Tag Archives: Patriotism
$1,000,000,000.00 patriotic park with 1/3 mile+ (1776′ tall) flagpole. “Hirelings and slaves”?
This will, of course, be a primary target for terrorist destruction. I’m hoping that those capable will protect this site so that it doesn’t become the next September 11. It is a kind of bait attracting terrorists. But that can be an advantage in neutralizing terrorists. The effect I’m looking for would be something like this:
As we anticipate another Pelosian Summer of Love, I think it’s imperative to know something about the protection of the flag. Remember this account of the battle of 1812 and the flag? This video should be played on loop in the planned museums of this flag park:
Let’s hear our National Anthem, yes, again!
- “But the words are racist! The words are racist! The words are about hirelings and slaves!”
No. They’re not.
Let’s do some analysis. Firstly, here are the worlds:
O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
‘Tis the star-spangled banner, O long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion,
A home and a country, should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave,
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation.
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust.’
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
Now, the analysis:
The lyrics were written in 1814 by Francis Scott Key about the Battle of Baltimore fought against the Brits’ Royal Navy in 1812. The Brits just wouldn’t let it go, and had to engage again, and so lost again, almost thirty years after the end of the Revolutionary War. The Royal Navy would enlist mercenaries, the “hirelings” mentioned in the third verse, and enslave Prisoners of War to fight for them as well, the “slaves” mentioned in the third verse.
Why do I insist on this having nothing whatsoever even remotely to do with black African slaves when Key himself was a slave owner who lived long before the American Civil War? Because of the purpose of the song and what it is describing, that is, a particular night of battle in the harbor of Baltimore against the Royal Navy in which hirelings and slaves were employed in the battle by the Royal Navy, surely other Brits or POW American military.
Even if a tiny percentage of these hirelings and slaves happened to be black Africans, possibly most recently from the United States, the mentions of those hirelings and slaves wouldn’t refer to any previous status of slavery, but only to the slavery imposed by the Royal Navy on any POWs. To win this battle in Baltimore, there would be no interest in going to, say, Mississippi, and killing hirelings and slaves. To hold that to be the meaning of the words is simply ridiculous.
///////// BTW: When I first put up these last three paragraphs in a post some years ago, when this blog wasn’t shadow-banned, when this blog didn’t have posts and graphics removed by third parties of some kind, the analysis on the words of the Star Bangled Banner was visited by basically every State and County government, every school district, every community college, every especially ivy league university, every intel agency, military or otherwise federal. Finally, the narrative changed from the ‘racism’ to mere belligerence in favor of sort of ‘change.’ Well, I’ll tell you what won’t change, the graves of those who gave their lives for the freedom we enjoy today (at least for the next while).
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Filed under Patriotism, Racism
“America Strong” Communion Call
This is as far back in the back ridges of moonshine Cherokee County as you can possibly get. The old guy who lives here makes his way out on Sundays to serve the Traditional Latin Mass, and then afterward, I go on Communion calls, which includes his wife.
He greets me at the door packing heat, I think a .38 Special. Meanwhile, the son, who’s probably as old as I am (which is old), will usually be coming up from downstairs to see what trouble is brewing up top. The son can mag-dump into the same bullet hole a good distance out with – not a revolver, as that would be too easy – but with a grindy-trigger pistol. Hat’s off to him. Then he’ll disappear again. Meanwhile, the old guy’s elderly wife, well, let’s just say that this reminds of her skills and wisdom:
We have a chat, making sure we’re all good to go with food supplies and candles for prayer and such. Then the prayer gets serious with the Holy Communion part of the Communion call. Then we chat a bit more about schedules of doctors and such for the week. We might also talk about guns, because, well, I’m always carrying as well. If I’m not, I get severely reprimanded with lectures about the fallen state of the world and how I have to be at the ready in any situation. If I’m just coming from the Rehab/Nursing Home I might say that it’s still in the car. More reprimands come my way for being so forgetful, with no discipline. I love it. They’re such a day brightener for me.
[I admit it. I put up this post just to annoy the infamous commenter troll guy who wants me out of the priesthood. Just a little humor to lighten things up. But some people just like to be angry. Anyway, I’m in a really good mood today, and so very happy to be a priest.]
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Filed under Eucharist, Guns, Humor, Patriotism
Make sure to visit a cemetery today to remember those who gave all
The dates say it all. The land of the free because of the brave. This boy was just 16 years old.
