A little early for his feast day...

but I wanted to post it now, as this weekend I won't have much of a chance to be blogging or face booking. This short article touched my heart...two such holy men who were friends and did so much for the Church! I read one of St. Eymard's books, In the Light of the Monstrance, earlier this year. God bless you all. Pray for us all. Our youngest son will arrive later tonight and we'll be visiting with other family also in the next few days. Pax Christi, ~ susie

AUGUST 3

ST. PETER JULIAN EYMARD

In 1811, Peter was born in a small town in the diocese of Grenoble, France. He worked with his father making and repairing knives until he was eighteen. Peter spent his free hours studying. He taught himself Latin and received instruction in the faith from a helpful priest. In the back of Peter's mind was a longing to become a priest. When he was twenty, he began his studies at the seminary of Grenoble. Peter Julian became a priest in 1834 and served in two parishes during the next five years. The people realized what a gift he was to them. When Father Eymard asked his bishop's permission to join a new religious order called the Marists, the bishop gave his consent. Father Eymard served the Marists as spiritual director of the seminarians. In 1845, he became the superior of Lyons, France. But even though Father Eymard fulfilled many diligent responsibilities all his life, he is remembered especially for something else.

Father Eymard had a glowing love for the Holy Eucharist. He was very attracted to the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. He loved to spend time daily in adoration. One feast of Corpus Christi (the feast of the Body and Blood of Jesus), Father Eymard had a powerful religious experience. As he carried the sacred Host in procession, he felt the presence of Jesus like warmth from a fireplace. The Host seemed to surround him with love and light. In his heart, he spoke to the Lord about the spiritual and material needs of all people. He begged that the mercy and love of Jesus touch everyone as he had been touched through the Eucharist.

In 1856, Father Eymard followed an inspiration that he had prayed about for several years. With the approval of his superiors, he started a religious order of priest-adorers of the Holy Eucharist. They became known as the Priests of the Blessed Sacrament. Two years after the order of priests was begun, Father Eymard began an order of sisters, the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament. Like the priests, these sisters had a special love for Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. They devoted their lives to adoration of Jesus.

Father Eymard started parish organizations to help people be prepared to receive First Communion. He wrote several books on the Eucharist that were translated into different languages. The books are still available in English today.
Father Eymard lived at the same time in history as the saint we celebrate tomorrow, August 4--St. John Vianney. The two men were friends and each highly admired the other. Father Vianney said that Father Eymard was a saint and added, "Adoration by priests! How fine! I will pray for Father Eymard's work every day."

St. Peter Julian Eymard spent the last four years of his life in severe pain. He also suffered because of difficulties and criticism. But Father Eymard continued his life of adoring the Eucharist. His witness and his sacrifice helped many others find their call in his religious orders. He died on August 1, 1868, at the age of fifty-seven. Pope John XXIII proclaimed him a saint on December 9, 1962.

We can ask St. Peter Julian Eymard to give us some of his love for Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. We can ask him to help us learn from him how to adore the Holy Eucharist

America better be waking up soon to the reality that is here, and get out of la la land, and the 'imaginary world' so many 'hope' for and how the 'change' is taking place to "remake America." It doesn't need 'remaking' it needs to repent of what it's made!

Darwin Eugenics...

JEREMIAH FILMS

Mr Idiot Science Czar...

Read the "wise man's" words right here and PRAY FOR AMERICA!

Man of Sorrows...acquainted with grief

His hair matted with blood flowing from the puncture wounds made by the crown of thorns that had been slammed down upon his head, as they mocked with sneering disdain, spitting on his face, and with hideous laughter they jeered, "here is your Jesus...King of the Jews." While carrying the beam of heavy wood, he turned his head to speak, seeing the women all around him, blinking his eyes that stung with tears mingled with blood, to clear his vision if only a little as he trod this path of sorrow; he opened his mouth, and with as much strength as he could muster, seeing their tear-stained faces, twisting with great anguish, he spoke... in greatest love but with stern warning, he uttered these words: "Do not weep for me, but rather, weep for yourselves and for your children."

I believe Jesus wasn't talking to only 'those women' on the way to Golgatha, but to every woman ever since, and all those before that dark day, who were awaiting resurrection from sheol. He saw what was coming in each age, each revolution made in the spirit of the Anti-christ, where to this day, the evils of fallen man now loom so large, fallen man reaching for power and control, to wipe out religion and the Church. Weeping for our children now, in this tyrannical age of relativism which has stripped the will to "stand for Truth" and absolutes. Over the last few decades in our schools and most sadly in our churches, the evil one has made his impact known and visible by convincing so many that there is no 'absolute truth,' and that 'truth' is whatever "feels right" for any person at any given time. Feelings have perverted reason, and reason and natural law are not ever learned. We need to weep for ourselves, our children and pray and do penance, for this is the "final hour" for us all, satan's making his last frantic sinister sweep across the globe to lure away as many souls as he can. He knows his "hour" is up, and this is a very crucial time for the Church to "get right" and bring back the preaching, boldly, of TRUTH as never She has before. The walls of hell are lined with priests and nuns....pray pray pray!

