Scenes Through the Looking Glass, Part II

Posted on by charliej373

By Charlie Johnston

Modern society is characterized by malicious absurdity run by disreputable lowlifes with laughable pretensions. Thus far the Twitter Files have confirmed that the establishment media, Democratic Party, and the US Justice Dep’t. have, indeed, been collaborating to censor ordinary Americans on purely political grounds, lied repeatedly, and worked to destroy the lives and livelihoods of dissenters who would not buy into the lies. The FBI paid Twitter three and a half million dollars to act as its political censorship arm.

Prominent Democratic officials make wild accusations about what they think Republicans might be doing while ignoring hard evidence of Democrats committing the actual crimes they accuse Republicans of thinking of. Idiot Republican officials collaborate with Democrats on many of their vicious schemes, apparently as an act of good will.  Welcome to the digital age of fascism.

Almost all of the schemes run out by officials are so ridiculous that serious people should not even entertain them, much less discuss them seriously. The leaders of our society argue that men can be women and vice versa, that mutilating children for gender “affirmation” is a positive good, that violent criminals should be quickly released (but that their victims should be disarmed), that shutting down our vast supplies of efficient, reliable energy to be replaced with inefficient, unreliable sources will save the planet rather than impoverish everyone, that opening up all national borders will strengthen the country, and that diversity of thought is to be forbidden. I have just barely scratched the surface of the absurd enthusiasms of our governing class.

America achieved greatness because it emphasized faith, family and freedom and worked hard to adopt good policy at every turn. Now a wastrel generation is determined to destroy all that. At least 80 percent of our governing class are lowlifes, people who in normal times would be tossed out of a dive bar, lest they taint its reputation. They should not be taken seriously, except for the fact they control most of the levers of power. Incapable of building anything, they occupy themselves destroying all that other, better people have created.

A couple hundred years ago, the brilliant economist, Adam Smith, observed that, “There is a lot of ruin in a nation.” His point was that a successful nation is built to absorb a lot of dysfunction before it collapses. Our modern leaders are not governing so much as they are testing the boundaries of exactly how much ruin the nation can endure before collapse. The problem is not just the abysmal quality of our leadership class, but that so many of us engage with them rather than forcefully driving them from the public square.

CORAC has been working to give people a way to work with other serious people to create a social fabric in the midst of the ruins. I don’t think the American Republic can be saved, only resurrected after the harpies running it have collapsed it. We will work together to provide the means and know-how for people to live together despite the depredations of a government that is devouring itself before our eyes.

*********

More than a few solid law enforcement officials, including some retired FBI and CIA agents have encouraged me to dial it back on my contempt for the politicized Justice Dep’t. and the FBI. I am speaking here of good people, insisting to me that there are people internally trying to weather the current storm and reform the affected agencies. None of these good people have tried to defend the massive abuses.

I am encouraged that there are more whistleblowers coming forward now than I had expected. There are some real rumblings of internal discontent.

That being said, I have come to the conclusion that the FBI must be dismantled entirely. The culture is utterly corrupt. The good people working there will have to find work at a new agency or a state agency. This agency is beyond repair. The Twitter Files revelations prove just how utterly corrupt and politicized it has become. The only reason I won’t talk about it so much is because I expect that it will be washed away with the calamitous collapse I think is now inevitable – and so in that sense, the corruption of the federal justice departments are more a symptom of our national degradation than a cause.

*********

I was stunned to see that some 16% of Protestant Churches across the nation will not hold any services on Christmas Day, for fear that it would inconvenience their congregations. Say what?! Honoring Christ with worship on the day celebrating his birth would be a distraction from the other social rituals associated with it?!

I’m not picking on Protestants here. I’m still processing my anger with the Catholic Bishops who curtailed Masses during the Covid overreaction, not to mention my absolute fury with those few who mandated that their Priests – and in a few cases, even parishioners – submit themselves to an untested experimental therapy in order to participate, a therapy that has now been proven to have horrific consequences for people’s health. Yes, the Bishops did not know that at the time (though a little serious research would have shown early on how toxic this was likely to be), but it has always been contrary to Catholic doctrine to force anyone to submit to even licit medical interventions against their will, much less untested, experimental ones. If they had ignorantly recommended the shots, without mandating it (maintaining a pretense to authority and to scientific knowledge they did not have) I would have just chided them for error rather than abuse. But abuse it was.

