Saint Joachim, the father of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God and the Mediatrix of All Graces, knew the contempt that would be visited upon His Divine Grandson, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, sent himself into voluntary exile after he was denounced by a priest of the Old Dispensation for not producing a child after twenty years of marriage to his wife, our good Saint Anne. He was visited by an angel, who reminded him of the fact that Abraham's wife, Sarah, did not conceive a child until she was ninety years old, telling him that his wife, Saint Anne, would conceive a daughter named Mary, who would be the Mother of God.

Saint Joachim and Saint Anne brought their daughter to the Temple when she was three years ago, giving their long-awaited child back to the good God Who had given them to her so that she could be the Mother of their own Saviour, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This should teach us to do everything possible to foster vocations to the priesthood and the consecrated religious life among our children, so that we can give them back to God so as to yield a spiritual bounty of souls in His service, especially in this time of apostasy and betrayal.

As an article in Chieso Espresso indicates that Jorge Mario Bergoglio's completion of the sellout of the faithful Catholics in Red China to the Chicoms is almost complete, links to two articles are provided in in a brief preface to today's slightly revised reflection. The pending sellout should come as no surprise as "elements" of it began under "Saint John Paul" while the road map to the current surrender was charted by Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI nine years ago now. An entire chapter in "No Space Between Ratzinger and Bergoglio: So Close in Apostasy, So Far From Catholic Truth," which is based on article published in 2009 that has been updated over the years, "Red China: Workshop for the New Theology," detailed Ratzinger/Benedict's plans.

An article on this matter will follow by the end of the week.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saints Joachim and Anne, pray for us!

Saint Roch, pray for us.

Although three days late as a result of a series of problems engendered by the pollution of our water source by a mountain of mud, black sand, and algae I present to the small readership of this site a rather long reflection on Saint Clare of Assisi. This reflection emphasizes Saint Clare’s rejection of worldliness and worldly pleasures. No matter what our own sins and failings with respect to worldliness might be now and have been in the past, Saint Clare’s life and holy example inspires us to quit the world once and for all and to prepare for the world to come by storing up treasures in Heaven that do not rust or fade away, and that no thief can take away from us.

Today’s republished reflection on the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary can be found by scrolling below, and another long-delayed project should be ready by tomorrow or Wednesday. Thank you for your patience, and please pray for the good souls of Louisiana, especially those wonderful Catholics of Acadiana, who are suffering from the ravages of the recent flooding that has devastated the southern part of the state. There are many fine fully traditional Catholics who are parishioners at Christ the King Church in Lafayette, Louisiana. Please pray for them all.

Thank you.

Our Lady, Queen Assumed into Heaven, pray for us.

Saint Clare of Assisi, pray for us.

Today is the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She who was conceived without stain of Original Sin and who committed no Actual Sins in her life did not have to have her body undergo the corruption of the grave. Separated physically from her Divine Son after His Ascension into Heaven on Ascension Thursday, although she received Him in Holy Communion, Our Lady was Assumed body and soul into Heaven to plead for us with her Divine Son as the Queen of Heaven and of Earth, the Queen to whom every man must pledge his heart's oblation, the Queen whom every nation must honor publicly with Rosary Processions.

Our Lady wants us to be in Heaven with her for all eternity. She wants our bodies to rise up incorrupt and glorious from the grave on the Last Day at the General Judgment of the Living and Dead so that our bodies can be reunited with our souls for all eternity in the glory of Heaven. We need to ask her to help us make such perfect reparation for our sins in this passing, mortal vale of tears that we will pay the debt of what we our for our sins now rather than in the fires of Purgatory. We need to ask her to help us to be serious about seeking sanctity as the consecrated slaves of her Divine Son through her own Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. What are we waiting for?

A blessed Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary to you all.

Our Lady, Queen Assumed into Heaven, pray for us.

Those of you steeped in the throes of the agitation of the moment had better not read this commentary on the electoral farce that is unfolding before our very eyes.

Those interested in viewing the world through the eyes of the true Faith, though, might find this commentary of some use.

[Late night update: Given the late (or early) hour of this posting--and the fact that we were stranded for a while this afternoon with a flat tire, a penance that had been fashioned for us from all eternity by the loving hand of God, a stand-alone reflection on Saint Clare of Assisi will be posted by late tomorrow evening. . All of the transcription for this reflection, which is based principally on her own words against worldliness, has been completed. I just have to write the narrative, which will include something of a follow-up to this article, although most of the reflection on the words of Saint Clare and the commentary of the author of the book in which they have been published.]

