Why America Failed  

Posted by Patricia Cecilia in , , , , , , ,

An excellent comment on the blog "What Does The Prayer Really Say?" (not just for Catholics):

In a hundred years time, a school boy will start a history paper with the title:

Why America Failed

His first paragraph will read:

America, the once great land, failed because they, ultimately, failed to understand their own freedom. They began the Country by believing that freedom meant being able to love God as He created them; they ended the Country believing that freedom meant being about to love themselves as they came to believe that they, themselves, were God. In the period from the beginning to the end, money rose and men fell as yet another great Culture discovered the sad truth that the love of money really is the root of all evil…

We are all operators of a printing press with the metal and paper being supplied by God and we all stamp out our own coins, be they the treasure in Heaven or the counterfeit of Mammon and Mammon comes in many forms.

If I may put this into some perspective, in a poll of historians done in the late 1990′s, when asked if the United States would still be recognizable in 100 years, the answer was overwhelmingly, no. The WASP (white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant) time is coming to an end, simply put, because they are too foolish to realize that contraception and limited family size will guarantee it for them. What they have yet to realize, even now, is that though they own the majority of wealth, once the population cascade starts, that wealth will shift hands like a greased pig and what they gloat over, now, will be lost to them, forever.

In this possible future, within 50 years, the majority of Congress will be either Black, Latino, or Asia, because these are the only people having children and they will have no historical connection to the Constitution and as poorly catechized as are today’s American Catholics, so will these leaders be about the Constitution. At that point, America will be just another nation among many. Farther out into the future, there will be a Moslem exodus to the U. S., much as there has been in England, France, and the Netherlands (for we will have forgotten about 9/11). Then will come the time of schism.

The really sad part is that the extremely wealthy have played the poor like a cheap upright piano. The poor, if they understood what were going on, should, rightfully, feel used, but they have been played well and the song sounded sweet. Promise them a little easy candy and they will vote for anybody. They will have their day in the future, but it will be a lonely victory, since they have not the wisdom to do anything with the control they will gain.

Can this situation be turned around? No. Not if trends continue and they will continue because of two factors that every addict knows: 1) one drink is too many and a hundred is never enough and 2) every addict has become an addict by trusting, with his life, the wrong truth. America has become a nation that wants easy guarantees. They want to know that, “once saved, always saved,” so that they can feel free to sin without consequences; they want to know that the government is always there for them, so that they can spend and spend and spend without worrying about tomorrow; they want to know that love means never having to say they are sorry for having that little inconvenient embryo; they want, they want, they want…
America used to be a country born in adversity and that memory defined its concept of freedom. America has been reborn thinking that freedom derives from ease. God has just asked this Country, “What profits a man to gain the world, but lose his soul,” and we had no answer.

Let me be blunt, in large measure, those who voted for Obama, have a misunderstanding of what Faith is. Until that changes, we are lost, since they honestly believe, as any addict does, that somehow voting for a President who supports abortion is a vote made within their version of the Christian Faith. They have believed the wrong version of truth.

Can we change things? Yes, but we must start now. We need a 5 year, a 25 year, and a 50 year plan. The single best thing that can be done is for you young people to get married and have kids, lots of kids (before you are limited to two – the time is coming). Raise your kids up in the Faith, but teach them to know their enemies. You older people – learn every casuistry trick you can and learn to cut through you opponents arguments. You have limited time. Be the sharp end of the spear. Everyone, get rid of sin. No change is possible without virtue.

What stopped the Reign of Terror in France (and we are approaching our own reign of terror, only a more unseen, a more subtle terror)? The death of Robespierre? No. I would suggest that it was the death of sixteen Carmelite nuns – the Martyrs of Compiegne. As they approached the scaffold (I suggest listening to the opera, The Dialogue of the Carmelites, by Poulenc), the normally boisterous crowd became silent. Eerily silent. The nuns climbed the scaffold, one at a time, from youngest to oldest, with the Mother Superior asking to go last. The first nun, Constance Meunier, knelt down before Mother Superior and asked permission to die. Then, she ascended the scaffold, not allowing anyone to touch her, and meekly placed her neck on the chopping block. She was described as looking as radiant as a bride going to her wedding. The crowd was in wonder. Nun after nun went up and nun after nun died. The crowd went away, silent. The Reign of Terror ended ten (?) days later.

When the martyrs were beatified, the Pope pointed out that what had happened at that moment in history was not of mere man. It was a supernatural battle won by sixteen poor women. False faith was overcome by genuine faith. A false mysticism was overcome by genuine mystics.

Be like those nuns. Give yourselves completely to God. It is the only way that America will survive, even though you may not. I have said it before and I will say it again…no worries, all they can do is kill you and what is that to you?

h/t and many thanks to The Masked Chicken--God bless you for stating it so well, and may He grant you and all of us the fortitude to serve here on earth so that we not faint nor fail Our Lord.

The original here.

