The End of the Beginning – Part III

Posted on by charliej373
tall-ships-sail-out-part
Cast Out Into the Deep

By Charlie Johnston

Many are shaken now that the battle over abortion has ventured into the territory of outright infanticide. It is right it should be so. It is hideous to see people who constantly congratulate themselves on their superior morality revealing that they don’t even have the most basic form of decency. It is a wonder to me that this most smug generation is likely to be remembered as one of the most monstrously evil in all history.

Yet battles are most intense as they approach their decisive moment. The very murderous radicalism that is being cheered on by the anti-God left is revealing who they are…and what sulfur-streaked face lurks behind the curtain. People who are not energized by the issue start shrinking back from the smoldering abyss when they see more clearly what they are being led to. Let me give you a rather hopeful episode from about a week ago.

In the California criminal case against David Daleiden and his Center for Medical Progress (CMP) which taped the videos exposing Planned Parenthood’s (PP) ugliness and potentially criminal sale for profit of baby body parts, things have not been going well – for PP and Atty. Gen. (AG) Javier Becerra. I thought, from the beginning, that PP was trying to use muscle and influence to scare Daleiden into folding or bankrupting him. PP is a big, arrogant organization that has, for decades, gotten its way by intimidation. It thinks itself invincible. Such an organization gets sloppy over time and is ripe to topple when it seems most powerful. I was convinced that, once Daleiden neither folded his tent nor was bankrupted, PP would have nothing much else in its bag of tricks. The way it is flailing about, I think that has come to pass.

From the beginning, PP sought to make all sorts of wild accusations against Daleiden and protect its narrative by getting friendly judges to slap gag and restraining orders on him. With Federal Judge William Orrick, they had their man. He is less of a judge than he is an offensive lineman for PP.  Not so much with San Francisco Superior Court Judge Christopher Hite, who presides over the criminal case.

The prosecution of this case by the AG’s office has seemed singularly inept to me from the start. Former AG Kamala Harris began the process, meeting with top dogs at PP just weeks before she ordered a commando raid on Daleiden’s apartment to get materials he had already agreed he would submit. Both PP and the AG have been adamant that Daleiden is not entitled to know what happened at that meeting, claiming that the notes have been lost and he is not to be allowed to depose anyone. They don’t mind the appearance of illicit collusion, like that which destroyed the Harris County, Texas case against him, so long as they don’t have to formally answer any questions about it.

Going further, the AG’s office has sought to prevent the videos (which are the basis of its complaint) from being aired publicly in the upcoming preliminary hearing. The AG wants to use them as evidence in its case while preventing Daleiden from using them effectively in his defense. Meantime, the AG has tried to prevent the plaintiffs (abortionists and support staff who appeared on the tapes) from being publicly identified, insisting they be referred to as Jane Does, because they are “in fear for their lives.” In proceedings last Monday preparatory to the Preliminary Hearing, it was comically noted that these Jane Doe’s are appearing for public TV and radio interviews under their own name to talk about the case. Everyone in the world is allowed to speak their names except Daleiden – and they are so fearful they are eagerly identifying themselves on TV, in commentaries, and on radio. What I think is actually happening on this is that the AG and PP knows this is not going well for them, so they want some fig leaf to justify dropping the case entirely if it gets too rough. Saying that revealing their identities in court would threaten their lives so they had to get out will be their excuse if they finally give up. Heh heh…and they will probably be all over TV and radio explaining how terrified they are.

Basically, the AG and PP have been trying to make whatever accusations they can while trying to persuade the judge to shut Daleiden off from making any serious defense. They want it to be a star chamber proceeding. At that Monday hearing, even PP lawyers seem to have come to the conclusion that the AG’s office is not up to this, for they were there in force, desperately trying to insinuate themselves into the case to run prosecution strategy (under the guise of “victim statements”). Outside attorneys are NOT allowed to take official roles for the prosecution in criminal cases…but these guys figure they are from PP – and everybody is just supposed to roll over and do whatever PP wants, the law be damned – especially in San Francisco.

Judge Hite IS a San Francisco judge, presumably sharing much of the cultural zeitgeist of that benighted area. But from the beginning, he has made it clear that he is a real judge – and has sufficient dignity and self-respect that he will NOT be PP’s huckleberry. He has been patient and steady, but occasionally his exasperation peeks through. At the last hearing, the AG was arguing that it should be allowed to file written statements from many of the Does without allowing the defense (Daleiden) to cross-examine, while hinting at fears that such cross-examination might reveal secrets PP doesn’t want to reveal. In a comment seeking to find a way to protect everyone’s rights, Judge Hite’s frustration came through. He told the prosecutor, in part, that though he intends to draw a fair line on what can be revealed and what must remain confidential, “…this was a decision to prosecute this case. And the defense has constitutional rights that this court is going to protect. And that may go into areas that maybe were unintended or maybe don’t want to be revealed. And that is up to the discussion between the AG and whether they want to proceed and whoever they’re proceeding on behalf of.” (emphasis mine)

This had to be terribly chilling to both the AG and PP, who thought they were going to be able to get “fix-is-in” justice and a star chamber. They have been getting fairness and the benefit the doubt at times from Judge Hite, but he drew his line in the sand with this statement. There will be no “fix-is-in” justice in his courtroom.

I tell you that the forces of darkness and those who have wed themselves to it are frantic and aggressive because their time is almost over – and they can feel it. Yes, we have a lot of wood to chop ahead of us, but the far left has gotten so hysterically aggressive because they are losing, it is slipping away from them. The ugliness is just their effort to fortify a visibly crumbling structure – and the ugliness is driving even some who could be expected to be their allies away from them. Infanticide is one of the sure historical characteristics of a pagan culture of power. In almost all, the butchery was ended when Christianity conquered the pagans and established a regime protecting actual human rights. We now are beginning to decide whether we will be a pagan culture of power or a Judeo-Christian culture of love.

*******

I was perusing some excerpts from Thomas Paine’s “The Age of Reason” the other day. Paine, you may recall, was the American Revolutionary pamphleteer who wrote “Common Sense”, which galvanized multitudes to the revolutionary cause. While “Common Sense” made Paine’s reputation, “The Age of Reason” destroyed it 20 years later. It is an anti-Christian screed that says the most insultingly blasphemous things about Jesus, Joseph, the Virgin Mary, and Mary Magdalene. Tellingly, it is utterly ignorant of any semblance of Christian theology. Paine argues that God was a vicious murderer who ought to be arrested for killing His son. It completely rejects the idea of redemption, arguing that if God is powerful enough to forgive sins through Christ’s death, He is powerful enough to have done it without that death. I won’t bother to go into the scabrous insults Paine made to the Holy Family and almost all of Christ’s closest associates on earth.

It got me to thinking about the intimate connection between the Incarnation and Redemption. But first, let’s bat away some of Paine’s more obvious errors of assumption – errors sadly shared by too many people who are long on opinions and short on actual knowledge.

  • 1) First, Christ is the Son of the Father – but not in the way of men. The Father is God. The Son is God. The Holy Spirit is God. All three persons are one in being with each other and all are eternal. Thus, while Jesus is truly the Son of God, the Father is the Father of God, and the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit of God. So it is not that God sent His son to be tortured and die; rather, the eternal God came, Himself, to be tortured and die by taking on our humanity in the person of the eternal Son.
  • 2) Adam and Eve committed original sin and, by this, death came into the world. That we are all born subject to original sin does NOT mean that infants have committed any sort of ordinary sins in their innocence. Rather, we were created a royal race, a race of kings given sovereignty over all the earth as God’s beloved. Original sin was a sort of coup that overthrew and unseated that intended royalty. Those who were born following Adam and Eve need to do nothing themselves to feel the effect of that coup. The grandson of an overthrown king has no throne, even though he has done nothing amiss. All generations after Adam and Eve felt the deprivation of the royal station God intended for us, that was lost by the disobedience of our earliest ancestors.
  • 3) There is no question of power involved. God has ALL power. But he absolutely restrains Himself from interfering in our free will. WE freely chose to forfeit our inheritance – and to reverse that or just say, “Ah, never mind” would reverse our own free will act. We should cease to have any possibility of being in the divine image, and could only be, at best, glorified pets.

How then, to repair the breach? The satan was overjoyed that he had corrupted God’s favorites, thinking he was showing that the creation of humanity was a mistake altogether. Ah, how God confounded the devil when He did not simply pardon our offense, thus revoking our free will AND leaving us ever lower than the angels in his divine hierarchy. Instead, God came, Himself, taking on our humanity in the person of the Son, living solidarity even to death with the lowliest of us. He came and made Himself truly part of our human family. In the process, He gave us power to become part of the Divine Family, truly sons of the True God. The Eternal Son is Our Lord. In the Incarnation, Jesus is our Brother. Having defeated death, He restored the royal dignity to all who would accept it by His free will decision in His humanity – and opened the floodgates of heaven to all who call upon Him, thus conquering death for all who accept Him. The devil gained nothing, not an iota – and in fact, caused God to raise us higher in the end than He had in the beginning. “O felix culpa” – oh happy fall that gave us such a Redeemer and made us heirs of the Kingdom rather than just its most favored inhabitants.

Many are theologically illiterate. You do not have to be theologically literate to know and love God. But do not let the satan tempt you with a little learning, amounting to theological illiteracy and sophistry, to abdicate once more the divine inheritance God has prepared for you.

*******

When running campaigns that drew a lot of media attention, particularly broadcast media, one of the constant problems was keeping junior staffers from getting caught up in the supposed glamor of it all. In up times, they would imagine themselves geniuses for the ages and indulge in all sorts of absurd fantasies about the heroics they would perform and how invincible they were. In down times, they would think the world had caved in and never could be right again. The truth is that any seriously contested endeavor that plays out in the public eye is going to have some serious ups and some serious downs. If a junior staffer could not get past the romance or glamor of it, he would usually self-destruct within a cycle or two. I always encouraged people to ignore all that stuff and focus on the work. There are many things you can’t control in a big endeavor, but you can always focus on the work. If you ignore it because you are busy gloating at the up times, you do damage to the project. If you waste time in woe and despair in the rough spots, you do damage to the project. You will have wins and losses, but the guy who focuses on the work endures.

Focusing on the work takes your focus off yourself. There is a job to do and it is best to get it done. In politics, I found that the majority of people in responsible positions will not make serious (or sometimes even simple) decisions because before they can make ANY decision, they have to plot out how to shift blame away from themselves in case the decision is a bad one. I liked to focus on the next move, so I would frequently take responsibility for things that were not in my purview and any blame accruing to it, so we could stop pointing fingers and keep focused on the work. Oddly enough, it didn’t matter. The folks who spent so much time trying to make sure they never got blamed for anything were rarely trusted or relied upon by anyone serious. Over time, people figure out who can carry water and who can’t in such situations – and pull away from the bloodless weak sticks who are always worrying about their reputation instead of the job.

