Nothing Super About the "Super Bowl"
by Thomas A. Droleskey
Well, it's over, isn't it? The "big game" is history for another year. "Super Bowl XLII" has come and gone. Fans of the New York Football Giants are celebrating their team's unexpected victory over the previously undefeated New England Patriots, also known as Bill Belichick's Cheats in Cleats. Millions upon millions of people around the world were glued to television screens (I was going to write "television sets" before recognizing that many people have "screens" upon which they view images as they waste their time day in and day out until the moment of their Particular Judgments) for the "big game."
Indeed, many millions of people, it appears were glued to their television screens for nine and one-half hours before the big "game's" kickoff at around 6:30 p.m., Eastern Standard Time, last evening. Nine and one-half hours of pre-game blather. Nine and one-half hours of mindless activity. Nine and one-half hours of national excess. Nine and one-half hours over indulging on food and drink. And all on Sunday, the Lord's Day, when our attention must be focused in a special way on First and Last Things, on spending time with our family in prayer at Mass and before the Blessed Sacrament thereafter. All on Sunday. All on the very day of the week in which God created the visible world and the day upon which His Easter victory over sin and death was made manifest when He rose from the dead. All on Sunday.
Oh, I know. The millions of Catholics yet attached to the Protestant and Masonic Novus Ordo service interested in the "big game" could fulfill their "weekend obligation" on Saturday night, thanks to an indult granted universally by Giovanni Montini/Paul VI in 1967 in
Eucharisticum Mysterium (and later codified in the counterfeit church of conciliarism's Code of Canon Law):
Where permission has been granted by the Apostolic See to fulfill the Sunday obligation on the preceding Saturday evening, pastors should explain the meaning of this permission carefully to the faithful and should ensure that the significance of Sunday is not thereby obscured. The purpose of this concession is in fact to enable the Christians of today to celebrate more easily the day of the resurrection of the Lord.
All concessions and contrary customs notwithstanding, when celebrated on Saturday this Mass may be celebrated only in the evening, at times determined by the local Ordinary.
Leaving aside the gradual developments, including various local "indults" that were granted for Saturday"anticipation" Masses, in the fourteen years that led up to the common practice of the Saturday "anticipation" Mass, a subject which has been explored on this site in the past, Giovanni Montini/Paul VI opened the floodgates quite wide for the descralizing of Sundays. As with many of the other innovations of conciliarsm, permission for the Saturday "anticipation" Mass was meant at first to serve the needs of those who lived in missionary lands and those who worked in professions and trades that required them to work on Sundays. Keeping innovations "limited" to their original intentions is impossible. Leaving aside the issue of the validity of the Novus Ordo service, there are millions of Catholics who think they are going to Mass in the conciliar structures by participating in the Novus Ordo and who have made it their customary practice to "get the obligation over and done with" on Saturdays although they could go on Sundays, which are now "freed up" for more "important" things (sleeping, watching the "talking head" shows on Sunday morning, Sunday morning soccer and little league programs for the children, preparing for the big "game," fishing, golfing, anything other than thinking about First and Last Things).
What is particularly sad, of course, is to see traditionally-minded Catholics across the ecclesiastical divide "get through" with their obligation as early as possible on Sundays so that they could have the rest of the day "free" to sit in front of television screens and endure blathering, mindless idiots demonstrating their utter ignorance of future events while wallowing in video clip after video clip to dissect past games and plays and game plans that no rational, sane human being has any need to waste his time considering, no less any part of nine full hours. Moreover, many of these traditionally-minded Catholics think nothing of the immodesty and indecency of speech and attire shown in the pre-game and game telecasts, thinking nothing of how an aggressive promoter of blasphemy and lewdness and obscenity, the FOX television network, which is, after all, owned by a thirty-third Mason (and a "papally"-knighted one at that, thanks be to Roger "Cardinal" Mahony and Karol Wojtyla/John Paul II) named Rupert Murdoch, promotes its insidious throughout the course of the day of the "big game," caring little for how the virtues of Modesty and Chastity are offended by the proliferation of "rock music" and commercials that specialize in the salacious.
The amazing thing is that only the degree of the display and the promotion of sin varies from year to year. Even this is not enough to convince believing Catholics that, apart from the merits or demerits of a "game" that is actually big business and winks at all types of violations of its porous substance-abuse program, enough is enough. So few people have the sense of detachment--or the concern for the salvation of their own souls or for those of their children or grandchildren--to say, "I will not be a passive participant in the invasion of visual and audio pollution into my home, which must reflect the holiness of the home of the Holy Family of Nazareth."