Our Lady of Smolensk

The Virgin of Smolensk Hodegetria

Hodegetria, literally means: "She who shows the way." The Virgin of Smolensk is the patroness of icon-painters; liturgically she is commemorated in Russia on July 28.

Please pray for me, kind Virgin, as I would like to one day learn the art of icon writing, the prayer in layers on wood. I love icons and I also am being drawn to Russia, so now I'm finding, reading, seeing things on Russia all the time, every day almost! Magadan is where my heart longs to go at the present time, so I am praying about that, too.

ARE WE LIVING IN APOCALYPTIC TIMES?

Excerpt from interview, here.

photo found here

We are in the final battle, we are in the apocalypse, we are in the book of Revelation, which the Church, beginning with most of the Church Fathers, believes to be a vision of the entire unfolding of salvation history after the Incarnation, culminating in the total victory of Christ over the entire cosmos and its restoration to the Father. The book of Revelation is not a schematic diagram or a flat blueprint or a purely linear time-line. It is a mysterious multi-dimensional vision which surely contains linear-chronological aspects, but that is not the whole thing. Indeed it is not the main thing.

The main grace of the book of Revelation is the Lord’s exhortation to every generation to stay awake in a spirit of vigilance, to open the eyes of our hearts, minds, and spirits to the very nature of Reality. The various bizaare manifestations of apocalypticism in our times, ranging from certain wild scenarios in some Protestant circles to their counterparts in some Catholic circles, distort the intention of Revelation. Whenever they are not rooted in profound reverence for the mystery and wisdom of God, whenever they fail in absolute confidence in the coming victory of God, whenever they are not rooted in obedience and docility to the Holy Spirit, they will invariably grasp at knowledge as the saving factor. Why is it that so many people gallop to the book stores to purchase the latest speculative scenarios? Why do we invest so much interest and trust in these, and so little in the interior life of union with Christ—the very One who will save us? Recall at this moment that he does not promise to save our lives in this world in strictly human terms, but to save them for eternity if we but trust in Him and cling to him wholeheartedly. Are we unwittingly falling prey to a religious form of saving ourselves? Have we placed our faith in secret “insider” information, in techniques of self-preservation, survival manuals and combat journals which heavily emphasize the preservation of our lives and minimize our spiritual health? If so, it is time for some self-examination. An attitude that gives mental assent to God while on other levels proceeds as if He is not in fact caring for his flock is unhealthy in every way.

Sophia House...

I'm reading Sophia House, by Michael O'Brien now. I'm halfway through it, just passed the play by Pawel Tarnowski. The lead character in the novel writes a play about a character in the novel. I LOVE this! It's like mirrors in a house of mirrors where the images never stop! Gotta read this one, folks! It's fantastic! I've contacted Mr. O'Brien (while reading Fr. Elijah) and hoped he'd contact Steve McEveety about making Fr. Elijah into a movie...now Sophia House should be the first one! These are the best novels I've ever read! I'm amazed at how it's like the news, scary, thrilling, frightening, yet exhilirating at the same time. We're going to be alright.

This 'fire' and purification is needed, but it will be very difficult, especially if we don't pray the rosary! I'd say that Mary, Our Life Our Sweetness and Our Hope is indeed OUR HOPE for this time, these days of darkness, and trials, and tribulations and persecutions are going to increase and become even more virulent, the vitriol has already increased, and we're seeing it right before out eyes. For those who have eyes to see, SEE, and be alert, sober and watchful. Those who have ears, HEAR and 'do whatever He tells you!" Mind your MOTHER, Our MOTHER. Hang on her words of direction and instruction, and CLING to that rosary, and the hem of His garment, if you have only that much, HOLD ON! But try to get closer and nearer His Sacred Heart, and that is only through MARY!

The FIRE is consuming and purifying us. The dross will be burned away, but the only way to not be burned with it, is to stand firm, remain IN CHRIST and DO NOT BOW to the spirit of the world, the age of this new "tyrant," RELATIVISM. That will be the portal to the abyss where the fire never ends, and the worm never dies. Hell is real. Mary was sure insistent on the fact when she even showed it to the little children of Fatima. She's warning us still, so if some in your family think you're 'weird' and "too religious" or a "religious freak" or "too Catholic" and "over the top" remind them that you are in GOOD COMPANY...for so was Mary "over the top" to warn of Hell and the cost of ignoring her pleas for prayer and penance. If I'm over the top with my heralding of Truth, to ears that prefer not to hear it, then so be it. I will be so with the Hand of Mary, holding mine.

Peace be with you.
susie

From the interview link above: the highlight/bold is mine

The face of Our Lady of Czestochowa speaks to Pawel with tenderness, and her icon is in his room and his many rosary to her are a consolation in the cold nights of the bookseller. What's the role of Holy Mary in the drama?

