In your charity could you say a little prayer?

 My 93 year old Cousin Pearl had a birthday yesterday. Her pastor, family and church members went to the nursing home and waved to her from the window. They posted the visit on Facebook and when I saw her a wail leapt out of me I and started crying. It's been hours since I saw the video and I still feel unwell.

Another cousin saw the Facebook post  last night and later told my mother that she was so appalled that she too, wept at the sight what she saw. Cousin Pearl was a stylish, plump, always smiling, and spunky woman in the beginning of 2020, now she's skin and bones and it took her a great effort to drink from a glass and raise her head. She looks like she's almost gone. I'm so glad my mother doesn't have Internet and was not able to see this. 

random thoughts on a Thursday afternoon

•  I just read about the death of a homeless man in Quebec. They are under curfew. A local homeless shelter was forced to kick out the homeless at 8 PM. It's cold in Canada and one of the residents went to a porta potty to take shelter. He died. Think about that. A man died in an freezing, stinking disgusting public outhouse because the shelter wasn't allowed to keep him.  
  
  
  

•  I've long believed that most of the Catholic media leaders are just full of it. They enjoy their little cocktail parties, cruises, conferences and vacations in Rome and making quips on Twitter or their own media outlets but they really don't want to work. They may be anti-abortion on an abstract level but they don't really believe it could ever be ended legally and they probably don't want that because it would take money out of their pockets.
  
  I've had my doubts about the worthwhileness of the March for Life. I definitely think the at-times sacrilegious youth Mass in the arena should be scrapped but I also know that half the Catholic "thought leaders" who criticize the March for Life every year were probably just too lazy to march anywhere but to the refrigerator for another beer or pose for a selfie with cigar.
  
  
  
  
• Rest in peace, sir. 
  
  
  
  

Well that was weird

 Rocky took a day off and we took a road trip to Orange County, Virginia. We found the local church and stopped in to pray the Rosary. It  was an odd little church. We couldn't find the Blessed Sacrament and they didn't have a crucifix over the altar. They do have a lovely piece of stained glass behind the altar. I wonder if they bought the building from a Baptist congregation because the windows, floor, carpet and design of the building looked very much like the little Baptist church that my great grandfather helped found.

Whoever is in charge of cleaning there needed to get to it. I noticed a strong body odor while we were praying but there was only one other person in the church and that person was sitting in the last pew quite away from us. It was stuffy and stale but could one normal person smell as strong as a locker room?

 The front of the building was glass and Rocky and I were startled to see a man peeking at us through the  main door.  We walked to another door and he followed along outside to stare at us through that door. He pressed himself against the glass and cupped his hands over eyes to get a good look.  We retreated to another door but that led to a long stairwell. After a fruitless search for another way out, Rocky said "Enough of this. I'm going ask this guy what his malfunction is." 

We went back to the front door and stepped out. The creepy guy was gone. We got back to our car with no issues. I have no idea what that was all about. 

The Vision in the Coliseum

 This painting by Jose Belliure y Gil is massive and photos on the Web just don't do it justice. It depicts St. Telemachus, the last martyr of the Coliseum. Telemachus was a hermit who was moved to leave his hermitage and go to Rome. He followed the crowds into the arena and was horrified to see the gladiatorial games and the old man leapt in the Coliseum floor to beg the gladiators not to kill. He was put to death for interrupting the games but something incredible happened. This poor hermit's death became the talk of Rome and people were shamed. The emperor's heart was so touched that he ended combat to the death as entertainment once and for all.

 The painting shows the vision that St. Telemachus was strengthened by in the last moments of his earthly life. He sees a huge crowd of martyrs, and virgins, nuns, monks, and priests. He sees that the seeds of his martyrdom will bear much fruit. The Church militant and triumphant are joined for one moment before Telemachus's and the viewer's eyes. It's a comfort. 

Weep

 *I read this and just said, "My God!" I had to stop reading and hold my head for a few minutes.   

 

A most interesting essay

 I just read an interesting and disturbing essay.  The author, Alistair McFadden is a layman who got a funny feeling about a book that has been wildly praised by some semi famous people in traditional Catholic publishing. The book is Cor Jesu Sacratissimum: From Secularism and the New Age to Christendom Renewed and that book's author said he owes much to  another book called Meditations on the Tarot.  He was so taken with it  that he even had a portion of it read during his wedding.  Tarot? What would a Catholic have to do with the Tarot?  

Cor Jesu Sacratissimum: From Secularism and the New Age to Christendom Renewed  is published by Angelico Press. To be honest I've never heard of Angelico but it's supposed to be a  serious, high tone  publishing house. Apparently many traditional and conservative Catholics consider Angelico to be safe.  Alistair McFadden says that Angelico also publishes  Meditations on the Tarot.  This is  bewildering. I read the names of public Catholics connected to Angelico either in it's offices, it's admirers,  or its published authors and I was  even more confused. 

What is Jane Ordinary Catholic to do? A lot of people look up some of the names mentioned in this essay. How many times have you been in a discussion online and someone said, "Well Dr. X says or Fr. X says..." or "It's published by X so it must be okay." ? 

These days when I hear of a new Catholic organization or "apostolate" who want my money I look at who is on its board and who its "stars" are. I search the IRS to see their Form 990 and I look at the Secretary of State  filings in the state they do business in. If an organization doesn't seem to have any background and no way of finding out who runs it then I assume something is wrong and avoid them. But most people don't have the needed skills or time to do that. They trust. I just look at some of the names mentioned in this essay and I wonder.

 

No comment here. No comment at all.

 

Twilight Zone : Third From the Sun 

CARLING:  That's dangerous thinking. You better mind what you say!

STURKA: And what I think, too.

CARLING: Yeah, and what you think.

Something to remember

•  The next time someone starts going on about how evil the USA is, remind them that abortion was imposed on this country by the Supreme Court. Ireland voted on abortion and Argentinian women danced in the street because they were so happy about being able to slaughter their own children. America has her sins, in part because the Founders were overwhelmingly Protestant, Deists and Freemasons but the rest of the world aint looking so good in the sight of God either.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The Jesuits should be suppressed. Unless we get a very strong and holy pope one day that is not going to happen but the laity can react by not sending the kids to Jesuit schools. Avoid Jesuit parishes and asking your bishop to limit Jesuit presence in the diocese.