Random thoughts on a Sunday afternoon

•  Rocky and I went to Mass at the newly renovated Arlington Cathedral and it's actually beautiful. The garish colors and mish mash of styles are gone. The Blessed Sacrament is in the middle of the sanctuary now instead of the side and the bishops chair is no longer in the middle.
  
  Is it as stunning as the cathedral in Baltimore, or DC? No, of course not but it is a huge improvement over what it was. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The Pro Life movement has to get its act together. Right now people are talking about a woman who was a pro life activist who was looked up to and admired by a number of young women. She just announced that she had an abortion in June. So, you have a pro-life activist who despite everything she's said and argued and all the resources she could have access to, who had an abortion. Did nobody check this woman's background before promoting her as a face of the movement? 

Well that was a dud

 I ordered a veil from Maria Veils and am not happy with the non existent customer service, the undeliverable company emails, and with what I received. The veil in my hands does not look as long or ornate as the one in the photo. Oh well, lesson learned. From now on I'll stick to Veiled by Tradition or order from nuns. 

Random thoughts on Tuesday evening

•  I've been reading a lot of Twitter  and I've come to the conclusion that a lot of people need to understand something: When you grow up and leave home your parents don't owe you anything anymore. You have no right to be angry that your parents sold the house and moved to North Carolina. You have no right to expect that your mother will babysit your child everyday. You have no right to be bitter about your inheritance being "wasted", because your parents decided to go on a cruise and you have no right to rage because your widowed parent decided to get married again.
  
  I am not talking about being angry over childhood abuse or the horror of growing up with Boomer parents who spent your whole youth finding themselves in sex, drugs and various cults and isms. I'm talking about expecting your elderly parents to keep standing between you and the world.
  
  Consider our ancestors for a moment. Do you think Pioneer women living in sod houses on the prairie had anyone to watch the baby while they went to town? Their mothers were either back East or in Colonial days, back in England. And yet those women survived and made a nation out of nothing.
  
  The only thing my father's father left him was his name. And you know what? My father got up, lived his own life and went to work. At some point you have to stop pouting and get to living. 

• I think the people who are sharing that AI created image of Our Lord based on the Shroud mean well but it looks too much like Charles Manson to me. I much prefer real art. 
  
  
  
  
  

• In the UK, your doctors can kill you if they think your case is hopeless and they won't let you leave the country to seek treatment elsewhere. In exchange for setting your broken arm or draining your pimples for "free", Brits become property of the State health service. No, thank you!
  
  
  
  
  
  
• It's happened again. My neighbor took a shower and my toilet began bubbling like a geyser. I watched in horror as my tub filled with sewage.  Maintenance took care of it but  I followed up with vast quantities of bleach. It's time to move. I refuse  to deal with this ever again. In your charity, please pray that Rocky and I find a new home and don't have too much trouble getting out of our lease. 

July has been a Hell of a month...no humor intended

 This July has been wild. Trump is almost killed, the Democrats stop lying and turn on old Joe, and the French commit blasphemy at the opening ceremony of the Olympics... August isn't looking too good either.  

The people at my job are serious, fervent Democrats. They  would  vote for a live guinea pig or a dead man as long as the rodent and the cadaver are Dems but there were no jokes about the assassination attempt in the office. One person told me that she was in despair because it was obvious that Biden couldn't keep up even the pretense of being in full control of his faculties. Another whispered that she really wishes she had a place for her family to go hide in. Nobody is excited about the Vice President. Everyone, even the office loud mouth joker, is being impressively careful with what they say.

As for the Olympics, I guess the organizers decided that they wanted to be weirder than the London Olympics opening ceremony and they succeeded.  Emperor Theodosius banned the games in 393 because he thought it promoted paganism. I think he deserves a nod of acknowledgement for that. The blasphemy against Our Lord made me think of the warnings given by Our Lady of LaSallete.

Frank Walker has a few things to say about the Eucharistic Congress and Michael Matt's quixotic trip to Mt. Kilimanjaro. 

Lost Girl

Last weekend, my husband, Rocky and I saw something we've never seen before. A young girl, was posed suggestively on the curb at the shopping strip we always go to for Japanese food. She was scantily clad and it was hard to be sure how old she was under the makeup. She had a cut open knee and  looked, frankly, like she was for sale. She still appeared healthy but her eyes-- her eyes looked like she was already dead. Seeing a thousand yard stare on someone so young is deeply unsettling. 

We've noticed prostitutes walking by the motels in the rough section of town but this is the first time I've ever come across one on our end. This strip mall isn't located away from everything or in an industrial area. It's surrounded by apartment buildings and homes. People walk to the grocery store. Old men sit in and around the Starbucks chatting and sipping coffee all day. This is a residential area. Don't tell me that the economy is fine and crime isn't all that bad. Things are getting noticeably ugly at a rapid pace. After we picked up our food we looked for the girl but she was gone. St. Mary of Egypt, St. Margaret of Cortona, St. Philomena, St. Agnes, St. Maria Goretti, please pray for this lost girl. 

Our Lady, patroness of the Americas, please pray for us

The line from this Broadway* song, is in my head today.

Dice are Rolling,

The knives are out
Would be presidents are all around
I can't say they mean harm, but they'd each give an arm
To see us six feet underground... 

God have mercy on the soul of Mr. Corey Comperatore, who was murdered yesterday in Butler, Pennsylvania. He  will be an afterthought or a one line mention in the news but his poor family has been devastated. I'm afraid for the country. We are living in monstrous times and it is going to get worse. Humanly speaking we are up the creek and heading to the river. We lost the paddles a few decades back and there is a waterfall a few miles away. I think we are past the point of secular remedy.

Our Lady, patroness of the Americas, please pray for us. Intercede with your Divine Son!

* "Dice Are Rolling" from Evita

Random thoughts on a Sunday morning

 

• The fool always wants to go back to the fire, thinking it will be different this time.  A few days ago I was reading a discussion on Afghanistan. The original poster was upset because Afghan men frequently take young brides. The responses were horrified but they were also filled with women saying we should do something about it. Folks Afghanistan is what it is and interfering never works. It's nickname is "The grave of empires," for a reason. John Bull couldn't force them into the 19th century, Ivan Ivanovich with Soviet brutality couldn't conquer them and Ricky Bobby armed with feminism and porn couldn't make a lasting change in their culture either. Anybody who says "we" should force First World standards on them is a fool who  should be ignored or at least given a free trip to Afghanistan to put their talk into action.

• Pray for Cardinal Vigano.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Pray for Cardinal Zen, the smack down he put on Michael Lofton and indirectly, all the laypeople who make their livings off the Faith was magnificent. Stop giving these people money. 
  
  
  
  
• Rocky and I went to a different parish last Sunday and it was a good experience. People came in and sat down in the pews in silence. Nobody was talking about their TV shows or the grandchildren's soccer game.   One family did a devotion at the Immaculate Conception chapel before Mass. Another family did the Stations of the Cross. When Mass began, the lector was fully dressed and didn't feel the need to act out the reading. The cantor didn't try to give us a mini concert. The old priest said Mass with care and his homily in no way resembled a stand up comedian's act. He preached on the Gospel. Communion was from the hands of two priests and a deacon. There were no Eucharistic Ministers. That was all so refreshing. 

• Thank you, Fr. Nix. This little video is gut wrenching.   Everyone who's pastor refused or ignored them or allowed their secretary to mock them when they asked for a religious exemption, stand tall. Every pastor who refused, remember this.