Reagan said it best, this time on Veterans Day, Armistice Day, about the boys who, in death, handed this country on to us, who live (around 3’15” for just a minute) but the whole speech is a gem:
Patriotism is a virtue of the natural law and is blessed by God.
Dad was a veteran. He died many decades ago. I’m sure you knew a veteran sometime in your life. Perhaps you have a favorite memory.
My favorite memory of dad was back in 1962, when I was just 2 1/2 years old. I’d walk up in the Communion line next to him with the rest of the family behind us. This was at the great Saint Mary’s Cathedral with its gorgeous altar rail with the linens flipped over the top. I was always impressed by the linens getting flipped over the top, just as I was with kneeling there beside my dad, reaching up as high as I could to put my hands under the linens like he was doing. I was pretty small. I was filled with such wonder and awe and reverence as the priest and altar boy with paten would make it over to us. They would start on the Epistle side. We were always on the Gospel side. Everything worked together to instill reverence.
It was good be on my knees with dad before the Lord Jesus. Very good. Here we have a warrior on his knees, in reverence, before The Warrior, Jesus, in the epic battle of good over evil, God over Satan. And dad is with Jesus. I love that.
Memorare: Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thine intercession was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.
I was able to offer Holy Mass today for my dad, George Byers Jr. USMC
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Filed under Military, Patriotism
Eagle sighting, every day, but called “The Last”
Not my picture. I couldn’t get a picture of the one I saw, as I was driving at the time and he had been right over the top of the car. Massive white head, gargantuan wingspan, white tail. Yep.
The Bald Eagle, symbol of strength in freedom with God-given rights in the rule of law enshrined in the Constitution is refreshing to see amidst all the betrayal of these USA and of our military. There are so many, so high up, who are treasonous, who are intent on destroying this country, and for what? A couple of bucks from big money with which they can eat ice cream cones and drink from sippy cups while proving senility and dementia as marxist college kids do up subversion for him?
That’s a perpetual rant going on in my heart. But that betrayal of the “powers that be”, that violence against everyone from conception to death, dragging the world into persecution of the Church, fades into insignificance compared to the scandal and destruction of eternal souls by the pastors of the Church.
But that apostle and evangelist who has an eagle as a symbol always has encouragement for us daily at what is called the Last Gospel, exactly parallel with the Proto-Evangelium, the First Gospel of Genesis 3:15 and exactly parallel with the the Apocalypse, and is the Prologue of his Gospel:
- In principio erat Verbum et Verbum erat apud Deum et Deus erat Verbum. Hoc erat in principio apud Deum. Omnia per Ipsum facta sunt, et sine Ipso factum est nihil quod factum est. In Ipso vita erat, et vita erat Lux hominum. Et Lux in tenebris lucet et tenebrae eam non comprehenderunt. Fuit homo missus a Deo cui nomen erat Iohannes. Hic venit in testimonium ut testimonium perhiberet de lumine ut omnes crederent per Illum. Non erat ille lux, sed ut testimonium perhiberet de lumine. Erat lux vera quae illuminat omnem hominem venientem in mundum. In mundo erat, et mundus per ipsum factus est, et mundus eum non cognovit. In propria venit et sui eum non receperunt. Quotquot autem receperunt eum dedit eis potestatem filios Dei, fieri his qui credunt in nomine Eius. Qui non ex sanguinibus, neque ex voluntate carnis, neque ex voluntate viri, sed ex Deo nati sunt. ET VERBUM CARO FACTUM EST, ET HABITABIT IN NOBIS et vidimus gloriam eius, gloriam quasi unigeniti a Patre, plenum gratiae et veritatis.
- In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him: and without him was made nothing that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to give testimony of the light, that all men might believe through him. He was not the light, but was to give testimony of the light. That was the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, he gave them power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in his name. Who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as it were of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
When I see a Bald Eagle, that’s what flashes through heart and soul and mind.
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Filed under Liturgy, Nature, Patriotism, Politics
Working against treason is not treason
And I bet you our Justice Department will find a way to put these guys in prison for making Joe Biden look bad. Maybe the DOJ will take these great Americans, the rescuers and the rescued, and put them on a plane and send them back to be tortured to death in Afghanistan. That’s how bad it is.
And yet, this is how good it is, these guys, knowing the adversity of Joe Biden and his cronies, do what is right and good anyway, rescuing those purposely left behind. Going against treason is not treason, but the greatness of the virtue of Patriotism.
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Filed under Military, Patriotism
That about sums it up: contrast and compare
Language in that last one. This was number one on the charts for while. Know your culture.