No, no amount of outrage from one year to the next seems to matter. Catholics thus serve as enablers of the naturalists who control Hollywood and corporate America and Madison Avenue advertising firms to "push the envelope" with each succeeding year. Catholics have grown used to--and are no longer repelled by--the horrific "half-time" programs, which feature "rock music" and displays, whether planned or "unplanned" of gross indecency, and by crowd shots of immodestly dressed "cheerleaders" and spectators). How many traditionally-minded Catholics had lavish "super bowl" parties in 2004 when a half-time program, which was produced by "Music Television" (MTV), whose producers are not exactly devoted to the fulfillment of Our Lady's Fatima Message, shall we say, included a supposedly "unplanned" display that came straight from Hell? Oh, I forgot. It's the "game" that matters, right? We just have put aside all notion of the mortification of our eyes and of our ears in order to enjoy the "game." We just have to make ourselves the slaves of popular culture and to gorge on the national liturgy that has become the bread and circuses of Modernity. We just have to have "fun," right? So what if a "little bit" of "bad stuff" creeps in with the "game," huh?
Yes, the "Super Bowl" has become a day of a national liturgy. A liturgy is a form of public worship. The "Super Bowl" worships at the altar of national excess of materialism and relativism and hedonism and libertarianism and commercialism and profiteering and sloth. The situation is so bad that a restaurant in Stamford, Connecticut, Mitchell's Fish Market, at which we ate with our friends the Colgans after Holy Mass on Quinquagesima Sunday, February 3, 2008, had a sign on its door to explain that it would be closing for the day at 3:00 p.m. to permit its workers to go home and to watch the "Super Bowl." What total lunacy, as I explained in rather modulated tones of outright disbelief to the workers who could not believe that a flesh-and-blood American would not consider the "big game" important.
"I bet you don't close down for Good Friday, do you, the most solemn day of the year, now do you?" I asked them. Oh, no, everything is wide open on the day upon which our very salvation was wrought for us on the wood of the Most Holy Cross as the Divine Redeemer, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, shed every single drop of His Most Precious Blood. Baseball teams play games on Good Friday, yes, even in Spring Training (there's a full schedule of games on March 21, 2008, Good Friday, thank you very much, both in the Grapefruit League in Florida and the Cactus League in Arizona, e.g., the New York Mets are playing the Washington Nationals at Port Saint Lucie, Florida, at 1:10 p.m., the incarnation of all evil, the New York Yankees, are playing the renamed Tampa Bay Rays in Tampa Florida, at 7:15 p.m.). And, sad to say, that many of the traditionally-minded Catholics who subjected their immortal souls to the visual and audio pollution associated with the "Super Bowl" will be right back in front of the televisions after they assist at Holy Mass at Maundy Thursday or attend the Good Friday service in order to watch the "excitement" of the opening rounds of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I Men's Basketball playoffs. No, there's no break for the bread and circuses on Sundays and Good Fridays, something that means next to nothing to far, far too many Catholic fathers and grandfathers and uncles and brothers.
I know what I am talking about here. I made compromises for decades with the increasing coarseness that crept into baseball stadia from the time of the early-1980s to the time that I walked out of William A. Shea Municipal Stadium in Flushing Meadows, Queens, New York, on the afternoon of Tuesday, July 16, 2002, on the second day of a two-day series of games between the visiting Florida Marlins and the New York Mets sponsored by a pharmaceutical product manufactured by the Pfizer company that had no business being advertised in public at any time, no less in front of children (and there were thousands of day-camping children present at that game). I should have walked out years ago when the new ownership team of Sterling Equities and the Doubleday Book Company, whose chief executives, Fred Wilpon and Nelson Doubleday, were the principals who purchased the 1962 National League expansion team from the family of its original owner, the late Mrs. Joan Whitney Payson, introduced "rock music" during the 1980 baseball season. I stayed, making a compromise with what was being forced down my throat because I "loved" the game.
Take it from one who walked out of my beloved Shea Stadium, which will enter its last year of use before it is demolished once its replacement, CitiField, is open in the 2009 season, over five and one-half years ago after attending over 1600 baseball games, sacrificing legitimate pleasures, especially those in which we have passively accepted the "creep" of cultural degeneration to accelerate with a shrug of the shoulders and a "what can I do about it?" attitude, gives us an opportunity to show God that we really do love Him as He has revealed Himself to us through His true Church, and that it is really no sacrifice at all to avoid occasions of sin and wastes-of-time in order to do reparation for our sins of indifference to occasions of sin and our having wasted time in the past. It is really no sacrifice at all to show God that we love Him with our whole heart, and our mind, and our whole body, and our whole soul, and our whole strength, is it?
