‘Cause Everybody Coming Here Can’t Wait to Say Goodbye

I am the boy who won’t let go

I live in my head and I don’t look like my photos

And I hate the sound of the world outside

‘Cause everybody coming here can’t wait to say goodbye

I followed your car to my childhood home

And I looked for the key hidden under the stone

And I still hear the sound in my father’s voice

When he lifts me up like I’m a little boy

And I saw horses from my window

They were watching all the cars go

And they don’t care that I am broken

Close my eyes and run beside them

‘Cause I’m already free

I’m already free

So don’t look for me here

‘Cause I run in my dreams

I am the girl who won’t let go

I live in my house and I don’t like my photos

And I hate the sound of the world outside

And I still haven’t found my place to hide

And I saw horses from my window

They were watching all the cars go

And they don’t care that I am broken

Close my eyes and run beside them

I saw horses from my window

They were watching all the cars go

And they don’t care that I am broken

Close my eyes and run beside them

Through the valleys and the pastures

And I know you’ll never find me

‘Cause I’m already free

I’m already free

So don’t look for me here

Don’t look for me here

‘Cause I run in my dream

In my dreams

–Dala

Enough Yet Living…

The unrelenting unraveling of order, morality, civility and religion continues apace.  Not only that, we can all see that there are new outrages daily that are so numerous and so outrageous that each new outrage fails to outrage.

A very incomplete recap of recent events includes leftists (even those who hold public office) encouraging violence against government officials, businessmen being shamed for where they eat, media defending the act of flat-out, undeniable making stuff up for propaganda effect, administration officials being threatened in their homes by mobs and kicked out of public establishments, the putative pope shrugging his shoulders and winking that bishops can decide diocese-by-diocese whether to allow systematic sacrilege, and then for good measure taking sides in the internal politics of nation-states.

People, that’s just last week.

I keep asking, ineffectually of course, “How much longer can this go on?  How much longer will decent people just take this?”  Over the weekend a scene from Shakespeare’s Henry V came to me very strongly. It encapsulates my thinking on the current situation.

The scene unfolds during the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. Though the French outnumbered the English at least 5-1, they were routed by the English, who begain a period of great success in the Hundred Years’ War.  Here is the dialogue from Shakespeare’s play, and here’s a hint, we’re the French:

Constable of France:  Why, all our ranks are broke.
Lewis the Dauphin:  O perdurable shame! let’s stab ourselves.
Be these the wretches that we play’d at dice for?
Duke of Orleans:  Is this the king we sent to for his ransom?
Duke of Bourbon:  Shame and eternal shame, nothing but shame!
Let us die in honour: once more back again;
And he that will not follow Bourbon now,
Let him go hence, and with his cap in hand,
Like a base pander, hold the chamber-door
Whilst by a slave, no gentler than my dog,
His fairest daughter is contaminated.
Constable of France:  Disorder, that hath spoil’d us, friend us now!
Let us on heaps go offer up our lives.
Duke of Orleans:  We are enow yet living in the field
To smother up the English in our throngs,
If any order might be thought upon.
Duke of Bourbon: The devil take order now! I’ll to the throng:
Let life be short; else shame will be too long.
[Exeunt]

Are we at the Exuent moment yet? Why is no order thought upon?

Recall that in the Hundred Years’ War, the English rout of the French at Agincourt was only really undone, finally, by the leadership and victories of St. Joan of Arc.  Is it that in the designs of Providence, that we must await our general, the Queen of All Saints, Our Lady of Fatima?  Perhaps.  But we are called to be ready to act and to act to defend the true and the good. Stand ready. This can’t go on forever.  I for one am sick to death of seeing evil run roughshod over good.

We are enow yet living in the field to smother them up in our throngs if any order be thought upon.

 

Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

Blessed feast day to all of you.

Today is a first class feast of Our Lord, and so the abstinence obligation is not in force today. If you have not yet assisted at Mass, note that there is a Solemn High Mass at St. Francis de Sales Oratory tonight at 6:30pm. Members of the Society of the Sacred Heart may obtain a plenary indulgence, under the usual conditions, if they assist at Mass today.

May we all find rest and mercy in the pierced Heart of Christ, which He suffered to be opened as a wellspring of love for us.