Comments in the counting room after Mass yesterday included high praise for the reporter in the last video, brilliantly getting the interview on-air by supplying the words “Let’s go Brandon” even while… you know…
Sorry, but I have to laugh. And now, on account of that laughter, I’ll probably have a warrant put out on me by the Biden Admin with puppets at the DOJ as FBI as CJIS in Bridgeport WV. ;-) … … … bwahahahahahahahaha! Oops!
Oh. I should comment on the intro of Johnny Cash to Ragged ol’ Flag lest I be red-flagged. He speaks of shooting anyone who would burn his flag. What he’s talking about, truth be told, is what is narrated in about the Star Spangled Banner in that other video above. That’s about defense of self and others from unjust and already being delivered deadly aggression. It’s sad that an explanation has to be given in our tender snowflake days. Anyway… Let’s go Brandon!
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Filed under Free exercise of religion, Military, Patriotism, Politics
Van Thomas Barfoot (RIP)
From a forwarded email:
Remember the Guy who wouldn’t take the flag pole down on his Virginia property awhile back? You might remember the news story several months ago about a crotchety old man in Virginia who defied his local Homeowners ASSociation, and refused to take down the flag pole on His property along with the large American flag He flew on it.
Now we learn Who that old man was. On June 15, 1919, Van T. Barfoot was born in Edinburg, Texas. That probably didn’t make News back Then. But Twenty-five years later, on May 23, 1944, Near Carano, Italy, that same Van T. Barfoot, who had in 1940 enlisted in the U.S. Army, set out alone to Flank German machine gun positions from which gunfire was raining down on his fellow soldiers. His advance took him through a minefield but having done so, he proceeded to single-handedly take out three enemy machine gun positions, returning with 17 prisoners of war. And if that weren’t enough for a day’s work, he later took on and destroyed three German tanks sent to retake the machine gun positions.
That probably Didn’t make much news either, given the scope of the war, but it did earn Van T. Barfoot (who retired as a Colonel after also serving In Korea and Vietnam – a well deserved Congressional Medal of Honor.
What did make news was his Neighborhood Association’s quibble with how the 90-year-old veteran chose to fly the American flag outside his suburban Virginia home. Seems the HOA rules said it was OK to fly a flag on a house-mounted bracket, but, for decorum, items such as Van T. Barfoot’s 21-foot flagpole were “unsuitable”.
Van T. Barfoot Had been denied a permit for the pole, but erected it anyway and was facing court action unless he agreed to take it down. Then the HOA story made national TV, and the Neighborhood Association rethought its position and agreed to indulge this aging hero who dwelt among them.
“In the Time I have left”, he said to the Associated Press, “I plan to continue to fly the American flag without interference.” As Well he should. And if any of his neighbors had taken a notion to contest him further, they might have done well to read his Medal of Honor citation first. Seems it indicates Mr. Van T. Barfoot wasn’t particularly good at backing down.
==============
My comment: I bet the ASSociation knew well about his Medal of Honor. Before anyone attacks any Medal of Honor recipient, they should go get a Medal of Honor themselves. Pfft. But ten thousand who are set on dishonoring the most honorable fade into insignificance before such greatness as we have with one Van T. Barfoot. And we have many such great Americans with us today. They are many.
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Filed under Military, Patriotism
Lyrics analysis: Mr Red White and Blue – Coffey Anderson
Still having pneumonia, and therefore too tired, this time you’ll have to do the work of the lyrics analysis: watching the video while it’s playing, but with keeping this hint in mind about what you’re hearing with the lyrics:
- Listen for the words “in line” and look at the images flashing on your screen. There are a couple of occasions, toward the beginning and toward the end. watch for the lines in the cemetery, on the flag, with the marching… Then put those scenes together, knowing that the last scene with those words are entirely wrought with prompt eagerness concerning the first scenes when those words occur, enthusiasm with trepidation, sure, but the greatest love ever, the willingness to, yes, lay down one’s life for one’s friends, one’s fellow Americans. Yep.
- Having gotten that far, listen for the words about the age one is when one is born, perhaps when one lays down one’s life and when one is born into the next life. It reminds me of President Reagan’s comment on the youngsters buried in Arlington National Cemetery (November 11, 1985):
- “It is, in a way, an odd thing to honor those who died in defense of our country, in defense of us, in wars far away. The imagination plays a trick. We see these soldiers in our mind as old and wise. We see them as something like the Founding Fathers, grave and gray haired. But most of them were boys when they died, and they gave up two lives — the one they were living and the one they would have lived. When they died, they gave up their chance to be husbands and fathers and grandfathers. They gave up their chance to be revered old men. They gave up everything for our country, for us.”
