Forgetful Biden Never Forgets to Use Demagoguery, part one

This is part one of a two-part commentary about special counsel Robert Hur's report on the Chief Demagogue's willful retention and use of classified material that he had no statuory authority to retain or use. 

Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us.

Saint Bernadette Soubirous, pray for us.

One Hundred Sixty-Six Years Ago Today: The First Apparition of Our Lady of Lourdes

Today, Quinguagesima Sunday, is also the one hundred sixty-sixth anniversary of the first apparition of Our Lady to Saint Bernadette Soubirous in the Grotto of Massabielle near Lourdes, France. Our Lady explained to the fourteen year-old Bernadette that we must do penance for our sins and for those of others.

Can we do any less in our day?

Indeed, the state of the Church Militant on earth and of the world-at-large has worsened as the sins of men have grown more numerous and more daring and as most baptized Catholics have been deprived of access to Sanctifying Grace by virtue of the invalid sacraments offered in the counterfeit church of conciliarism. God is not going to permit any country that kills the innocent preborn with legal impunity and kills souls in the name of the falsehoods of "freedom of speech" and "freedom of the press" and "freedom of religion" and a general sense of legal and cultural licentiousness to know long term material prosperity. Then again, these merchants of death have been enabled by the conciliar revolutionaries, who believe that signs of "outward penance belong to a different era in the history of the Church." We must indeed take Our Lady's injunction, "Penance! Penance! Penance! Pray to God for sinners," most seriously as we pray as many Rosaries each day as our states-in-life permits. 

Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us.

Saint Bernardette Soubirous, pray for us.

Although I am working on a commentary on the findings of special counsel Robert Hur that found Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., had willfully taken, retained, and used confidential material to which he was not entitled either as a United States Senator or Vice President of the United States of America to take, retain, or use, the time available to be now is not sufficient to complete the commentary for posting today.

This brief update is being prepared to alert readers to the fact that the Donations page has been updated as there is an urgent need to raise $1500 at this time. 

Today, Saturday, February 10, 2024, is the Feast of Saint Scholastica, the twin sister of Saint Benedict whose soul was as innocent as the Dove that announced to her brother had taken its flight into Heaven.

The Benedict Abbot of Solesmes from July 14, 1937, to January 30,1875, Dom Prosper Gueranger, provides us with a glowing hagiography of a soul that glowed so brightly with the love of the true God of Divine Revelation, the Most Holy Trinity:

The Sister of the Patriarch Saint Benedict comes to us today, sweetly inviting us to follow her to heaven. Apollonia the Martyr is succeeded by Scholastica the fervent daughter of the Cloister. Both of them are the Spouses of Jesus, both of them wear a crown, for both of them fought hard, and won the palm. Apollonia’s battle was with cruel persecutors, and in those hard times when one had to die to conquer; Scholastica’s combat was the lifelong struggle, whose only truce is the soldier’s dying breath. The Martyr and the Nun are sisters now in the Heart of Him they both so bravely loved.

God, in his infinite wisdom, gave to St. Benedict a faithful cooperatrix—a Sister of such angelic gentleness of character that she would be a sort of counterpoise to the Brother whose vocation as the Legislator of monastic life needed a certain dignity of grave and stern resolve. We continually meet with these contrasts in the lives of the Saints; and they show us that there is a link of which flesh and blood know nothing; a link which binds two souls together, gives them power, harmonizes their differences of character, and renders each complete. Thus it is in heaven with the several hierarchies of the Angels; a mutual love, which is founded on God himself, unites them together, and makes them live in the eternal happiness of the tenderest brotherly affection.