The twin destructors of an organized effort are timidity and hubris. All of Europe was consumed in the fires of World War II because every nation except Germany was timidly trying to square the circle of accommodating the provocative and evil in hopes that it would all just go away. After carving up Czechoslovakia with no blowback – and with France absolutely abdicating its treaty obligations, Hitler came to believe he was invincible. Just as the timidity and cowardice displayed at the Munich Conference made it inevitable that Europe would go up in flames, so the unshakeable hubris sparked in Hitler’s breast at the painless vivisection of Czechoslovakia made it inevitable that Germany would be ultimately defeated. So we are called to be ever bold, but never brash; ever prudent, but never timid; ever decisive but never precipitous. In the coming year or so, keep focused on the work before you, however small it may seem, or however intimidatingly large it may be, keeping in mind the dicta to boldness, prudence and decisiveness – and you will endure.

Worrying about your status in this world is a spiritual poverty. It is good to guard your prestige only so as to facilitate your true work, which is to build up the kingdom and the people of God. All the saints in heaven are completely indifferent to what status they achieved in this world, except to the extent that the memory of them might now help draw people to the safety of Christ. No one in heaven boasts of having been a conqueror or a leader or a Bishop. Their sole boast is of having endured to draw people to God. What we have here on earth is work. Persisting at our work with fortitude and fidelity under God secures our place in heaven. Even now there are people who contemplate the glory they will gain by holding back the Storm – and others who think the Storm will allow them show their great glory as they take advantage of the chaos. All self-referential ambitions are less than ashes in the eyes of heaven. All there is, in God’s eyes, is the work He has appointed each of us. Keep focused on the work and leave the glory to God. That will secure your place in heaven.

*******

From the beginning of publicly speaking out, I have insisted that my mission was not primarily a prophetic or mystical one, though both of those things were integral to my being able to carry that work out. I knew that I was going to make a big interpretive mistake at some point, though I did not know what it would be. I told my readers this would be so. Some thought I was saying this to try to immunize myself against error. Some thought I would mealy-mouth when I made a big error and try to spin it as if I had made no error at all. Others just ignored it. People’s expectations have become so badly garbled and mutilated that a key part of my work in the run-up to the fullness of the Storm was to change those expectations. Sometimes that can only be accomplished by doing, not just by saying.

A few weeks back, Beckita responded to a question from a commenter by reprising some things from the old site. She wrote:

“When I found my way to TNRS, it was at the request of a priest friend who wanted to know what I thought of it. In reading Charlie from the get-go, I saw and experienced some consistent things.

  1. I heard a re-echoing of many of the messages from Heaven with which I was familiar. And this from a man who obediently followed the wise counsel of his spiritual directors to NOT read other messages.
  2. As Charlie carefully prepared us for various possibilities that might emerge, he was ever tamping down the sensational attitude, cautioning us to trust God rather than hyper-focus on details and what exactly would unfold.
  3. What I also noticed, immediately, after finding my way here is that Charlie was not and remains not a typical message bearer who simply conveys what God wishes to say to His people by means of a heavenly visitor. No. Charlie is living his mission of leading via walking alongside us, defending the faith and heartening the faithful just as he was commissioned to do. He fosters discussion knowing that this builds up the mental toughness needed for the days upon us as we consider themes and possibilities and real life problems. How *many* times he’s acknowledged that the discussions refine his own thinking.
  4. He did, indeed, tell us that during his many years of training he had been incorrect on some interpretations of what his angel had said and was, therefore, corrected many a time by St, Gabriel. Further, he (CJ) forewarned us that he had been told he would be wrong on some major things. In November of 2016, he wrote: “Sometime in the next year, I will be significantly wrong about something…When it comes, it will not be a test of me, for I already know that God is good and seeks our reclamation. It will be a test for some of you, to see whether you have put your faith in me or your faith in God. If it is in me, your faith was always ill-placed. God is good, all the time, whatever the circumstances – and works to call us all back to Him. When I am wrong, I will accept the correction with gratitude and more wisdom. I will not leave the scene unless it is one of the fundamentals, and then, in full obedience to Holy Church, I will wait on the Lord, knowing that He will strengthen my heart and that it serves His purpose to call all His children back to Him.”

In that same piece, A Reality Check, Charlie also wrote: “My angel rarely congratulates me for being right. Rather, if I am in serious error, he rebukes and corrects me. Many of the greatest saints have been deceived by the devil for a time. I have no illusion that I am exempt from that. So what if I was deceived for a time and my angel, for whatever reason, did not correct me? Do you think that would be so God could abandon or destroy you? Of course not! Everything that God allows is for our good and our reclamation. I know that, I have no doubt at all of it.”

My Goodness! It is so clear to me that – in observing how Charlie has conducted himself through the difficult times – we are being trained and/or reminded about how to respond in those moments when each of us gets it wrong too. We have; we do; we forever will err because we’re made of dust. I cannot even wrap my head around how much courage it must have taken for Charlie to entrust the care and sustaining of TNRS blog to others in a time when he was flogged to the max for faithfully manning his post to the best of his ability. (Wee edit, he was flogged for the perceptions people had even as his goal was to be faithful to manning his post.) And like a mother hen, his greatest concern was for our welfare as evidenced in this excerpt from the piece which I quote:
“But I worry that some who were shaken put their faith in God because of their confidence in me, rather than recognizing me for what I am – a cheerleader for the mighty God. Jesus’ followers thought He was going to re-establish a temporal kingdom through military might and political skill. Imagine how despondent they must have been when He was executed. Many thought all was lost. They found, as we always do, that God’s plan is both far different and far greater than any of us can imagine. Imagine then, their joy at the Ascension, when they had to have contemplated that what they had thought was the end was actually the beginning. We must ever wait, watch and trust, even as we humbly do the very little right in front of us that we can with absolute fidelity.”

And how many times have we heard and reiterated that we’re simply looking Through a Glass Darkly and rightly so. No mystic or prophet on earth knows exactly what is going to transpire. Even in what we’ve been given as glimpses of possibilities, we know not what has been mitigated, even as we press on in prayer, fasting, sacrificing and doing good for the sake of Love and reaping a great harvest of souls. God deserves our humble waiting – even if we do become impatient in our humanity. He deserves our complete trust. (Why do we torture ourselves with worry?) He deserves our very best efforts and, through His Mother, the most wonderful conclusion of this Storm awaits us: the complete Triumph of her Immaculate Heart!”

My virtue was never that I was going to interpret rightly every time – and I told you that. My virtue was that I KNEW I was going to get something badly wrong and I persisted anyway, knowing that when it came, I would be clubbed.

There were only a few things I HAD to tell you: 1) the coming of the Storm and the big picture of what it would look like, 2) that this is NOT the end, but the beginning of the reclamation of our culture and of many souls, 3) that it will be followed by a great period of peace, prosperity and brotherhood as we are visibly rescued at the hands of Our Lady and, 4) that rescue would come very late in 2017. These are the only things I was instructed to tell you. All else was left to my discretion, based on whether I thought it would be fruitful in heartening the faithful.

Even though I knew I would make some big error, I was NOT allowed to shift blame for it. When it came, it would come because of MY deficiencies in interpreting things that are too big for me – or for anyone else. I was to take full responsibility for my error – and confess it candidly. I made two big errors, one of which involved item number four from above. I thought rescue was an event, not a process. I have come to think God let me get astray on one of the few matters which I was ordered to tell you, so there was no chance I would avoid the public error.

People think that with mystical experiences, God gives us precise instructions like a military commander. So long as we follow orders, any errors are the commander’s fault, not ours. That is NOT how it works. God gives big, broad pictures – lays out the landscape for you and then orders you to use all your mind, heart and soul to figure out a way to accomplish an objective He sets for you. Even in this, we are not automatons. He expects us to use our personality and our gifts to accomplish His purpose. It is too big for any of us – and God is aware of that. Without Him, we cannot accomplish the simplest thing. Staying focused on Him, we can accomplish anything. Even so, our course will be an awkward, stumbling one, for we are awkward, stumbling creatures. Some have great courage and will face the greatest of odds without flinching. Sadly, the devil captures many of these because their pride in their courage leads them to refuse to bear any public humiliation and still persist.

For many years during my training, my face would burn red with shame, embarrassment and resentment at being shown to be wrong about even the simplest things. How glad I am that God burned that sort of pride right out of me! I learned that the most productive way to deal with error is to confess it as soon as you know it, immediately and completely, then press on.

A single word from heaven has more facets than the Hope Diamond, more depth than the deepest ocean trench. It astonishes me when people think that God’s Word is as simple as a child’s primer – and that they have fully mastered it. A 10-oz. tumbler that thought it could contain the ocean would have less hubris. We are called to contemplate heavenly treasures and hold them in our hearts, but they are too big for us. They are not big at all to God, though, and He will carry them for us if we acknowledge Him and just do the little right before us, stumbling the whole way but constantly getting up and starting anew, trusting to His help. That melts God’s heart. He is never impressed by the elegance or precision with which we carry out His work but is ever won over by the humility and fortitude with which we persist at it. Even St. Thomas Aquinas, given a vision of God late in life, was so staggered by the reality of God that he called all his prior work “so much straw” and never wrote again. This is one of the few occasions in which Aquinas was mistaken: his work had great value in helping us all to draw nearer to God in language we could understand. God revealed Himself to St. Thomas, I think, to reward him for that work AND to rescue him from any intellectual pride that had grown in him because of it. What is gold here IS straw in heaven, but that should not cause any of us to gainsay its value here or to think it valuable currency in heaven.

At the old site I wrote a piece on what prophecy actually is, entitled, “Through a Glass, Darkly.” It is worth repeating an excerpt of it here:

“Authentic prophecy is always an invitation from God. It is an invitation to remember His goodness in times past, to see His mercies in times present, to come back to Him with our whole heart, and to call others to do the same. It is guidance on how to act in particular times and circumstances to accomplish this. It is assurance that He is there, that He loves us, that He wants us back, and that He will walk with us if we heed Him. It is an invitation first to the one called to prophesy, and then to all who will hear. It is an invitation to come to God and participate with Him in His gathering of His children. The most important part of prophecy is its call for what we should do.

It is a great achievement of the devil that he has seduced so many into reducing prophecy to fortune-telling, a sort of mystical mystery theatre in which most act as passive spectators, choosing the character on-stage who best appeals to their interests, beliefs and vanity – then sitting back and enjoying the show. God calls you to act, to act with Him, to act selflessly to rescue His children from despair and disorder. If the emphasis of any mystic is on what will happen rather than what you are called to, it is a diversion, not prophecy. Authentic prophecy is active, requiring you to stretch out your heart and your mind to God and to stretch out your hand in solidarity with your fellows. It is not passive.