I watched a video with Coffey explaining how the words came to him, all at once. Respect for that. That bespeaks solidarity though he’s not a veteran. As expected, he partners with https://militarywarriors.org/
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Filed under Military, Patriotism, Song analysis
God bless America: Kate Smith’s 1943 prayer for these USA
Andrews NC is just a tiny mountain village, but we always have the most outrageously wonderful and patriotic celebration of being extracted from that U.K. tyranny that would strip unalienable rights endowed not by any changeable government but by our Creator.
The show is just over the way but effectively right over the rectory. Although I still have the remains of viral pneumonia, I did do the blessing, and afterwards went back to bed. The doctor said I should do some small things, but then go back to bed. Doing small things, he said, will actually help the recovery.
Seeing every single day multiple instances of political hatred of America both near and far, this celebration wrought by good friends in the fire department was an encouragement, healing. There are really a lot of really good people in these USA. Remember, patriotism is a virtue. Saint Thomas Aquinas speaks about it at length as part of the virtue of piety.
It was a terrible fight this year to keep this tradition going, but we have the right guys to force it through. ;-)
That’s not true in all cities:
As a kid my dad and mom would bring me to MLB games, the Minnesota Twins in the World Series with the Baltimore Orioles, you know, Harmen Killebrew, Tony Oliva, Rod Carew… We did up the iconic tailgating, which at the time referred not to road rage but to partying down in the parking lots of such events with the back of the station wagon opened up!
As a family, we would also sit high up on the steep banks of the Mississippi in Minnesota to watch the 4th of July fireworks.
Had those fireworks been combined for a night game some 65 miles away, with me as a patriotic 5 year old eagerly waiting for the fireworks, only to have some elitist Democrat cancel the fireworks because of a noise curfew, well, I think I would have made some noise, and I would have made a lifelong commitment never to vote for any anti-God, anti-American Democrat, not ever, not even once. Never. I mean, they encourage the noise of screams of bloody murder, rape, arson, assault that we’ve all witnessed these past Summers.
The Democrats are not about politics. They wouldn’t lower themselves to that. Instead, they are all about subversive terrorism to rid these USA of the Constitution and the Constitutional amendments. They want to change USA to DSA, the Divided States of America.
Meanwhile, much stronger than any disgust about Dems and Deep State idiocy of our agencies and bureaus and departments, much stronger than any of that is an unfailing patriotism.
- Our fireworks were an occasion to have a deep sense of family with these USA.
- Our fireworks were an occasion to have a deep sense of gratitude for presently enjoying in some measure the unalienable rights endowed by our Creator. I was letting Hail Marys fly to heaven. It’s a good and holy thing to pray for one’s country. If they are things to fix, well, let’s have some prompt eagerness to fix them, you know, like ensuring a proper vote. Let’s begin with a prayer to God for America, you know, a prayer with Kate Smith:
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Filed under Patriotism, Politics
Mount Rushmore National Repository, Trump’s Best Speech, Biden’s Hating
So, no wonder Joe Biden is forbidding any emphasis on Mount Rushmore on 4 July 2021. I get it. No fireworks to celebrate the Constitution that celebrates God-given unalienable rights. Dems what all rights to be repealed, trampled upon, given to whom they like as an act of politically expedient condescension. No. I celebrate the free exercise of religion, the freedom to assemble, to speak freely even when that’s unpopular, the right to defend the innocent from the threat of deadly, already being delivered aggression, etc. Let’s see… that fireworks celebration… Ah, yes…
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Filed under Patriotism, Politics
National Anthem: Star Spangled Banner – Meaning of “hireling and slave”
This is put up again because misunderstanding of the National Anthem is reported almost daily until today. Fake news continues. Let’s do some analysis.
O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
‘Tis the star-spangled banner, O long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion,
A home and a country, should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave,
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation.
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust.’
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
=======
The lyrics were written in 1814 by Francis Scott Key about the Battle of Baltimore fought against the Brits’ Royal Navy in 1812. The Brits just wouldn’t let it go, and had to engage again, and so lost again, almost thirty years after the end of the Revolutionary War. The Royal Navy would enlist mercenaries, the “hirelings” mentioned in the third verse, and enslave Prisoners of War to fight for them as well, the “slaves” mentioned in the third verse.