Scholastica’s earthly pilgrimage was not a short one; and yet it has left us but the history of the Dove, which told the Brother, by its flight to heaven, that his Sister had reached the eternal home before him. We have to thank St. Gregory the Great for even this much, which he tells us as a sequel to the holy dispute she had with Benedict, three days previous to her death. But how admirable is the portrait thus drawn in St. Gregory’s best style! We seem to understand the whole character of Scholastica: an earnest simplicity, and a child-like eagerness, for what was worth her desiring it; an affectionate and unshaken confidence in God; a winning persuasiveness, where there was opposition to God’s will, which, when it met such an opponent as Benedict, called on God to interpose, and gained its cause. The old poets tell us strange things about the swan, how sweetly it can sing when dying; how lovely must not have been the last notes of the Dove of the Benedictine Cloister, as she was soaring from earth to heaven!

But how came Scholastica, the humble retiring Nun, by that energy which could make her resist the will of her Brother, whom she revered as her master and guide? What was it told her that her prayer was not a rash one, and that what she asked for was a higher good than Benedict’s unflinching fidelity to the Rule he had written, and which it was his duty to teach by his own keeping it? Let us hear St. Gregory’s answer: “It is not to be wondered at that the Sister, who wished to prolong her Brother’s stay, should have prevailed over him; for, whereas St. John tells us that God is Charity, it happened by a most just judgment that she that had the stronger love, had the stronger power.

”Our Season is appropriate for the beautiful lesson taught us by St. Scholastica—fraternal charity. Her example should excite us to the love of our neighbor, that love which God bids us labor for, now that we are intent on giving Him our undivided service and our complete conversion. The Easter Solemnity we are preparing for is to unite us all in the grant Banquet, where we are all to feast on the one Divine Victim of Love. Let us have our nuptial garment ready; for He that invites us, insists on our having union of heart when we dwell in his House. (Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B., The Liturgical Year, Feast of Saint Scholastica, February 10.)

The readings for Matins in today’s Divine Office contains Holy Mother Church’s official account of Saint Scholastica’s most pure life:

The worshipful Scholastica, the sister of our Father Benedict, was hallowed unto the Lord Almighty from a child. Her custom was to come to see her brother once every year. And when she came, the man of God went down unto her, not far from the gate, but, as it were, within the borders of his monastery. And there was a day when she came, as her custom was, and her worshipful brother went down to her, and his disciples with him. Then they passed the whole day together, praising God, and speaking one to the other of spiritual things. And when the night came, they brake bread together. And while they were yet at table, and conversed together on spiritual things, the hour was late. Then the holy woman his sister besought him, saying Leave me not, I pray thee, this night, but let us speak even until morning of the gladness of the eternal life. He answered her: What is it that thou sayest, my sister? I can by no means remain out of my cell. Now the firmament was so clear that there were no clouds in the sky. Then the holy nun, when she had heard the words of her brother, that he would not abide with her, clasped her hands on the table, and laid her face on her hands, and besought the Lord Almighty. And it came to pass that when she lifted up her head from the table, there were great thunderings and lightnings, and a flood of rain, insomuch that neither the worshipful Benedict nor the brethren that were with him could move as much as a foot over the threshold of the place where they sat.

Now when the holy woman laid her head in her hands upon the table, she wept bitterly, and as she wept, the clearness of the sky was turned to a tempest. As she prayed, immediately the flood followed. And the time was so, that she lifted up her head when it thundered, and when she had lifted up her head, the rain came. When the man of God saw that he could not return to his monastery, because of the lightnings, and thunderings, and the great rain, he was sorrowful and grieved, saying Almighty God forgive thee, my sister; what is this that thou hast done? She answered him Behold, I besought thee, and thou wouldest not hear; I besought my God, and He hath heard me; if, therefore, thou wilt, go forth, leave me alone, and go thy way to thy monastery. But he could not, and so he tarried in the same place, not willingly, but of necessity. And so it came to pass that they slept not all that night, but fed one another with discourse on spiritual things.