O’Brien: The story of Sophia House occurs in a war zone—a vicious and most evil war. As such it is a metaphor of the war that will last until the end of time. In this cosmic war, the battle waged over each of our souls and for mankind as a whole, God has chosen to give us a “New Eve”, the Woman clothed with the Sun, our Mother. She too suffered as one of us. She is intimately close to us until the end. Her role in assisting the children of God in their pilgrimage toward Paradise is a unique one. In the mysterious plans of divine providence she has been entrusted with graces to give to her children, especially the particular graces we most need at this time of history. But Heaven never forces anything upon us. Love never forces; it invites. The Holy Trinity and all the saints are yearning to pour out for us everything we need, but we must ask. We must ask with child-like hearts. And in this way alone can we truly receive what they desire to give us.

La Sallette for us now... 150 years later...

Our Lady of La Sallette


"Rome will lose the Faith and become the seat of the Antichrist.

"The demons of the air, together with the Antichrist, will work great wonders on the earth and in the air, and men will become ever more perverted. God will take care of His faithful servants and mend of good will; the Gospel will be preached everywhere, all peoples and all nations will have knowledge of the Truth.

"I address a pressing appeal to the earth: I call upon the true disciples of the God living and reigning in the heavens; I call upon the true imitators of Christ made man, the one true Savior of men; I call upon my children, my true devotees, those who have given themselves o me so that I may lead them to my Divine Son, those whom I bear as it were in my arms, those who have lived in my spirit; finally, I call upon the Apostles of the Latter Times, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ who have lived in contempt of the world and of themselves, in poverty and humility, in contempt and silence, in prayer and mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering, and unknown to the world. It is time for them to emerge and come enlighten the earth. Go, show yourselves to be my dear children; I am with you and in you, provided your faith is the light enlightening you in these evil times. May your zeal make your famished for the glory and honor of Jesus Christ. Do battle, children of light, you, the few who see thereby; fir the time of times, the end of ends, is at hand.

"The Church will be eclipsed, the world will be in consternation. But there are Enoch and Elias, they will preach with the power of God, and men of good will will believe in God, and many souls will be comforted; they will make great progress by virtue of the Holy Ghost and will condemn the diabolical errors of the Antichrist.

"Woe to the inhabitants of the earth. There will be bloody wars, and famines; plagues and contagious diseases; there will be frightful showers of animals; thunders which will demolish cities; earthquakes which will engulf countries; voices will be heard in the air; men will beat their heads against the walls; they will call on death, yet death will constitute their torment; blood will flow on all sides. Who could overcome, if God doesn't shorten the time of trial? At the blood, tears and prayers of the righteous, God will relent; Enoch and Elias will be put to death; pagan Rome will disappear; the fire of Heaven will fall and consume three cities; the whole universe will be struck with terror, and many will allow themselves to be seduced because they didn't adore the true Christ living in their midst. It is time; the sun is darkening; Faith alone will survive.

"The time is at hand; the abyss is opening. Here is the king of the kings of darkness. Here is the beast with its subjects, calling itself the savior of the world. In pride he will rise skyward to go up to Heaven; he will be stifled by the breath of St. Michael the Archangel. He will fall and the earth -which for three days will be in constant change- will open its fiery bosom; he will be plunged forever with all his followers into hell's eternal chasms. Then water and fire will purify the earth and consume all the works of men's pride, and everything will be renewed; God will be served and glorified."

I've posted about her messages before, but the timeliness of reading this now is amazing, frightening but not without hope. She is Our Life, Our Sweetness, and Our Hope, but she can't hold the Right Hand of Justice forever. I pray for my children, who as yet, don't have the 'eyes to see' and the 'ears to hear'...and it grieves and pierces my heart. Please pray for them, as they don't see what this "HELLth Care/Insurance" run by the Govt. is 'tryannical.' It is tyranny on the unborn, the disabled, the elderly when a govt. bureaucrat/tyrant will determine who lives, who dies, when and where!!! God, open the eyes of our hearts, and illumine our minds, darkened by the shadow of evil.

We need Our Lady, Our Blessed Mother. We can't afford to tarry and dally with the world anylonger! The world, if bowed to, will swallow you whole, and spit you into the abyss of the eternal lake of fire. The luke-warm, God will spit out. So better to be "HOT" or "COLD" than to remain on the fence, silent while babies's blood cries from the ground to heaven, wishy-washy about your faith, Sunday mass and the "take it or leave it" attitude about worship and keeping the Sabbath Holy. Luke-warm about the Sacraments and the need to learn and grow and mature in the faith will be the worst place of all to be of anyone! That much is certain. I'd rather be chewed and spit out by satan, because I fully lived and believed there was no God, than to be spewed out of the mouth of God, thinking I was a good, faithful, ardent practicing Catholic/Christian only to find that voting for the legalization of killing innocent life in the womb was NOT being a good, faithful, ardent practicing Catholic!!!! Lord have mercy.