Many seem to think interpretation of prophecy is simply getting the narrative right, then charting it two-dimensionally. The foolishness of this reminds me of the ancient fable of the six blind men and the elephant. The Book of Revelation is fascinating for many reasons, not least of which that it presents the closest thing to a raw telling of what the mystic actually is shown than anything I have ever seen. Oh, there is plenty of interpretation in it to make it somewhat comprehensible to us, but St. John gives us a good look at much of the raw material he was working with. Revelation has been seriously studied by thousands of great saints and theologians – and there are almost as many variations in interpretation as there are people who have studied it seriously. There is a general consensus on some larger themes in it (though even here some things are hotly disputed) but there are huge disputes on the meaning of many of the details.

Now, as then, a glimpse into eternity does not produce a neat, little, linear narrative. If it were so, I would not have spent a lifetime being instructed. I have told you I spent nearly two decades getting much wrong when I was instructed by my angel. I think you know that, in earthly terms, I am a pretty smart fellow. If it was as simple as studying a linear narrative, I would not have needed five decades of instruction and testing. So, with a caveat that I cannot describe it with precision unless I made up a whole new vocabulary, let me tell you a little about how it actually is.

I gave you a hint of it in my piece, “Into the Whirlwind.” I described the cosmos, in part, in these words:

“Imagine that God showed Job our world, sparkling blue and green like some impossibly rare and precious gem, glittering with life and light. Then God shows Job the entire universe. Think of Job’s wonder at the billions of stars, comets, quarks and planets all pulsing and whirring, a symphony of light and rhythm…”

When you are shown, when you get a glimpse into eternity, it is like that. Trillions of parts all pulsing and whirling, traveling at different speeds and directions, often changing speeds and directions. It is like a three-year-old trying to make sense of the working of a nuclear reactor. At the most elementary level, you try to discern the convergence point of several different elements. It is a game that appeals to your vanity – kind of like trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube writ large. Except it is impossible. Things change speeds and direction regularly. After a while, if you are wise, you largely drop that effort and focus on patterns that emerge. While you can’t discern all – or even many – of the details, you can see the larger trends they form.

There are several complications even in this. First, some things are symbolic and some are literal – and it can be difficult to recognize the difference. Some things can’t be changed; others are changed dramatically by our response. It is similar to a cruise liner sinking in the open ocean. Once it reaches a certain point in its distress it is certain to sink. It is almost certain that some people will die. How many will die, though, depends on the behavior of those caught in the catastrophe.  If everyone is in panic and acting in an “every man for himself” way, many will die. If many are steady and resolute, they can help others do the same and many lives will be saved.

Meantime, there is a huge disconnect between how things appear here and how they appear there. We come up with clever schemes we think will solve problems – and most don’t even make a dent in the heavens. The sincere and humble prayer of a single person can change multitudes. When you get a cohort of people praying – and living the prayer of doing, of denying their own appetites and caring for those around them tenderly, it can change the trajectories of entire realms of those moving parts. If you knew the power of sincere, humble prayer and doing the little right in front of you, you would eagerly live it well. The machinations of those in power are mere sparklers in comparison to the majestic, tidal power of a single sincere and humble prayer.

Obviously, I explain this allegorically to you. I do it to give you some sense of what it is like, not what it is. Applied to current times, the Storm is something that is set, it must be fulfilled. But the intensity and duration of it can change based on our response. Some things about it have already changed. The intensity was increased by our determination to persist in rebellion; the duration of its fullness has been decreased because of the rise, often quietly, of renewed faith and fidelity among many who have already despaired of hope in human devices. There are far more troops out there ready to  answer the call. Even in the midst of the Storm, we have entered into a great Christian revival. What God intends is that you live it and bring the hope that is in Him to those around you. If you do that well, it will spread like wildfire. It is not sufficient that you be right, but that you be effective, which means you must bury your ego. If you simply browbeat those around you, so they run away from the faith, you have utterly failed. If you never defend the faith when it is assaulted, you have utterly failed.”

If you are courageous in defending the faith, that is good and God is pleased. If you are not willing to be publicly humiliated in error and then persist anyway, you are not fit for His service. If you are not willing to candidly admit and take full responsibility quickly for the inevitable errors that must come, you are not fit for His service. He is elegant; you and I are stumbling bumblers, who are called to persist anyway. I emphasize this because, even now, I see good people sullenly refusing to admit obvious error and trying to explain why they were right all along. This attitude will lead to destruction in these time of crisis if persisted in. It pleased God to use me as a very public example of how to deal with obvious error. I knew it would come, but I did NOT know what it would be about. I knew that when it did come, I had to acknowledge my fault candidly and completely – and then carry on. It stung, trust me. But it was not for me: I had been privately stung much harder in the process of training many times. It was for you. Do not let the example be in vain.

I am grateful. The Storm is here and as I described it – a global civil war fought on cultural lines. Having persisted in telling you that, in season and out of season, it gives substance to my telling you that this is not the end, and that we are called to be the vanguard heralding the Triumph of Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart, which will complete the process of Rescue in glorious fashion. That is all that was needed to be said by me in mystical prediction. Now I can focus on my actual work – which is your work, too: To defend the faith, hearten the faithful, and defend the faithful. If your neighbors fall to the side, you can be faithful. If you have leaders who are corrupt, you can be faithful. At all times, in all crises, the fundamental question is always, “Will you keep faith, despite obstacles, persecution or humiliation?” If you do, trusting to the abundant generosity of God’s economy, many will be won back to Him by your example of fortitude under attack. Remember, we have no record that the Centurion at the foot of the cross knew how Jesus lived, only that he saw how the Master died. Yet that was sufficient to convince him that, “Surely, this was the Son of God.” Suffering with dignity can convert multitudes. Let us act so that multitudes will look at us and say that surely God is at the heart of these people.

*******

I often find myself in a peculiar middle ground between my friends of sophisticated intellect and my friends who are devoted to various apparitions and mystical pronouncements. The intellectuals are often dismissive of apparitions, as if such things could not be, while devotees of apparitions are often dismissive of intellectuals as legalistic prigs more interested in status than faith. Sometimes the former remind me of a foundation without a house and, the latter, a house without a foundation. I value both the foundation and the house.

If there is God, He has power. It makes perfect sense that He uses it at times to build up the faithful. While intellectuals rightly call for evidence, it is a barren folly to start from the presumption that God either has no power beyond natural things or never uses it. Sometimes, enthusiasts for apparitions get so absorbed in their favorite that they make it into an idol that trumps Scripture and the Church. While advocates for various apparitions are right to call for life in the spirit, when they become obsessed with any particular apparition to the point of elevating it above Scripture and the Church, their faith degenerates into superstition and an invitation to dark spirits.

All authentic private revelation, whether through apparitions or otherwise, are limited in scope to a particular time and a particular need in salvation history. I value the contributions of many from this treasure. I am particularly devoted to Lourdes, Fatima and Our Lady of Tepeyac (commonly called Guadalupe). Yet I will say that if we had been the sort of people who would have heeded the warnings from Fatima, there would never have been any need for those apparitions in the first place. I think that Fatima was never designed to keep us from getting lost (God already knew our trajectory), but as a lighthouse to guide us back after we finally realized the consequences of our disastrous rebellion. I have great reverence for Akita and for Our Lady of America. I have deep respect both for Medjugorje and for Garabandal, despite some misgivings about barnacles attached to the former and incredibly routine presumptuous misinterpretations attached to the latter. I have benefitted much from things that the late Maria Esperanza says and have a great admiration for the humility, fidelity and humor of Mirijana from Medjugorje. The modern mystic I pay closest attention to is Susan Skinner, who writes the Veil of Veronica blog – not necessarily because she is most important, but because there has been a close bond connecting us from the first time I heard of her, when she reported a dream of demons erupting volcanically across the earth on the same day that I had a vision of the same, December 20, 2014. All of these and many more have given me pieces of wisdom or insight that have been profoundly fruitful for me. I am deeply glad of them.

Yet in the claims of many to devotion to Medjugorje, or to Garabandal, or even to Fatima, I sometimes hear echoes of what Paul complained of in I Corinthians 3:4-6, where devotees were claiming to belong to Paul, or to Apollos, or to Cephas. St. Paul tartly reminded them that we all belong only to Christ, that such factionalism was more likely to lacerate the body of Christ than to build it up. All of these things are profitable to us only insofar as they build up the Mystical Body of Christ. I have no sympathy for intellectuals who have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof (see 2 Tim 3:5) nor for apparition devotees so enthusiastic that they let their favorite apparition unthrone the Church and the Gospels in their heart. In all of these things, we would do well to heed St. Paul’s teaching that, “All things are lawful, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful, but not all things build up.” (I Cor 10:23) Let all things we do be done to build up the faithful in fidelity to the Gospels and the Church.

*******

Our culture – and perhaps our polis – is visibly collapsing around the globe now. People have embraced ideas that have consistently led to misery and death, often led by “leaders” as ignorant as themselves, but more malicious.

Like Paul at the Areopagus (Acts 17:16-34) I have come to believe that the average man and woman in contemporary culture really wants the truth, to be fair, to build up. Egged on by malicious “leaders” who mask their lust for power in terms of “fairness,” I suspect that people have lost their way. They rarely think beyond bumper sticker slogans to what produces fairness for all. They are, so to say, looking for love in all the wrong places. Many have lost the capacity to achieve happiness at all and are trapped in a misery they cannot find their way out of. I will soon embark on a lengthy series with the working title, “Uncommon Sense: Fair Play for All.” I have tried to put in simple, vivid terms why a truly Christian approach grounded in traditional verities will lead us out of the muck of modern sophistry to a renewal of happiness and opportunity for all. It won’t be all in sequence, as there is just too much and it would crowd everything else out of this site, but it is a priority of mine. We have to hearten the faithful – and give those who are lost reason to grab hold of faith and charity.

The bright side in all the cultural and political darkness is that I think ordinary folks really DO want to be just, fair, and find happiness for all. Helping them credibly find their way back will help rebuild the kingdom of God, and rebuilding the kingdom of God will help them find their way back. I am going to do my best. This very long three-part piece is the pre-requisite to explaining where we are headed and what I am emphasizing as the strife increases.

*******

Though probably apocryphal, the late Harold MacMillan, former British Prime Minister, was reported to have said, “Events, dear boy, events,” when asked by a reporter what was most important in determining the course of government plans.

