Ubi Est Mea: Rx for Misery

Posted on by charliej373
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(From left) Sisters Mary Clare and Charista Maria

By Charlie Johnston

All right, while I am on the road I am going to have give up on the posts that take me 15-25 hours worth of effort and, instead, just give little updates on a catch as catch can basis. My dear friend, Sr. Mary Clare, and Sr. Charista Maria, gained canonical status as hermits under their rule of Missionaries of Our Mother of the Eucharist. Sr. Mary Clare was a nun in Mother Angelica’s order, who left with Mother’s blessing. She is now in Mission as a hermit in rural Mississippi in the Diocese of Biloxi. Bishop Louis F. Kihneman III came to their chapel on June 6, where they formally took their vows.

The Sisters have weekly Marian prayer cenacles and do some small-scale retreats. They are a wonderful and ever-present spiritual and practical resource in the town of Poplarville. You can sometimes find them at Masses at St. Charles Borromeo in Picayune. As to finding their grounds and chapel, you will find it hard to do that even with a map and a compass. They are, after all, hermits.

Poplarville, Mississippi was one of the towns I walked through during my pilgrimage – but I didn’t get to know Sr. Mary Clare until a

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Sisters take their vows

few years later. I think it tickled both of us when she told me what town they were in and I exclaimed that I had walked through there and met some wonderful people.

I have fallen in love with orthodox nuns throughout this great land. They do incredible work with almost no flash or attention. They truly live the prayer of the next right step, purely out of love for God and for their neighbor. If you have an orthodox Catholic religious community near you, get to know them. You will be amazed at their joy and the great work they do of heartening the faithful every day. Because we live in a cynical, self-centered age, the world does not celebrate these wonderful women, these great heralds of the coming Triumph of the Immaculate Heart, but by gum, I do. I am so glad when some of the Sisters I have become friends with share mileposts of their journey of joy with me. (This post has been updated)

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I am delighted to see that Jordan Peterson is endorsing the work of a new free speech social media platform that is under development. I have already signed up to be included in ThinkSpot as it develops and grows. Just as soon as I get off the wait list and into the pool, I will copy all of my posts there. It promises that it won’t take speech down unless ordered to by a court. My kind of site, folks!

I have high hopes for it because it is endorsed by Peterson, a true free speech purist with great credibility, and because of some of the rules it is starting with. I will still copy things to Facebook – but if it ever gets uppity or censorious with me, I have what looks to be a reliable place to go without missing too much of a beat. If ThinkSpot gets big enough, I may ultimately just abandon Facebook except to leave the archives up. I have absolutely had it with the censoriousness of these social media sites de-platforming Christians and conservatives. They’re practicing up to try to steal an election next year – and silence everyone who won’t be their co-conspirator.

I have actually never had a problem with Facebook. But I have never paid for an ad or to boost a post there. I have come to suspect they like to lure Christians and conservatives into giving them money and THEN cutting them off. Ha! Facebook – meet turnip.

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When I was doing politics full-time, conservative candidates would constantly lament to me about how they could never get a fair shake from the media. I agreed, but was not much interested in just kicking against the bars. I used a sort of political judo that used the media’s own bias and enthusiasms to get the narratives I wanted played out.

Most reporters are not very smart – but are convinced they are geniuses. When somebody is both bigoted and vain, they are pretty easy to manipulate, because they are also tone-deaf – and their malice prevents them from thinking through any sort of long-time consequences of their impulsive attacks. So I would find some sort of language that I knew that they would jump on like a hungry trout on a fly. It was always in service of a narrative they thought would get me, but I knew would cut my way – or in preparation for an initiative I was planning later, in order to get them to commit to a position that would soon damage them. The only guy I have ever seen who uses this tactic more effectively or consistently than I did is Donald Trump.

When Trump told NBC/Clinton Reporter George Stephanopoulos that he would listen to dirt on an opponent given to him by a foreign country, I grinned and thought, “Genius!” I was a little dismayed at most of conservative media – even the gifted Rush Limbaugh – thinking this was a blunder. It was no such thing. It was genius that I admired. The press, of course, went nuts.

So what is about to drop? Investigative reports detailing how Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) solicited and paid for foreign agents (British and Russian) to make up phony dirt on Trump. Reports detailing how the Obama Administration leveraged different foreign intelligence agencies to help spy on the Trump campaign – one of the greatest political crimes in American history.