Some will say that we have to accept the "cockle" with the "wheat." True enough when it comes to dealing with our fellow human beings, each of whom shares the combination of "cockle" and "wheat" that we have within our own immortal souls. True enough when it comes to dealing with the evils that are found in supermarkets and gasoline stations, where horrible "music" is played almost all of the time. Ah, my friends, there is quite a difference.
We must shop for food and for other supplies. We must drive on roadways featuring billboards containing offensive material. There is no obligation whatsoever to engage in a totally discretionary, voluntary activity such as going to--or watching on television--a professional or a collegiate (or even scholastic) athletic contest where horrible "music" is played and horrible images displayed. One chooses to do such a thing. There is no moral necessity or imperative to do so. One chooses to have sounds and images from Hell to be burnished into his immortal soul. And only a fool thinks that he is strong enough or holy enough or wise enough or good enough to diminish the impact of those images upon his immortal soul as he wastes time watching millionaires playing for billionaires and as multi-billion dollar multi-national corporations that have no allegiance to any particular country, no less to to laws of Christ the King or to the honor due Mary our Immaculate Queen, assault him with images and sounds that are designed to entice him to think about and to wallow in sin and the self-indulgence that is sloth.
Moreover, we don't knowingly invite out-and-out "cockle" into our homes unless we have been so brainwashed by the popular culture as to think that there's "nothing wrong" with something that contains a "little bit of bad stuff" if "everyone else" is doing the same thing. What sane individual would say, "Come on in, Mr. Devil. Make yourself comfortable right here in my living room. Anything I can get for you now as you try to take me down to Hell with you for all eternity? Have you brought any of your friends over with you? Don't worry. We're strong enough to withstand your entreaties. A little 'bad' with the 'fun stuff' won't take us down to Hell with you for all eternity, now will it?"
"You can come and go and please in this, Mr. Devil?. After all, we pay our cable and/or satellite bills on time, which money goes directly into your pockets. We help your friends at ABC (and ESPN) and FOX and ABC and CBS and CNN and other networks blaspheme Our Lord and His Most Blessed Mother. We help to subsidize your other projects at these networks and their subsidiaries. None of that matters, right, Mr. Devil? Hey, the 'game' is on. Have some chips, Mr. Devil. We'll be watching your commercials soon enough as we listen to your 'stars' from American Idol."
Oh, some will protest that this is "extreme," that it is to be a Jansenist not to see what a great "game" was played last night. It is not to be a "Jansenist" to note that nothing in this life, not even a well-played (perhaps even "exciting") football game (and I am not a fan of football), according to the accounts that I have read, is worth placing ourselves deliberately in the near occasions of sin and exposing ourselves to sounds and images that from the devil and are designed to lead us to Hell for all eternity, desensitizing us to further and more outrageous assaults upon our senses in the name of enjoying the "game." It is not to be a "Jansenist" to suggest that none of should have television screens (or sets) in our homes and that we should withdraw from using our discretionary time and money on things that place our immortal souls in jeopardy in a variety of ways, including by organizing our lives in such a way that the "game" controls our lives every week (or day, in the case of baseball or basketball or hockey) during a particular season of play, and that enrich the very enemies of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who control the entertainment media and the world of corporate America and multinational corporations.
Pope Gregory XVI, writing in Mirari Vos, August 15, 1832, explained that no sane man would consume poison because some antidote was available:
This shameful font of indifferentism gives rise to that absurd and erroneous proposition which claims that liberty of conscience must be maintained for everyone. It spreads ruin in sacred and civil affairs, though some repeat over and over again with the greatest impudence that some advantage accrues to religion from it. "But the death of the soul is worse than freedom of error," as Augustine was wont to say. When all restraints are removed by which men are kept on the narrow path of truth, their nature, which is already inclined to evil, propels them to ruin. Then truly "the bottomless pit"is open from which John saw smoke ascending which obscured the sun, and out of which locusts flew forth to devastate the earth. Thence comes transformation of minds, corruption of youths, contempt of sacred things and holy laws -- in other words, a pestilence more deadly to the state than any other. Experience shows, even from earliest times, that cities renowned for wealth, dominion, and glory perished as a result of this single evil, namely immoderate freedom of opinion, license of free speech, and desire for novelty.