Many people have asked me what my plans are for this critical year. I am prepared for many potential scenarios. If certain things come to pass, I will put on my backpack and start hobbling across the land. I might end up hopping in my pickup truck and traveling 50-100 miles a day to speak to whoever will listen. Most likely, some time around May, I will go back on the road as I did in prior years, giving presentations to little groups of people who have invited me to come. If so, there will be no prophetic element involved, except a looking back to what has already been said. There is no need. We are living at the beginning of the very visible Storm. Rather, my purpose would be to exhort and encourage the communities of faithful we have built up across this country; to defend the faith, hearten the faithful, and defend the faithful. I have told you from the beginning that is my real job – and now I get to live it fully, God willing that I stay steady and faithful.

What will determine what I actually end up doing? Events, my dear friends, events.

*******

Finally, I was watching a squirrel at the feeder outside. He had his tail straight up for balance and the sun was behind him. I was amazed at how evocative that tail was, with the sun streaming through it, of the penumbra that surrounds the image of Our Lady of Tepeyac. Yet another reason squirrels are so dear to this site.

 

 

 

 

569 thoughts on “The End of the Beginning – Part III”

  1. There was a man named Franz Jagerstatter in the last century an Austrian man who had a dream in which he saw the Nazi regime as a “train headed to hell”. He got off that train and was sent to the camps where he died. The Democratic house speaker after inviting a Planned Parenthood leader to the SOTU address just did this. Which of our political parties is most a train headed for hell?
    https://www.lifenews.com/2019/02/06/house-democrats-block-request-to-vote-on-bill-to-stop-infanticide/?fbclid=IwAR06TolpEKNLt3Lo_lSL8uegtOaS_OiZMe69BUdm1hNZmIeMqK2VeX51l_s
    This on Franz Jagerstatter:
    https://www.franciscanmedia.org/blessed-franz-jagerstatter/
    How many in our country are willing take a bit of razzing to stand up for the truth?

    Liked by 10 people

    1. Strange that now as it aminds me of some reading I had of Mexico somewhere in the 30’s I think. A young fellow would not deny The Christ. Lost his legs by degrees if memory serves.

      “Catholic” Mexico is not what it would appear alas if we care to look about…

      Liked by 3 people

  2. Things seem to be getting more Orwellian every day. Absent the media, I cannot imagine two sides hating each other enough for one to overlook literal infanticide out of hate and fear of the other.
    I no longer see the media as the tool of a political party. Rather they are the tool of hell, wielded to divide and create monsters for each side to hate and fear.
    As far as this division goes, I really don’t think the issues even matter much anymore. If one side changes a position on an issue to seemingly close the gap with the other, the media reframes everything to ensure that the hate and division lives on and even worsens. Examples abound in immigration, the roots of racism, Me Too, etc etc. An interesting thought experiment is to imagine President Trump coming out tomorrow and saying he has been misled on the issue of late term abortion and he now supports this evil. Would the media allow their monster to become less threatening and scary? I doubt it. Rather they would take the “unstable” angle, or some other, and make him seem even more dangerous. The narrative would change and history would be rewritten to fit the new narrative. Going back to the Orwellian theme, they would stuff the old story down the “memory holes”.
    This is all to say that I now believe the media has a much bigger role in this war, as tools of the devil, than I ever imagined. That may have been obvious to most of you already.
    So what does it mean for our side? The media needs us to play our roles as well, by hating the monsters that they stand up for us to hate. Instead, let us hate and fight against the immoral and unjust laws and evil acts, but refuse to be manipulated into hating our neighbor. Many on the other side will still hate us, for we have been made the monsters, and so we should be ready and willing to defend our loved ones and our own lives. But let us do so out of love for the good, and not hate of those whom Big Brother programs us to hate.
    Turbulent times ahead.
    God bless and protect everyone here!

    Liked by 11 people

    3. I did hope Mr Trump was going to be a change in our world, I really did,and perhaps still do. As I have to believe he is but an utter eejit/pawn of some wonder worker pulling strings. He will bring you American youth into this new Vietnam/Venezuela. American veteran suicide is at an all time high, (Dog tags, Kissinger donchano). Mere brutish animals I think was the expression he used.

      I really have no idea of this Mr Trump, he is tho the elected rep of the country Americay, deal him the honour as such.

      The media Randal you seem to realise as of being an honest institution. Misconception I daresay as you Americans seem to loose focus

      Like

  3. Vermont legislature is poised to plunge deep into the abyss with 3rd trimester abortion law similar to NYS. Lord, have mercy on us. WE call upon You in our need. By ourselves we are helpless to free ourselves from this evil.
    As for Schumer, he is a gargoyle in the flesh, if ever there was one.

    Liked by 8 people

    1. Many have, Erin. Makes sense to me to have some extra things ready for those who will be caught completely off guard and who will be in need. That said, again and again, we come back to a focus of being ready to evangelize, to proclaim that God has a Plan, that His Kingdom has come – even if not fully come – and He wants all His kids back as He loves each one as much as He loves His only begotten son.

      Liked by 7 people

    2. Buy dried foods alas…You only need water if you have dried food…

      Sad world we live in when we we have to think on such things. So effin sad when infanticide is the new norm. Sad as to just what we have become as a species…

      Liked by 3 people

  5. Checking in. I have been meditating on being a small person in the grand scheme. From an American ideal of the independent, lone, strong man, being a small player in the big crowd seems unsatisfying at first. But, as I thought more, I considered that being one drop on a dry riverbed is not nearly as satisfying as one drop in a great river pulsing thru rapids and rushing over a great cliff in a splendid waterfall. It is better to be one cell in the Body of Christ – alive and part of His great life in the world. This community is so strong together with the Spirit gathering us as one.

    Liked by 12 people

  6. A little late to the RSVP muster call to ASOH…but howdy from FL! Thanks for suggestion to drop in. Been reading just not commenting. Know “us silent but ready” readers are here, untied by faith and always thru prayer. Took over our Eucharistic Adoration ministry last year and also working on youth ministry wilderness evangelizing Experience to implement … stay close to the sacraments and stay warm my friends!
    ECO💗

    Liked by 10 people

    1. Hello ECO. Nice to meet you😊 I was the co-ordinator of Adoration in my previous parish since inception 14 years ago. I’ve got it all in front of me here in my new parish. Not sure if anyone is familiar with ‘IT’, let alone whether it is practical in a country setting. It is so different to what I have been used to in the city but being a newbie in this small community, humility for me is the first step. However, I can’t be deterred from my current mission to promote Eucharistic Adoration. Prayers please…..

      Liked by 8 people

      2. Sending Prayers too Karen….it is a call . With the little steps in your new setting surely will make God smile. Can trust He puts your light where it needs to be 😇. We got new parochial vicar in 2017 who has been adding confessions times, Eucharistic Adoration increase, St Michael Prayer, first Saturday masses, all the things we needed. God is Good! He loves 5he incense, even8ng prayer and does Benediction beautifully. He knows lots haven’t been exposed to these rich traditions and reverent celebrations. So happy for parish…it’s the small next right steps! 💝😉

        Liked by 6 people

  8. “The Church is a Battleship not a Cruise Ship”
    Msg Charles Pope
    Episode 3

    Here is the concluding episode of Msg Pope’s fascinating examination of the Angels. Be sure to look at the handouts. Amazing stuff. Things you never knew about Angels.

    https://instituteofcatholicculture.org/talk/ministers-of-fire/

    ‘We live therefore in the middle of a supernatural world, a spectacle wherein everything
    that appears as empty space is in fact filled with the angels. Yes, we are surrounded by
    the angels! “

    Liked by 8 people

  9. MILINET & AM Surfing: Articles for Christians – 8 February
    ===================
    Faith of Our Fathers
    https://townhall.com/columnists/johnpwarren/2019/02/08/faith-of-our-fathers-n2540981

    Roberts joins Supreme Court’s liberal wing in striking down Louisiana abortion law
    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/roberts-joins-supreme-courts-liberal-wing-in-striking-down-louisiana-abortion-law

    Trump at National Prayer Breakfast: ‘We Must Build a Culture That Cherishes … Innocent Human Life’
    https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/melanie-arter/trump-national-prayer-breakfast-we-must-build-culture-cherishes-innocent

    Infanticidal Democrats Took Their Cues from Barack Obama–Trevor Thomas
    https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/02/infanticidal_democrats_took_their_cues_from_barack_obama.html#ixzz5esper8bj

    Just “What is the Deal” with the Democrat Party and their obsession with Abortion & Sexual Perversion? … Oh! .. and Drug Legalization, NO Border Control, ……..
    It’s gotta be something besides Votes .. demonic Principalties & Powers?!?

    Bills to Protect Transgender Troops from Discharge Introduced in Congress
    https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/02/07/bills-protect-transgender-troops-discharge-introduced-congress.html

    ICE, shut out of border talks, warns Democrats’ plans would free thousands of criminals
    https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/feb/7/ice-shut-out-border-talks-warns-democrats-plans-wo/

    Why Democrats Can’t Talk Honestly About Abortion
    https://townhall.com/columnists/davidharsanyi/2019/02/08/why-democrats-cant-talk-honestly-about-abortion-n2541023

    Honest Questions for Gov. Cuomo About Abortion
    https://townhall.com/columnists/michaelbrown/2019/02/07/honest-questions-for-gov-cuomo-about-abortion-n2541000

    Christianity’s Masculinity Crisis
    https://www.crisismagazine.com/2019/christianitys-masculinity-crisis

    Another, Very Clever, Dubium is Launched
    https://fatima.org/news-views/fatima-perspectives-1275/

    GOD SAVE ALL HERE!!

    Liked by 8 people

    1. As some ody pointed it out,
      Democrats during State of Union speech:
      Stopping Infanticide: Silence
      Stopping sex trafficking: Silence
      Record Low Un-employment among struggling groups : Silence
      Democrats winning Congress seats: Riotous cheers
      That night was an embarrassment for Democrats.

      Liked by 7 people

  10. I’m thinking that Isaiah 56 is appropriate “These-Days”. Verses 9-12, in particular, as I read the below. Old translations referred to Beasts of the fields and forests. I’m guessing that most people, like me, think of Lions, Bears and Wolves but it’s Rodents, Insects and Microbes that have been the biggest natural killers of Mankind ;-(.
    The bits about blind watchmen and worldly shepherds seems like what be happenin’ -NOW! The USA, Vatican and any other entity has the right & DUTY to defend its borders and protect its citizenry.

    “All you wild animals, all you wild animals in the forest, come to devour!
    Israel’s sentinels are blind, they are all without knowledge; they are all silent dogs that cannot bark; dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.
    The dogs have a mighty appetite; they never have enough. The shepherds also have no understanding; they have all turned to their own way, to their own gain, one and all.
    “Come,” they say, “let us get wine; let us fill ourselves with strong drink. And tomorrow will be like today, great beyond measure.”