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saint Clare of Assisi, pray for us.

This is a brief reflection, written originally in 2009, to honor our great Wonder Worker, Saint Philomena, on this her feast day, which is also the feast of Saints Tiburtius and Susanna. Although our Wonder Worker is not on the universal calendar of the Roman Rite, her cultus was confirmed by none other than Pope Saint Pius X. That's good enough for me! Jansenists and rationalists will have to find some other website to surf as this one makes no room for any skepticism about Saint Philomena and the honor and power with which she has been crowned by Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

This reflection includes text from a 1945 book, Wonder Worker: Saint Philomena, Virgin Martyr, which was written by Cathy Hallack and published with ecclesiastical approbation of the Archdiocese of Dublin, Ireland, in 1945, which takes note of Saint Philomena's vow of virginity, which she made at eleven years of age, and mentions the fact that Diocletian was married to Prisca from 286 A.D. to the time he resigned as Roman emperor in 305 A.D. This means that Diocletian's proposal of marriage was indeed adulterous and bigamous, analogous to that of Herod the Tetrarch himself.

We are very devoted to Saint Philomena and pray the chaplet in her honor as a family every Saturday evening after Our Lady's Most Holy Rosary. I pray her chaplet every day.

It was thus very touching for us to receive Mass propers for the Wonder worker's feast from an 1898 Missal that included an entire Mass in her holy honor. This gift was sent to us by a friend of ours, one who does not agree with us concerning the true state of the Church Militant in this time of apostasy and betrayal but has not cast us out into the wilderness and down the Orwellian memory hole as lunatics These Mass propers are a tremendous treasure, one that our friend wanted us to share with true priests so that they can offer her Mass, perhaps as a votive Mass on a ferial day, in honor of our Wonder Worker, Saint Philomena. We thank our friend very much for making these propers available for those true priests who may not have had them prior to now. The link to the Mass text can be found within the body of the republished reflection below.

Yes, of course, I am still working on the election commentary, which should be completed today as I anticipate having to run no errands today, which means a full day of writing, which is what I need to complete it. Actually, the commentary is not going to offer anything new. After all, how many times and in how any ways can one state that naturalism is evil and that it is impossible to fight the evils naturalism engenders with any kind of naturalistic "solution"? Thus it is that the election commentary has been a wearying task given the fact that so many people are caught up in the diabolically inspired agitation of the moment. Nevertheless, however, I will continue to remind the few readers of this website that everything must fall apart absent Christ the King and His true Church, and there is no getting "Humpty Dumpty" back together again by promotig the sins that cry out to Heaven for vengeance under the cover of civil law and throughout the entirety of what passes for "popular culture."

Finally, I have no idea why this site was offline in "maintenance" mode most of yesterday. Neither of the two other people who have authorized access to this site's "control panel," shall we say, did so, and I did not do so. I am sorry for the inconvenience. The "maintenance mode" business was as much news to me as was to those who tried to access this site yesterday.

Our Lady of the Universal Living Rosary Association, pray for us.

Saints Tiburtius and Susanna, pray for us.

Saint Philomena the Wonder Worker, pray for us.

Today is the feast of Saint John Mary Vianney and the Commemoration of the Vigil of Saint Lawrence the Deacon and of Saint Romanus.

Saint John Mary Vianney is the patron of diocesan priests, a man who humbly recognized that he was not the brightest pupil, that he was, to use even his own description, slow in his studies. He had great difficulty learning his Latin. Other studies came hard to him as well. He did not give up. Helped by a wonderful mentor, Father Balley, who had worked as a carpenter during the French Revolution so as to hide his identify as a Catholic priest as he offered Mass in various hideaways and without any "communion" with the bishops and priests of the "constitutional church," John Mary Vianney persevered time and time and time again, praying to Saint John Francis Regis for help and guidance.

Yes, he was tempted to quit his studies, believing himself to unworthy of priestly ordination because of his lack of intellectual aptitude. Father Balley told him very pointedly, "You've decided to give in to the devil?" That knocked some sense into our Saint, and it should knock some sense into any young man today who might have experienced some difficulties and perhaps even gross injustices in their own pursuit of the priesthood. Never give up. We need priests, especially now in this time of apostasy and betrayal.

