The Stage is Set

There is, I don't doubt, a thin line between suspicion, a healthy cynicism informed by observation of recent times and boggle-eyed paranoia.

The unique pontificate of Jorge Bergoglio has, almost every week, provided Catholics grounded in the perennial faith with an abundant harvest of reasons to have a deep mistrust of Francis, a trend which seemed to reach a crescendo with the veneration of an Andean idol in the churches of Rome last October.

I need not repeat the plethora of other Francis infidelities, unbelievable statements, nefarious deceptions, tyrannical moments or outright betrayals of Christ and His faithful to which observing Catholics have been witness.

In every way, Pope Francis behaves as an enemy of Christ and His glorious Cross, upon which He hung for the Salvation of the World. This Salvation won for the human race was eternal in its nature, by no means confined to temporal benefits, though temporal benefits are not excluded from God's generosity, for all good things come from Him, through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Pope Francis has eyes, ears and words only for this earthly life. He has intimated as recently as yesterday that humanity has indeed offended grievously and needs to reform and repair the damage that has been done. Unfortunately for Catholics, this work of repentance and reparation does not touch upon the Commandments of God, nor does Francis touch upon the scourge of grievous, mortal sin by which we cannot doubt the One True God is offended.

Yes, even in a time of pestilence, when men and women are dying, dying without the Sacraments, of debilitating disease, Francis cannot bring himself to prepare a watching world for judgement or eternity, his focus is solely on invocation that pleads that temporal disaster may be averted. And even in this time of pestilence, Francis cannot invoke the mercy of God and lead the flock in penitence for our having offended Him, despite the fact that idolatry pure and simple took place within and without Vatican building walls last October.

Francis with Jeffery Sachs at Vatican ecological meeting

Forgive me then, if I do not gush with praise at theatrical displays of piety in a deserted St Peter's Square in the pouring rain. Is there any reason at all that a man who has lived for the camera as much as Francis would do anything in the eyes of the whole world that was authentic and genuine now? Because of disease? Because people are dying? Even now, even with Italians suffocating to death, presenting themselves before the judgement seat of God after they breathe their last, even now, Francis cannot teach the flock of a God who punishes sin, corrects sinners and brings us to our knees that we may discover Him once more and die to sin, rather than die in mortal sin and be lost forever.

Francis, however, is doing something. He isn't inactive. What is he doing? Francis is setting a stage and out of the greatest catastrophe to befall the world since the Second World War, Francis is sketching a narrative, a grossly fantastical secular narrative devoid of any reference to true religion, one which he expects all of us, Catholic or not, to believe. It is, essentially, the atheistic, even communistic dogma with which we have been bombarded in what can only be called psychological warfare for years and years.

The pillars of the theatre stage being erected would seem to be, astonishingly, no public Mass anywhere in those regions affected by the virus (which is more or less everywhere!), not even in Catholic Poland! St Peter's is still open, but I am told that's just about it. Edicts have been passed down by virtually every Bishops Conference that Church doors are to be locked in the faces of Catholics. It is, apparently, the merciful thing to do, just as it is merciful to liberate Catholics from Friday abstinence because disease. Note that Francis does not entreat God that these buildings for the worship of God re-open and daily passes over the fact that the public worship of God has ceased, as if this is simply an irrelevance.

Instead, Francis points you, just like secular governments and media are doing, to the new (imposed, for you didn't choose this) reality of your domestic life, to the tireless and heroic work of medical staff, to operating within a 'non-essential', freedom removing lifestyle and to a pseudo-spiritual belief that the Earth is crying out to humans, who militant environmentalists consider a plague on that same Earth, to respect her authority and pay homage to her.

To Francis, it matters not whether even all the Churches in the world are closed, whether all Sacraments are withheld from the laity, all Confessions go unheard, the Sacrament of Marriage is completely abandoned, the sick and dying are left unanointed, no new priests are made or even whether any Baptisms take place! Nowhere has he lamented this cruel and tyrannical reality, the deprivation of the graces that make dead sinners live again! This, seemingly, does not concern him and to add injury to his gross insult to God, even suggests to God's people that this virus has shown us 'what really matters' and that God Himself and the life of grace are not included in his list. Incredible! And then, his work of shame is even applauded because the scene was 'moving'. Francis, I expect, is happy to use 'moving ceremony' as a vehicle to extend his false teachings if that's what gets people's attention.