Why do I insist on this having nothing whatsoever even remotely to do with black African slaves when Key himself was a slave owner who lived long before the American Civil War? Because of the purpose of the song and what it is describing, that is, a particular night of battle in the harbor of Baltimore against the Royal Navy in which hirelings and slaves were employed in the battle by the Royal Navy, surely other Brits or POW American military.
Even if a tiny percentage of these hirelings and slaves happened to be black Africans, possibly most recently from the United States, the mentions of those hirelings and slaves wouldn’t refer to any previous status of slavery, but only to the slavery imposed by the Royal Navy on any POWs. To win this battle in Baltimore, there would be no interest in going to, say, Mississippi, and killing hirelings and slaves. To hold that to be the meaning of the words is simply ridiculous.
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Filed under Brat Lies Matter, Military, Patriotism, Politics
[9] Memorial Day [Why the flag must never touch the ground, not ever!]
Ever since I was a little kid I knew that the U.S. Flag was never, not ever to touch the ground. It was meant to be a sign of respect for this symbol of the greatest nation on earth because of the respect for God-given rights in our Constitution and its amendments. Hold the flag precious! Yes! I entirely agree. Always have.
But then there’s the rest of the story I only got to know in these past couple of years. It is narrated well in the short video above. What an education. Jaw dropping. Leaving one in thankfulness. This is graced humanity at its absolute finest, ever. Remember, the lives lost were for freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, the free exercise of religion (free to be Catholic also in the public square). Awesome. We are all in debt. The world thanks these guys.
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Filed under Military, Patriotism
(2) Memorial Day [Flags Half-Mast]
No one is taking care of the flags. I went out at sunrise to lower the flags of the town on town property to half-mast, except for one, hoping that the guys there will be shaken from stupor and do the necessary. We will see.
The flag is lowered slowly in remembrance of the dead.
The flag goes back up at Noon in honor of the veterans who are yet living.
I won’t be able to raise them at Noon as we have the Traditional Latin Mass at Noon today, but the intention is free, so this Holy Mass will be offered for all the fallen in war. Blessings upon them all.
Early this afternoon I’ll see if I can’t get them raised again if no one else beats me to it.
A friend and I might get a bucket truck to see if we can’t change out the ropes on a few of the poles, as the a couple of the ropes are terribly frayed, powdery, rotted, already broken and knotted… Grrr…. There will probably be insurance problems. Sigh.
As far as that goes, maybe I’ll be arrested for trespassing and vandalism for having lowered the town flags to half mast in honor of our fallen in war. Oh, I forgot, we got rid of our police altogether.
If there is no one to lower the flags in your town, why not YOU do this? Right now if you can…
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Filed under Military, Patriotism
Praying for Pope Francis and POTUS Biden makes me an enemy of God?
When Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio was first presented to the world as Pope Francis, when pretty much all the more “traditional” Catholics condemned him so severely that one was condemned for asking for prayers for him, I nevertheless insisted that to be a good son of the Church I must pray for him, also at Holy Mass. But what I call the ultra-tradition-al-ism-ist began a cancel campaign for anyone promoting, say, this prayer:
V. Oremus pro Pontifice nostro N.
R. Dominus conservet eum, et vivificet eum, et beatum faciat eum in terra, et non tradat eum in animam inimicorum eius. [Ps 40:3]
Pater Noster… Ave Maria…
Deus, omnium fidelium pastor et rector, famulum tuum N., quem pastorem Ecclesiae tuae praeesse voluisti, propitius respice: da ei, quaesumus, verbo et exemplo, quibus praeest, proficere: ut ad vitam, una cum grege sibi credito, perveniat sempiternam. Per Christum, Dominum nostrum. Amen.
The ultramontane heresy of the ultra-tradition-al-ism-ists is that the Pope must be immaculately conceived and is not ever to have personally sinned, so that he has no need of our prayers and no need of Christ Jesus to be his Savior. Because that is not the case (ever), the ultra-tradition-al-ism-ists went all apoplectic in their heresy of ultamontinism and continued in condemning him to the point of condemning those who prayed for him. Too sad. We will all stand before Him whom we have all pierced, all of us, men of every tribe and race and people and nation. What’s there not to understand with this. We pray for the Pope as we pray for each other.
- “Father George, you don’t understand. If you pray for Pope Francis that means that you agree with everything he says no matter what and you’re going to go to hell just like him because we said so and everything!
Sigh. Remember Peter, who denied our Lord three times and only later became Saint Peter? I’m guessing that he was martyred because Divine Jesus’ good mom, the Immaculate Virgin, prayed for him, already then assumed to heaven soul and body, Queen of heaven and earth, angels and men. We follow her lead. Get it?