God help us to fall in love with You again, to really take to heart your Word, your Church's teaching and Trust that She is our Good Mother, to keep us safe from the lies of the father of lies, the number one enemy of our souls! Hail Mary, FULL OF GRACE, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the Fruit of thy Womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

PAX CHRISTI~

susie

and from La Transifuracion:

The beautiful Lady now stood up while the children remained transfixed where they were. She said to them in French: " Come near, my children, be not afraid. I am here to tell you great news.

"Fully reassured by these words the children hurried to meet her. Her voice, they said, was like music. They approached so near her that, as they later expressed it, another person could not have passed between them and her. The Lady also tfew steps towards them.

They looked at her and noticed that she did not cease weeping all the time she spoke to them. As Maximin put it, "She was like a mama whom her own children had beaten and who had escaped to the mountain to weep." The beautiful Lady was tall and seemed to be made of light. She was dressed like women of the region with a long dress, an apron nearly as long as the dress, a shawl that crossed over her breast and was knotted in the back, and a cap or bonnet similar to the ones worn by peasant women. Roses crowned her head while another wreath of roses adorned the edges of her white shawl and a third garland surrounded her shoes. Over her brow shone a light in the form of a diadem. On her shoulders shone a heavy chain and from a smaller golden chain hung a resplendent crucifix with a hammer and pincers placed on each side of the Cross, a little beyond the nailed hands.

Head up to Saskatoon...

Now I want to go to Canada! Our Lady of the Prairies video - 50th anniversary tribute.

Something to think about...while there's time...

In the end it's heaven or hell.......... the choice is yours

The Pro Life movement in Russia...

Fr. Michael Shields

To accept the Nails is also to accept the Thorns...

Accept the Crown...

Personally, I think the Edward Kennedy Health Bill is all wet...

But maybe it's just me...and Maryjo Kopechne. So grab a cold tall one and read all about it.

image h/t Politics 24/7

~don't drink or blog and drive~

Taking the quiz again...

I changed one answer that I'd vacillated about and find that changed the outcome quite a bit!

You are St. Justin Martyr!

You have a positive and hopeful attitude toward the world. You think that nature, history, and even the pagan philosophers were often guided by God in preparation for the Advent of the Christ. You find “seeds of the Word” in unexpected places. You’re patient and willing to explain the faith to unbelievers.

Check out St. Justin Martyr: The First and Second Apologies for more information on St. Justin Martyr.

Which early Church Father are you?

You are St. Melito of Sardis!

You have a great love of history and liturgy. You’re attached to the traditions of the ancients, yet you recognize that the old world — great as it was — is passing away. You are loyal to the customs of your family, though you do not hesitate to call family members to account for their sins.

Check out On Pascha: With the Fragments of Melito and Other Material Related to the Quartodecimans for more information on St. Melito of Sardis.

North Korean Christians....
pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

photo h/t

Stone the Preacher

Is this sobering or what?!...

"The very tradition, teaching, and faith of the Catholic Church
from the begining,which the Lord gave, was preached by the apostles
and was preserved by the Fathers.
On this was the Church founded, and if anyone departs from this,
he neither is, nor any longer ought to be called, a Christian."

St. Athanasius of Alexandria

First reading at Mass yesterday...

Jer 23:1-6

Woe to the shepherds
who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture,
says the LORD.
Therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of Israel,
against the shepherds who shepherd my people:
You have scattered my sheep and driven them away.
You have not cared for them,
but I will take care to punish your evil deeds.
I myself will gather the remnant of my flock
from all the lands to which I have driven them
and bring them back to their meadow;
there they shall increase and multiply.
I will appoint shepherds for them who will shepherd them
so that they need no longer fear and tremble;
and none shall be missing, says the LORD.

Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD,
when I will raise up a righteous shoot to David;
as king he shall reign and govern wisely,
he shall do what is just and right in the land.
In his days Judah shall be saved,
Israel shall dwell in security.
This is the name they give him:
"The LORD our justice."

A priest I know, a "Marian priest" mind you, posted 
on his FaceBook that he couldn't vote in the last election 
but will next time saying, "I will vote for Obama again. PERIOD!"

As you can imagine, I was crushed, very sad, and even angry 
so I wrote a couple of comments in response. How it must again 
pierce the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary.  We must
pray for our priests, under such out and out attack.  I shudder
to think of the messages of Fatima, when Our Lady showed Hell
to the three children seers and how the walls of hell are lined
with priests and nuns!!  Also, the image of Our Lady of La Sallette
keeps coming into my mind...the only image of our Mother shown
seated, with her head in her hands weeping. Heart breaking.

Please pray for Fr. O. as led.

Thank you. 

A comment I left at another blog...

This is the longest comment I've ever written, and admittedly was a lot of fun to write at Madame Evangelista's blog.

