In These Portentous Times, Bob Has Not Abandoned Us

Bob Dylan, crypto-Catholic poet, and indeed the greatest poet in the history of the English language, has done it again.  Late last week he gave to the public a previously unreleased, epic song– clocking in at 17 minutes– which on the surface considers the JFK assassination.  There is a lot there.  The song, which I needn’t tell you is absolutely awesome, rewards repeated listening.

Of course, it is widely known and accepted by now that the lone gunman explanation adopted by the Warren Commission is false.  But it was a watershed event for the naiton.  Surely Kennedy’s death was a “Murder Most Foul”, as the song’s title states.  But looking back, I think a very good argument can be made that his death marked the end of the remnant of the Republic left to us after Lincoln destroyed the foundation of it.  It seems to me that the last freely elected President was assassinated and replaced by a different gang of electors.  Even the two Presidents who came closest to breaking the grip of the new masters–Reagan and Trump– can only go so far without triggering danger to themselves on many levels.

(This reminds me of a family story– the kind of story, I guess that could only happen with a family like ours.  A few years back we visited Dallas on a college recruiting trip, and were out one day looking for touristy things to do.  My wife and I decided to see Dealey Plaza.  So, feeling like the comedian, I announced to the 37 children in the van that we were going to see the place where the last American president was shot.  Without hesitation my son quipped back, “I didn’t know Jefferson Davis was shot.”  I immediately gave him an A+ in history.  Good times.)

Anyway, Bob sent a message to accompany his video.  He gets it:

Greetings to my fans and followers with gratitude for all your support and loyalty across the years.  This is an unreleased song we recorded a while back that you might find interesting.
Stay safe, stay observant and may God be with you.

Bonus Passion Sunday

Oh, I remember the halcyon days of 2018-19, when I so naively wrote posts about “Bonus Christmas” and “Bonus Lent”. I wrote that since the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary did not occur in 2017– the 100th Anniversary of Fatima– it felt like the chance to gain the spiritual fruits of those seasons was like a bonus.

So foolish. Little did I know.

But now, the state and the Church– especially the hierarchy of the Church– is bent on killing the very little that remains of the faith. No Mass. No sacraments at all for some. No courage to resist the persecution. A whimper, not a bang. No Easter Mass. NO. EASTER. MASS.

You want bonus? We got bonus. Bonus passion.

Bonus Passion Sunday.

So, now I know what “bonus” actually means, I say I need God’s grace to endure it– to accept it– to love it. May God keep us in His Grace, while we await the sure triumph of His Son and His Mother.

God be with us all.

Feast of the Annunciation

For generations upon generations, the beginning of the civil year. Let us, who are suffering afflictions and who are surrounded by the dangers and hatred of the world, make this Feast of the Annunciation the beginning of our new relationship with the world– one that benefits from the chastisement we have rightly earned and which is loyal solely to God Incarnate and to His Holy Mother.

If you have not consecrated yourself to Our Lady, may I humbly suggest that you begin today to prayerfully learn about it and consider it? And if you have, what better day than this to sincerely renew and ratify your consecration?

O Mary, Mother of God, pray for us!

Cardinal Burke’s Message to the Suffering Faithful

On this Feast of St. Benedict, His Eminence, Raymond Leo Burke, has issued a very beautiful and timely message about the current chastisement. Read the entire message here. A few excerpts:

…In considering what is needed to live, we must not forget that our first consideration is our relationship with God. We recall the words of Our Lord in the Gospel according to John: “If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we come to him and make our home with him” (14, 23). Christ is the Lord of nature and of history. He is not distant and disinterested in us and the world. He has promised us: “I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Mt 28, 20). In combatting the evil of the coronavirus, our most effective weapon is, therefore, our relationship with Christ through prayer and penance, and devotions and sacred worship. We turn to Christ to deliver us from pestilence and from all harm, and He never fails to respond with pure and selfless love. That is why it is essential for us, at all times and above all in times of crisis, to have access to our churches and chapels, to the Sacraments, and to public devotions and prayers.