But what about praying the likes of the present POTUS Joe Biden, the most anti-Catholic pro-abort ever? Saint Peter himself has something to say about that (1 Peter 2:11-17):
- “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and sojourners to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against the soul. Maintain good conduct among the Gentiles, so that if they speak of you as evildoers, they may observe your good works and glorify God on the day of visitation. Be subject to every human institution for the Lord’s sake, whether it be to the king as supreme or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the approval of those who do good. For it is the will of God that by doing good you may silence the ignorance of foolish people. Be free, yet without using freedom as a pretext for evil, but as slaves of God. Give honor to all, love the community, fear God, honor the king.”
A generation later, in the Letter to Diognetus, from waaaaaaaay back in the day, like the end of the first or beginning of the second century, addressed to the early Christians, all Catholic, of course, we read this:
- “For the Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity. The course of conduct which they follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men; nor do they, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of any merely human doctrines. But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them has determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life. They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring. They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. 2 Corinthians 10:3 They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. Philippians 3:20 They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and restored to life. 2 Corinthians 6:9 They are poor, yet make many rich; 2 Corinthians 6:10 they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonored, and yet in their very dishonor are glorified. They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless; 2 Corinthians 4:12 they are insulted, and repay the insult with honor; they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers. When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life; they are assailed by the Jews as foreigners, and are persecuted by the Greeks; yet those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred. /// To sum up all in one word — what the soul is in the body, Christians are in the world. The soul is dispersed through all the members of the body, and Christians are scattered through all the cities of the world. The soul dwells in the body, yet is not of the body; and Christians dwell in the world, yet are not of the world. The invisible soul is guarded by the visible body, and Christians are known indeed to be in the world, but their godliness remains invisible. The flesh hates the soul, and wars against it, 1 Peter 2:11 though itself suffering no injury, because it is prevented from enjoying pleasures; the world also hates the Christians, though in nowise injured, because they abjure pleasures. The soul loves the flesh that hates it, and [loves also] the members; Christians likewise love those that hate them. The soul is imprisoned in the body, yet keeps together that very body; and Christians are confined in the world as in a prison, and yet they keep together the world. The immortal soul dwells in a mortal tabernacle; and Christians dwell as sojourners in corruptible [bodies], looking for an incorruptible dwelling in the heavens. The soul, when but ill-provided with food and drink, becomes better; in like manner, the Christians, though subjected day by day to punishment, increase the more in number. God has assigned them this illustrious position, which it were unlawful for them to forsake.”
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Filed under Free exercise of religion, Patriotism
Update: American Flag attacks in Andrews NC. Is Patriotism Catholic?
/// UPDATE: So after weeks of having gone missing, the American Flag is back up, coincidentally just hours after my having put up this post. :-) ///
Someone has been removing the American Flags from the town properties. I noticed many times the empty flagpole pictured above after 6 January 2021 and before the inauguration on 20 January 2021. I was waiting for it to be replaced. No one would take down the flag to destroy it in this town, surely.
I have some history with the particular flag that was here. My neighbor purchased it himself because the town had just let the other one rot away. The town flag that rotted out was a 3’x5′ flag. My neighbor replaced it with a 8’x12′ high quality outdoor heavily stitched flag. I helped him hoist this one up a while back, and then later, on one of patriotic days on the calendar, I had brought it down to half mast in the morning and put her up once again at 12:00 Noon, as required to honor our fallen veterans. This flag, topping up the highest point in town, the town’s memorial to our fallen veterans, had a special significance since it was very much emphasizing our local fallen veterans.
In the past this blog has sported many posts on the American Flag. This post has consistently been visited ever since going up some years ago:
That happened just over the mountain from Andrews, up in Graham County.
Back to the town flags. The large flag mentioned up top of this post disappeared. But there’s another American flag in another town park, next to train tracks, down from the gazebo. It was quite a bit smaller. It taken down and simply tossed over some bushes. It’s been put back up by patriots. But the trashing of this flag may indicate that the larger flag was kept for desecration in an upcoming protest.
There are a number of other town flags, down by the highway, next to a largely abandoned strip mall, etc. We’ll see what happens to those. So far, no one has stolen the flags on my street. There are plenty. And there are many others round about, also with flag poles put up at quite an expense to the owners.