Compromising with evil, i.e. partaking of one morsel, one nibble of the "kibble," one exceedingly small and curious bite of "Turkish Delight" - taking a "wee bow" to the idol of the age, and woe! Look out! The "ice queen" cometh! Dressed to kill. Clothed in "freedom of choice" is she, as she glides off to the glittering ballroom at the Culture of Death Hall, on the hallowed world Bank of the River of Blood. The icy grip of her cold, clammy hand, reaching for her dancing partner's, suddenly morphs into 7 sneering demons, screeching in glee as another soul is snatched away to the unending, unquenchable cold fire of hell.

Great post, Madame E.! Thought provoking...yes, even deliciously so, ...in a good way. : ) Love the highway picture, too! How I wish I was on that very road heading toward the mountains to a secluded, clandestine cave! A subterranean sanctuary where holy hermits wait in silent prayer. But alas, I sit here, in Omaha, Nebraska, in a small suburban house, with an empty glass, [time to go to the stores] typing in a com box of someone's blog I'll probably never meet this side of heaven. I need to go read the rest of my book for Book Club, but it's really quite curious how I ended up here. Perhaps "divine design." Or maybe not.

The dome of the sky will soon be ripped open by a bolt of lightning the likes of which we've never seen. The thunder will be the loudest ever to reach our ears, and the white horse, irradiantly aglow against the dark clouds swirling around him, as he charges toward earth's puny inhabitants, will be one sobering, jarring, spectacular sight to behold.

The trumpet will soon blow, though it's not for us to proclaim when it will sound, splitting the heavens asunder. We're not to speculate the hour, but to be sober and alert to the 'season' so we don't fail in our prayers, thus giving the enemy a longer leash and the ability to bite us one last time, taking us down with him. But "watchful" we're to be. What we [Catholic bloggers] seem to all be aware of, at this time, in this wounded, bleeding country, where taking the life of the most tiny and innocent among us is deemed a "right" and been made "legal;" where the blood of 50 million babies cries to heaven from the ground ... we're in for one "helluva bumpy ride!"

Every knee will bow and every tongue confess, Jesus Christ is Lord! I pray for my own soul and that of my family to be in that 'faithful remnant.' I pray to be with those who will bow in and with "holy fear" with joyful praises on our lips, to behold that great Cloud of Witnesses, the Holy Martyrs, Saints and Holy Innocents, descending with the Royal Rider/King, sitting upon that mighty, resplendent white steed; and not found with the others who bowed to the god of this age, the Tyrant of Relativism, falling in despair and then seething in rage, with gnashing of teeth, spewing hateful, loathsome vitriol amid gutteral sounds and deafening screams.

Seeking locum pacis, beside His Sacred Heart,

Prayerie Pal aka: susie

Obamabortionomics = HELLth care in
Remade America
Land of the enslaved workers
and
Home of the cowards

The Seed of Christians...

the seed of Christians is still found
on holy, sacred, ancient ground
the blood of martyrs' cries resound

but I wonder, do we hear

those whose knees n'ere did bow
to any man or golden cow
are martyred still and call us now

but I wonder, do we hear

martyrs for us still intercede
giving us all the strength we need
whether shunned by family or called to bleed

but I wonder, do we hear

their call to rise courageously
to defend our faith from heresy
to live the Truth so the blind may see

I pray we have ears to hear

susie
07.17.09

Painting - English martyrs TYBURN TREE
Holy Martyrs
Ugandan Marytyrs

Letter to artists, by Pope JPII...

LETTER

Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and Roe v. Wade (1973)...

Things we can all agree on, by Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight

(I'm a stickler about spelling/grammar 'n stuff like that, so I would rather have seen the title read as follows: "Things on which we can all agree" but that's just me. I'm not trying to be persnickety, but come on, where has all the grammar gone from? : ) An excellent article, none- the-less, Mr. Anderson.

Ain't it grand?

Miranda Rights for Terrorists.

As the leftist, Marxist Media tries to silent Talk RAYdio with their "Fairness Doctrine" I can only laugh at them. I've dubbed the "Fairness Doctrine" the "Nefarious Doctrine." I need to make it a shirt. This made me laugh.

Trying to counter the counter revolution at its own game. He looks 'hopeful' but I see through the facade.

THIS HOPE was not a Communist and Loved our TROOPS!

Meet your science czar...

Obama science czar Holdren called for forced abortions

Get your sticker for your car, fridge, file cabinet
here at WND

It's blowin' in the wind...

Someone asked me what I think of the Pope's new Encyclical...My reply...

I haven't read it yet, but Raymond Arroyo - The World Over- talked about it with Fr. ? (can't remember his name,we DVRd it last Fri).