If Trump lures the media and Democrats into screaming for impeachment just because Trump says he would listen to campaign dirt from foreign sources, it makes it pretty tough for them to excuse the actual flagrant criminal abuses Clinton, the DNC, the Justice Dept., the Intelligence Agencies and the State Dept. committed with foreign actors to try to promote a coup against a sitting president. In the end, I don’t care whether the left’s voices are muffled in trying to justify the crimes or whether they tie themselves in knots trying to explain why it is okay when Democrats actually solicit, pay for, and make up dirt on opponents from foreign sources while trying to cover it up. Either way, they lose – and lose badly.

You are not going to persuade hard partisans on either side. But the persuadable middle likes to be fair – and when what you’re peddling is obviously specious and hypocritical nonsense, you lose that middle…with the bonus that the press further destroys its credibility.

Ha! Some folks in Illinois must wonder whether I am on Trump’s payroll these days. I loved doing this sort of thing…and frankly loved all the timid souls on my side talking about what a blunder I had made – until it paid off. I am not on Trump’s payroll, but I sure do admire when he plays rope-a-dope with the media. Once you get the hang of it, it is ridiculously easy to get the reflexively malicious and impulsive media to unknowingly dance to your tune.

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You are probably wondering about the Latin title of my post today. Loosely translated, “Ubi Est Mea,” means “What about me,” or more accurately, “Where’s mine?” The late, great Chicago Tribune columnist Mike Royko claimed that should be the official motto of Chicago.

I am convinced that that mindset is responsible for most of our ills today. It is a paradox that when you spend most of your time focused on your own happiness, your own sense of entitlement, your own victimhood, happiness flees you. Yet when you focus outward to concern yourself with the good and the welfare of those around you, joy takes up residence in your heart. I constantly say that God works most often by indirection. He writes straight with crooked lines.

When you are focused primarily on your own wants and desires, even your successes only bring you further resentment and misery. Remember when homosexual activists promised that if we gave them “gay marriage” they would leave us alone? Neither do the bakers, florists, wedding chapel owners, or Christians being banned from social media. The whole process of maturity and civilization is a growth from self-centered wailings to genuinely caring for others – one by one.

I have never been able to resist a little prank. When my grandson, Camron, was little, he came proudly to me once with a bunch of French fries clutched in his fist. With sly amusement, I said thanks, grabbed them and popped them into my mouth. He immediately burst into tears because I had taken his French fries. I apologized profusely, hugged him and assured him of how much I loved him. He was soothed – but still didn’t think it was funny. A few minutes later, he came up to me with a gentle grin and a plate with a couple of chicken nuggets and some fries on it. “You hungry, Poppy?” he asked solicitously, “You hungry? Have some food.” Oh, how it melted my heart that my little guy so quickly got over his hurt and thought, tenderly, that maybe his poppy was just hungry. I pulled him into my lap and we joyfully ate them together (though I actually hate chicken nuggets. I mean, come on…what part of a chicken is the nugget? But I sure did enjoy joyfully sharing them with my little guy.) Even a toddler can get past his own self-absorption to reach out to those he loves – even when he is upset with them. For people to abandon misery and find joy again in this culture, they have to learn to quit asking, “Ubi est mea?”.

There are two hard, inter-related facts about life, one that you have little control over and the other that you have complete control over. The first is that there are a lot of jerks in this world. The second is that you get to choose whether or not you will be one of them. How you choose determines whether you will have misery or joy.

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I’m speaking in Manchester, New Hampshire in a couple of hours. I am staying with our good buddy, Doug, part of my TNRS team – and Steve BC (our tech wizard) is coming up tonight, too. If you haven’t already made arrangements, you are probably too late. But I will speak in the Albany, New York area on Wednesday, June 19, at 6:30 p.m. Contact Sean at asoh.queensbury@gmail.com for information. Then on Saturday, June 22, I will be back in New Hampshire to speak in Keene at 11 a.m. Contact Jim at asoh.keene@gmail.com for info on that one. I hope to see you on the trail!

129 thoughts on “Ubi Est Mea: Rx for Misery”

  1. Delightful, Charlie. All of it. Short take, update, muse and amuse to your heart’s content… and ours. Your joy on the road is our joy as we all carry on… wherever in the world each one may be.