And when the morning was come, the worshipful woman arose, and went unto her own cell, and the man of God went back to his monastery. And, behold, after three days he was sitting in his cell, and he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and saw the soul of his sister, delivered from the body, fly to heaven in a bodily shape like a dove. Wherefore he rejoiced because of the glory that was revealed in her, and gave thanks to Almighty God in hymns and praises, and made known to the brethren that she was dead. He commanded them also to go and take up her body, and bring it to his monastery, and lay it in the grave which he had made ready for himself. Whereby it came to pass that they twain who had ever been of one mind in the Lord, even in death were not divided. (Matins, The Divine Office, Feast of Saint Scholastica, February 10.)

Dom Prosper Gueranger composed the following prayer to our Saint:

Dear Spouse of the Lamb! Innocent and simple Dove! How rapid was thy flight to thy Jesus, when called home from thine exile! Thy Brother’s eye followed thee for an instant, and then heaven received thee with a joyous welcome from the choirs of the Angels and Saints. Thou art now at the very source of that love which here filled thy soul, and gained thee everything thou asked of thy Divine Master. Drink of this fount of life to thy heart’s eternal content. Satiate the ambition taught thee by thy Brother in his Rule, when he says (Instrument 46) that we must “desire Heaven with all the might of our spirit.” Feed on that sovereign Beauty, who himself feeds, as he tells us, among the lilies.

But forget not this lower world, which was to thee what it is to us—a place of trial, for winning heavenly honors. During thy sojourn here, thou was the Dove in the clefts of the rock; as the Canticle describes a soul like thine own; there was nothing on this earth which tempted thee to spread thy wings in its pursuit, there was nothing worthy of thy giving it the treasure of the love which God had put in thy heart. Timid before men and simple as innocence ever is, thou knewest not that thou hadst wounded the Heart of the Spouse. Thy prayers were made to him with all the humility and confidence of a soul that had never been disloyal; and he granted thee thy petitions with the promptness of tender love: so that thy Brother—the venerable Saint—he who was accustomed to see nature obedient to his command—yes, even Benedict was overcome by thee in that contest wherein thy simplicity was more penetrating than his profound wisdom.

And who was it, O Scholastica, that gave thee this sublime knowledge, and made thee, on that day of thy last visit, wiser than the great Patriarch, who was raised up in the Church to be the living rule of them that are called to Perfection? It was the same God who chose Benedict to be one of the pillars of the Religious State; but who wished to show that a holy and pure and tender charity is dearer to him than the most scrupulous fidelity to rules, which are only made for leading men to what thou hadst already attained. Benedict, himself such a lover of God, knew all this; the subject so dear to thy heart was renewed, and Brother and Sister were soon lost in the contemplation of that Infinite Beauty, who had just given such a proof that he would have you neglect all else. Thou wast ripe for heaven, O Scholastica! Creatures could teach thee no more love of thy Creator; he would take thee to himself. A few short hours more, and the Divine Spouse would speak to thee those words of the ineffable Canticle, which the Holy Spirit seems to have dictated for a soul like thine: Arise, make haste, my Love, my Dove, my beautiful one, and come! Show me thy face; let thy voice sound in mine ears; for thy voice is sweet, and comely is thy face. (Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B., The Liturgical Year, Feast of Saint Scholastica, February 10.)

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saint Scholastica, pray for us.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio Celebrates the "Fruits" of the Abu Dhabi Apostasy as the Middle East is Aflame With Conflict

A self-explanatory title.

I will endeavor to have another original commentary in a day or two.

Finally, although I will revise the donations page soon, there is a need to raise $1500 very urgently at this time. Thank you.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saint John of Matha, pray for us.

Bordering on the Borderless, part two

Another late/early hour.

This a follow-up to the commentary posted forty-seven hours ago.

I return to the always painful task of writing about Senor Jorge's latest exercise of naturalism and religious indifferentism in the next original commentary to appear on this site.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saint Romuald, pray for us.

Bordering on the Borderless

This is a long commentary abut the current state of lawlessness along the border of the United States of America with the United Mexican States that has contributed to the lawless in America's major cities, a lawlessness that is enabled and indemified by "woke" prosecutors. 