Consecration of the Human Race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Most sweet Jesus, Redeemer of the human race, look down upon us humbly prostrate before Your altar. We are Yours, and Yours we wish to be; but, to be more surely united with You, behold each one of us freely consecrates himself today to Your Most Sacred Heart. Many indeed have never known You; many too, despising Your precepts, have rejected You. Have mercy on them all, most merciful Jesus, and draw them to Your Sacred Heart.

You are King, O Lord, not only of the faithful who have never forsaken You, but also of the prodigal children who have abandoned You; grant that they may quickly return to their Father’s house lest they die of wretchedness and hunger.

You are King of those who are deceived by erroneous opinions, or whom discord keeps aloof; call them back to the harbor of truth and unity of faith, so that soon there may be but one flock and one Shepherd.

You are King of all those who are still involved in the darkness of idolatry or of Islamism; refuse not to draw them all into the light and kingdom of God. Turn Your eyes of mercy toward the children of that race, once Your chosen people. Of old they called down upon themselves the Blood of the Savior; may it now descend upon them a laver of redemption and of life.

Grant, O Lord, to Your Church assurance of freedom and immunity from harm; give peace and order to all nations, and make the earth resound from pole to pole with one cry: Praise to the Divine Heart that wrought our salvation; to It be glory and Honor forever. Amen.

 

— Pius XI

Wherein I Praise Lincoln

I’m not often one to give credit to King Lincoln, but his undeniable eloquence never said a truer word than this– true then and true now:

“If there ever could be a proper time for mere catch arguments, that time surely is not now. In times like the present, men should utter nothing for which they would not willingly be responsible through time and in eternity.”

We are in those times.

By Analogy, to the Remnants of the Faithful

“I acknowledge nothing can surpass the valor and endurance of our troops, yet while so much remains to be done, I feel as if nothing had been accomplished. But we must endure to the end, and if our people are true to themselves and our soldiers continue to discard all thoughts of self and to press nobly forward in defense alone of their country and their rights, I have no fear of the result. We may be annihilated, but we cannot be conquered. No sooner is one [Federal] army scattered than another rises up. This snatches from us the fruits of victory and covers the battlefield with our dead. Yet what have we to live for if not victorious?”

— Robert E. Lee

Not Much Longer Now

Bear with me in a stream of consciousness post, all threads of which suggest the same conclusion: if you are Catholic (I mean a real, actual, believing and practicing Catholic), you will soon not be able to state your views in public. Not online. Not at work. Not in polite society. Not on the internet. Not in your homes. And not even in your head. The Overton Window is soon to shut, and to be barred with steel.

Not only will your pope, bishop and priest not be able to help you, in most cases they won’t want to help you. They will, at best and all-too-rarely, be in the same boat as you. More likely, they wont address the problem, either through misinformation, stupidity or cowardice. And at worst, and all too often, they will be among your persecutors.

This is not a post of despair. The job is simple, tough, but with the ultimate reward.  Be brave.  Do what is right, even if no one can see you do it.  Even if this murderous machine succeeds in lying about you and yours and everyone despises you.  You are a soldier for Christ.  A sheep of His fold.  Endure. Keep and increase faith, hope, charity.  Stay in the state of grace.  Prepare as though you will be martyred; evangelize as though we are on the cusp of a second Pentecost.  And if no one is within your reach of influence, pray– and never give up hope.

But it is clear that the levers of power, secular and most unfortunately ecclesiastical are dead set against us.  The veil of silence descends.  Some snapshots:

The British government, never one to shy away from killing its enemies, never one to do so without the hypocritical arrogance of a pantomime show of justice, is the enforcement arm of the planned destruction of the last vestiges of Christianity in Europe.  They kill the innocent; they prosecute those who complain about it.  They import their own suicide in the form of Muslim immigration; they prosecute those who complain about it. And the situation is similar in many European nations.

And what of the Church in Europe? Well, we know that the English bishops were de facto accessories to the killing of that little baby. And far from helping the Catholic father and baby, they made sure to keep their comfy seat at the socialist table intact.  Furthermore, they silenced those of the Church who tried to help.  Unlike under Henry VIII, they didn’t just cave– they added the weight of their efforts to snuff out a Catholic life and the Catholic cause supporting that life.  Then, to show the absolute pettiness of the cabal who had already won– they even denied the family the consolation of allowing the one obedient priest to attend the baby’s funeral.