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    1. Yes, delightful Beckita.

      Charlie, I often think of my awesome aunt who has been a nun for more than 60 years in the Order of St. Francis, the amazing nuns at the shrine in Hanceville (having been blessed to visit there), the amazing cloistered Norbertine nuns of Tehachapi and the equally amazing cloistered Poor Clares of Santa Barbara. Yes, California!!!

      I say awesome and amazing because they are nothing short of warriors. I am in awe of their commitment and sacrifice for Jesus and all humanity. Would that I might be 1% as powerful as any one of them!!!

      Liked by 5 people

  2. Love the post today, Charlie. Much of it lifts my spirits. Had my first laugh out loud, amid chuckles, when you said “come on, what part of a chicken is the nugget?”! Love the humor. It really helps these days, but I have to say in agreement with some comments last time, that I am becoming more resigned to whatever is coming. It’s the Blessed Mother who does that for me; I couldn’t live without her, and of course Jesus. But He told me years ago that I would not be where I was in the spiritual life without His Mother!

    Liked by 7 people

    1. Thanks, Charlie, for another great post. I wish that I were as quick and intelligent as you are. It certainly does not seem that age slows down your sharp mind.

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      1. Ha! It’s the only thing about me that hasn’t slowed down. I was telling someone the other day that I might be able to still play baseball if they would let me nap for six innings.

        Liked by 5 people

        1. Considering there’s only about 18 minutes of action over the span of a 3-hour baseball game, are you saying you’re good for only 6 minutes? I thought it was clear we’re in a double header here. That means at least 12 minutes on 2nd, in the box and on the bases… to say nothing of the imminent cork-popping in the locker room.

          Liked by 6 people

  3. Watching the Blues parade and celebration today in St Louis of maybe 400 grand I thought this:
    “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” Hebrews Chapter 12 vs. 1. So where will each of us stand when our life is finished and we each stand before God and before the many witnesses of heaven? I am sure that most of us here think that way but how many in the world do? So I put it up on facebook while I still can.

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    1. I keep thinking today of what Charlie told us all in Jackson… Go forward. ..don’t go back….or something like that…but move move move forward for sure…growing pains….lol

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        1. Beckita, on Facebook look up missionaries of our Mother of the Eucharist…once you open their site up click like button…they come up on my fb feed..I love their tutorials and they exude triple joy but seriousness of times. Or you can just scroll down and you will see many such videos the brides of Christ have made. If you don’t want to do it that way there’s a .or way…I’ll put that one on next reply because I forgot it already🤔 that darn alzheimers creeps in early in my family😣

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          1. Thanks again, Linda. I’ve bookmarked their site. Love their Home page! Here’s another dynamic apostolate, with online presence, nurturing deeper faith in people.

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          2. Hi Linda and Charlie,
            I had not heard about this group of nuns before. Thank you for the link. I will look forward to checking out their archives and videos. I have a young friend in my parish who is discerning a vocation and is checking out different orders of nuns and sisters. This looks like another one to consider.
            Thank you again for the information.
            Safe and joyful travels, Charlie. Your updates from the road make it feel like we are sharing the journey with you.
            God’s blessings to all fathers today on Father’s Day, and Our Heavenly Father. Also to the Blessed Trinity on Trinity Sunday!

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  5. Good stuff from the road, CJ. I especially like the small fry and nuggets memory. Reminds of that image of the young boy walking up to the Pope during Mass. The Pope was sitting, and apparently the little fella thought it was a good time to just walk up, explore, fiddle with the Pope’s vestments, etc. “Let the little children come,” and it’s a heartwarming bonus when they come with innocent, fearless, unbridled enthusiasm. How reinvigorating after so much of the adult variety with the pretense, calculation, starstruck eyes and whatnot.

    Hungry, thirsty, estranged, lacking clothes, sick, imprisoned… and I can’t help but note that “hungry” leads the list. Fries and nuggets for Grandpa!

    Prayers for the Faithful Orthodox servants!… and all the other endless variety besides. How many obscure and unknown Faithful hidden away, in cloisters or wherever God put them, around the planet? Only Heaven will one day reveal the immense impact of their callings.