The larger problem here is the subordination of spiritual means to temporal ends. Some prelates believe that worship is important, so long as it does not interfere with leisure time. Others believe that spiritual health is important, so long as we do not risk getting a case of the sniffles from it. Thankfully, the prelates who believe this are a minority – just like a cancer is a small growth on otherwise healthy lungs. But both cancer and disbelief grow if not attended to. May all of us – and especially those prelates charged with leading us and implanting the spark of faith in us, learn to say, with the father in Mark 9:24, “I do believe. Help my unbelief.”

*********

Several decades ago I encouraged a friend of mine who was a solid local conservative activist and leader to run for the State Central Committee – the governing board of the Illinois Republican Party. It was important to have a solidly conservative voice seated among those who decided the formal direction of the state party. But I also counseled my friend that, while he would have a largely free hand in primaries, once the voters had spoken, he was duty bound to support their nominees. Some of them would be squishes – but squishes chosen by the voters. If he ran he would be pledging himself to be an agent of the party, supporting its choices even when the voters’ judgment diverged from his own. I suggested to him that if he could not do that, as marvelous as he was, he should not run. It was a matter of both honor and integrity.

I thought of this when the controversy erupted over the Vatican removing Fr. Frank Pavone’s priestly faculties (the use of the term, “laicize” is both archaic and incorrect. A defrocked priest remains a priest all his life; he just may not exercise the faculties of his orders except in a bona fide emergency). I am in almost complete agreement with this marvelous piece on the matter written by Eric Sammons. This is a case in which I fault both Fr. Pavone and the Vatican: Fr. Pavone for his refusal to accept legitimate orders and the Vatican for eagerly disciplining orthodox priests while ignoring the depredations of heterodox prelates.

In the late 90’s and early 2000’s, all three of my director priests asked if I might consider the priesthood, myself. I told them absolutely not. A priest has a very fundamental duty of obedience to his superior that goes far beyond matters of faith and morals. I told them in times ahead there were things coming that would require faithful laymen to do things that priests, by the very nature of their vocation, could not and should not. A Catholic layman is duty-bound to obey his Bishop in matters of faith and morals so long as it does not contradict the clear teaching of Scripture or the Magisterium. Otherwise, he is free to speak his mind, including on Catholic matters (so long as he is obedient to spiritual decrees). He is also free to live his conscience without interference of the Bishop on all matters that do not contradict faith and morals. A Priest, however, takes a much greater vow of obedience to his superiors, accepting the assignments given him by them and obeying even temporal decrees so long as they are not contrary to authentic Catholic doctrine.

My Priests are all of Opus Dei, a prelature which takes pride in its fidelity to the Magisterium and its loyalty to the Holy Father. I went further than just telling my Priests that I would never participate in the formal authority of the Church. I told them that St. John Paul, the then-sitting Pope, was easy to be loyal to, but they must prepare themselves for a time when it would be much harder to balance their legitimate duty of fidelity to the Magisterium with their legitimate duty of obedience to their superiors. I was NOT telling them they would have to choose one over the other, but that they must live both well in a time where it would be very hard to do so.

My sense with the Fr. Pavone situation is that he has been an effective advocate of the cause for life with great fortitude and resolve. But he has been deficient as a Priest, unwilling to submit to lawful authority that he pledged to do with his original vows. This is a touchy area with me. My duty of obedience to my Bishop is not as great as that of a Priest or Deacon, but because of my situation and a voluntary vow, freely given, is greater than that of the usual layman. I give thanks for it. It helps me navigate the treacherous course I walk with greater confidence.

A few years back, my Bishop privately rebuked me for restlessly and subtly trying to justify my errors and gave me direction. There was much in his directive that was kind and, even, affectionate. But he was clear. It stung. As I contemplated what he had written, I came to hear the voice of God speaking to me through the Bishop. When I made my errors it stung. I did, indeed, take opportunities to highlight how things were playing out as I had said, even if different in detail than what I had imagined. But contemplating the Bishop’s directive, it hit me that God always justifies who He sends. If I was restlessly trying to justify myself, it revealed both a lack of faith and of docility in me. God would justify me or He would not. That is the lot of all who do what I do. Mine was just to wait upon the Lord. The Lord weeded out some of the vanity in me with my Bishop’s help. But it would have been to no avail had I ignored or defied him.