Those who have flags displayed around the town year round all have stories, mostly Army, including 82nd and 101st Airborne and others, including Navy, the USMC, Airforce… the usual, though no Space Force, yet. There are almost uncountable guys and gals retired out of careers on some kind of Intel, either military intel or other agencies and institutes, not to mention contractors galore. I couldn’t point to any who are not very much involved in service of the local community in a myriad ways, such as being at the top of their game as EMTs, such as risking their lives as firemen.
Apparently we are now back to the Dem days of past administrations when all veterans, all police, all active duty military and National Guardsmen were suspected to be… terrorists. Stunning. But now it’s worse.
This country does have its problems. We have a fallen human nature that people will follow up on. Of course there are going to be problems. But this is the fatherland we have, the patria, whence we have the virtue of patriotism, giving due honor to one’s country. This is not some sort of bad and evil and malicious nationalism of the sort which plays identity politics. No. This is the nationalism of a family. We help each other strive for excellence, for what is best for everyone while never letting go of what is good for the individual: not the mob-rule of the wildly fake “democracy” of dictator Dems, but the good of a Constitutional Republic with the Rule of Law (which is to be the same for everyone equally), which recognizes unalienable God-given rights, and three diverse branches of government.
Why, you might ask, do I make such a big deal of the flag and patriotism? Because if the Constitution is destroyed, if the Rule of Law becomes a merely a jackbooted power play, the very first right to be smashed into the pavement will be the free exercise of religion.
Why, you might ask, do I care? After all, as a priest I should know of the superabundance of martyrs throughout the centuries and today and that I cannot expect that we should somehow be exempt where we happen to live. Indeed. Jesus said: “As the Master so the disciple.”
My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready.
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Filed under Free exercise of religion, Patriotism
Navajo Code Talkers & USMC Iwo Jima Flag Raising: Gives me the shivers.
The video below is just three minutes. By the end, you’ll know that we are all Americans, together. Listening to the patriotic emotion of this gentleman in the video is one of the many re-set buttons we need in these USA. Patriotism is a virtue that is consonant with all that is Judeo-Catholic. Oh, and there’s one more thing I have to say about this…
Amen and amen. :-)
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Filed under Military, Patriotism
POTUS Trump speaks on rigged election. This priest agrees.
Below is a screen shot of Google’s totally dishonest YouTube presentation, claiming, falsely, that the Associated Press is supreme judge certifying election results with a “SHOW ME” button, which only presents deep-state mass media idiocy:
Google’s proclamation of “robust safeguards” do not refer to the integrity of elections and results but to the instantaneously manipulatable Dominion voting machines (which were manufactured to be easily manipulatable imnsho), the relegating of observers in back of boarded up windows, the commanded ignoring of diverse signatures, of no signatures, of dead people voting, of non-citizens voting, the counting of tranches of thousands of mail-in ballots appearing out of nowhere long after the election even 100% of which were for Joe Biden, the even violent intimidation, on and on, and on and on, and on and on…
Dear President Trump, I agree with you. The 2020 presidential election was rigged and rigged against you, against the country, against me, for I voted for you (and I can say that as a priest as it is after the election, right?).
Dear President Trump, you are my president now, and whatever happens in future, you’re still my president. Oh, and just to say, if the AG is going to be Kamala’s relative, I had better say this, just in case he tries to throw me in prison for sedition: When I say that Trump will still be my president, I could be referring to an endearing emotion, right?
I could be referring to 2024, right? I’m guessing if Harris-Biden gets in, there will be an introduction of the guillotine for the 74 million+ who voted for Trump, you know, because it is all about being enlightened like the low information people proclaiming liberté, égalité, fraternité. They are right about all that liberté, égalité, fraternité, but exclusively only for the children of hell. Recall the assault, rape, murder, arson, looting and violence against innocent citizens, against law enforcement and firefighters and emergency medical responders in Democrat controlled cities. Get it?
Having said that – and I’m no attorney – I’ll add that while it is felony for an individual to commit voter fraud I believe (not a legal term) that it is traitorous to arrange massive voter fraud. A coup d’état, violent or not, even just attempted, is an act of treason is it not? And we know what the penalty is for that, right?
Having said that, I add that I myself publicly challenged the “American Community Survey” of the “U.S. Census Bureau” of the “Department of Commerce”, and that public challenge, because public, could be considered sedition, right? And we know what the penalty is for that, right? Touché. But I do go on…
There is an honest Judge who is not under control of the traitors of these United States of America, an honest Judge, God Himself, in whom we trust: He will come judge the living and the dead and the world by fire, including those who think they are presently powerful in their lack of honesty, their lack of integrity, their lack of patriotism.