I am sorry that this commentary took longer to write than I had anticipated. Another new commentary will appear within a few days.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saint Agatha, pray for us.

 

Just Ignore Him?

An acquaintance of mine told me that he asked a priest of the Society of Saint Pius X what he, the priest, thought of "this pope," meaning, of course, Jorge Mario Bergoglio. The priest replied, "Just ignore him." Yes, that's right. Just ignore the man you claim is the Vicar of Our Lord Jesus Christ on earth.

Thus, I consider it useful to address this falsehood yet again by recycling material from earlier commentaries as I mindful that people forget and, as well, that there might be or two new readers who might be ready to consider the truth of Catholic teaching and to abandon the Gallican positions they hold once and for all.

My commentary on the border crisis should be ready for publcation on Saturday, February 3, 2024, the Feast of Saint Blase.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, February 2, 2024

Today is the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, always the humble handmaid of the Lord who humbled herself this day, the last day of Christmastide, which ends after Holy Mass today, by submitting to the rituals of the law although she was not in need of such a ritualistic purification because of her Perpetual Virginity.

This is the day that Our Lady presented her Divine Son, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in the same Temple where He would be found twelve years later answering questions of the rabbis, the same Temple whose curtain would be torn in two from top to bottom as He breathed His last on the wood of the Holy Cross to redeem us, thereby signifying the permanent end of the Old Covenant and the supersession of Judaism by Catholicism as the true religion. The aged Simeon, who waited patiently every day in the Temple for the fulfillment of the promise that God had made to him, that he would not die before his eyes had seen and his arms had beheld the Messiah, sent the first Sword of Sorrow plunging through Our Lady's Sorrowful and and Immaculate Heart when he prophesied that the Child he beheld would be destined for the rise and for the fall of man, a sign to be opposed, a Sign of Contradiction. We must never fear to be signs of contradiction in our own lives in imitation of the THE Sign of Contradiction, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, as He hung on the wood of the Holy Cross to redeem us as he was mocked and reviled by the very people from whose stock He had taken His Sacred Humanity.

We must be willing to suffer all manner of calumny and humiliation for the many times that we have preferred human respect to fidelity to Our Lord, for the many times we have refused to call upon Our Lady's maternal intercession, for the many times we have refused to "take sides," especially in our day by refusing to reject conciliarism and its ravenous wolves once and for all.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Do Not Go Looking for the Political Tooth Fairy in 2024, part two

Although I might record a video or audio presentation on the farce of the Cirque du Naturalisme that is gripping the lives of so many now, this commentary seeks to rise above the bread and details of the current quadrennial madness in an effort to provide a supernatural perspective to help those trapped in the bread and circuses of naturalism to pray more fervently for the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saint John Bosco, pray for us.

Saint Dominic Savio, pray for us.

Saint Maria Domenica Mazzarello, pray for us.

On the Feast of Saint John Bosco, Father and Teacher of the Young

Today, Wednesday, January 31, 2024, is the feast of the great Saint John Bosco, to whom we are very devoted. This is a revised reflection on an extraordinary priest who had a zeal for the salvation of souls in his youth, a zeal that would last until he died on this date in 1888, one hundred thirty-six years ago.

Saint John Bosco stands a rebuke to everything that manner in which the conciliar revolutionaries refuse to seek converts to what they think is the Catholic Church and the manner in which they reaffirm unrepentant sinners in lives that could lead them to Hell for all eternity if they do not go to Confession and amend their lives. This brief reflection, written about fourteen years ago now, is an effort to capture the spirit of this magnificent teacher of the young, mystic and zealous apostle of souls.

Part two of my current two-part series will be posted within a few minutes.

Vivat Christus RexViva Cristo Rey

Our Lady, Help of Christians, pray for us.

Saint John Bosco, pray for us.

Saint Dominic Savio, pray for us.

Saint Maria Domenica Mazzarello, pray for us.

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