Anyone the Lord sends, as Bishop, Priest, Deacon, Religious, or even purported mystic, must live the decrees of the Lord in their entirety as best he can discern. For anyone the Lord sends is a sort of witness. If you give witness by openly defying rules the Lord, Himself, has decreed, what sort of witness is that? As the Lord, Himself, said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

At the same time it is perfectly obvious that the Vatican is very selectively enforcing the rules – only against orthodox Priests. When it can glibly appoint pro-abortion advocates to the Pontifical Academy for Life, when it can celebrate Fr. James Martin’s open defiance of Catholic doctrine on human sexuality and family life, when it can openly betray faithful Catholics in China and, for that matter, the rest of the world, it should not be surprised that rousing itself to action only against orthodox believers is greeted with contempt by the faithful. It is a contempt that is well deserved.

I hope that Fr. Pavone will continue his pro-life work. He has been good at it. But if he was going to demand that he be his own boss while doing it, he should have, like me, stayed a layman in the first place. I am glad he is fully orthodox. He lives one side of the conundrum I presented my Priests several decades ago quite well. He does not even bother to try to live the other element of the conundrum. His witness would be best if he lived all the vows he took before God. God has a plan – and it is neither my plan nor Fr. Pavone’s plan. We work best when we live within the framework God has designed and that we have freely chosen. How many people speak with admiration of St. Padre Pio’s obedience when he was suppressed for a time? Was not the glory of God revealed both in his obedience and in his work? Did God not justify him?

There is no doubt that our Bishops and Priests are being sifted in Christ’s winnowing fan right. But so are we. If we choose one or the other in the modern battle between orthodoxy and authority we will be counted among the chaff. We must endeavor to live both. Though it is certain we will make mistakes, the genuine effort, itself, leads to our sanctification through Christ. Though His yoke is easy, He is, nonetheless, a demanding Master.

If communication goes out for any length of time, meet outside your local Church at 9 a.m. on Saturday mornings. Tell friends at Church now in case you can’t then. CORAC teams will be out looking for people to gather in and work with.

Find me on Twitter at @Charlie62394802

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The Corps of Renewal and Charity (CORAC)

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35 thoughts on “Scenes Through the Looking Glass, Part II”

  2. The image of Pelosi and Harris displaying the huge Ukrainian flag in the House Chamber was most disturbing. Was that a sign that the foreign occupation is complete? 🤔

    Liked by 5 people

  3. Thank you Charlie. Yes, it is so hard these days to wade through the injustices before us. I will wait on the Lord. I pray that Father Pavone reads this and ponders what God calls him to do.

    Liked by 4 people

  4. Thank you for the clarity and direction, Charlie. Most times it is enough just to look at our own sorry state and work on it (and our relationship with the Lord), rather than try to “fix” things beyond our control.

    Liked by 4 people

  5. What if the Pope is wrong? Do we still have to submit to his authority. What if he is asking us to do something contrary to the Catechism and Church teaching? (ie; by claiming we have a ‘moral duty’ to take the jab?) Or, what if he’s not a legitimate Pope at all but instead a puppet for the globalists?

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Dear LiaMarie,
      We do not have to follow the Pope’s opinions, only his official teachings on faith and morals. Be not afraid. Pray and listen for the Truth. Ask the Holy Spirit to lead you in all truth.
      God bless you, katey in OR ✝️🙏🏽🎄⭐️

      Liked by 3 people

    2. I have written frequently about the serious limitation on the Pope and any Biship’s authority. Nothing is changed about this. While we have no obligation to obey matters specifically contrary to obvious commands of Scripture and no obligation to obey things that are not within the limited scope of a Bishop’s authority (including the Pope) that does not release us from being obedient to legitimate authority.

      Liked by 4 people

      1. ” I have just barely scratched the surface of the absurd enthusiasms of our governing class.”
        Truer words were never spoken.
        Just as Trump was an answer to prayer at the time, isn’t Elon Musk the same.