Happy Michaelmas and the great joy of Holy Matrimony  

Posted by Patricia Cecilia in , , , , ,


Happy Feast of St. Michael the Archangel (in the old calendar)!  Today we three Ws were honored to attend the very reverent and beautiful private Nuptial Mass of my dear friend Mari (M of the hats in the previous post) and another dear friend Michael--hence their chosen matrimonial day. We were deeply honored to be counted as 'family'.  I had the joy of singing and playing the flute, accompanied by one of Michael's colleagues at the organ, a new friend.  Father read the Exhortation to a Holy Marriage from the EF Missal (in English :-) which is the most beautiful description of what the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony is meant to be: 

Pictures will come eventually, including a family one for my beloved MIL, who has been asking for a family picture of us for many years. (In the last family picture, One-and-Only-Son was in preschool; he is now a junior in high school.  Pictures are simply not on our family radar. :-)

Michael and Mari--from the Byzantine Rite: God grant you many years, God grant you many years,
God grant you many happy years in health and happiness--God grant you many blessed years.

The way things were...  

Posted by Patricia Cecilia

I'd disagree with the lipstick as it might get on one's sewing:
Advice from an old Singer sewing machine manual

Speaking of hats and veils (with cheerfulness, not a polemic!)  

Posted by Patricia Cecilia in , ,

My friend M and I are both well-known 'as hat ladies' in public, and veiling/covering in church is just a deep-felt joy and 'right' for both of us--no polemic or judgment here, just a sharing!  I wish I had a picture of the sweet little girls with veils in our parish, but I'm pretty reticent about taking pictures at Mass.

Yesterday one of our parish's choir members asked me why I veil instead of keeping my hat on, like my friend M.  My answer: "Because singing in a hat always makes me feel like I'm singing in opera and that just feels WRONG for Mass.  And besides, the last time we both wore a hat into the church at the same time, Father teased us that M's hat was so big it had its own weather system--and that THAT was my fault because I brought her to the parish!"

My friend M's hat that occasioned the 'weather system of its own' comment:


M is at the far right and you can only see perhaps 2/3 of the hat on top of her Gibson-girl hair-do; I'm on the left. (We would both agree that the most important part of the picture is the Blessed Sacrament in the monstrance, and the picture shows It perfectly.)

My friend M's `blogpost about her first foray into millinery

This is hilarious for anyone who can't just 'follow a pattern' in needlework or sewing or millinery because we just 'see things differently' and can't stop asking, "What if I did this....?"  She has become so proficient I think she should go into business!

And chapel veils for those with exceedingly long hair

M's confirmation with me as sponsor; I made the veils.  (I'm thinking of offering my veils and rosaries for sale; haven't really totally thought through it all the way yet.)

Happy Solemnity of St. Joseph!  

Posted by Patricia Cecilia in , ,

In Italy, Buona Festa di San Giuseppe and Happy Father's Day! St. Joseph was my father's principal patron saint (Dad was both a master carpenter and a father/stepfather/adoptive father and later, surrogate father to many young men, as I have written before). We also consider St. Joseph our family patron. I did not have my act together early enough to have a St. Joseph's Altar and hospitality table this year--next year! (I did break down and buy three scrumptious doughnuts for dessert tonight, as I couldn't find zeppole anywhere in Raleigh...)

But I did come across a blog post quoting a New York Times article (whoa! the NYT publishes something positive about a Catholic?!) in which a Mother Superior remembers her father. I think her father and mine were cut from the same cloth, even though they had totally different ethnic backgrounds. The charisms of St. Joseph, most Chaste Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, patron of all workers, were definitely present in these two men.

Read it here.

Star-Trek-loving-Catholics, read this!  

Posted by Patricia Cecilia in , , , ,

Oh, this is good:
http://actsoftheapostasy.blogspot.com/2010/03/mr-spock-would-make-great-catholic.html

I've always preferred Mr. Spock to Captain Kirk, but this makes me howl out loud! (Even our Protestant friends will appreciate the appeal of moral authority, I hope.)

Fellow stitchers, I know I have not posted a progress picture in forever...mea culpa! In my defense, the day I determined to take a new progress picture once we returned home from Mass (remember, I stitch a lot on the road to and from Mass), my son was taking pictures at Mass and the dratted camera died. It is now being repaired by Nikon and I hope it comes back shortly!

Shrove Tuesday: Hello, Lent  

Posted by Patricia Cecilia

Tonight we will have the traditional pancakes for Shrove Tuesday, with one exception--mine will be chocolate/raspberry pancakes! I don't really like pancakes (too many memories of Girl Scout camping and totally soggy over-the-fire pancakes, ick) but I found this mix, and my husband made me some a while ago and they are scrumptious.

Did I mention that I have decided to give up chocolate for Lent? This is a very hard one for me. Hence the pancakes tonight.

For my Lenten devotions, I will be reading Pope Benedict's Journey to Easter and starting--at a slow, deliberate pace--Blessed Columba Marmion's Union with God: Letters of Spiritual Direction as suggested at Spiritual Mothers of Priests. With my son I'll be reading the daily lectionary Gospel reading.

I am also going to try to finish the angel stitchery (Lavender and Lace's Angel of the Morning) my husband asked me to do for him last year, in thanksgiving for his upcoming first anniversary of being cancer-free (St. Patrick's Day).

So often, for me, Lent passes in a blur of getting music ready for all the liturgies between Ash Wednesday and Easter Day. I want this year to be different. The past several months have had too many days in the Slough of Despond, so I am coming to this Lent feeling like I need to be more in the Church Militant. Pray for me and I will pray for you that this year, Easter crowns the year with all blessings. Miserere nobis, Domine.