    STOP MEDIEVAL DISEASES WITH A MEDIEVAL WALL
    How the legalization of illegal migration and homelessness is leading to a new wave of disease outbreaks.
    https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/272811/stop-medieval-diseases-medieval-wall-daniel-greenfield

    Immigrants and Disease – Walter E. Williams
    https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/walter-e-williams/2018/08/29/immigrants-and-disease

    Measles outbreaks are being reported across the U.S. Here’s what to know.
    https://www.nola.com/health/2019/02/measles-outbreaks-are-being-reported-across-the-us-heres-what-to-know.html

    GOD SAVE ALL HERE!!

    Liked by 3 people

  11. Another Terry Schaivo, in France this time:
    https://spiritdaily.org/blog/news/court-orders-frances-terry-schiavo-to-be-starved-to-death
    I am praying a PMT and invoking the intercession of Servant of God Jerome Legeune.
    https://lejeunefoundation.org/
    and for those in France: https://www.fondationlejeune.org/
    I am angry. I want God’s will to be done and I want this young man to live. I can’t believe that France wants the reputation that the US acquired due to its weak kneed response to euthanasia.
    St. Michael, defend this young man and defend France.
    In the name of Jesus and through the intercession of Our Lady of Lourdes and all the saints of France, I beg and plead for an army of saints and angels to descend upon France to destroy the scourge of evil that threatens her.

    Liked by 10 people

    1. PS: I am starting a litany of intercession to the saints of France and I would really appreciate as many as you can think of. Of course, St. Joan of Arc, St. Therese and her parents, St. Bernadette, St. Louis de Montfort, St Michael… France has been blessed with so many of them. I need as many as I can get. I hope you can help because my brain seems to be drawing a blank.

      Liked by 7 people

          1. Hey Joyful! This just struck me: Since Mr. Lambert’s first name is “Vincent” please consider calling upon the French saint on whose feast day I was born: St. Vincent de Paul! Just prayed a PMT for Vincent Lambert and have sent him St. Vincent de Paul to remain by his side.

            Liked by 6 people

      1. Thank you, Mick. Funny thing…the other night I watched “The Longest Day” (telling the story of D-Day), a movie from 1962. When I read about Vincent Lambert, I had a picture in my head of all those soldiers storming the beaches of Normandy to begin the end of WWII. Only now we are storming the beaches to end the culture of death.

        Liked by 7 people

    5. How about praying through the intercession of Terry Schaivo…
      Though not a declared saint, I’ll bet she has a beautiful mansion in heaven.

      Liked by 5 people

  12. Beckita I hear it is the feast day of your saint. Saint Beckita. My spiritual director says we should celebrate a bit on our feast day. Happy Feast day.

    Liked by 5 people

    1. Thanks so much, Bob. Actually, it’s the Feast of St. Bakhita and oh how I love her! My moniker, Beckita, was given to me by Fr. Wang. Among my many names, Beckie is the most common and adding -ita to a name expresses the Spanish diminutive style of affection… much like our Mother spoke to Juan Diego when she addressed him as “Juanito.”

      Saint Josephine Margaret Bakhita was born around 1869 in the village of Olgossa in the Darfur region of Sudan. She was a member of the Daju people and her uncle was a tribal chief. Due to her family lineage, she grew up happy and relatively prosperous, saying that as a child, she did not know suffering… (But oh my! How she suffered!) Historians believe that sometime in February 1877, Josephine was kidnapped by Arab slave traders. Although she was just a child, she was forced to walk barefoot over 600 miles to a slave market in El Obeid. She was bought and sold at least twice during the grueling journey. For the next 12 years she would be bought, sold and given away over a dozen times. She spent so much time in captivity that she forgot her original name… More here on her life story.

      I met St. Bakhita, via some Canossian Sisters from a convent near Betania, outside of Caracas, Venezuela, at the time when she was being canonized in 2000. I became fast friends with her for the sake of calling upon her intercession. It was a natural connection as I had lived in Africa, myself, during my Peace Corps days. And while she is the patron of Sudan, she hears our heart cries for all of Africa, I’m sure.

      Liked by 7 people

    1. I have a lovely film about St. Bakhita’s life. While EWTN is focusing on Lourdes with their weekly film this Saturday, usually, soon after the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, they rerun the movie, Bakhita. Pope Benedict really praised this film when it was first released. Artistic license is taken, yet, it is mostly true about Bakhita’s life.

      Liked by 4 people

  14. Dear Friends,

    Requesting prayers……I have misplaced/lost my Miraculous Medal – sometime this past week. A beautiful gift given to me by my parents. Kindly pray that I may be able to find it soon.
    I do so miss wearing it daily.

    Thank you!

    Mary

    Liked by 8 people

  15. Humor…????…!!!

    A Shooting Club Buddy sent me this and it’s Funny but … These-Days? … Opps!! I just admitted that I’m a Shootist … and Blog @ a notorious Christian site … soooo .. I’m an evil God-n-Gun Clinger!! … Yikes!!!!!

    It Snowed Last Night

    8:00 am: I made a snowman.
    .
    8:10 – A feminist passed by and asked me why I didn’t make a snow woman.
    .
    8:15 – So, I made a snow woman.
    .
    8:17 – My feminist neighbor complained about the snow woman’s voluptuous chest saying it objectified snow women everywhere.
    .
    8:20 – The gay couple living nearby threw a hissy fit and moaned it could have been two snow men instead.
    .
    8:22 – The transgender man..women…person asked why I didn’t just make one snow person with detachable parts.
    .
    8:25 – The vegans at the end of the lane complained about the carrot nose, as veggies are food and not to decorate snow figures with.
    .
    8:28 – I was being called a racist because the snow couple is white.
    .
    8:31 – The Muslim gent across the road demanded the snow woman wear a burqa.
    .
    8:40 – The Police arrived saying someone had been offended
    .
    8:42 – The feminist neighbor complained again that the broomstick of the snow woman needed to be removed because it depicted women in a domestic role.
    .
    8:43 – The council equality officer arrived and threatened me with eviction.
    .
    8:45 – TV news crew from ABC showed up. I was asked if I know the difference between snowmen and snow-women? I replied “Snowballs” and am now called a sexist.
    .
    9:00 – I was on the News as a suspected terrorist, racist, homophobe sensibility offender, bent on stirring up trouble during difficult weather.
    .
    9:10 – I was asked if I have any accomplices. My children were taken by social services.
    .
    9:29 – Far left protesters offended by everything marched down the street demanding for me to be beheaded.

    Moral:
    There is no moral to this story. It is what we have become.;-(

    GOD SAVE ALL HERE!!

    Liked by 10 people

  16. Good piece of work. Thank you, Charlie for not giving up when I am sure the urge was there. I appreciate all that you have said and done. I admire your fortitude and faith. I actually have noticed several changes in your attitude and presentation. It is very obvious that things are becoming harrowing. Let’s just pray we will all be able to hang in there. Not promising ‘no panic’…but you only have 5 seconds to ‘fight or fight’, if I understand that idea. Just finished a book by Wm Forschiem, the author of “One second after”. This one is 48 Hours and based on a similar idea, a solar flare ELE event, and what people are doing in the 48 hours before it hits, and all is over. Tremendously gut wrenching, and worth the read. However, that is the way it will be for many, and perhaps giving much more thought to the journey beyond, and prep here and now, can give a different focus and perspective. As I sit in my tiny house and skim over events throughout the world, secular and Church, it just gets darker and darker and sadder. I find the “kill the baby” group insane and sucked into a black hole. However, everyday someone else is jumping ship on the right and you got to wonder what happened! This just seems a no brain-er and is anyone over there not afraid of God and His Wrath? I live in Texas and read the TX Right to Life group preparing for the onslaught of “lefties, anti life group moving into the state and trying to take it over.” This one I will fight with everything I have. Let’s pray it does not come to that. Again, thank you for the work. I so enjoy the good people who contribute to this blog. Good company!

    Liked by 8 people

  17. Just lookin about here afore I wander back under me bridge. Came across one Robert Fisk who I always liked reading for his point of view. He I always thought had a keen sense of opinion as he lives now in the Mid-East…

    So many parallels it would seem as to how Venezuela is the new terror of the world. More like they are a people who are quite ignorant, just want to live their lives, Well bells ahoy as we here in Black 40 Seven never knew just what hit us… It is all contrived alas. Has been planned by some elite or other oer many a long yorn…

    Infanticide is now the new norm alas as we reap the reward of planners such as Tavistock with its “reform” of free love. We had this here in my country with a doyan, of social media. A cursed cur who will pas on, be embellished by his trained monkey do. You Americans seem to lack the understanding of just how you, like most of our world was programmed by our Irish “troubles”. Thirty year of horror which led to militarization of policing. Those so-called troubles could have been stopped within moments by astute thinkers, but no,Operation Gladio would run its course. Sad that really as we were all “played” in this parish, so very sad… As we were host to so many countries policing as the watched how those small countries fought about how a so-called christian peoples could kill over interpretations of our bible…

    Alas Charlie I am at a time now in my life when I seem to lack cognisance of a hero. It would seem to me there are no heroes to look to alas. Mr Churchill for one you often allude to was but a pig sticker in India. A cur who created Orangeism in my country. A controlled cur as was his nemesis Mr Hitler. Did you know by the way they as was Mr Putin all went to the one school in Liverpool…

    Not meant in a bad way Charlie as you well know with thoughts from this crumed…You Charlie like most on here have a good heart,Wrong is wrong tho, never the twain should meet…

    Dia a Charlie, Dia agus go leir…

    Acara I hope…

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Dear Mac! Your are certainly correct. We have been played like a fiddle. We could go back so many years…but heck let’s just give it up to Adam and Eve. Started then and has not stopped. Not going to until Our Lord comes back. Yet, like so many of us now, wished we had been told the TRUTH, yep, ya know TRUTH, and realized it was there allllll the time. However, b/c we have a ‘pack’ mentality, and our parents did too, our priest do too, as do our teachers, and our friends, (get the picture) prob most, I’d say that is about 75%> will not get it (joined wrong pack) and of the 25% (still looking for the ‘pack) many will fold….Why? Because we all have our heroes, but most important of all Jesus Christ is not coming in 1st place… just yet! He is not Churchill, or Washington, or Trump, Yet, He is the one who Comes in full Glory, bringing along with Him, those that stuck it out (found the right pack!), even if they did not quiet get it, but knew they would when it came time. Boy, that will feel good. I’m 70 years young, and for some reason this year makes me want to just poke anyone who thinks I am nuts because I believe in The Lord our God, The Son and Holy Spirit and the Blessed Mother.. And I know Charlie thinks this is a bad attitude, but I realize, I am not going to say anything that will change the darkest of hearts. They have no fear- See no light- hear no angels. I spent sometime crying for them, and alot of time praying for them, but now…they are on their own. This is tragic and frightful. So Mac, be good to yourself. Many are still awakening, and the martyr’s tears that cried before us, will only strengthen our Armour if we choose to put it on.