Just as we are able to purchase food and medicine, while taking care not to spread the coronavirus in the process, so also we must be able to pray in our churches and chapels, receive the Sacraments, and engage in acts of public prayer and devotion, so that we know God’s closeness to us and remain close to Him, fittingly calling upon His help. Without the help of God, we are indeed lost. Historically, in times of pestilence, the faithful gathered in fervent prayer and took part in processions. In fact, in the Roman Missal, promulgated by Pope Saint John XXIII in 1962, there are special texts for the Holy Mass to be offered in times of pestilence, the Votive Mass for the Deliverance from Death in Time of Pestilence (Missae Votivae ad Diversa, n. 23). Likewise, in the traditional Litany of the Saints, we pray: “From plague, famine, and war, O Lord, deliver us.”

[…]

In these days, I have heard from so many devout Catholics who are deeply saddened and discouraged not to be able to pray and worship in their churches and chapels. They understand the need to observe social distance and to follow the other precautions, and they will follow these prudent practices, which they can easily enough do in their places of worship. But, often enough, they have to accept the profound suffering of having their churches and chapels closed, and of not having access to Confession and the Most Holy Eucharist.

[…]

In our totally secularized culture, there is a tendency to view prayer, devotions and worship like any other activity, for example, going to the cinema or to a football game, which is not essential and therefore can be cancelled for the sake of taking every precaution to curb the spread of a deadly contagion. But prayer, devotions and worship, above all, Confession and the Holy Mass, are essential for us to remain healthy and strong spiritually, and for us to seek God’s help in a time of great danger for all. Therefore, we cannot simply accept the determinations of secular governments, which would treat the worship of God in the same manner as going to a restaurant or to an athletic contest. Otherwise, the people who already suffer so much from the results of the pestilence are deprived of those objective encounters with God Who is in our midst to restore health and peace.

We bishops and priests need to explain publicly the necessity of Catholics to pray and worship in their churches and chapels, and to go in procession through the streets and ways, asking God’s blessing upon His people who suffer so intensely. We need to insist that the regulations of the State, also for the good of the State, recognize the distinct importance of places of worship, especially in time of national and international crisis. In the past, in fact, governments have understood, above all, the importance of the faith, prayer and worship of the people to overcome a pestilence.

Even as we have found a way to provide for food and medicine and other necessities of life during a time of contagion, without irresponsibly risking the spread of the contagion, so, in a similar way, we can find a way to provide for the necessities of our spiritual life. We can provide more opportunities for the Holy Mass and devotions at which a number of faithful can participate without violating necessary precautions against the spread of contagion. Many of our churches and chapels are very large. They permit a group of the faithful to gather for prayer and worship without violating the requirements of “social distance.” The confessional with the traditional screen is usually equipped with or, if not, can be easily equipped with a thin veil which can be treated with disinfectant , so that access to the Sacrament of Confession is possible without great difficulty and without danger of transmitting the virus. If a church or chapel does not have a sufficiently large staff to be able to disinfect regularly the pews and other surfaces, I have no doubt that the faithful, in gratitude for the gifts of the Holy Eucharist, Confession, and of public devotion, will gladly assist.

[…]

In the end, faith and reason, as they always do, work together to provide for the just and right solution to a difficult challenge. We must use reason, inspired by faith, to find the correct manner in which to deal with a deadly pandemic. That manner must give priority to prayer, devotion and worship, to the invocation of God’s mercy upon His people who suffer so much and are in danger of death. Made in God’s own image and likeness, we enjoy the gifts of intellect and free will. Using these God-given gifts, united to the also God-given gifts of Faith, Hope and Love, we will find our way in the present time of worldwide trial which is the cause of so much sadness and fear.

Thank you, Cardinal Burke, for these consoling and inspiring words. May we repent and convert. Perhaps God will relent, and leave behind a blessing, as He did at Nineveh.

Livestream of Mass for the Feast of St. Benedict Tomorrow at 8 am

The priests of St. Francis de Sales Oratory are live streaming Mass on the Feast of St. Benedict, Saturday morning at 8am CDT. Link here. St. Benedict is one of the principal patrons of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest.

Mary is the Answer

An article at Lifesite News that bears reading and sharing. Let us all consecrate/reconsecrate ourselves to Our Lady this feast of the Annunciation.

Our Lady of Fatima, triumph over God’s enemies!