The situation in the UK is bad; but they are merely ahead of us on the trajectory we all are on, and will reach, sooner or later.  Back here in the States, and all over the world by extension, the giants of social media are silencing Christians and other advocates of Western Civilization– see here and here.  Without linking, we have read about several blogs taken down, suspended, or threatened.  I guess most recently Steve Skojec got dinged.  Believe me, the only reason I’m not on the receiving end is that I lack the reach. The end game will come just the same.

(As an aside, one small reason I keep this blog going despite being past my most productive or effective creative period is that I figure that there may be a time when the small and medium voices will provide a window of Catholic advocacy and community after the inevitable silencing of the well-known and well-read sites.)

Eerie, alien-looking plutocrat Mark Zuckerberg has recently announced plans to weed out “fake news” and ensure you can only read Deep State-sponsored propaganda.  Those in power used to have a news monopoly, then they lost it but figured in their arrogance no one would question them.  After Trump, it is easy to see that they don’t want to take that chance again.  They already control the indoctrination of your children in the “educational system”. They have control over most of the political and judicial system. They want to make it impossible to hear dissent, to speak dissent, and in the end to even think dissent.

So, co-opting the words of Sir Edward Grey before World War I, “The lamps are going out all over [Europe][the world][the Church][the internet].” The end of public discourse approaches.

We are totally dependent on the saving actions of Our Lord and Lady.  And for those actions, we pray, and do our part while we can.

Feast of St. Athanasius

Today is the feast of the great defender of the Faith against the Arian heresy.  Dark times then, but hey, dark times now.  I’m still trying to confirm that Francis will be leading the recitation of the Athanasian Creed in St. Peter’s square today:

Athanasian Creed / Quicunque Vult

Whoever wishes to be saved must, above all, keep the Catholic faith. For unless a person keeps this faith whole and entire, he will undoubtedly be lost forever. This is what the catholic faith teaches: we worship one God in the Trinity and the Trinity in unity. Neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, another of the Holy Spirit.

But the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit have one divinity, equal glory, and coeternal majesty. What the Father is, the Son is, and the Holy Spirit is.

The Father is uncreated, the Son is uncreated, and the Holy Spirit is uncreated. The Father is boundless, the Son is boundless, and the Holy Spirit is boundless. The Father is eternal, the Son is eternal, and the Holy Spirit is eternal.

Nevertheless, there are not three eternal beings, but one eternal being. So there are not three uncreated beings, nor three boundless beings, but one uncreated being and one boundless being. Likewise, the Father is omnipotent, the Son is omnipotent, the Holy Spirit is omnipotent.

Yet there are not three omnipotent beings, but one omnipotent being. Thus the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God.

However, there are not three gods, but one God. The Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, and the Holy Spirit is Lord. However, there are not three lords, but one Lord. For as we are obliged by Christian truth to acknowledge every Person singly to be God and Lord, so too are we forbidden by the Catholic religion to say that there are three Gods or Lords.

The Father was not made, nor created, nor generated by anyone. The Son is not made, nor created, but begotten by the Father alone. The Holy Spirit is not made, nor created, nor generated, but proceeds from the Father and the Son. There is, then, one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three sons; one Holy Spirit, not three holy spirits. In this Trinity, there is nothing before or after, nothing greater or less. The entire three Persons are coeternal and coequal with one another. So that in all things, as is has been said above, the Unity is to be worshiped in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity.

He, therefore, who wishes to be saved, must believe thus about the Trinity. It is also necessary for eternal salvation that he believes steadfastly in the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus the right faith is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is both God and man. As God, He was begotten of the substance of the Father before time; as man, He was born in time of the substance of His Mother. He is perfect God; and He is perfect man, with a rational soul and human flesh. He is equal to the Father in His divinity, but inferior to the Father in His humanity. Although He is God and man, He is not two, but one Christ. And He is one, not because His divinity was changed into flesh, but because His humanity was assumed unto God. He is one, not by a mingling of substances, but by unity of person. As a rational soul and flesh are one man: so God and man are one Christ. He died for our salvation, descended into Hell, and rose from the dead on the third day. He ascended into Heaven, sits at the right hand of God the Father almighty. From there He shall come to judge the living and the dead. At His coming, all men are to arise with their own bodies; and they are to give an account of their own deeds. Those who have done good deeds will go into eternal life; those who have done evil will go into the everlasting fire.