Here We must include that harmful and never sufficiently denounced freedom to publish any writings whatever and disseminate them to the people, which some dare to demand and promote with so great a clamor. We are horrified to see what monstrous doctrines and prodigious errors are disseminated far and wide in countless books, pamphlets, and other writings which, though small in weight, are very great in malice. We are in tears at the abuse which proceeds from them over the face of the earth. Some are so carried away that they contentiously assert that the flock of errors arising from them is sufficiently compensated by the publication of some book which defends religion and truth. Every law condemns deliberately doing evil simply because there is some hope that good may result. Is there any sane man who would say poison ought to be distributed, sold publicly, stored, and even drunk because some antidote is available and those who use it may be snatched from death again and again?
Some will say that the Mara family, which still retains half-ownership in the New York Football Giants (I know, there has not been a New York Baseball Giants team since the end of the 1957 season; however, the football team is still referred to in New York as the New York Football Giants), is very pro-life and that the Giants 1987 "Super Bowl" championship team actually taped a program called "Champions for Life." All well and good. Nevertheless the Maras have played the "rock music" at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and they have participated in all of the promotional activities of the National Football League, including raking in the millions of dollars that are paid out to teams as a result of various television contracts, including that from the FOX broadcast network that has specialized in some of the most offensive and indecent and lewd programming available on "free" television. The money from network television--and the advertising that subsidizes it--is what drives the cultural agenda in professional and collegiate sports. It is pointless to say that one is "pro-life" when one is participating in--and profiting financially from--cultural pollution that is responsible for the death of souls--and for countless millions of innocent preborn babies.
Moreover, professional and collegiate sports have taken their place alongside partisan politics as a "religion" in which millions of people invest most of their time, energy and money, thereby defining their very existences in this passing, mortal vale of tears. Rather than learning about and imitating the lives of the saints, whole generations of Americans "idolize" athletes and seek to dress like them, spending vast sums of money on having the latest "gear" that is carefully marketed to various audiences. Major League Baseball last year began marketing a line of patently indecent, immodest "clothing" for women so that its teams' names could be worn by those seeking to entice others into various sorts of sins. When does a Catholic say enough is enough and stop participating in all of this? When?
We are called to be detached the world and not to immerse ourselves in its activities uncritically. Thomas a Kempis tells us the following in his The Imitation of Christ:
But the wise of the world and the wise according to the flesh are destitute of Thy wisdom; for in the former is found much vanity and in the later death.
But they that follow Thee, by the contempt of worldly thins and the mortification of the flesh, are found to be wise indeed; for they are translated from vanity to truth, from the flesh to the spirit.
Pope Leo XIII, writing in Exeunte Iam Anno, December 25, 1888:
Now the whole essence of a Christian life is to reject the corruption of the world and to oppose constantly any indulgence in it; this is taught in the words and deeds, the laws and institutions, the life and death of Jesus Christ, "the author and finisher of faith." Hence, however strongly We are deterred by the evil disposition of nature and character, it is our duty to run to the "fight proposed to Us," fortified and armed with the same desire and the same arms as He who, "having joy set before him, endured the cross." Wherefore let men understand this specially, that it is most contrary to Christian duty to follow, in worldly fashion, pleasures of every kind, to be afraid of the hardships attending a virtuous life, and to deny nothing to self that soothes and delights the senses. "They that are Christ's, have crucified their flesh, with the vices and concupiscences"] -- so that it follows that they who are not accustomed to suffering, and who hold not ease and pleasure in contempt belong not to Christ. By the infinite goodness of God man lived again to the hope of an immortal life, from which he had been cut off, but he cannot attain to it if he strives not to walk in the very footsteps of Christ and conform his mind to Christ's by the meditation of Christ's example. Therefore this is not a counsel but a duty, and it is the duty, not of those only who desire a more perfect life, but clearly of every man "always bearing about in our body the mortification of Jesus." How otherwise could the natural law, commanding man to live virtuously, be kept? For by holy baptism the sin which we contracted at birth is destroyed, but the evil and tortuous roots of sin, which sin has engrafted, and by no means removed. This part of man which is without reason -- although it cannot beat those who fight manfully by Christ's grace -- nevertheless struggles with reason for supremacy, clouds the whole soul and tyrannically bends the will from virtue with such power that we cannot escape vice or do our duty except by a daily struggle. "This holy synod teaches that in the baptized there remains concupiscence or an inclination to evil, which, being left to be fought against, cannot hurt those who do not consent to it, and manfully fight against it by the grace of Jesus Christ; for he is not crowned who does not strive lawfully." There is in this struggle a degree of strength to which only a very perfect virtue, belonging to those who, by putting to flight evil passions, has gained so high a place as to seem almost to live a heavenly life on earth. Granted; grant that few attain such excellence; even the philosophy of the ancients taught that every man should restrain his evil desires, and still more and with greater care those who from daily contact with the world have the greater temptations -- unless it be foolishly thought that where the danger is greater watchfulness is less needed, or that they who are more grievously ill need fewer medicines.