'A global pandemic won't benefit me at all, oh no. How awful!'

Temporally speaking, Francis has not, as far as I know, protested, nor even lamented that the epidemic has caused virtually every government in the world to impose absolute tyranny on its people 'for the public good'. Can we imagine St John Paul II saying nothing about the fact that all of Poland was shut down but for pharmacies and supermarkets, that all of her churches were shut down, that no Sacraments were being dispensed, that all human freedoms had been removed from entire populaces? Emergency powers have been invoked across the Western world that involve a total takeover of civic and public life and nothing may happen without expressed governmental approval. Does Francis pray that freedom and democracy may return to the World and that citizens may once more enjoy the natural rights which have been taken away from them in the outbreak of a pandemic? No, he does not.

Therefore, please forgive me also if I retain just that quiet suspicion that the outbreak of this disease is just a little bit too convenient by far for incredibly powerful players on the world stage, for whom Francis is obviously at the very least an ally, if not an active and key particpant or agent. Everything he says supports the work of the totalitarian, godless, ecological, pagan and atheistic and even Satanic beliefs of the powerful men of this world. Francis is, in the midst of pestilence, giving a spiritual dimension to the agenda advanced by such groups as the United Nations and global governance advocates such as Bill Gates, George Soros, and nobody can protest it because everybody is imprisoned!

Chemtrail activists be like: "Remind me...How did this virus get in our city, again?"

As time goes on, we can therefore thoroughly expect Jorge Bergoglio to give tacit, if not active, vocal agreement to the new and radical solutions which will inevitably be proposed or imposed on us, Catholic or not, in that brave new world, that heartless dystopia into which we already find ourselves plunged. If government drones start following us down the street, will Bergoglio protest? I think not. If our movements, puchases, habits are monitored, if men are arrested for seditious acts like visiting Grandma, will Bergoglio protest? I think not.

If this lockdown is deemed so 'successful' for the global environment and the health of 'Mother Earth' that it is suggested to be a quarterly occurence in the year for the Earth to 'heal', will he protest? I think not. If capitalism is deemed to have 'failed' and a system of communism is proposed or implemented because governments basically destroyed capitalism in order to 'prevent public health deteriorating', will Francis oppose it? I think not. Will he tell us, like he told Chinese Catholics to simply be 'good citizens' who obey every freedom-crushing instruction given to us by the secular authorities? Well, he has form, this is what he told the poor Chinese Christians whose Churches are locked, later to be most likely demolished. It is, I am afraid, the nature of the beast to do precisely this. It comes as second nature to the second beast.

Friends, do not be deceived. Be not deceived! Hold fast to what has been passed onto you, pray much for our deliverance, we all have much to endure, much tribulation to undergo, but just as you should not be deceived, neither should you be afraid. God is with us! Be not afraid! Jesus, our Leader and our Captain, will not abandon us, nor will He leave us all alone. Observe what the lawless one does during this time and pray for protection against the deceits, theatrics and falsehoods with which you will be presented, for they will surely come, they will come as surely as the Lord Jesus will come to rescue His flock as Chief Shepherd and Lord and King.

Come then, Lord Jesus! Jesus, I trust in You!

Viva Cristo Rey! 

Imagine...

Our Lady of Walsingham, pray for us.

Wartime Reflections 1

Before social distancing: St John Paul II embraces Cardinal Stefan Wysynski

These are extraordinary times, are they not? First of all, a blessed and happy Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord to all readers. In this time of peril, insecurity and anxiety let us often repeat in our hearts the Holy Name of Mary, for her name and the name of her Divine Son, Jesus, is peace itself. Mary is peace, Mary is refuge, Mary is consolation, Mary is our Mother!