      Liked by 7 people

      1. I love your, “lot of time praying for them,” robill… and Amen to THIS:” Many are still awakening, and the martyr’s tears that cried before us, will only strengthen our Armour if we choose to put it on.” May the very events now unfolding in this Storm bring a GREAT harvest in which we all can work.

        Liked by 5 people

      2. Dear Robill,

        Thank you for the comments which seem to be varied, well thought out, yet not so well thought out… Seems perhaps we both are what Charlie might call curmudgeon. Well snap there a cara as we seem to have the same discombobulation O’thought.

        You may well be right as to this lord coming back but alas I think it sooner than we realize. Not looking forward to this lord and His showing the errant O’me ways. See there now Robill I was at one time trained to kill people…Not a problem that at a young age as “the man” was picking up the tab on that venture. One of my sons also was trained at killing as was my grandfather. My father of course was a quiet man who just liked farming and growing stuff. That old fool of a father of course was a quiet thinker. He buried a car full O’stonez in the garden way back in the Cuban crisis. Yanks and the modern world mayhaps knew that time as duck N cover.

        I remember well on my way to school as the first choppers I ever seen fly overhead as I watched those birds fly from Dublin to Shannon. Not to make comparison of course but the people who murdered this great man also murdered another. Kennedy of course was by no means our Christ but perhaps on his road to Damascus…Hah but Damascus in modernity, John John donchano as Cromwell/Churchill may have said… Wipe out the seed, wipe out the breed… Look up Drogheda as a seeming beginning, (though slavery started way back then of Irish/Scottish children) of slavery as curs hurled the bad looking women into the Boyne, the rest were sent to the Jamaica’s… Who funded Mr Cromwell wouldya think ? Who funded Mr Columbus…? Queen Isabella, I think not. The case of a certain tiara thought one Marie Antionette in later times…That lady never said let them eat cake may I add…Yellow vest of our new age gone wrong perhaps…

        I would hazard a guess now afore I leave ye…Charlie would not think it remiss of any on here who have an opinion other than he. Charlie methinks does have some sort of handle on just where we are now. As he has said on here oer many a long yorn…He may interpret things different as is the fault of the human being…We just have small minding as we see things which we do not understand perhaps. This I would hazard is where we have to trust in some higher power. I will admit as I have no idea of this higher power, alas I could but await further instruction on that insight…

        I will away here now and take residence under my local bridge which is my fashion on dark times. Be assured tho as you do/will make a difference, as you meet fellow pilgrims O’life. Good morning, good evening as you meet people…Just smile and say hello…YOU can change things if you try…

        Dia agut Robill, Dia agus beannach agut….

        Liked by 1 person

    2. It really all comes back to trust, Mac. Praying that God send you some examples, maybe some kids who may seem blissfully unaware, but rather have only the joy of simple trust. Freedom.

      Saw this from a monk, entitled “Undisturbed.”

      I notice that I pray best, when I come to prayer helpless and tell the Lord Jesus, “Lord, help me. I don’t know how to pray.” Then somehow I am suspended in my helplessness. And depending on Christ’s kind regard alone, I can rest undisturbed. Then often I am brought into a deep peace that is prayer.

      How to trust our desperation is good news?

      Watch some kids.

      Liked by 7 people

  18. Ya Know! We really owe Guv Como (D), Guv Northam (D) VA & The other Radical DEMOCRAT PARTY BABY KILLERS a Great Big Thank-You!! Their Radical & AWFUL Baby Killer Legislation has, at last, awakened The Silent Majority Nationwide.
    In Ol’ Virginny, apparently, a Med School Classmate of Northam’s was so incensed by the legislation and cold/insensitive comments that he “Spilled de Beans” on the Blackface/KKK Pics in the class yearbook and thus created the cascade of troubles for the others of the “Top” Three. This has all created chaos Nationwide in The Baby Killer Party with lots of finger pointing, back stabbing, confusion and distraction!
    Ain’t It Grand!! 😉
    Let US Pray that Our Shepherds grow spines and take advantage of this opportunity to FIGHT for the unborn!! …??????
    ……… and PRAY that our Pro-Life President … the unlikely PlayBoy Candidate …. continues the Fight for Life and The Republic!!

    AM Surf & MILINET: Articles for Christians – 9 February
    ==========================
    Virginia scandals pit Democrats against themselves and their message
    https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/429169-virginia-scandals-pit-democrats-against-themselves-and-their-message

    Exclusive — House GOP Plans Sustained Effort to Expose Leftist Democrats on Abortion
    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/02/08/exclusive-house-gop-plans-sustained-effort-to-expose-leftist-democrats-on-abortion/

    Arkansas Senate Passes Abortion Ban if Decision Is Left to States
    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/02/08/arkansas-senate-passes-abortion-ban-decision-states/

    First Official Virginia March for Life Will Protest Pro-Abortion Agenda
    https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/emily-ward/first-official-virginia-march-life-will-protest-pro-abortion-agenda

    Virginia Democrat Delegate Readies Impeachment Articles Against Justin Fairfax
    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/02/08/virginia-democrat-delegate-readies-impeachment-articles-against-justin-fairfax/

    Vatican ex-doctrine chief pens manifesto amid pope criticism
    https://www.apnews.com/d6311813685340e1a4ce9bc9c46a8d3f

    Christian group wins religious freedom case against University of Iowa: ‘Ruling is a win for basic fairness’
    https://www.foxnews.com/us/christian-club-wins-religious-freedom-case-against-the-university-of-iowa

    Are the Days of Roe v Wade Numbered?–Lloyd Marcus
    https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/02/are_the_days_of_emroeem_v_wade_numbered.html
    Phil Robertson: We’re yard dogs at each other’s throats, America. Here’s the simple solution to our disunity
    https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/phil-robertson-were-yard-dogs-at-each-others-throats-america-heres-the-simple-solution-to-our-disunity

    WaPo Fact Checkers Strike Out Big On The SOTU
    https://townhall.com/columnists/katrinapierson/2019/02/08/wapo-fact-checkers-strike-out-big-on-the-sotu-n2541071

    ISRAEL: HOW THE BIBLE BECOMES RELEVANT WITH MODERN DAY INTERNATIONAL LAW
    https://www.jpost.com/Magazine/Ask-the-Rabbi-Spoils-of-war-579976

    The Pro-Abortion Legacy of a Prestigious Catholic Prep School
    https://www.crisismagazine.com/2019/the-pro-abortion-legacy-of-a-prestigious-catholic-prep-school

    The Wound in American Education
    https://freebeacon.com/culture/the-wound-in-american-education/

    Russian Witches Perform ‘Circle of Power’ Ceremony to Empower Putin
    https://www.cnsnews.com/blog/michael-w-chapman/russian-witches-perform-circle-power-ceremony-empower-putin

    New York’s abortion law helped out a man accused of murdering his pregnant girlfriend
    https://www.theblaze.com/news/new-yorks-late-term-abortion-law-did-an-accused-murderer-a-favor

    LIEBERMAN HOPES FORMER COLLEAGUES TALK TO NEW MEMBERS WITH ANTI-ISRAEL VIEWS
    https://dailycaller.com/2019/02/08/lieberman-congress-anti-israel-views/

    Virginia Dems add anti-Semitism accusation to party’s troubles
    https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/feb/8/virginia-democrats-add-anti-semitism-accusation-pa/

    The Green New Deal is just a Red Trojan Horse
    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/the-green-new-deal-is-just-a-red-trojan-horse

    GOD SAVE ALL HERE!!

    Liked by 7 people

    1. Yes Crewdog, just as the McCarrick scandal awakened outrage about the gay mafia in the clergy, Cuomo has finally awakened many the the horror of slaughtering babies. It is incredibly painful to see this evil, but at least it may lead to an end of it. God please!!!

      Liked by 9 people

      2. You know KimSevier I can not shake the feeling in my gut there is much more stuff to the McCarrick issue…something we have not seen or heard yet, that will shake us to the core. I don’t know what it is, but it seems, this man has had the stage too long to be just a pedophile, nefarious scoundrel. We are hearing the story but not all of it…it just keeps hanging on. (kinda like the ML/Wm Clntn issue in the 90s = all half truths but designed to last a good long time to cover up/divert other nasty more sinister doings.) God hears our pleas, but we have some time to go, and more truths to uncover. And somehow this truth will be earth shaking, when finally revealed, I feel. It will eventually rear its ugly head. Mighty suspicious, wouldn’t you say! There are no cold days in Hell, yet. Take care and be safe!

        Liked by 5 people

        1. I agree with you, robill, that we’ve seen but the tip of the iceberg concerning the evil associated with the former Cardinal McCarrick. One piece you may be interested in reading which supports this belief is found here and is entitled, Uncle Ted’s Family Tradition. The other resources are two You Tube videos, one found here, made with Dr. Taylor Marshall and a colleague who interview a McCarrick victim, James Grein. I do think caution must be taken in discerning some of what Grein says he knows. I know, for certain, he has inferred incorrectly on the application of canon law to civil law.

          Charlie conveyed above in this piece:The culture of sexual abuse and the defense and cover-up of it is just the tip of the iceberg. And I agree wholeheartedly. From my deliverance ministry work, I have seen, again and again, that when someone gives himself over to grave evil, it is an invitation for the dark side to take that person into additional areas of grave moral import.

          Liked by 3 people

          1. Bekita, Thank you for your information. And yes, it seems this is only a tip of what could possibly be. I had not read that interview, and only got half way through, b/c seems to be the trend, after reading other reports. And we ‘wonder’ why soooo many have left the church! It is almost like a stampede to get out the door. Our Blessed Mother’s heart is breaking, and she is so good to us. Amazing. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for loving us so long. Take care ~ be safe.

            Liked by 4 people

            1. Dreher put up another difficult-to-read piece yesterday, here, about Cardinal Spellman. Born in 1889, before all of us on this site, he was installed in 1939 as Bishop of New York and held that office through 1967. In the midst of that time, Our Lady of Fatima was sent because Abba knew where we were headed if we didn’t amend our lives. And if the evil one was so busy in and with, then, Cardinal Spellman, how many other prelates with Vatican and/or worldwide influence were already headed to perdition by stubbornly refusing to repent of their ways as they were lost in addictive-like sex practices and/or turning a blind eye? I get falling into sin. We all have a sin history. It’s the persistent, intransigent spirit so tough break through that is so sad. No wonder Our Lady said too many poor souls need our prayers. What a time to be born into! Seeing all these things revealed can keep us focused the more on doing all we can to add to the treasury of grace in thoughts, words and deeds. May God grant us an abundant harvest to evangelize!