Let me spell all that out:
- Election fraud is an act of hate against God. These fraudsters voted God out of their party, and they will lie, cheat and do whatever they have to do to get their party “in” so as to make sure God is “out,” so as to make sure there that the unalienable right to the free exercise of religion is removed from the Constitution.
- Election fraud is an act of hate against neighbor. It cancels individuals in their tens of millions.
- Election fraud is an act of hate against the military who have served and have given their lives that we might be free to have free and fair elections for a government which is to be of, for and by the people.
- Election fraud is an act of hate against law enforcement in this election, as one side supports a Constitutional Republic and the Rule of Law while the other wants to defund and even eliminate police, and even endanger them, mortally, because of policies designed to bring harm to them.
- Election fraud is an act of hate against children in this election, as one side is all about protecting life from conception while the other side is all about death for all, all the time: kill the children they scream, both inside and just outside the womb.
- Election fraud is an act of hate against the elderly, as is proven by the promise of these fraudsters to once again kill off the Little Sisters of the Poor who care for the elderly, just because the Little Sisters won’t assist in killing off the littlest of Jesus’ brethren, just conceived in the womb, with abortifacient chemicals: they won’t provide “insurance” coverage to their workers that would ensure this type of murder. And thus the elderly and the dying would be thrown out onto the street to die of exposure just like aborted children who survive. This election fraud is about the willful murder of millions of Americans.
- Election fraud is an act of hate against me because I voted for POTUS Trump and I don’t like that I have been cancelled as a citizen in good standing by those who committed and are still committing election fraud in their destruction of evidence, in judging that tranches of thousands of votes mostly for Trump enough to sway an election are irrelevant, in judging that tranches of votes received after the election even 100% of which are for Biden are relevant, etc. and so forth and so on.
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Filed under Patriotism, Politics, Pro-Life
AOC, MAO, Green New Deal vs Faith, Truth and Justice
I mean, do you see any connection? The Green New Deal IS the Chinese Communist Party, right? I wonder if “NOW” refers to the National Organization for Women. Just sayin’.
Oh, I forgot, isn’t China the most absolute world’s worst in their arrogance of pumping out carbon emissions? Yeah, I think that would be right.
Always hypocrites, all the time, everywhere, about everything. Styrofoam puppets.
Lemme see. I think I remember a particular medal of dad.
It’s given for the World War II service in…. China. Japan was being slightly aggressive at that time. So, these USA and China were friends at one time, you know, until the Wuhan Virus was sent around the world.
The power grabs and hypocrisy are ever so typical of the ways of the world. In all honor, we can indeed attempt to serve our fellow man right around the world by risking life and limb on behalf of the mercy of justice. John the Baptist gave good advice about proper morality to the occupying military forces of Rome. He didn’t ask them to go AWOL.
And if you’re wondering about Little Boy and Fat Man and the role of my dad in that fiasco with Japan and why we were friends with China, check out what actually ended WW2 in the South Pacific theater. It wasn’t Little Boy and it wasn’t Fat Man:
USMC VMB 611: Japan Surrenders
Minoru Wada & George Byers Jr
Someone should do a doctoral thesis on this at, say, West Point, concentrating on the culture of Japan, what McArthur said about the instantaneous surrender of Japan should the Philippines fall from their control, and the whole story of Minoru Wada and George Byers Jr.
If we forget history, it will replay in all of its worst aspects, with players changing sides just to be clever.
- For the worst of the worst, it’s never about patriotism, but only about power.
- For the best of the best, it’s always about respect for fellow human beings wherever they are in the world, about honor, about the patriotism which supports all the best of a localized national family, if you will, which is at the service, as a nation, to others around the world.
For the best of the best to take place, with honor and integrity and honesty and justice and mercy, humble reverence before God Almighty must be rendered.
My best memory of Dad in early 1962, at two years of age, was kneeling with him at Communion time at the granite altar rail with its linins folded over our hands. That was, at that time, in the gorgeous Cathedral of Saint Mary in Saint Cloud, Minnesota.
In America and around the world, we have forgotten that our identity is to be found in God, who so loved the world…
The party that has voted God out of its platform, the Party that is all about attacking the free exercise of religion and freedom of speech, the party that is all about the suppression of the Living Truth… that Party is bringing hell on earth in an ever more unleashed manner.
We pray for a return to the faith: Hail Mary…
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Filed under Free exercise of religion, Patriotism, Politics
ARISE! LET US BE GOING! 