The Holy Season of Lent, Quadragesima, will be here in a little over thirty hours (Eastern Standard Time) from the time of this article's posting. Isn't it time now to recognize that this one passage from Pope Leo XIII's Exeunte Iam Anno describes the attitude we must have to fight for the salvation of our immortal souls on a daily basis without immersing ourselves in the midst of the ways of the world, the flesh and the devil? Each of us have much to make reparation for, myself included most especially. So many sins. So much wasted time. So much uncritical immersion in--and silence about--so many things that we did not have to indulge in the slightest. And while a specific article on Lent will be posted at some point tomorrow, Shrove Tuesday, it is useful now to come to a recognition that withdrawing from things that might have been legitimate pleasures in times--but have become enticements to sin and whose place in national life has been exaggerated beyond all reasonable proportions--is just one of the ways that we can show God we love Him as He has revealed Himself through His true Church more than we love our attachments to the things of this passing world.
Consider this plea made by a fifty-two year-old mother to her grown children about the necessity of fleeing from the world:
My dear ones --Flesh of my flesh and bone of my bones! How I long for your holiness!
You were raised in what we thought was the Catholic Church! Subjectively, we were Catholic, but objectively we were in the church of the Beast! It's not the True Church, this church which accepts every belief of everyone as acceptable to God. Thank God He showed us, after our YEARS OF SUFFERING THROUGH THE LIES WHICH WE TRIED TO EXPLAIN TO YOU WERE LIES!! One has only to read the Old Testament to discover how God detests false worship! He calls it ADULTERY.
The constant teaching of the Church is that She is the Sole Ark of Salvation. To believe otherwise is to consign yourselves to hell. Face it, darlings! God doesn't accept excuses, as you know. His Mercy is for the living ONLY -- after death His Mercy is replaced with His Justice. Do not allow yourselves to be fooled by those who pretend to have knowledge, NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU MAY LOVE THEM, for, as God tells us in Matthew 13:22: "For there will rise up false Christs and false prophets: and they shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce (if it were possible) even the elect." !!
God does NOT sit on a mountain and allow people to find their "own" path to Him. No, He gave us a Way, the One, True Church. If you believe the lie which everyone else believes, you are being fooled and will not be saved. You cannot be saved without believing the Truth, which is why the Church has always condemned heretics -- they are worse than murderers, because a murderer can only kill your body, while a heretical belief will kill your soul.
Read! Pray! Fast! Acquire, through the Grace of the REAL Sacraments, humility.
Babylon is Rome, Children. The city of seven hills. 1 Peter 5:13. The church that is in Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you. And so doth my son, Mark. (Babylon was the CODE NAME for Rome -- no one could know where Peter was because it was dangerous for him -- he might have been killed).
Apocolypse 14:8. And another angel followed, saying: That great Babylon is fallen, is fallen; which made all nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. And the great city was divided into three parts: and the cities of the Gentiles fell. And great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the indignation of his wrath. And on her forehead a name was written: A mystery: Babylon the great, the mother of the fornications and the abominations of the earth. And he cried out with a strong voice, saying: Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen: and is become the habitation of devils and the hold of every unclean spirit and the hold of every unclean and hateful bird: Standing afar off for fear of her torments, saying: Alas! alas! that great city, Babylon, that mighty city: for in one hour is thy judgment come. And a mighty angel took up a stone, as it were a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying: With such violence as this, shall Babylon, that great city, be thrown down and shall be found no more at all. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying: Go out from her, my people; that you be not partakers of her sins and that you receive not of her plagues.
Take courage, my children. In your veins flows blood of STRENGTH AND COURAGE. Give up the world, its immodesty, its glitter, comforts and vanity, before it's too late! BE NOT DECEIVED! You have only once chance!!
Teach your children to pray, to love TRUTH above all -- to renounce the world. Read the lives of the saints and pray, pray, pray, that you may arise from your lethargy of self-satisfaction!!