This is the Catholic faith. Everyone must believe it, firmly and steadfastly; otherwise He cannot be saved. Amen.

Let Alfie Evans Go to Rome

Bravo to National Review, for publishing this calm and persuasive editorial. It is easy to be outraged at the killing of this child, and this kind of piece is necessary for the many who know nothing about the case, or more likely have been misinformed by the establishment propaganda. Excerpts below.

The medical disagreement between Alfie’s doctors and his parents became a legal dispute. It’s now a political debate because the stakes are high and the medical and legal authorities have not answered the question why the parents in concert with a reputable Italian pediatric hospital should be prevented from pursuing treatment for their child. The stakes are high for Alfie and his parents, obviously, but for all of Britain insofar as their case establishes a precedent or reinforces earlier ones. So far, the similarities to the Charlie Gard ordeal in London last year have been glaring: Charlie suffered brain damage; his doctors withheld treatment; his parents objected; two hospitals, including Bambino Gesù, offered to take him. The British courts said no.

In Liverpool, local residents have been gathering outside Alder Hey to demonstrate, in a spontaneous swell of support for Alfie’s parents. Some members of the European Parliament have denounced the U.K. authorities in the strongest terms. Pope Francis, with whom Tom Evans met in Rome last week, has appealed publicly and repeatedly to the U.K. government to let Alfie’s parents “seek new forms of treatment” for him in Italy.

Alfie has been breathing unassisted for two days now, defying the expectations of his doctors, although his mother reports that he’s struggling and that his need for intensive care to resume may be urgent. Mariella Enoc, chief of Bambino Gesù, which is affiliated with the Vatican, flew to Liverpool to intercede in behalf of Alfie and his parents, so far to no avail. We salute and thank the Holy See and the Italian government for stepping up. The U.K. medical and legal establishment appears adamant, but so do Alfie’s parents. So does Alfie himself. The British courts have failed to make their case for barring him from the plane that stands ready and waiting to fly him to Rome. They will either reverse their decision or suffer a permanent loss of credibility.

Ann Barnhardt Sums up the Attempted Murder of Alfie Evans

And does it very well. This whole situation fills me with such indignation– the only way most of us can help is by prayer, but there are some who could and should absolutely DO SOMETHING to physically remove that poor child from those agents of satan at NHS.  Mary help him!

Psalm 39, for Alfie Evans

Psalmus 39(15-18) [3]

39:15 Confundántur et revereántur simul, qui quærunt ánimam meam, * ut áuferant eam.

39:15 Convertántur retrórsum, et revereántur, * qui volunt mihi mala.

39:16 Ferant conféstim confusiónem suam, * qui dicunt mihi: Euge, euge.

39:17 Exsúltent et læténtur super te omnes quæréntes te: * et dicant semper: Magnificétur Dóminus: qui díligunt salutáre tuum.

39:18 Ego autem mendícus sum, et pauper: * Dóminus sollícitus est mei.

39:18 Adiútor meus, et protéctor meus tu es: * Deus meus, ne tardáveris.

V. Glória Patri, et Fílio, * et Spirítui Sancto.

R. Sicut erat in princípio, et nunc, et semper, * et in sǽcula sæculórum. Amen.

Psalm 39(15-18) [3]

39:15 Let them be confounded and ashamed together, that seek after my soul * to take it away.

39:15 Let them be turned backward and be ashamed * that desire evils to me.

39:16 Let them immediately bear their confusion, * that say to me: ’T is well, ’t is well.

39:17 Let all that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: * and let such as love thy salvation say always: The Lord be magnified.

39:18 But I am a beggar and poor: * the Lord is careful for me.

39:18 Thou art my helper and my protector: * O my God, be not slack.

V. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, * and to the Holy Ghost.

R. As it was in the beginning, is now, * and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.