    Good news: one such Orthodox Monk, Bro. Gideon, returned to the Monastery today –– nothing less than a miracle! Fr. Damian relayed that Bro. G was not only the first one in Mass, but that the other Monks are having a difficult time keeping up with him and his walker. Hey, he’s wiry and resilient, but I saw all the x-rays including a head shot that looked like a bowl of potato chips. God can do all things! As for his bros, the original rascal pack is heading for the Monastery where the itinerary includes axes, chainsaws and a certain tree. If I have my may, we’ll cut it down to a six foot trunk which will be carved up into OLofG’s likeness. I’ve never sculpted in the chainsaw and tree medium, but feeling inspired nonetheless.

    Finally, you summed up the prevailing mindset, –– disorderly and backward as all get out –– perfectly. Many, many, many looking for more peace, but looking in all the wrong places. It always seemed clear that the more a soul loves, the more it has peace. Love for God. Love for neighbor. The working on self part should really involve little more than eliminating anything and everything that gets in the way of that.

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    1. All Glory to God for Brother Gideon’s progress! Wow!!! Sounds like a lotta’ joy you and your bros have planned for your time at the Monastery. Surely hope someone will be taking pics.

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      1. There is not a single person who has been involved with Bro. G’s situation that is not awestruck with gratitude and solemn wonder at God’s movements and the prayers of the Faithful. Both Fr. D and my Ma represent the deepest faith in the batch IMO, and even they are almost speechless at the miraculous physical and mental healing. “Joy” IS the word. What especially made me grin is getting around to talking with my bros about visiting him once he got back to the Monastery. They all thought we needed to do something special. Let’s go up there and chop some wood,” says I. ‘Course I can’t necessarily take credit for that bit of inspiration, but… hey, we’ll be wood-chopping at a Monastery.

        Picture taking, B? Sigh. Have you met me?

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    3. So happy to hear about Bro. Gideon! He sure did have an army praying for him. I get why you’re taking down that tree– I’m one of seven siblings and we all sure stood up for each other. God bless!

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    7. This is such great news. Prayers answered! Thank you Jesus, Mary, Joseph, all the angels and saints!! MP, My husband and I spent a weekend with Bro. Gideon for spiritual guidance last year. He is wonderful and very blessed with his healing prayers that he prayed over us.

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      1. Nice, SanSan. It really is a small world. He felt particularly called by Our Lady to that very special ministry. You no doubt also heard the echo of our earthly ma in his prayers since it was she who taught him here.

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  6. CHarlin (mp) michael and I cheered you when ur new piece came up & we realized at THAT moment you were giving ur talk in NH With Doug & STEVEBC.. sort of cool thing happened then… I started READING OUT LOUD your piece on the Beautiful sisters of the Eucharist. ..Michael being Italian was watching the Godfather on tv…and MUTED it to HEAR your new piece. .hahahaha.. you got to him Charlie and he chuckled a lot about your part where you said, “there are a lot of jerks out there!” GO CHARLIE GO CHARLIE GO CHARLIE. ..cheer cheer cheer..Save souls🤗😇😘

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    1. “A lot of jerks out there”, And the left probably thinks likewise of us; reminds me of the song:
      Stuck in the Middle with You…
      ‘Clowns to the left of me,
      Jokers to the right, here I am,
      Stuck in the middle with you’
      …typical extended family reunion:-) …we all have to seesaw our way to help each other reach the celestial hallowed halls.

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      1. The difference is that we think you are jerks if you keep trying to force us to do what YOU want. The left thinks we are jerks when we just want to be left alone and won’t do what they want. The left would make war on us rather than let us mind our own business. We will accept war rather than submit to the dictatorship of the left. So, whatever they think, they’re jerls and we are not.

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  7. Wow- love this. God bless those beautiful sisters. Thank you fir sharing your grandson and his sweetness. And “rope a dope.” So funny! That is a really funny visual too. Thank you for bringing clarity, encouragement and humor in these times!

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  9. The cultural war is being fought on social media, brother. Don’t fall for satans trap of making you retreat to an echo chamber of like minded individuals as that’s a waste of time and effort 🙂

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    1. Not to worry, Tom. I pray that ThinkSpot may become a go-to place for all legitimate thought without censorship, but I like the battlefield. Not gonna quit it unless I have to – or unless the battle has moved to a new field. Pinterest was just a silly, ancillary site and easily discarded for me. Facebook…I’ll stick to it until they kick me off or until they have been conquered by a site that respects genuine free and open speech rights.