Always close to Our Lady, Saint John Mary Vianney was brought to the point of his priestly ordination on August 13, 1815. His superiors judged that his moral qualities had overcome any academic deficiencies that would have held others back from being ordained to the priesthood, and they were vindicated in their judgment by the long and devoted service that he gave to the people of Ars.

Oh yes, sure, he tried to run away from his people on three occasions, wanting to seek the solitude of a monastery. Each time, however, he responded to the pleas of his sheep who loved their shepherd, who spent so much time in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament and in the confessional to hear the confessions of the thousands of people who flocked from all over the world to the merits of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus applied to their souls through his priestly ministry, and returned home to Ars.

Saint John Mary Vianney, who knew failure in his studies for the priesthood, was a firm supporter of the "patron of failures," Pauline Jaricot, the foundress of Society of the Propagation of the Faith and the Universal Living Rosary Association, and zealously devoted to the cause of our great wonder worker, Saint Philomena. Saint John Mary Vianney spent himself tirelessly in behalf of the flock that was entrusted to his pastoral care. We need to invoke his intercession so that our own true bishops and priests will be fortified by his example as they seek to serve faithful Catholics, the scattering and wandering sheep of this time of apostasy and betrayal, unto eternity.

Work continues on my final commentary on the farce of naturalism until the first debate next month. There is nothing really new to say that I have not said before. However, I am doing my best to make various points in a clear and cogent manner so that those who can rise above the passions of the moment can see the world clearly through the eyes of the Catholic Faith, not through the hysteria engendered by naturalism.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for is.

Saint John Mary Vianney, the Cure of Ars, pray for us.

Saint Lawrence the Deacon, pray for us.

Saint Romanus, pray for us.

Today is the great Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ on Mount Thabor in the presence of the Apostles Peter, James and John and in the company of Moses and Elias. God the Father repeated the proclamation that He had made as His Co-Equal Son made Flesh in Our Lady's Virginal and Immaculate Womb was baptized by His cousin, Saint John the Baptist in the Jordan River prior to the assumption of His Public Ministry, "This is My beloved Son, hear yet Him."

Our Lord was transfigured in the glory that He shared with the God the Father and God the Holy Ghost for all eternity in Heaven in order to show forth His Sacred Divinity to Saints Peter, the first Pope, Saint James, the first Bishop of Jerusalem and the first of the Apostles to be martyred, and Saint James's brother, Saint John, the beloved Apostle and the Apostle of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, to help console them during the events of His Passion and Death.

It is our goal to be transfigured in glory for all eternity in Heaven. The only path to the heavenly Mount Thabor, however, is by climbing atop Mount Calvary every day of our lives, willingly bearing our crosses in reparation for our sins and those of the world as we offer whatever merit we gain for the patient and joyful endurance of these crosses to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary. Indeed, our climb to Heaven by ascending first to Mount Calvary is signified every day a true bishop or a true priest completes the prayers at the foot of the altar and ascends the three steps (mystically symbolic of the Thee Persons of the Most Blessed Trinity and of the three stages of the interior life) to the altar itself. If we desire to be transfigured in all glory in Heaven we must, therefore, be willing to be shamed and humiliated by the the ignominy associated with the Holy Cross.

The glories of Heaven are worth such temporary shame and humiliation and ignominy, are they not? May Our Lady, who awaits us in the heavenly Mount Thabor and intercedes for us from there, help us to ascend to Mount Calvary every day in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass so that we can keep her company at the foot of the Cross every day our lives as a a preparation for spending all eternity in the glories of Heaven with her and Saint Joseph and all of the angels and the saints.

A blessed Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to you all.

This reflection has been revised slightly. As a new billing cycle for our internet service has begun, I have a whopping (I am being very sarcastic) twenty gigabytes at my disposal for the next thirty-one days. This is a penance all by itself!

Work has commenced on the next original article to be posted on this site. I am endeavoring to have it ready for posting on Monday it at all possible.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saint James the Greater, pray for.

Pope Saint Sixtus, Saints Felicissimus and Agapitus, pray for us.

Here is second--and final--part of the commentary about recent remarks made by "Archbishop" Guido Pozzo about the conciliar sect's ongoing "doctrinal discussions" with the Society of Saint Pius that appears--for the umpteenth time--to be reaching a conclusion.