I find Francis Beckwith's review about it very helpful and as I posted on FB just now, I agree with him wholeheartedly. The Catholic Church condemns Socialism. Captialism is the best system the world's ever had, but if God is removed from the individuals life, and then society at large, replaced by relativism, then of course, greed and avarice will all the more abound in corrupt souls, no matter what govt. system they adhere to, so that'a my 2 cents. Now for my nickle's worth:

Remove God and Govt. becomes "god" and that isn't good for the common good at all, but causes more harm, more destruction to people than any free market or private sector system would. In a free market, some men/women are bad, some aren't. Some are great, some aren't. But the people DO have choices. But natinoalized and regulated to death, (no pun intended) Companies forced to send jobs and work to places abroad means we all suffer,having to pay exhorbitant prices for our goods/services/food/ etc. Taxing the 'rich' to redistribute their wealth is evil. Jesus is not Robin Hood. He'd never say "Steal" to give to the poor. He said, "Give to the poor" for that is compassion. And there are many wealthy people who are good...and many middleclass like us who tithe and give to the poor. When Govt. demands and makes us 'give' by stealing from us...that is evil... and corrupt as hell. But beyond all economics is the Right to Life of every person, born or not born.

Remove the respect of that Right and be prepared for the judgment of God. No nation, no country can legally kill 4000 babies a day, 50 million to date, and think it's going to survive forever. Now that killing babies is deemed a "right" by law, well, the U.S. is in for one helluvaride in a handbasket to same, and we'd all better wake up and smell the sulphur. God wants more than ever to give us freedom, and a happy life, but when we've turned our backs on Him and made killing innocent life - inside the womb - to be legal, merely a "woman's right" then WOE to us. God's Mercy is deep and vast, but His patience and mercy will one day be exhausted...that's reality. Man-made Utopia on this planet, is not.

Judgment is coming soon. The thing is, it could be at any moment for any one us, not knowing when we're going to die. Hence the need to "live right and holy" as we are called to live. Once our last breath has left our lips, judgment isn't far off...but it is "now." A greedy, mean coporate CEO can be a badass, no doubt, and cause much pain to many, and his company will fail. The end. Then if those people who've lost their jobs have faith, or turn to God in their pain, they'll find a new job, or another calling, they'll have the freedom to do so. But a brutal dictator, despot, or tyrant is a helluva lot worse, bringing hoplessness and ruin to a whole country taking away our freedom and most especially our FREEDOM of RELIGION!

Ok, that was more like a dime's worth. : )

It's all about "my rights," not my responsibility to do what's right...

the Dictatorship of Relativism

Excerpt:

Simply put, the Dictatorship of Relativism is now demanding that when religious faith comes into conflict with non-faith, faith must give way. When belief comes into conflict with unbelief, belief must give way. When religion comes into conflict with anti-religion, religion must step down. The model expected by the authors of the Constitution that religion would inform consciences and consciences would form those who make the laws is being scrapped by some who insist—dictate—that personal conscience must play no part in public affairs. As when relativists insist “there are absolutely no absolutes,” this is an absurdity. Out of what conviction can anyone claim personal conscience must not come into play? Convictions usually reside in the conscience.

Three Amigos...

Obama, Chavez & Castro

When an American President is hanging out with our enemies and backslapping thug dictators,...something dire this way comes.

Excerpt from article above:

A Danish scholar who studied Chávez’s beliefs opined that for Chávez, the only values of Christianity and Christ were as vehicles for Marxist imagery. Chávez expelled the Christian missionary group New Tribes Mission from Venezuela, calling them “imperialists.” He also accused his country’s Roman Catholic prelate, Cardinal Rosario Castillo, a “coup-mongering bandit” and its Catholic leadership a “cancer.” Finally, Chávez described Pope John Paul II as a “potato,” making a crude Spanish play on words since both pope and potato in Spanish are written and pronounced the same.

THANK YOU SEN. JOHANNS!!!

Write Sen. Johanns and thank him for getting to the bottom of the health care lie being shoved upon us. Here's what is written in a small town paper here in Nebraska.

Johanns denounces abortion provision in health care proposal

Friday, July 10, 2009

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Mike Johanns today issued the following statement regarding a recent provision added to health care legislation. This provision would require health insurance companies to contract their services with community provider clinics, some of which offer abortion services. There is concern that the same requirement would be included in a government-run option funded by taxpayer dollars.

"If this bill's proponents think they can slip-in language that forces insurance companies to fund abortions and still claim to be seeking broad support, they have no idea how strongly some of us feel about the sanctity of life," Johanns said. "The same would hold true for a government-run option that uses taxpayer dollars to fund abortions. Beyond the moral argument, Americans are fed-up with the Administration and majority in Congress promising new laws and programs that will do one thing, while hiding ulterior motives that accomplish something very different. This attempt at social engineering is unacceptable."

© Copyright 2009, McCook Daily Gazette
Story URL: http://www.mccookgazette.com/story/1553880.html

Sidewalk protest...

I just went with a friend, (thanks Paula, my political pal) to a lunch-hour protest in front of Sen. Ben Nelson's office here in Omaha. We had a great, enthusiastic time, holding signs AGAINST Obama's nationalized health care coming down the pike at us all "full throttle!" My sign got some smiles, but unfortunately I didn' t have my camera, so don't have a picture to share.