        Liked by 5 people

  6. Dear Charlie ~
    Laughter and tears in this one… “At least 80 percent of our governing class are lowlifes, people who in normal times would be tossed out of a dive bar, lest they taint its reputation.” 😂
    I do believe our country will be taken down to be rebuilt. I don’t know it, but I do believe it. We have a good Constitution and the nation can rebuilt upon it by God-fearing people. I hope and pray that I will live to see us begin again.🙏🏽😢
    Meanwhile, I pray and work at building family ~ praying firmly agains the evil and lovingly for the good. Steve and I have begun taking our daily (OK, it’s cold so almost daily) walks in our own neighborhood. We smile and greet any neighbors we meet so that we will look familiar to them.😄 Just doing the little bit that we can.
    God bless you Charlie and all here ~ many prayers for us all as we begin this new year… and a very blessed Christmas to all here.
    God bless us, every single one!
    Katey (and Steve) in Oregon ✝️🙏🏽🎄⭐️🕯

    Liked by 7 people

  7. JESUS = GOOD NEWS! …;-) PM

    https://www.frontpagemag.com/why-the-christmas-story-never-ceases-to-amaze/

    https://amgreatness.com/2022/12/21/why-many-conservatives-wont-be-with-their-children-or-grandchildren-this-christmas/

    The Mental Giant of The Bronx ….. In-Action ;-(
    https://www.lifenews.com/2022/12/22/aoc-claims-abortion-is-a-religious-sacrament/

    https://galganov.com/2022/12/22/why-the-left-hates-the-second-amendment/

    https://patriotpost.us/alexander/93723-fbi-report-doesnt-help-splc-fundraising-2022-12-22

    https://www.theblaze.com/news/pelosi-and-democrat-leadership-played-critical-role-in-creating-capitol-security-plan-that-failed-during-jan-6-protests

    Yep!
    https://usawatchdog.com/us-government-in-full-scale-implosion-because-of-corruption-catherine-austin-fitts/

    Scary ****
    https://theintercept.com/2022/12/20/twitter-dod-us-military-accounts/
    https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2022/12/22/elon-musk-perplexed-as-twitter-begins-widespread-suspensions-of-accounts-critical-of-u-s-funding-for-ukraine-and-zelenskyy-grift/#more-241255
    https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/fbi-twitter-formed-censorship-alliance-they-cant-allowed-get-away
    https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2022/12/the-fbi-says-pound-sand.php
    https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2022/12/22/egg-prices-surge-to-record-levels-as-christmas-grocery-prices-hit-consumers/
    https://www.glennbeck.com/glenn-food-starvation-is-my-biggest-economic-worry-2659002178

    Does anyone know the number of times the word Democracy is found in The Declaration of Independence, Constitution or Federalist Papers?
    https://reclaimthenet.org/kamala-harris-social-media-work-white-house-misinformation-democracy/

    GOD SAVE THE REPUBLIC & ALL HERE!

    Liked by 4 people

  8. “Where Peter is, there is the Church!” —St. Ambrose of Milan.
    “Pray that, above all things, the gates of light may be opened to you; for these things cannot be perceived or understood by all, but only by the man to whom God and his Christ have imparted wisdom” (From Clement of Rome to Augustine)

    “But where else are we to go?” (John 6:68).
    “They, therefore, walk in the path of dangerous error who believe that they can accept Christ as the Head of the Church, while not adhering loyally to His Vicar on earth. They have taken away the visible head, broken the visible bonds of unity and left the Mystical Body of the Redeemer so obscured and so maimed, that those who are seeking the haven of eternal salvation can neither see it nor find it.” —POPE PIUS XII, Mystici Corporis Christi (On the Mystical Body of Christ), June 29, 1943; n. 41; vatican.va

    “It is on [Peter] that He builds the Church, and to him that He entrusts the sheep to feed. And although he assigns power to all the apostles, yet he founded a single chair, thus establishing by His own authority the source and hallmark of the Churches’ oneness… a primacy is given to Peter and it is thus made clear that there is but one Church and one chair… If a man does not hold fast to this oneness of Peter, does he imagine that he still holds the faith? If he deserts the Chair of Peter upon whom the Church was built, has he still confidence that he is in the Church?” — St. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, “On the Unity of the Catholic Church”, n. 4;  The Faith of the Early Fathers, Vol. 1, pp. 220-221