              Also just out today: Massive Southern Baptist Abuse Scandal found here. Blessed be God! Let’s see it all for what it is and put on the sackcloth and ashes, in whatever form they look like today, fall on our knees, repent and plead for mercy… ever rising to take next right steps.

              Liked by 3 people

    2. CD
      Re: Your remarks preceding the links.
      Indeed the murderous psychotic left is exposing itself but I think there is a political calculation embedded in their proposals. I’m thinking they are begging for a court challenge before the 2020 cycle gets fully ramped up. At that point they can use the time-tested ‘War on Women’ meme and hysterically warn that women’s churches will burn and…wait…that’s ridiculous but since when has that mattered?
      Anyway, that’s my take.

      Liked by 6 people

      1. Hey CJ,

        I have No Doubt that everything these Enemies of Ours do is a calculated move after much war gaming and polling data evaluation. They are only concerned about that 43% that will always Vote Democrat and more especially that 8% that they hope to to confuse with lies, 1/2 truths, smears, chaff & Jamming …. to Vote Democrat.
        The latest Buzz Word is “Woke”. Election 2020 will ‘Hinge” on which Voter Base is more “Woke”.
        This upcoming Election, I believe, will see more unpleasantness than ever seen in our history. ;-(

        GOD SAVE THE REPUBLIC & ALL HERE!!

        Liked by 4 people

        1. Crewdog, Interesting diddy…26% of those who voted for Trump were democrats. Or that is what this person said, ( the Blaze).. That said something to me that many on that side are “just democrats” and vote this way, because that had been the way they always did until it no longer made sense. I know my dad was a Demo, but an ultra conservative one, and he passed in 2003. But my brothers and I would go round and round on this because he thought a great group was the JBS and I know he would have loved Trump. Point is, people will vote their conscience in this next one, the shock and awe is too great. And too real! Much much can happen over these 2 years, and none of this may not even be an issue, we may have passed through the Valley of Death and are sitting by ‘Verdant Waters’, ‘with a banquet spread before us.’ Singing the Praises of our Lord and Heavenly Throne. If HE Thinks I can do this, then I know I can do this! He told us so in that very Psalm. Take care, and thank you for your information.

          Liked by 3 people

  19. Hi Charlie,

    Did you say we would go to War with China? Also that we would have a benevolent dictator?

    All around me folks speak of banal things. I really dont think they have woken up. I spoke briefly how upset I was about happening on a video of an actual abortion. Saying that all I could think of is seeing our little minority down syndrome student in the bowl. My co-worker’s reaction was unexpected. And revealed to me who she really is 😞 . She said it was fake and who would ever take such a video?
    I mentioned someone who wanted to show an intact baby to harvest their brain.

    I truly feel the principalities battling in our small autistic support room. I have been brought so low. This woman is particularly a thorn in my side. She is a murmurer.

    My Bishop asked us to join the pro-life cause. We have some demonstrations monthly. Does anyone know how else to be a more significant pro life servant?

    Thank you

    Liked by 6 people

    1. Little one, you just *might* be interacting with someone who has had an abortion or supported another in having one. To admit the truth of what is before our eyes means, for many, admitting the truth of their own error and facing the work needed for healing. At times such as what you’re experiencing at work, I think it’s freeing to simply state the truth and let go of expectations for how the other(s) receive it. There’s that old adage that sometimes we plant the seed of truth while someone else waters it, another sends sunshine upon it, another fertilizes it and yet another harvests the fruit of it.
      Your work situation sounds hard. So many have written of such challenges both at home and in the work place. I think for all of us, it is good to recall this elegantly written, by Charlie, wisdom: The world now largely sees each other through the eyes of the satan, the great accuser who seeks to reveal all that is ugly, shameful and malignant in men. He looks for the flaw, the fault, while never turning his piercing, malevolent eyes upon himself. Is not the crowd which is ever on the lookout for something by which to be offended in complete thrall to the satan? God seeks out the good in each man’s heart, even though it be as tenuous as a gossamer filament, that He might pull them through gently to the safety of His bosom.

      I keep “bumping into” articles, talks and additional whispers from the Lord to pay attention to the importance of forgiveness right now… forgiveness of others and self. I am pondering a lot about forgiveness as an act AND as a process. For now, if we each can simply choose, by an act of the will, to forgive the other for such interactions as you describe here – This doesn’t mean we condone what happened and we might also need to ask the Lord for grace to resolve the anger or hurt or whatever difficult emotion rises – but to forgive frees the other person and it frees US to continue walking in light, love, peace and truth.

      PS, littleone. The benevolent dictator was part of what Charlie was asked to work on concerning a potential Regency Period. We can recall, one dimension of Charlie’s faithfulness is to obey, to do what he is asked to do by the Lord. At the same time, whether or not God uses the work which Charlie prepared is totally up to God. This is another model for us to adopt: when God asks us to do something, we do it and give our very best effort and, then, totally detach from it, leaving everything in God’s Hands.

      When you speak of going to war in China, I think there are all kinds of wars we humans are capable of engaging in and using military weapons is but one type. And, again, the actual Plan of God is, yet, unfolding before our eyes. What exactly will happen, among the broad sweep of what Charlie was given, is totally in God’s Will and Providence.

      I’m off to Mass and will pray for you, littleone, and for all of us as we make our way through these days.

      Liked by 8 people

    2. Little one,
      Purchase a CD titled Aborting America the story of Bernard Nathanson, MD who probably produced the movie you refer. His CD shown below is an exceptional resource as he walks through his experience delving into the reasons why he supported abortion and his conversion. I have used this CD as a form of evangalization and passed out to a few.

      https://www.lighthousecatholicmedia.org/store/title/aborting-america-the-story-of-an-ex-abortionist-and-ex-atheist

      The other similar tool is Gosnell movie out on DVD. I purchased a couple at my local Walmart. They are selling for less than i paid at Amazon.

      Liked by 6 people

  20. Just what Planet did these Notre Dame Over-Educated EggHead Profs come from!!??
    In many if not most Democrat Party Controlled Urban Areas the slaughter of Black-n-Brown Babies is horrid in numbers/percentage! Yet if you are White and Pro-Life and wish to end this slaughter …..you are a ‘white supremacist’
    Oh!! You are so Right!! These Profs did not comer from some other Planet, they came straight from Hell!! ;-(

    PRO-ABORTION NOTRE DAME EVENT BASHES PRO-LIFERS –
    Panel of Notre Dame professors ridicule pro-life movement as ‘white supremacist’

    https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/pro-abortion-notre-dame-event-calls-pro-lifers-white-supremacists

    GOD SAVE ALL HERE!!

    Liked by 7 people

    1. Good news from unexpected places: The actor’s FB post mentioned below has more than 19 million views. Excerpt from https://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/jan/31/ashton-kutcher-posts-video-special-olympian-frank-/

      “Actor Ashton Kutcher entered the abortion debate by posting a “powerful speech” by Special Olympian and disability advocate Frank Stephens, declaring before Congress in 2017 that it’s prejudiced and immoral to abort fetuses with Down syndrome.

      “I am a man with Down Syndrome and my life is worth living,” Mr. Stephens said in the video posted by Mr. Kutcher.

      Mr. Stephens’ famous anti-abortion speech was to urge Congress to allocate federal money to research that would help people with Down syndrome.

      “Fund this research,” he pleaded at the time. “Let’s be America, not Iceland or Denmark. Let’s pursue answers, not ‘final solutions.’ Let’s make our goal to be Alzheimer’s-free, not Down syndrome-free.”

      Mr. Kutcher, who has two children with actress Mila Kunis, posted the video on Facebook Friday, giving it the title, “This man gave powerful speech on Down Syndrome,” The Blaze reported.

      “Everyone’s life is valuable,” “The Ranch” actor declared.”

      Liked by 9 people

    2. A thought I had about lies. Not only is the accuser the father of lies, spreading lies ceaselessly, but it might also follow that he is the biggest believer of lies. Others, to the degree they lie (maybe if only to themselves).

      I read the comments from the abortionists. Just more of the same lies, and it pains me to see this stuff. Clearly it’s the stuff of cesspools… now running out of the sewers… increasingly in and around our Catholic Institutions… and all of society. It especially pains me to see it at Notre Dame, most especially in The Church.

      There was a time… ahh, there was a tall pine tree in the woods near my childhood home. Used to climb up into the topmost branches to look around and think. From there I could see the statue of Our Mother atop the Golden Dome at UND, above the treetops and just a short crow’s fly north. Just behind me, St. Mary’s with a convent and high school. The St. Joe river winding through town. Sometimes a train moving through town, with rumbling cadence and a mighty fire in its belly. Surely it was God’s territory.

      Sometimes one of my younger bros would sit up there with me. We loved that spot and saw all sorts of stuff from that perspective. My ma didn’t like us coming home with sap all over our hands and clothes, but nary a mention about any the dangers of climbing 150 foot up into a tree. My good ma… she really appreciated us being boys.

      One time we saw some raccoons scrapping with dogs. After, there were some casualties and my bro insisted we climb down and dive into that mess to do what we could. Folks who’ve ever done such, know how that usually goes and you’re lucky to walk away without needing stitches and rabies shots. Oh, you get bit, scratched, clawed, kicked, etc., all for the sake of trying to preserved lives… even wild ones.

      My bro (I’m talking about Br. Gideon) didn’t bat an eye doing that though. Maybe I was a bit more concerned about keeping him safe.

      At any rate, I was thinking that maybe I had it wrong about it being God’s territory. Seems Br. Gideon was God’s territory. So was I. So were the other decent people we could see from up there… nuns, students, caretakers, passerby’s… all sorts from all walks. As for the others, we’ve just got to get in there and get dirty… at all costs.

      I just don’t see any other way from here.

      Liked by 8 people

      2. Your tree and coon story reminds me of the “good ole’ days” MP.
        My brother and I tried to stop a dog fight once in the yard in complete darkness! Hard to tell what your grabbing but you get your answer pretty quick when you get grabbed back by a set of teeth! Puncture wounds are darn right difficult to heal and painful because of the muscle damage from how deep they go compared to regular cuts. I’ve been bit by a few raccoons in my day as well, some from catching them as a nuisance and some from keeping them as a pets. They make cranky pets as they get older, hard to tame the wild away from the instinctive behavior. It’s their irasciblness that keeps them alive but makes them a lousy domestic. I’ve seen quite a few of them during my hunts and I’ve clocked many an hour watching them doing thier ‘thing’. They are very smart, active and strong little guys and rather common, even in cities-a tribute to thier genius and survivability. With the reduction of apex predators throughout the US such as cougar and wolves that would have preyed on them and kept thier populations in check, they have actually become a bit of a nuisance species. One of our Nick-names for them is trash pandas as they always seem to be in our garbage.