As the our is very late and work needs to be undertaken later today on a very long commentary on the farce of naturalism that will result in the chastisement known as President Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton, whose election is being aided and abetted by the mainslime media and by the inability of her opponent, Donald John Trump, to keep his focus on her contempt for the laws of God and men (then again, no man who can authorize his campaign to justify indecent photographs of his third wife as "performance art" knows nothing about the laws of God himself).

Well, I will have plenty to say on this score. Suffice it for the moment to remind those who are losing their Catholic minds over this farce, everything must fall apart absent the Social Reign of Christ the King.

A blessed Feast of Our Lady of the Snows to you all.

Our Lady of the Snows, pray for us.

Health problems and errands undertaken in the midst of those problems have gotten in the way of my writing since the late-night/early morning posting three days ago now. Although I have three articles in development, prudence dictates that I not attempt another such overnight posting. I hope that one of those articles, upon which worked ceased about twenty minutes before this posting, will appear tomorrow, the Feast of Our Lady of the Snow.

Today is the Feast of Saint Dominic de Guzman, who had such great zeal for souls from his earliest days in seminary. As is well known, it was a conversation with an innkeeper in the Albigensian stronghold of Toulouse, France, changed the whole direction of his priesthood as he sought to win back souls from the darkness of an early forerunner of Calvinism, Albigensianism. Our Lady, sent by her Divine Son out of the ineffable Mercy that He has in His Most Sacred Heart, which was formed out of her own Immaculate Heart, to bring back the lost sheep (and not to beat up on the sheep when their souls are sorely distressed) out of the new form of Manicheaism that had arisen in southern France, gave Saint Dominic her Most Holy Rosary to the be the weapon to crush the Albigensian heresy. Saint Dominic de Guzman used the weapon of Our Lady's Most Holy Rosary very well and taught others how to do so.

Every Catholic, of course, owes a great deal to Saint Dominic, who walked between southern France and Rome several times during his life--and who accompanied two of the first Dominicans, Saints Hyacinth and his brother, Saint Ceslaus, on the first leg of their trip in Italy back to Krakow before he, Saint Dominic, had to turn back.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saint Dominic de Guzman, pray for us.

Today is the Feast of the great Saint Alphonsus de Liguori, the Patron of Moral Theologians. It was over eight years ago now that I recorded each of the Sunday sermons of Saint Alphonsus for the "Save Thy Souls" section of Traditional Catholic Sermons.org. It was a very sobering experience as I recognized that Saint Alphonsus was speaking directly to me, condemning my sins and my lukewarmness. Ouch. He certainly gave me what for, and I am grateful that he did so. This particular reflection has been enlarged to include three complete sermons composed by Saint Alphonsus de Ligouori.

Saint Alphonsus de Liguori, the founder of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (the Redemptorists), was particularly emphatic in teaching us that we must avoid sins of human respect. That is, we can show no partiality or favoritism to those in power if they are doing things that put the temporal or, more important, the eternal welfare into jeopardy. This applies to the likes of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who blasphemes God on a regular basis and considers it his duty in the name of "mercy" to enable hardened, unrepentant sinners in their lives that are leading to them eternal perdition, and to most of his "bishops," men who believe that the sheep are their enemies and that they can stonewall and intimidate the sheep into remaining silent about real and documented abuses of power and real and documented violations of the integrity of the Holy Faith:

" And when there is question of the divine honour, we should not be frightened by the dignity of the man who offends God; let us say to him openly: This is sinful; it cannot be done. Let us imitate the Baptist, who reproved King Herod for living his brother's wife and said to him: 'It is not lawful for thee to have her'--Matt., xiv. 4. Men indeed shall regard us as fools, and turn us into derision; but, on the day of judgment they shall acknowledge that they have been foolish, and we have shall have the glory of being numbered among the saints. They shall say: 'These are they whom we had some time in derision. . . . . We fools esteemed their life madness, and their end without honour. Behold how they are numbered among the children of God, and their lot is among the saints'--Wis., v. 3, 4, 5. (Sixth Sunday After Easter: On Human Respect.)

Several new articles are in the process of being written. It is going to be a busy week for me.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saint Alphonsus de Liguori, pray for us.

Pope Saint Stephen I, pray for us