    ” Benedict XVI was right to recalibrate some of the faithful’s false expectation that every word uttered and every action performed by a pope would be impeccable;
    “The post-Pentecost Peter… is that same Peter who, for fear of the Jews, belied his Christian freedom (Galatians 2 11–14); he is at once a rock and a stumbling-block. And has it not been thus throughout the history of the Church that the Pope, the successor of Peter, has been at once Petra and Skandalon—both the rock of God and a stumbling block?” —POPE BENEDICT XIV,

    Liked by 4 people

  9. It is interesting as I read this commentary by Charlie that another servant of God came to mind. There was a religious sister in Brazil, Sr. María Antonia, who was able to communicate with her guardian angel. The way Charlie is receptive to being corrected by his bishop or his angel is similar to how she was corrected by her angel. the title of her book is Bajo las alas de un ángel. In English I think it is Under the wings of an Angel or something similar.

    Liked by 3 people

  10. Ha, how the world would be different if a pope like John Paul II was still at the helm of the Catholic Church!

    How the world must be messed up if the faithful need to pray for the conversion of their current Pope…

    Nevertheless, Merry Christmas to everyone!

    Liked by 5 people

  11. Charlie, I am IMMENSELY appreciative of you addressing this issue so quickly. It is such a sickening conflict with Fr. Pavone, with all sides shaving fault.  Selectively defrocking a priest for his disobedience, while ignoring another who blatantly trashing the clear teachings of the Church is regurgitating, so repulsive.  But listening to all the supporters of Fr./Mr. Pavone is sickening.  I don’t see a reason for defrocking one priest, while many of Judas’ followers run the Church amuck.Thanks Charlie for addressing it.  NAILED IT !

    Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPad

    Liked by 4 people

  12. VIII. Excess of Love Supplicating Love December 23
    EIGHTH EXCESS OF LOVE

     “My daughter, do not leave Me alone; place your head upon the womb of my dear Mama, and even from the outside you will hear my moans and my supplications. In seeing that neither my moans nor my supplications move the creature to compassion for my love, I assume the attitude of the poorest of beggars; and stretching out my little hand, I ask – for pity’s sake, and at least as alms – for their souls, for their affections and for their hearts. My love wanted to win over the heart of man at any cost; and in seeing that after seven excesses of my love, he was still reluctant, he played deaf, he did not care about Me and did not want to give himself to Me, my love wanted to push itself further. It should have stopped; but no, it wanted to overflow even more from within its boundaries; and from the womb of my Mama, it made my voice reach every heart, with the most insinuating manners, with the most fervent prayers, with the most penetrating words. And do you know what I said to them? ‘My child, give me your heart; I will give you everything you want, provided that you give Me your heart in exchange. I have descended from Heaven to make a prey of it. O please, do not deny it to Me! Do not delude my hopes!’ And in seeing him reluctant – even more, many turned their backs to Me – I passed on to moaning; I joined my little hands and, crying, with a voice suffocated by sobs, I added: ‘Ohh! Ohh! I am the little beggar; you don’t want to give Me your heart – not even as alms? Is this not a greater excess of my love; that the Creator, in order to approach the creature, takes the form of a little baby so as not to strike fear in him; that He asks for the heart of the creature, at least as alms, and in seeing that he does not want to give it, He supplicates, moans and cries?”

    Then I heard Him say: “And you, don’t you want to give Me your heart? Or maybe you too want Me to moan, beg and cry in order to give Me your heart? Do you want to deny Me the alms I ask of you?” And as He was saying this I heard Him as though sobbing, and I: ‘My Jesus, do not cry, I give You my heart and all of myself.’ Then, the interior voice continued: “Move further; pass on to the ninth excess of my love.”
    https://luisapiccarreta.me/prayers/divine-will-paryers-with-the-servant-of-god-luisa-piccarreta/the-nine-excesses-of-love-2

    Liked by 2 people

  13. Great great piece Charlie!!! All your pieces are really great and always hearten the faithful!🥰. It’s so good to know there is hope for the future in acknowledging God, taking the next right step and being a sign of hope to those whom God puts in our path!!! The storms and disappointments come but by golly because of you, Charlie I’m barely down a moments time when by your message, I get right back up again and begin again getting on to the business of serving God and this people! Sometimes, that entails just praying and sacrificing for our fellows and that’s ok too!!! It ain’t hunky dory anywhere these days but being in your group and the Good Godly people of CoRaC makes it feel hunky Dory most days to me !!!

