deal, but one of the few times anyone successfully flanked Obama and his media chorus. I understood the deftness of the move as soon as he made it. I love when you can completely outflank your opponent with a smile on your face. You can’t do it often – and the only thing I think might have come out bad from it is that Dolan began to think he could do it all the time, which led to some significant later missteps.
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PS: I find it interesting that less than an hour after posting my reply to Charlie, in regards to Cdl Dolan, I get this e-mail from Voris & Church Militant … I think that V & CM are a bit too “rigid” but they do seem to have the pulse of the NY Archdiocese:
“IRISH BLARNEY” – It’s all they have left.
https://www.churchmilitant.com/video/episode/vortex-irish-blarney?mc_cid=a306275137&mc_eid=2a0b6c7ef6
GOD SAVE ALL HERE!!
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I get Voris’ Church Militant stuff too, CrewDog. I agree with him pretty much but he is pretty harsh in his wording. Charlie–what bothers me about Cardinal Dolan is that his diocese seems to be in such a terrible shambles and he doesn’t seem to be doing anything about it–of course—I am constantly realizing that I just don’t know everything or understand everything. Who knows the machinations behind the scenes? I read of many terrible things happening under his tenure. Do I believe everything I read? I know I must take it all with a grain of salt!
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No, Kim, I don’t disagree with you. I think Cdl. Dolan slipped a bit and has had a rough time recovering his footing. I suspect this is the first shot fired in regaining that footing. Sometimes, you can accomplish important things with finesse – and Cdl. Dolan was outstanding with that. But if you so fall in love with your most effective tool that it becomes your only tool, it becomes a weakness. I think Cdl. Dolan is showing he has some bite – and is no longer rely on a single tool.
I differentiate between men who actively try to undermine the faith, and good men who lose their footing for a time. On that score, there can be honest disagreements among people of good will as to which is which – as the honest disagreement between CrewDog (who I admire) and I on this subject. I have thought since some troubles came to light in New York that Cdl. Dolan was a very good, faithful prelate who had lost his footing for a time and would eventually come roaring back. I am glad to see the beginning of that confidence being justified.
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Time will tell. Thanks, Charlie!
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Oh, my heart is with Cdl. Dolan and all of our Prelates, including those who err… and those who err the most (though I don’t dwell on who they are as it is obviously beyond me), and I say most especially my heart goes out to those who err the most. It would be better that they were all Christlike at all times so as not to scandalize the little ones and we should pray that it is so.
Remember, everyone bears their cross. The more the spirit is formed, the more God identifies it with the Model: Jesus Christ Our Lord, whose Passion was COMPLETE! So we should be capable of suffering our little crosses, and suffering with joy… always considering that our suffering, when joined to our brothers and sisters, is fused with the suffering of Christ Who Saves. Mercy!
How often we fall and will fall again and again.
Certainly this thread has its place, but I caution folks as well. Some days (maybe most days) it’s enough to join our hearts to that one compassionate face we mercifully find in the crowd so as to get ourselves up, dust off, and continue.
On Sunday it was enough that a silky flycatcher let me come with a few feet without bolting. Later, a couple of American Coots floating in the shallows, reminding me of my buddy who remains in silence, but no doubt praying fervently for all those here.
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MP, I with you and Charlie, especially for our Pope, Bishops and Priests. They were each chosen by Jesus, He loves them and so do I. The deeper the fall- the greater the Mercy of Jesus!
Divine Mercy 💔🔥 “Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet. My mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of angel, will be able to fathom it throughout all eternity.” Jesus to St. Faustina.
Jesus, I pray that You will forgive
and have mercy, lift up, deliver and heal all Priests
who have fallen away from You.
Lord, lead them back to Your Merciful Heart!
Purify them and make them shine in Your Purity and Love!
Mary, Holy and Pure, Mother of the Eucharist, please pray for them as it is through
their hands He is given to us in each Mass.
Lord have mercy on those whose vocation is dying within their souls,
who no longer believe in Your True Presence,
whose hearts have grown cold,
and who lack the love, will and courage to turn back to You.
For those who have become worldly and have been blinded
and lured into danger and deception by the Enemy.
Those who have harmed the souls entrusted to them,
and who are harming their own souls. Lord have mercy!
Pray, pray, pray! 🕯 🕊
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Amen.
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latest medjugorje message. I added spacing for easier readability.
Latest Medjugorje Message, March 25, 2018 [O]
http://www.medjugorje.ws
Marija during an apparition
“Dear children!
I am calling you to be with me in prayer in this time of grace when darkness is fighting against the light. Pray, little children, confess and begin a new life in grace.
Decide for God and He will lead you towards holiness; and the cross will be a sign of victory and hope for you. Be proud that you are baptized and grateful in your heart that you are a part of God’s plan.
Thank you for having responded to my call. ”
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YUP!! The BigShots in The Church are starting to figure out that “Tectonic Shifts” are happening under their feet and the compliant-n-conservative &/or silent laity/clergy are no more. It has been a not so dirty little secret that a very large/powerful segment of USA Church (EU too, no doubt) have risen in the hierarchy of The Church! A segment that overtly/covertly has worked in near lock-step with the Political Left. With excuses like … “Jesus hung-out with sinners” or we are working on “projects” that protect “The Children” and “Downtrodden”. The Left loves the “Downtrodden” so much that they have created millions of them these past 50 years with their disastrous Liberal/Socialist/Environmental Policies!! …………. and murdered tens of millions of Children through Abortion!!! A perfect example to highlight this is the eight years of Obama versus the past 14 months of Trump!
…. and Trump battled, libeled and obstructed all the way and just the opposite with Obama …. Church BigShots included!!! ;-(
As with most internet articles, the Comments Section gives one a good idea of what other readers are thinking.
“Bigshot Catholic Cardinal May Be Signaling Catholics’ Drift from Democrats”
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/03/a_bigshot_catholic_cardinal_may_be_signaling_catholics_drift_from_democrats.html
GOD SAVE ALL HERE!!
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Yep. Here’sy to Holy Cross : http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/03/28/holy-cross-theology-professor-says-jesus-drag-king-queer-desires/
It is revolting. How a Catholic institution can stand by and defend a professor with his views. For me, I would use Trumps famous phrase “You’re Fired” !
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Deliver us, O Lord.
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Thank God for Bishop McManus (Worcester Diocese) and may he be blessed.
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/04/03/bishop-denounces-perverse-blasphemous-writings-holy-cross-professor/
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Sean, yes, thank goodness for the bishop going on record to denounce the professor’s blasphemous notions. May we continue to pray and make reparations, but also raise our voices in defense of our Catholic faith. ❤
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May God make us one all of us on the same page with his laws in place not the false Gods in the name of liberalism or secularism that falsely tries to redefine his laws by desecrating his laws of marriage, of life specially the unborn, athesism and getting rid of him from every place.
We have been there done that and the future looks so depressing like this is world is so imperfect and this is already hell but this is satans version.
May each of us see Christ within us seated as centre of our souls making us one body and one with the father and through our unity non believers may see the love of Christ and become one as well( just as the song says). Jesus please bind us with your love, make us child like and bring on the Eucharistic reign.
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Amen, Josh. How fitting on this Holy Thursday in light of Jesus’ Last Discourse at the Last Supper.
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Beautiful! ❤
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