My sign read:
SAY NO TO STATE-RUN HELLth CARE!!

I've always liked puns! :)

To my friends in Nebraska, please email, write a letter, or call his office. He needs to know we aren't going to take this lying down! I've had respect for Ben Nelson, and I don't hate the man at all, but he needs to "GO" - as do all the rest - who talk the talk and don't walk the walk when it comes to the really important issues. When he wrote me back about confirming Kathleen Sebelius, that was the last straw for me, the Gov. from Kansas who was most adamant of her support for Tiller, for 'abortion on demand' and partial birth abortions. Yes, Ben, sir...it's time to step down. Supporting Sebelius is where I draw the line, along with a few million others, so with all due respect, your time to GO is NOW! Canadian Care, ObamaCare doesn't fly here in Nebraska...SURELY you KNOW THAT, right?

The Kazan Icon...

The Russian faithful particularly treasure a special icon which embodies their national identity: Our Lady of Kazan. The devotion to Our Lady of Kazan is one of the most popular devotions to the Virgin Mary in Russia. The original icon was supposedly housed in Kazan until the thirteenth century when it was lost in the rubble and ashes following an invasion of the Tartars.
In 1579, in the same city, a little girl named Matrona had an apparition of the Virgin Mary who revealed to her where to unearth the icon. On July 8, the miraculous icon was found wrapped in a red cloth. Before long, the icon became well known for numerous miracles and cures and invoked as the "Protectress of Russia." Later, it was kept in the Basilica of Our Lady of Kazan in Moscow. On October 13, 1917, which, coincidentally, is also the day of the extraordinary Miracle of the Sun at Fatima, the Bolsheviks destroyed the basilica at the Red Square. But the icon was saved and immediately taken out of the country.
That icon or a replica of it was enshrined in a Marian shrine at Fatima, Portugal in the 1970s, and later given to Pope John Paul II, who, despite controversy, decided to return the precious icon to the Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow in 2005, where it was enshrined in the Annunciation Cathedral of Kazan Kremlin.
For all these reasons, the Kazan icon has special symbolic value for both the East and the West.

The above from: A Moment with Mary

OK, that may be so, and I don't doubt it, but looking for the icon to attach to this post, I came across this website, and now I am somewhat confused. Anyone out there with more knowledge of this, please comment. I love JPII and I pray for Russia and our Othodox brothers and sisters...but what about this? I know about schisms but not everything and who or what is such. What about Marian T. Horvat, PhD? What makes me so concerned and unhappy is that even good, faithful, orthodox, devout, Catholics are still split. I read things and when it's murky, I just say a prayer, a Hail Mary and move on, but I'd really like to know what anyone of my readers could offer at this time. What little I read of her, well, it 'sounds' fine. Then again I didn't read everything on the page. TJ? Anyone? Help. I am really a very new, baby Catholic, I really am. Some of this 'makes sense' but I know there's always some Truth in every falsehood, error, heresy. Again, HELP?

Charity in Truth

Meditated Rosary: Pope Benedict’s Encyclical, CARITAS IN VERITATE, #1
Special Intention: Conversion of mind and heart in preparation for the AO General Assembly 2009

FIRST MYSTERY: Charity in truth, to which Jesus Christ bore witness by his earthly life and especially by his death and resurrection, is the principal driving force behind the authentic development of every person and of all humanity.
· In this mystery we pray for awareness of the witness Charity in truth in Jesus Christ.

SECOND MYSTERY: Love — caritas — is an extraordinary force which leads people to opt for courageous and generous engagement in the field of justice and peace. It is a force that has its origin in God, Eternal Love and Absolute Truth. Each person finds his good by adherence to God's plan for him, in order to realize it fully: in this plan, he finds his truth, and through adherence to this truth he becomes free (cf. Jn 8:22).
· Let us pray to the Holy Spirit to enlighten us in the work living out God’s plan in love and truth.

THIRD MYSTERY: To defend the truth, to articulate it with humility and conviction, and to bear witness to it in life are therefore exacting and indispensable forms of charity. Charity, in fact, “rejoices in the truth” (1 Cor 13:6).
· Let us pray to the Holy Spirit to help us rejoice in the truth and live it!

FOURTH MYSTERY: All people feel the interior impulse to love authentically: love and truth never abandon them completely, because these are the vocation planted by God in the heart and mind of every human person. The search for love and truth is purified and liberated by Jesus Christ from the impoverishment that our humanity brings to it, and he reveals to us in all its fullness the initiative of love and the plan for true life that God has prepared for us
· .Let us continually meditate the movements of the Holy Spirit that lead us to live out the plan of love that God has for every human person.

FIFTH MYSTERY: In Christ, charity in truth becomes the Face of his Person, a vocation for us to love our brothers and sisters in the truth of his plan. Indeed, he himself is the Truth (cf. Jn 14:6).
· We are invited in this mystery to see in Christ our vocation to love our brothers and sisters in the truth.