    God bless you and everyone here!!!

    Merry Christmas 🎄 Eve Eve!!!

    God is good and the always wins!!!🥰🙏🎄🎁🎅🤶😘🎂👶🏼🐶

    Liked by 3 people

  14. JESUS = GOOD NEWS! …;-)

    https://catholicexchange.com/the-manger-the-cross-point-to-the-same-truth/

    https://stream.org/service-sacrifice-christmas-prayer/

    https://spiritdailyblog.com/archives/archives-in-heaven-every-day-is-christmas

    https://catholicexchange.com/christmas-eve-with-the-von-trapp-family/

    https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/dec/22/editorial-remembering-purpose-and-joy-of-christmas/

    Where are the Bishops!!?? Let’s Face-It and most here have figured It long ago! A large % of Our Perfumed Church Princes are Wolves in Shepherd’s Clothing and an even larger % are Sheep in Sheep’s Clothing! ;-( …. cowed by The Wolves!
    Am I the only one who remembers PBXVI and his Vatican Wolves comment. In this life we will never know, exactly, what Went-Down with B’s Abdication but I got a C-Note that sez The Wolves had something to do with it ….. and with the ascension of PF!
    PBXVI is alive and kicking almost 10 YEARS after he quit …. that’s a lot longer than a bunch of Pope’s tenures!? …… The Remnant Church is Where It’s At …. NOW!!
    https://www.catholicleague.org/pro-life-women-punished-in-u-s-and-u-k/
    ……. Hmmmm … Is the Kettle calling the Pot Black? …. Age of The Great Deception?
    https://www.ncregister.com/cna/pope-francis-to-roman-curia-be-vigilant-against-the-evil-that-quietly-lurks-among-us
    https://www.bishop-accountability.org/2022/11/seattle-archdiocese-criticized-for-buying-2-4-million-home-for-archbishop/

    https://www.crisismagazine.com/opinion/the-long-shadow-of-pius-xi-one-hundred-years-later

    https://citizenfreepress.com/breaking/senator-kennedy-this-is-why-i-voted-against-omnibus/

    https://alt-market.us/if-government-officials-want-to-prevent-rebellion-they-should-stop-committing-treason/

    https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/canadian-government-tells-kids-theyll-be-santas-naughty-list-without-covid-vaccine-masks

    https://www.westernjournal.com/suspects-attempt-smash-grab-jewelry-robbery-didnt-realize-marines-nearby/

    https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/florida-supreme-court-approves-desantis-grand-jury-covid-19-vaccines

    https://stream.org/the-brew-a-merry-christmas-to-all-and-to-all-a-good-morning/
    https://www.floppingaces.net/2022/12/23/the-week-in-radical-leftism-12-23-2022/
    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/

    GOD SAVE THE REPUBLIC & ALL HERE!

    Liked by 2 people

  15. (I mentioned this a few years ago, but current events merit a synopsis.)
    Fulton Sheen with his intellectual prowess was still a model of humbly acquiescing to authority: He asked his bishop which of two prestigious,(Oxford or Columbia U.), teaching offers he should accept. Bishop said neither, come home and assigned him to a less desirable parish.

    Sheen did not complain: “I can say in my own heart that to me this was the will of God. I had to forget my desire to follow a more intellectual vocation, and was resigned to being a curate. This gave me a great peace of mind. It was my first test, as a young priest, in obedience. The will of God was expressed through the Bishop as a successor of the Apostles and that was sufficient for me. ” (from Treasure in Clay) Many of the lax parishioners came back and even from neighboring parishes that those priests warned them to stay put.

    After about a year the bishop told him that a few years ago he agreed to assign Fulton at Catholic University. Sheen asked why he didn’t send him there at the time he returned from Europe, to which the Bishop replied, ‘after your success abroad, I wanted to see if you would be obedient. Run along now you have my blessing.’