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  10. REEE-markable video clip of a Scottish high school teacher disciplining a student who he kicked out of class for insisting that there are only two genders.

    Rod Dreher wrote about this today and shared a screen shot of the following passage from Roger Scruton’s Fools, Frauds and Firebrands: Thinkers of the New Left:

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      1. Yes, Patrick. Dennis Prager had an observation he shared not long ago… After one repeatedly speaks the lies, that one actually starts believing those lies. For those so afflicted, it really will take a strong intervention by the Lord. Then, I think, people of faith will be working overtime tending to the souls who are making a return to the Lord as we reaffirm: How GREAT is the Mercy of God when we own our sins, repent and place our past squarely in His Infinite Redemption. It will be glorious.

        For now, when I bump into articles, talks and videos which present scenarios such as this with the Scottish teacher and student, it reminds me how much spiritual wood must be chopped via ongoing prayers and sacrifices for souls. We can do it.

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    3. What a heroic kid– to speak truth. We need an army of people willing to fearlessly speak truth to lies when confronted with these absurd lies.

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  11. Happy Father’s Day To Charlie, Our Spiritual Father & To all Our Holy Priests on here that are our Spiritual Father’s too…God bless you all😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇

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  12. Thanking God for Archbishop Viganò’s courageous voice with his willingness to stay the course and offer clarification: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/archbishop-vigano-clarifies-points-arising-from-new-interview

    In our little chapel we’ve added another evening of Adoration with the express intention of praying for the Church as we plead for the graces needed for the truth to be revealed in whatever transparency the Lord deems necessary so that the total rot can be exposed and excised, named and corrected, with commensurate repentance expressed and reparation offered… that the Bride of Christ will be freed of this ugliness and shine in the great splendor as Christ established her to be.

    In these days of waiting, praying and doing, I have found solace in meditating on John 11, replacing the words “the Church” for “Lazarus”. Christ WILL show up at just the right time and the ugly evil entrenched in the Church today WILL die for He promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against her.

    We are as the sisters of Lazarus, presenting His/our beloved Church to Christ: “So the sisters sent word to Jesus, ‘Lord, the one you love is sick.’ When he heard this, Jesus said, ‘This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.'” Is this not so for the Church today?

    So many rich lines in John 11 when thinking of our Church:
    * It is when the Church walks at night that she stumbles, for she has no light.
    * Jesus said, “The Church will rise again.”
    * When Jesus saw his people weeping…he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled… Jesus wept.
    * He commissions us anew: “Take away the stone.” A stone comprised of rot in the Church which has hidden a much more deadly and foul stench than that of Lazarus’ decaying body.
    * Christ is calling our Church today to “Come out!” Out of the darkness and culture of death that we may “take off the grave clothes” in every next right step before us.

    It is a dynamic process, this business of repenting and acknowledging the darkness of our ways as we embrace the Light of Jesus’ Mercy, knowing it is surely and fully there for all who would bend the knee and keep God’s Commands. What a future full of Hope have we!

    Liked by 14 people

  14. Happy Father day to Charlie and all of the Fathers here. My son gave me a card where he thank me for teaching him to pray. I hear him as I type this this singing to himself the hymn “Only begotten Son and Word of God . . .”, the Ruthenian Catholic version.

    God bless you all. I have been blessed with a lot of work, and, as the farmers say, “make hay while the sun shines, so that is what I, too, must do. A few quick things:

    Charlie, I will send you a short forward to a book that explains the patristics roots of some of the problems in the Latin Church. It will give you something fun to read on the road. It will also explain some of the problems that caused the reformation and actually made it worse.

    Beckita and all, I have had many adventures with Evagrius of Pontus, John Cassian and the Desert Fathers. Someday, God willing, a monastery will be founded in my neck of the woods.

    For my birthday I bought myself the liturgical commentaries of St. Symeon of Thessalonika. Everything is relate to the heavenly liturgy and the angels. What beauty! Who in their right mind would want to go to hell? So, I pray for everybody, we want to get them all in, or as many who are willing to accept the grace.