“Give us the Spirit of Love to guide us in living out your message, form in us the image of your Son and grant us the courage to extend to all, your invitation to holiness” (G. Giaquinta)

Newly discovered image of St. Paul!!!...

Again, h/t Sr. Anne. What a wealth of information you have on your blog, Sister! Read about it the new archeological find of June 19, 2009 here.

h/t Sr. Anne This is great!...

Bloggin' Sister

A NUN's BLOG. h/t Sr. Anne

When I read her post, "Better late than..." About Maria Goretti, I was encouraged and found it so inspiring. I've thought of Maria while still pondering what to reply to my friend, G. about her misguided world view on martyrdom in this day and age. Should Maria have given in to her would-be rapist's demands and advances? Should she have bowed to the "idol?" Should she have done that and "not made her attacker attack her and kill her, as G. seems to think martyrs do? If Maria had appeased him, had she done so, would he NOT have killed her? Would he then have repented later in jail? She held to her convictions and her Catholic faith, and later, prayed for him and forgave him as she lay dying. She later appeared to him in jail, dressed in her glorious, pure white heavenly raiment, with flowers for him, and he was converted. If anyone out there thinks martyrdom is in need of 're-evalution' think again. That is NOT Catholic teaching and never will be! My post on G's view is in the June 2009 archives titled: "Shoud we still die for the faith?"

Fellowship of the Rings...

h/t SHW

Some REAL HOPE for you...

h/t Drew

What kind of priest are you?

Find out at Black Biretta

My readers, let us be devout to the sorrows of Mary. Saint Albert the Great writes, that ''as we are under great obligations to Jesus Christ for His death, so also are we under great obligations to Mary for the grief which she endured when she offered her Son to God by death for our salvation." This the Angel revealed to Saint Bridget: he said that the Blessed Virgin, to see us saved, herself offered the life of her Son to the Eternal Father: a sacrifice which, as we have already said, cost her greater suffering than all the torments of the Martyrs, or even death itself. But the Divine Mother complained to Saint Bridget that very few pitied her in her sorrows, and that the greater part of the world lived in entire forgetfulness of them. Therefore she exhorted the Saint, saying: "Though many forget me, don't you, my daughter, forget me." For this purpose the Blessed Virgin herself appeared in the year 1239 to the founder of the Order of the Servites, or Servants of Mary, to requested them to institute a religious order in remembrance of her sorrows; and this they did.

Jesus Himself one day spoke to Blessed Veronica of Binasco, saying, "Daughter, tears shed over My Passion are dear to Me: but as I love My Mother Mary with an immense love, the meditation of the sorrows which she endured at My death is also very dear to Me." It is also well to know, as Pelbart relates it, that it was revealed to Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, that Our Lord had promised four special graces to those who are devout to the sorrows of Mary: 1st, that those who before death invoke the Divine Mother, in the name of her sorrows, should obtain true repentance of all their sins: 2nd, that He would protect all who have this devotion in their tribulations, and that He would protect them especially at the hour of death: 3rd, that He would impress upon their minds the remembrance of His Passion, and that they should have their reward for it in Heaven: 4th, that He would commit such devout clients to the hands of Mary, with the power to dispose of them in whatever manner she might please, and to obtain for them all the graces she might desire.

+ + + + + + + + + +

There are two kinds of Martyrs, one in open suffering, the other in the hidden virtue of the spirit. For many, enduring the snares of the enemy and resisting all carnal desires, because they have sacrificed themselves in their hearts to Almighty God, have also become martyrs in time of peace, and if they had lived in time of persecution, they could have been Martyrs in reality.

--------Saint Isidore

Virgin of Tears...

How long will we continue to cause Our Lady to weep?

Our Lady interrupted her message to impart to each child a "secret"which they wrote down for His Holiness Pope Pius IX.As the Pope read Melanie's, "his lips became strongly compressed,and his face seemed moved with considerable emotion." The following day he declared, "I am terrified with these prodigies; we have everything that is needed in our religion for the conversion of sinners; and when Heaven employs such means the evil must be very great."

Our Lady of Good Success...

What a find here! h/t Verbum

Excerpt:

Our Lady of Good Success could foresee that there would still be some good, faithful religious that would be willing to suffer all for the salvation of souls and sustenance of the Holy Catholic Church. “The secular clergy will leave much to be desired because priests will become careless in their sacred duties. Lacking the divine compass, they will stray from the road traced by God for the priestly ministry, and they will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to attain. How the Church will suffer during this dark night! Lacking a prelate and a father to guide them …many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger.” (12)

Our Lady of Good Success promised, “The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings and those who sacrifice themselves for the Church and their country will be counted as martyrs. In order to free men from the bondage to these heresies, those whom the merciful love of my most Holy Son has designated to effect the restoration, will need great strength of will, constancy, valor and confidence of the just. There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. This then will be the happy beginning of the complete restoration.”(17)

Image of OLGS found here

Remembering one who remembered totalitarianism...

Alexander Soltzhenitsyn