    Liked by 8 people

  16. IX. Excess of Love Agonizing Love December 24
    NINTH EXCESS OF LOVE

     “My daughter, my state is ever more painful. If you love Me, keep your gaze fixed on Me, to see if you can offer some relief to your Jesus; a little word of love, a caress, a kiss, will give respite to my crying and to my afflictions. Listen my daughter, after I gave eight excesses of my love, and man requited them so badly, my love did not give up and wanted to add the ninth excess to the eighth. And this was yearnings, sighs of fire, flames of desire, for I wanted to go out of the maternal womb to embrace man. This reduced my little Humanity, not yet born, to such an agony as to reach the point of breathing my last. But as I was about to breathe my last, my Divinity, which was inseparable from Me, gave Me sips of life, and so I regained life to continue my agony, and return again to the point of death. This was the ninth excess of my love: to agonize and to die of love continuously for the creature. Oh! What a long agony of nine months! Oh! How love suffocated Me and made Me die. Had I not had the Divinity with Me, which gave Me life again every time I was about to finish, love would have consumed Me before coming out to the light of day.”

    Then He added: “Look at Me, listen to Me, how I agonize, how my heart beats, pants, burns. Look at Me – now I die.” And He remained in deep silence. I felt like dying. My blood froze in my veins, and trembling, I said to Him: ‘My Love, my Life, do not die, do not leave me alone. You want love, and I will love You; I will not leave You ever again. Give me your flames to be able to love You more, and be consumed completely for You.’
    https://luisapiccarreta.me/prayers/divine-will-paryers-with-the-servant-of-god-luisa-piccarreta/the-nine-excesses-of-love-2

    Liked by 2 people

  17. JESUS = GOOD NEWS! …;-)

    President Ronald Reagan @ Christmas 81/83

    https://cnsnews.com/blog/michael-w-chapman/reagan-christmas-millions-us-jesus-much-more-he-divine-0

    https://denvercatholic.org/mary-the-church-christmas-and-jimmy-lai/

    https://www.wnd.com/2022/12/christmas-presents-no-christmas-presence/

    https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/dec/23/what-child-is-this/

    https://cnsnews.com/blog/michael-w-chapman/trump-americas-greatness-happened-because-jesus-christ-and-his-followers-and

    https://speakingaboutnews.com/why-the-christmas-story-never-ceases-to-amaze/

    https://www.marines.mil/News/News-Display/Article/525289/operation-noel-marine-helicopters-spread-christmas-spirit-in-afghanistan/

    https://www.foxnews.com/world/english-bishop-pushes-back-rewritten-woke-christmas-carol-sung-inclusive-church

    https://www.foxnews.com/media/ben-carson-rips-woke-changes-christmas-songs-political-correctness-worsens

    NORAD Santa Tracker
    https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4118546/posts

    https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/a-field-guide-to-20-great-regional-sandwiches-of-the-usa

    https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2022/12/what_eddie_fisher_said.html#commentsSection

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/24/pompeii-deploys-flock-of-hungry-sheep-to-keep-grass-short

    https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/12/leftist_christmas_would_be_nice_if_it_werent_for_all_the_icky_christian_stuff.html

    https://www.wnd.com/2022/12/govt-major-nation-tells-kids-santas-naughty-list-without-covid-vaccine-masks/

    https://dwightlongenecker.com/blog/

    GOD SAVE THE REPUBLIC & ALL HERE!

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  21. THE BIRTH OF JESUS
    December 25, 1900 Volume 4

    As I was in my usual state, I felt I was outside of myself; after wandering around, I found myself inside a cave, and I saw the Queen Mama in the act of giving birth to Little Baby Jesus. What a wonderful prodigy! It seemed that both Mother and Son were transmuted into most pure light. But in that light one could see very well the human nature of Jesus containing the Divinity within Itself, and serving as a veil to cover the Divinity; in such a way that, in tearing the veil of human nature, He was God, while covered by that veil, He was Man. Here is the prodigy of prodigies: God and Man, Man and God! Without leaving the Father and the Holy Spirit – because true love never separates – He comes to dwell in our midst, taking on human flesh. Now, it seemed to me that Mother and Son, in that most happy instant, remained as though spiritualized, and without the slightest difficulty Jesus came out of the Maternal womb, while both of them overflowed with excess of Love. In other words, those Most Pure Bodies were transformed into Light, and without the slightest impediment, Light Jesus came out of the Light of the Mother, while both One and the Other remained whole and intact, returning, then, to their natural state.