        Liked by 3 people

        1. I had one of those rascals stealing from my bird feeder when I used to hang it from a tree. The rascal cleaned it out almost every other day. It took me a while to figure out it was a raccoon. I peaked out one night and saw the feeder swinging. I got my big mag light flashlight, went outside and spotted the little rascal climbing to the top of the tree to hide. That is when I moved my feeder to my front porch.

          Liked by 2 people

        2. Many a time I stumbled upon a raccoon in the woods at night, or out by the wood pile as I was fetching some firewood, or many other places where I’da rather not met a mature raccoon. There was a tree outside my youngest bros’ bedroom with a hollow at about eye level on the second floor. Every season, without fail, there would be a new nursery staring back with innocence, curiosity and wonder. Makes we wonder if one of those wasn’t one of the later rescues down the road.

          On the sometimes muddy banks along the Verde River here, where I’m fixin’ to go in about 2 hours, the raccoon tracks are everywhere. Sightings are rare, but I often envision a bunch of little heads staring back at me in those moments, from that hollow of long ago.

          Liked by 4 people

          1. Strangely, MP, during my pilgrimage, raccoons rarely visited me in the night. Those and coyotes were the two normally common animals I almost never saw. Deer, wild turkeys, squirrels, cougars, a lynx, wolves, foxes, elk, bear…all manner of critters formed my night-time menagerie. But I see more coyotes and raccoons in normal life than I did in the woods when I was on the walk.

            Liked by 3 people

            1. That sounds about right, Charlie. Coyote (The Trickster) was likely there, just watching from some cover or following without you noticing. Raccoons, above in the trees. To stumble upon one in the wild is rare, unless you happen to cross one of their game trails at just the right moment. They’re not good at running, mostly walking, so I don’t blame them for not getting near. Most of the raccoons I encountered when young were sniffing around the waste cans. Of the “garbage panda” gang variety that Phil mentioned.

              A little lesson I learned yesterday on the ridge, from the middle of a very large herd of mustangs. That mighta’ been ill advised due to the sheer numbers. In spite of my usual rhythm, it got a little chippy with some of the stallions. One feisty one, with a beautiful jet black coat, actually charged with the intent of running me down. Thank God for adrenaline and well placed mesquite trees.

              Later I came across a small band including the friendly colt with the irregular star that looks like a bird. He went out of his way to walk over and say ‘hi.’

              All these moments, even if it’s just taking the trash out… or even the really painful stuff we’re dealing with (especially the painful stuff we’re dealing with) are vital for when we’re in our ASOH mode.

              —

              Sitting in a barber chair last week with one other fella a couple of chairs over (plus the two old-school barbers). Couldn’t turn my head to confirm, but I knew the voice of the fella getting his hair cut. A certain Priest and head of a Parish I know well. Familiar territory and I sometimes like to think out loud. A tailor made setting for some productive ASOH.

              Liked by 4 people

              1. Oh, forgot to mention that I gave that mustang colt a name yesterday. Toh Yah, which is Navajo for “Walking by River.” And jet black coat isn’t going to hear his cool name until he faces his fear. No pressure though.

                Liked by 3 people

                  1. Your black horse story reminds me of my nephew who was newly home from combat as a Ranger in Afghanistan. After serving his tour of duty he was home and went hunting with his cousin in North Florida.
                    After taking a shot at a deer he trotted into a thicket to see if his shot was good only to come out screaming in a rather high pitched girly- voice as the buck had turned around and rushed him with its antlers.
                    He and his cousin laughed hysterically for about 20 minutes.
                    Funny how much energy an adrenaline rush can give you to either fight or flight…and laugh hysterically if the moment warrants it!
                    Maybe that stallion should be named the Black Rush?
                    If he had caught you, he most assuredly would have been named the Black Death!

                    Liked by 3 people

  21. The flawed thinking of the left’s “equal rights”…

    Equal rights thinking is deeply rooted in “wants not needs” and in “entitlement not fairness”. The “wants & entitlements are never enough as the activists want more than everyone else (greed) and think they are entitled to things they have not earned (pride & vanity). Equal rights is nothing more than a illusion to tempt people into sin, as what the world really needs is humility, charity, and true dignity that Christian love can only give.

    Liked by 6 people

      1. If the left’s flaws can be illustrated & proven in the light of truth, then the people brainwashed by the left might clue-in and start to realize the truth…

        Unfortunately it’s easier for me to identify the problem, than to explain these things to others…

        Liked by 3 people

        1. I think of them as seduced. They have bought a big lie. They are very sincere in their beliefs, but they are just wrong. Logic usually does not work because their arguments are emotional. Tough nuts to crack they are.

          Liked by 5 people

          2. Yep, and the big lies are further reinforced the repeated delusions of a majority that they are right and everyone else is wrong.

            Just because a majority believes it to be true, it doesn’t mean that it true; people once believed the world was flat and that the sun revolved around the earth like the moon.

            Liked by 2 people

  22. Hi, Ya’ll. I’m back on the Rez for a two weeks. It’s been so cold and windy that schools have closed a couple days. Friday morning I awoke to minus 22 degrees F. I went out to my truck to warm her up before driving to the clinic. She struggled to turn over, but managed to fire up within 3 seconds, groaning.

    The air was so cold that it made me want to cough on each inhale. Biting!

    And so I let her run while I went back in to take a nice, long, hot shower. Meanwhile, my reliable 95 Dodge Dakota spewed clouds of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and vile pollution into the crisp, still air. It was quite beautiful the way the sunrise lit up the white clouds.

    (Me and Mimi on the road last year.)

    I can only imagine what the new leader of the Green Democrat Socialist Party — Congressman Alexandria Ontario Cortisol — would think of my reckless disregard for her world. She is the best thing to happen to the Republican party since Trump. She makes Maxine Waters and Sheila Jackson-Lee look like Rhodes scholars.

    I hope this spunky, inarticulate Green Gem never loses her luster and leads the party as it lurches leftward. Lotsa luck, AOC!

    Liked by 8 people

        1. She doesn’t have too much fun in the truck, Mick. This time out, she started meowing relentlessly, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to handle 3 hours of that, so I put her in her carrier with some blankets and tossed her in the back of the truck with the topper. It was very, very cold and very loud back there. After about 20 minutes, I pulled over, opened the back, and asked if she wanted to come back up front. She gave a loud MEOW!

          I brought her back up front into the warm, relatively quite cab….and, needless to say, she was a VERY GOOD KITTY the rest of the way. Not a peep!

          Smart animal. Sometimes, you just gotta be tough.

          Liked by 3 people

  23. The topic of Delp’s 1941 presentation had been “Trust in the Church”, and featured his much quoted statement, “We have become a mission territory,” citing the non-Christian environment, the steady decline in Church membership, and general lack of interest in the Church. He placed some responsibility for the crisis of trust in the Church upon Church leadership, and called especially for Church leaders to come out with clear advice and instructions rather than making vague general statements. (Cf. Alfred Delp: Gesammelte Schriften, vol. I, Geistliche Schriften, ed. R. Bleistein. Frankfurt 1985, 2nd ed., pp. 263-283.)
    (I found this end note in http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features2009/adelp_euthanasia_may09.asp
    Fr. Alfred Delp, S.J., Priest and Martyr was a prophet, indeed.
    These two sentences sum up in 1941 what I see in 2019. This was as the Church was being confronted by diabolical attacks on societies, countries, bodies and souls. Now, I feel that history is about to repeat itself. Again, the Church leadership appears vague or afraid to say the “wrong” thing.
    That is when division is sown. That is what the satan wants. We need deliverance.

    Liked by 7 people

  25. Oy, Charlie! There is so much we don’t know about you.

    This bio popped up on a Google search of “asignofhope379”

    So you’re apparently a lot older than you’ve let on, with no trace of an Aussie accent. Your list of talents and your modesty never cease to amaze!

    Liked by 8 people

    1. This is h-i-l-a-r-i-o-u-s, Patrick! I actually bumped into the bio of the Australian footballer named Charlie Johnston when I first came to the TNRS site and started looking around for more about our Charlie. Your link reminds me of the late fall of 2016 at TNRS when at another site there was a lot of nasty criticism spewing about people and the discussions at TNRS. One criticizer had figured out – or so the person thought – that Beckita was really Charlie.

      Liked by 7 people

    2. Apparently I have been resurrected early, too. I do like to stay ahead of the curve. 😉 Can’t wait for my long-lost brother Jack to pop up.

      You know, there is a big downside to the internet. I went, one time, to one of those sites that supposedly give detailed information about a person. I laughed because about 70% of it was completely wrong. They had me previously living in several places I had never even been to. I was once an architect, supposedly. They missed my fabulous career as an Australian footballer, though. Actually, it made some sense about something weird one of my old critics had said, though…they had apparently got it from that website. Caveat emptor, my friends, caveat emptor!

      Liked by 7 people

  26. Deserves repeating -what Backita replies to “Little One” above:
    “This is another model for us to adopt: when God asks us to do something, we do it and give our very best effort and, then, totally detach from it, leaving everything in God’s Hands.”

    Liked by 5 people

  27. I now wonder if the ‘beginning of the Rescue in 2017’ wasn’t the election of Donald Trump??? – Also because that year was the Centenial of Fatima and of the Communist revolution in Russia. Besides these 100 years might be exactly those mentioned in the vision of Pope Leo XIII, allowed to the Satan to try to destroy the Church???

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi Jorge. Good to hear from you again. Actually, Charlie has previously conveyed when the Rescue began and he reminded us of this recently: On September 23, 2017, a great sign appeared in the sky, almost unnoticed by a world pre-occupied with other things. It was the woman cloaked with the sun, the Revelation 12 sign. It was the beginning of the process of rescue. I spoke of it as ushering in a year when all things would be revealed. This quote is from his piece A Year of Judgment, A Time to Choose which you can read here.

      The vision of Pope Leo XIII on October 13, 1884, happened 33 years, to the day, before Our Lady made her first appearance in Fatima. For sure, there’s lots to ponder in these times.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. I see the election of Donald Trump as a temporary repreave. I think we are still in for a very rough ride until we get through what must take place. Time will tell, but in the mean time, I endeaver to live my Christian life taking the next right step and being a sign of hope for others. God bless!

        Liked by 2 people

  28. Pingback: The Veil was Torn in Two – The Liturgy | Veil of Veronica

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Published by charliej373

Charlie Johnston is a former newspaper editor, radio talk show host and political consultant. From Feb. 11, 2011 to Aug. 21, 2012, he walked 3,200 miles across the country, sleeping in the woods, meeting people and praying as he went. He writes on cultural, global and political issues from an orthodox Catholic perspective. He emphasizes that we find God most surely through the ordinary, doing the little things we should with faith and fidelity. His constant refrain is that, to live real joy, we must acknowledge God, take the next right step, and be a sign of hope to those around us. He lives in the Archdiocese of Denver in the United States.