    I have found that the next stage from acknowledging our sins, saying I’m sorry, and repenting the sins that we have committed, is to pray for those we have wounded, knowingly or unknowingly by our sins. “In our thoughts and our words, what I have done and what I have failed to do.” Healing the wounds of others is very important, and too often overlooked.

    I regularly talk to Mary, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, my Guardian Angel and God the Father. I have given God the Father my pawpaw tree and garden and He advise me what to do (No, he does not talk to me like Charlie). Boy, He takes care of things! He really like gardening, and no wonder he placed us in a garden! He is teaching me absolute trust. I thank Jesus for his sacrifice and rub his sore feet. I thank Mom for what she did, the all pure, all holy Mother of God. The Holy Spirit is the life within me and I have no life in me other than that from the Trinity – on this Trinity Sunday for the Latin Church, and All Saints Sunday for us Byzantines.

    Love and Hugs to all!

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    1. Beautiful, James! SO beautiful. Love your sweet boy’s expressed gratitude. ❤️ n hugs to you and yours as well. Blessed Saints Day to you! May the great Cloud of Witnesses continue to remain with us, heartening, guiding, correcting, inspiring and walking in solidarity with us as we carry on.

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    3. Well as for “Who would want to go to hell’, 1/3 of the angels made that choice and became demons along with Lucifer despite their superior intelligence, so let us pray for us poor humans with our much inferior intellects, that God will continue to grace us with truth.

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  15. Happy Father’s Day to all the dads! As I’m solo this weekend, I had the time to concoct something special. Thought I’d invite you all on this mornings trek, “Breakfast with Mustangs,” an ode to every pappy and grandpappy at ASOH (but ran across some of my favorite mares too). As a bonus, PD, I finally found your horse as well. Don’t forget to turn on/up the volume and enjoy.

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      1. And wouldn’t you know, B, there’s never a single trek where I don’t cross paths with the gentle mare, “Red.” Down in these parts… where a river runs through it.

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      1. Well, I’ve been known to talk it up a bit too, but knew that was your horse from a quarter mile away. You’d have laughed. Came up over a ridge heading one direction and I guess he spotted me because he called out from afar. So I changed direction to head over his way. We had a nice dialog which was fine by me. Heck, he was still chatting it up after I was a quarter mile on the other side of him. Refreshing, though, because most of the mustangs do little more than take a whiff. Maybe it’s the grin.

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  16. Very strange in ohio these days folksies. ..we all took our Michael and Bill (bro in law) out for dinner at BEAUTIFUL pier w in lakewood today. ..man…people are soooooooooooo depressed by the weather…I had to work SUPER DE DUPER hard to just get a few souls to smile…faces are twitching…they appear angry…it’s so sad aND very hostile environment. ..to me it seemed they werent looking up yet to God for answers of joy.. Beckita or Charlie…is there anything we can do in these situations to help Jesus and Mary get to them??? Or is patience still the key?

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    1. Linda, maybe their face was twitching because they were anxious, and not angry. I was watching the weather channel right at that time, and there just happened to be a 4.0 earthquake in that area at that time, and also a tornado warning. I was watching because it was heading in my direction., but your assessment may be correct also. Just thought i’d mention it. I also used to live in Lakewood a lifetime ago. …….God bless

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      1. Ohhhhhh….that makes good sense dolordee.. I always assume it’s my fault..lol..maybe it’s that…never entered my mind. Thank you I will remember that next time. .I could be crazy, but I felt Jesus was telling me today there’s gonna be a lot more get togethers lately…time to stretch out that hand???

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  17. From James Ignatius McAuley above:”Who in their right mind would want to go to hell? So, I pray for everybody, we want to get them all in, or as many who are willing to accept the grace.”
    Reminds me of the 11AM hour of the Passion https://bookofheaven.com/daily-schedule/24-hours-of-the-passion-of-our-lord-jesus-christ/ (referring to the nailing of the right hand of Jesus to the cross)
    “Blessed right hand of my Jesus, I kiss you, I compassionate you, I adore you and I thank you for myself and for all. For as many blows as you receive, so many souls do I ask you to free, at this moment, from eternal damnation. As many drops of Blood as You shed, so many souls do I pray You to wash in this most precious Blood of Yours. O my Jesus, for the bitter pain You suffer, I ask You to open the Heavens to all, and to bless all creatures. May your blessing call all sinners to conversion, and all heretics and unbelievers to the light of the Faith.”
    I like to think of this when praying the chaplet of Divine Mercy too.

