We usually get upset when we’re frustrated, which is when things are out of control, when we get nervous that the spinning of worldliness is spinning away while the true pole of the earth is tossed as irrelevant. However, it remains true that the Cross remains while the world spins away:
Crux stat dum volvitur orbis.
That’s just a two second video of Shadow-dog above. He demonstrates well my reaction to anyone holding the cross to be irrelevant. That’s my reaction because I’m not as close to Christ Jesus as I should be. So, I get nervous, upset. How stupid is that. We must retain our peace of heart even if we also have anguish of soul. Anyway, I had that frustrated reaction the other day to something someone who should know better said of a proclamation of Saint Pope Paul VI to the Fathers of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council which received something like a dozen minutes of thunderous and unanimous applause in Saint Peter’s Basilica. Try anything more than ten seconds of applause…
Because Jesus is the Head of the Body – so to speak – and the members of the Church are the members of that Body, Saint Pope Paul VI proclaimed Mary to be Mother of the Church, Mater Ecclesiae, which title is no innovation, no heresy, but is instead a title which is humbly bestowed upon her so as to celebrate the reality of her motherhood. She is the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God, and her prayers for us under that steadfasat Cross that we might receive the grace of redemption as salvation directly from her Divine Son appropriately confers upon her such a title, for she is, then, our mother in this way, Mother of the Church.
The nasty thing I heard someone who should know better say is that this proclamation was the beginning of the end of the Church. I was stunned. Perhaps I didn’t hear correctly. Perhaps he meant to say that Mary’s inclusion in Lumen Gentium, the dogmatic decree on the Church, was and is somehow the driving engine bringing all to hell. Or perhaps he was saying that in general about the Council itself and he had no intention of demeaning our Lady.
But this is a symptom of the times, is it not? Flippant statements smashing everything and everyone down? Two seconds to throw all into chaos, and then smirking away. Wow.
But things are not “out of control”. The Lord Jesus remains the Lord of History. And we can remain with Him. He can and does make us part of the Holy Family. He does forgive us. He does fill us with sanctifying grace. He does give us the wherewithal to continue.
If that video above were to continue, one would see Shadow-dog immediately lie down and peacefully oversee his domain. A good example. Goooood daaaawwwg!
ARISE! LET US BE GOING! 
Thank you for your comment Father George. I am sure many of us are feeling the chaos drawing us into the madness of the world. At times, I have to force myself to sit in my prayer room and just gaze on an image of Jesus, Mary and Joseph for a while. This brings peace and calm to my troubled mind and soul. Then, I can pray. I give thanks to a kind and merciful God for helping and loving us in these troubled times.
Father, your comments are such a great help. It guides and reminders us to stay on course and to persist in reaching out to holiness and grace for us all. God bless you Father George! God bless Shadow-dog!
Sincerely,
Catherine
I guess it’s a matter of exerting the intellect over emotions: bringing to the fore what we know (the truth of God’s goodness and closeness) over what we are feeling (anguish of soul because of the injustice and horror we are experiencing). That’s not easy but doable, as Catherine points out, by tuning out the world and refocusing on God our Saviour, Mary His Mother and ours, and St Joseph His protector when a child on earth and ours for our duration here.
Our world seems to be returning to a paganism much worse than before Christ, a paganism determined to dissolve the Church and destroy mankind. That madness was summed up for me when, on the eve of the Amazon Synod, a demented woman called for us to eat aborted children to fight “climate change”.
In this supposedly enlightened age an increasing number are falling for the devil’s deception and turning to “Mother Earth” to “save the planet” instead of to Mary, Mother of the Church, to lead us to her Son and save our souls. It is God who holds our planet in existence, and His Mother’s Immaculate Heart will triumph over the devil’s war on mankind and dissolve the madness that he and the other fallen angel have sown.
I agree with the comments above. I also find myself frequently thanking Jesus for telling us that ‘the gates of hell shall not prevail against My church.” That reassures me and brings me a degree of calm and security.