Letter of Archbishop Viganó against the Closing of Churches

At this time of spiritual attack, I wanted to post this letter of Archbishop Viganò, in hiding from the Bergoglio cabal, and one of the few faithful bishops left. Originally posted at The Remnant:

__________________________

WHAT WE ARE witnessing in these hours is dramatic — certainly throughout Italy, but in a tragically exemplary way, in Rome, the heart of Catholicism.

The scenario is all the more disconcerting as what is at stake is not only public health but the salvation of souls — and for some time now we, as Pastors, have stopped inflaming the hearts of our faithful with the desire for eternal salvation. We have thus deprived them of those supernatural gifts which make us capable of facing trials here below, even the assaults of death, with the power of faith and that spark of inexhaustible and unshakable hope which comes to us from our yearning for the destiny of glory for which we were created.

The statements of the Italian Episcopal Conference, those of the Cardinal Vicar of Rome, as well as the surreal and spectral images that have come to us from the Vatican, are many expressions of the darkening of the faith that has struck the heights of the Church. The Ministers of the Sun, as St Catherine of Siena was fond of calling them, have caused the eclipse, and delivered the flock to clouds of thick darkness (cf. Ezekiel 34:12).

Regarding the measures of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI): when those issued by the State were still limited only to at risk areas, to certain activities and at precise times of day, the CEI had already cancelled the totality of public liturgical celebrations in all the churches of the territory, helping to fuel fear and panic and depriving the faithful of the indispensable comfort of the sacraments. It is difficult not to think that such a measure was suggested to the president of the CEI by the one who, protected by the Leonine Walls, has been dreaming for seven years now of an outgoing, rugged, field hospital Church, which does not hesitate to embrace everyone and to get dirty.

Cardinal Bassetti, who in his diligence seems more realistic than the king, appears to have forgotten a very important lesson: that the Church, in order to serve the common good and the State, must never give up being herself, nor fail in her mission to proclaim Christ, our only Lord and Savior. She must beware of obscuring her divine prerogatives of Wisdom and Truth and in no way abdicate the Authority that comes to her from the Sovereign of the kings of the earth, Our Lord Jesus Christ.

The ecclesial events of these hours have manifested clearly — if there was still any need — the tragic subjection of the Church to a State that is striving and doing all it can to destroy the Christian identity of our Italy, by enslaving it to an ideological, immoral, globalist, Malthusian, abortionist, migrant agenda that is the enemy of man and of the family. The goal of this agenda is the destruction of the Church, and certainly not the good of our country.

The courage and wisdom of ardent priests and lay faithful has partly remedied the absence of an authoritative voice and heartening gestures from the Vicar of Christ and from pastors.

Open, throw open wide the doors to Christ! Open, throw open wide the doors of our churches so that the faithful may enter in, repent of their sins, participate in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and draw upon the treasury of graces that flow from the pierced Heart of Christ, our only Redeemer who can save us from sin and death.

+ Carlo Maria Viganò

Closing Churches in Rome? No Masses in Rome!?

Dear Readers, evil and unprecedented times. How can a believing Catholic bishop–or Pope— turn off the necessary fountain of grace that is the Holy Mass?

Idolatry has brought this on. And the murder of babies. And the sin of Sodom. Not to mention the imposition of the bastard rite.

I can think of other things, but you already know that.

The prophecies of Fatima, Quito, Akita, and La Salette are being fulfilled.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!

Our Lady of Good Success, pray for us!

Our Lady of Akita, pray for us!

Our Lady of La Salette, pray for us!

Timely Prayers

The Introit and Collect from the Second Sunday of Lent seem very appropriate for our world of woe. Have confidence in God and His Only Son!

Remember, O Lord, Thy bowels of compassion, and Thy mercies that are from the beginning of the world, lest at any time our enemies rule over us: deliver us, O God of Israel, from all our tribulations. Psalm. To Thee, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul: in Thee, O my God, I put my trust: let me not be ashamed. ℣. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. — Remember, O Lord …

O God, who seest that we are wholly destitute of strength, keep us within and without: that we may be defended in body from all adversity: and cleansed in mind from evil thoughts. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.

Just throwing this out there…

Because I know nothing about this, even less than the two popes thing. What’s less than zero? But I don’t intend to avoid Mass, confession and Communion as long as God gives me access to them.