    Liked by 7 people

    1. And in this, James and Sorrowful, we fulfill the request of Our Lady who noted in Fatima that too many poor souls go to hell because they are in need of our intercession.

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  18. Love Jordan Peterson. Glad he is creating a new social media.

    Great breakfast with Lambzie, Charlie, Steve, Steve’s mom and our neighbors Frank and Judy. Frank is a good man. He is now a 20 year survivor of a bone marrow transplant due to lukimia and lives with Joy and enthusiasm. Breakfast was a little late though as Steve and I, us two geeks, got carried away talking about solar and effects of low level microwave radiation from cell phones. The best part was that we were a happy family together for this moment in time. We will cherish it. Can’t be possessive. I hope others enjoy Charlie as much as he visits others around the country! Oh. And thanks to Holly and Ivy, our chickens, for contributing the great eggs we had for breakfast.

    Liked by 7 people

    1. So happy for Charlie and all of you who are welcoming him as he travels! Real JOY smack dab in the middle of a HUGE and pervasive mess, a worldwide civil war being fought on cultural lines. (Does that phrase describing the mess have a familiar ring to it? 🙂 )

      Well now, it’s time to greet Lambzie, Holly and Ivy again. (This shot is from a previous share, Doug.) Cluck cluck cluck cluck cluck!

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        2. Linda, in Charlie’s follow-on article “Grace Notes” you get your wish, with a bonus of my almost-95-year-old mother and Frank, a friend of Doug and Jacki’s. We all had a calm and nice breakfast together, sitting around their breakfast table, eating bacon and scrambled eggs, and enjoying each other’s company. Doug and Jacki have a lovely home, and it is a blessed place.

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          3. Wow, Steve, your mother is amazing! How youthful. My mom looked many years younger than she was. So dramatically so, that we lovingly nicknamed her “freak of nature”. Your mom deserves that moniker!

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            1. KimSevier 😀 😀 😀 ! I can’t wait to tell my mother about her new reputation. I’ll be adding this one to her previous one, “Force of Nature”! 😀

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    1. There’s a long history of nip and tuck activity concerning the governance of Hong Kong, Linda. Here’s a timeline of events which describes the ongoing struggles since China first ceded control of Hong Kong to the British in 1842. However, the chronology stops at 1917 and there great tension has intensified in these last two years. This current crisis with protesters flooding the streets is rooted in a bill that was going to be passed. This piece will get you more info. From it is this nugget which speaks volumes: “Critics were deeply concerned about making extradition easier to China, which has an abysmal human rights record and a highly politicized justice system.”

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      1. There is only one as smart as u: charlie!!! Beckita how do you know all this stuff??? Thank you for helping me understand it all🤗😇😘😘😘

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        1. Ha, Linda! Many and varied are the gifts the Lord has granted each and every one of us. Even more than the intelligence which God freely gave to Charlie, I admire the ways he has diligently harnessed his will and applied concerted effort to develop himself in the ways that he has, for his erudition enriches us all as he writes and we gather round to converse and make sense of what unfolds.

          On my first trip to China, 25 years ago, we landed in Hong Kong and spent a few days there visiting Catholic missions and apostolates before flying into the interior of mainland China, so the history and developments in Hong Kong have been of interest to me.

          I would imagine the theme song of this current uprising is causing heartburn among the hard line communists in Beijing. And I love it. Have a listen to the videos in this piece, if you like. https://shanghaiist.com/2019/06/16/sing-hallelujah-to-the-lord-has-become-the-unofficial-anthem-of-the-anti-extradition-protest-movement/

          Note that each picture begins a video of the song being sung in various settings. After I showed Father, he beamed. Then I heard him in the kitchen mimicking the elderly gentleman, a retired pastor, in the last clip. Of course, I found my best bass voice and joined in… a sight with sounds to behold, ensuing in a great bout of laughter.

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  20. Thank you Charlie for mentioning “Thinkspot” , can’t wait to get off the waiting list too. Also, loved hearing about the sisters–God bless them. And, I felt the same way as you about Trump’s interview with ABC. He’s a genius! Honest and forthright. The left can’t stand that!