Practice Lent -- you have the instructions in "The Liturgical Year" -- it's a great treasure and I urge you to read it! You can find the observances in the calendars that we gave you for Christmas w/regard to the Church's rules on FASTING and abstinence.
If you do not "take the bull by the horns" you WILL BE LOST. And your last day could be TODAY, God forbid!
We pray ardently for your return to a true love of the Faith every day. And LOVE requires a COMPLETE DEVOTION TO ACTION. It's NOT an emotion!
Do you care? You used to!
Even you, my darlings who attend the Real Mass ~ you realize that that is not enough, of course! You must stop offending the Sweet and Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary!! They are offended so very, very much already, by the world ~ think of the millions and millions of souls who don’t know and don’t care. And then there’s you; you, who have been given the grace, through no merit of your own, to know where the Remnant of the Church lies! Praise Him for that! Thank Him! Honor Him by becoming on fire for The Trinity of Hearts, +Jesus+, Mary and Joseph! Stop being lukewarm ~ it makes Christ, Our Lord, vomit you from His Mouth! Instead, PRAY for the grace to Love Him well and then, for GOD’S SAKES, COOPERATE WITH THE GRACE!! Stop, stop sinning! Stop offending God. With the grace of God even YOU can do it.
Can you imagine Heaven without all of us together? (How’d you like to permanently miss one of Grampa Bill’s gatherings??)
And what about the “other” place, hell. Meditate on it this Lent. Darkness, but not as we know darkness. Darkness that is the pure absence of light. That also means absence of heat that warms, replaced with the never-consuming and all-encompassing heat of hatred, which is both physical as well as emotional. Imagine being in a place where everyone hates you!! Forever! Not only that, but you hate everyone, too!
I could go on ~ if you would like me to, I could write another letter expounding on the pains and reality of hell. Just request it and I’ll have it done that very day (God willing).
You have much to atone for, much. Expect to receive pain and suffering from your children -- I forsee them leaving the Faith completely and causing you and us much pain because of it because of your unfaithfulness to God in your lives. Your current beliefs and behavior is our punishment, for our sins, I am sure. Yours will be worse, because you knew better than we did, and did worse!
You married ones ~ stop flirting with the Faith and produce holy families! PRAY TOGETHER! Study the Faith!! Get serious! Believe me, you already will have much to suffer, but if you don’t get serious NOW and put the brakes on your love for the world, (as much as you think it’s not love for the world, it is!), your suffering will be unbearable. Mine is almost that now, yet look at the efforts we made.
Yes, this is "dour" -- and I realize you like only happy things. Who doesn't? But if you think about it, you will know that I am right.
The minions of hell and helpers of satan will try to get you to ignore this warning, but here it is.
I love you, and suffer daily for you with weeping and supplications.
Mom
This is a Catholic mother who learned her lessons the hard way after permitting her children to be too immersed in the world and with worldly friends. She is calling upon them to reform their lives before it is too late. Shouldn't we reform our lives before it is too late? What if the last thing we ever did on earth before the moment of our Particular Judgment was to watch a salacious commercial shown during the telecast of a sporting contest? Is this how we want to enter eternity, with that kind of sin on our immortal souls?
What can we do with our time? How about praying more Rosaries? How about praying our Way of the Cross on a daily basis during Lent? How about getting, most importantly, to a true offering of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the Catholic catacombs where no concessions are made to conciliarism or to its false shepherds? Why not read more books about the lives of the saints? Why not take our families to shrines of Our Lady to pray her Most Holy Rosary in the Sundays of Lent? Why not put First Things first in light of Last Things each and every moment of our lives?
Saint Paul explained the joys that await us are indescribable:
Howbeit we speak wisdom among the perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, neither of the princes of this world that come to nought; But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, a wisdom which is hidden, which God ordained before the world, unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew; for if they had known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written: That eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love him. But to us God hath revealed them, by this Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
For what man knoweth the things of a man, but the spirit of a man that is in him? So the things also that are of God no man knoweth, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God. Which things also we speak, not in the learned words of human wisdom; but in the doctrine of the Spirit, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the sensual man perceiveth not these things that are of the Spirit of God; for it is foolishness to him, and he cannot understand, because it is spiritually examined. But the spiritual man judgeth all things; and he himself is judged of no man. (1 Cor. 2: 6-15.)
May Our Lady and her Most Chaste Spouse, Saint Joseph, help us to eschew the things of this passing world as we seek to make the best Lent of our lives. We do not know if this Lent will be our last. We need their Heavenly help to make it our very best.
Viva Cristo Rey!