    Who can tell the beauty of the Little Baby who, at the moment of His birth, transfused, also externally, the rays of the Divinity? Who can tell the beauty of the Mother, who remained all absorbed in those Divine rays? And Saint Joseph? It seemed to me that he was not present at the act of the birth, but remained in another corner of the cave, all engrossed in that profound Mystery. And if he did not see with the eyes of the body, he saw very well with the eyes of the soul, because he remained enraptured in sublime ecstasy.

    Now, in the act in which the Little Baby came out to the light, I would have wanted to fly and take Him in my arms, but the Angels prevented me, saying that the honor of holding Him first belonged to the Mother. Then, the Most Holy Virgin, as though stirred, returned into Herself and from the hands of an Angel received Her Son in Her arms. In Her ardor of love, She squeezed Him so tightly that it seemed that She wanted to draw Him into Her womb again. Then, wanting to let Her ardent love pour out, She placed Him at Her breast to suckle. In the meantime, I was completely annihilated, waiting to be called so as not to be scolded again by the Angels. Then the Queen said to me: “Come, come and take your Beloved, and you too, enjoy Him – pour out your love with Him.” As She was saying this, I drew near Mama, and She gave Him to me, into my arms. Who can say my contentment, the kisses, the squeezes, the tendernesses? After I poured myself out a little, I said to Him: ‘My beloved, You have suckled the milk of our Mama, share it with me.’ And He, all condescending, poured part of that milk from His mouth into mine, and then He told me: “My beloved, I was conceived united to suffering, I was born to suffering, and I died in suffering. And with the three nails with which they crucified Me, I nailed the three powers – intellect, memory and will – of those souls who yearn to love Me, keeping them all drawn to Myself, because sin had rendered them infirm and dispersed from their Creator – without any restraint.” As He was saying this, He gazed at the world and began to cry over its miseries. On seeing Him cry, I said: ‘Lovable Baby, do not sadden with your tears a night so happy for one who loves you. Instead of pouring ourselves out in crying, let us pour ourselves out in singing’; and as I said this, I began to sing. Jesus was amused at hearing me sing, and He stopped crying; and completing my verse, He sang His own, with a voice so powerful and harmonious that all other voices disappeared at the sound of His most sweet voice….

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  22. Nice piece Charlie! There certainly is a lot of grace in humility. Padre Pio came to mind for me too. Ok. I guess I am redundant…… For me, it is the pride in little things that trips me up. Everytime I say, “I know,” there is a little dig of pride. I just need to learn to say, “thank you for pointing that out” and leave it at that……

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  23. I would encourage you to watch the Graceforce podcast recently done with Fr. Pavone. I hope this link works.
    https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001g5hK1-jrvfQr8SwUG2J9QMSwIlDCEkxfTHvIc9QpYMswhgywZ9WJ9jtOlcFlIt66iRg9GvxDozoto6FQ8wRj_KZIPDLM6sj8ZJvMnS4YIY_FPkWF8zmz7E2QiRTmgVh4hhLzrHUazm8wYvjLO1hDSVrTG0MtmkWnLxFeGgi86-vqAkmZs5KnXQ==&c=Fw-9jRjySm7O17IlAROu_MzC2WFWa8e1HCYSHdFbQvGSu01eY175AA==&ch=0uBrbVX6jtcAPqeklBiqB0vIsWEKUK2U6cWjA1Fj1SoO87paP3mLGA==

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    1. I did watch this, George, on the night it came out and confess I did not watch it to the end. Perhaps it was because I was raised in a military family, but to not follow a direct order results in a court-martial. I was surprised to hear him say that he just kept doing what he thought best and continued to disagree with his bishop. It seems to me that he could have handled it better on his own side. He said he intended to go to Pope Francis and ask to be reinstated. I think we should all continue to pray about this situation and for Frank Pavone in particular. The above story about Fulton Sheen is instructive, I think. Jesus saved us because he was obedient to the Father. Our Father asks obedience, not good works. Amen.

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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.