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  21. I completely canceled FB for a number of reasons, but mostly bc I experience such great sorrow knowing the path family members and friends are on. FB posts becomes an ugly reminder that I choose not to bear. “In your face daily”. I already know and pray for each of them daily. Salt in the wounds not necessary. I do miss all the “good posts” tho, but have sought other avenues to find them.

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    1. I canceled FB seven yrs ago. I got tired of seeing my kids post their radical left positions. But, beyond that, who wants to read posts that say profound things like, “I went to Walmart today.”

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      2. Wah ha ha ha ha. Thanks, Frank. You caught me off guard while I was taking a sip of tea.

        Like

    2. HTTP, there are no words. I wish I could express my sadness at the mere thought of beautiful babies being taken in order to “harvest” their liver. It is such an absolute sickness, demonic.

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    3. I received a letter from the Thomas Moore Society, the lawyers that defend David Daleiden, saying that the “stay” has been lifted and both criminal and civil trials against David and Sandra are coming in September to hopefully break them. They need money for this costly (UNJUST) trial in Sf CA.

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      2. When my boys were teenagers, I talked to them about waiting for sex until marriage–one of my talking points was that if they got a girl pregnant they would have no say over the fate of their child. So tragic!! So unfair to men.

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      3. Heart Wrenching. It is difficult for me to hold back tears.

        Dear TNRS and ASOH people,
        On Wednesday mornings the Yellowstone Valley Pro-Life groups walks and prays outside the planned parenthood clinic. It is the day surgical abortions take place. Word is that the pro abortion people are supposed to show up and counter protest us. Please pray for our protection and that few to none pro aborts show up.

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        1. Praying for you, HttP. Be not afraid; be at peace as you stand for Life in prayerful vigil. I’ve been screeched at via drive by folks as they called me a bunch of nasty names during 40 Days for Life campaigns. Usually, it’s an anger which, when peeled back, reveals fear and pain over having participated in abortion. Remember: “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.” (Luke 6:22-23) Thanks for taking the risk to stand up for a culture of life, HttP.

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  23. Hang in there San San God has a plan. He uses our suffering to recruit more souls to the Kingdom. Don’t take it personally. I wanted to stop by and see my son last feb on way down to florida…he said we couldn’t stop for they had a board meeting. Ya right😝 We only see them once or twice per year 4 hrs max…I anticipated it ahead of time and offered the pain and sorrow of it all to Our Blessed mother..it came true..I cried my eyes out, but I’m certain..the pain and sorrow was for a greater glory and penance for myself I deserve… Always..Jesus I trust in you. .btw just heard from my son tonight..he’ll be here around 4th…oh happy times,😎

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    1. I don’t take it personally Linda. I know something greater is down the road, but until then I won’t watch it all on FB.

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      1. Truly, Linda. For a long time, it’s been a dream of Msgr. Pope to do this. And from his piece, this evoked tears:
        In a town accustomed to motorcades with revving motorcycle engines and blaring sirens that seem to say, “Get out of our way,” this procession will be at a more leisurely, prayerful pace. Its message is more tender, even if it delays people for a moment:

        “He who loves you and died for you is passing by. He is calling you now to the repentance that gives joy. His power is not worldly and passing but heavenly and eternal. Yes, let us praise and adore Him, who alone can save us. In a city of potentates here is the true King, without whom nothing is possible!”

        Let’s pray for them as they proclaim Jesus in the streets of our nation’s capital. As you say, Linda: HUGE.

        Liked by 5 people

  25. And with last weekend’s parade in St Louis for the great Blues victory and cup my nephew was wondering out loud what it would be like if folks showed up for the cup of the Lord or in my mind what if over half a million showed up to process the Host in Corpus Christi?

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  26. Thank you to all of you for your kind comments about Sr. Mary Clare and myself, (Sr. Charista Maria). Thank you to Charlie especially. We are continuing to make videos on Facebook and will get someone to upload them to YouTube. People are thankful that we are getting Truth out, especially the basics of our faith. We are in process of having someone revamp our website. We will have much to share on there. Please keep up with our Blogs and Vlogs. We pray to be in the army of our Blessed Mother who crushes the head of satan! Please keep us in your prayers as we pray for you!

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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.