What was just weeks ago unthinkable has passed into reality, embedded itself into our existence, all has changed in the blink of an eye. So many thoughts pass through my mind during these days, I will express a few of them, but none bring me feelings of hope and comfort, but for the promise of the Immaculata: 'In the end, my Immaculate heart will triumph'.

Each and every country, I think in the entire world, apart from than those which need not invoke 'emergency powers' such as China, has done so to combat Covid-19, the Coronavirus. Britain is on a 'war-footing' which enables the government to suspend each and every cherished freedom we all took for granted. Ostensibly, wartime powers are invoked to do battle against an invisible but potentially deadly foe, the virus, but the series of human tragedies this policy will create is, well, unlimited and unfathomable and I am not entirely alone in a deep suspicion that a biological evil has already brought with it a series of spiritual evils so malignant that only immersion in prayer, especially the Holy Rosary, can offer us a spiritual vaccine. Indeed, the host of evils could not be treated in a single blogpost.

Before I begin, let us offer an Ave or three or more to the Blessed Virgin that both pestilence and this new vision of society will pass quickly, that the age of plague, quarantine and authoritarian social order will not be with us throughout the Summer and the year and beyond.

Some observations will resonate with you, others less so. Queuing outside a supermarket, each person 2 metres apart to enter was a bleak experience. Brightonians, if not Britons as a whole, are generally a sociable people, if not as tactile as Italians, talkative nonetheless. All of that has all but gone in a single day and the atomisation of individuals has been carried from the home to the street. Nobody is relaxed, nobody. Each and every face looks set on edge, marked by fear and concern for stepping outside of the infection rules. Nobody smiles. Across the street, I see two people talking at 2 metres length apart, but their voices are conspicuous by their presence. Everyone else is deathly quiet, as if characters in some dystopian film set. All of a sudden, the Brighton that once was, that most 'free-spirited', decadent and hedonistic of places, has vanished to be replaced with a laden atmosphere of total and utter order. A man at the entrance to the supermarket permits 16 customers to be in the store at any one time and it is all so chillingly sensible. Upon entrance customers are told they may buy no more than three of any item and everybody nods approvingly, as if happy to be instructed, for everyone knows that existence is now a day-by-day experience and everybody has learned to hate the hoarders, including the hoarders themselves. Everything has been suspended, including people's plans. I don't think anybody is thinking about tomorrow.

Wandering around the store, virtually everyone is taking compulsive care to observe the 2 metre rule and the wall-to-wall, heavy duty messaging by Government through media makes me nervous even of picking up an item since it has been handled by suppliers and supermarket staff. I pick something up, I put it back and then I pick it up again in case I am a carrier. Fear of infection or of being an infectee has penetrated my consciousness, hand eczema which had healed has returned because of all the handwashing. Everything I touch has microbes. Dear God! Everything is sanitized, everything must be clean, bacteria is now my enemy and I am changed. The simplest of tasks demands an extreme duty to others that a month ago would have seen me laying on a couch talking to a therapist and I guarantee that whatever the rate of infection of this illness, almost everybody has been infected by this mindset and this was day 2 of the quarantine. Whatever the immunity from the virus is, nobody is immune from the effects.

At the toilet roll aisle is a rare sight, there are about 30 8-packs of toilet roll. Relief not completely unlike that of someone who has reached the lavatory on time seems to flood the faces of all who approach the toilet roll section, as if having reached the Promised Land. I look at one lady's face and she's smiling, I say, 'Oh my, it's a miracle!' we laugh and go our separate ways, only for a sudden seriousness to take over my mind, as if a malevolent hand of dark paternal authority has been at work in the toilet roll aisle, an aisle that seems to shout, 'There is toilet roll now, because you have obeyed. Keep obeying and your fill of toilet roll will be secure', or more simply, 'Your arses belong to us, now'.

At a self-checkout and pin-pad that looks recently cleaned, but not so recently that it is still wet ('Someone else has touched this before I got here!'), I purchase my goods. A young couple are buying at the next but one self-checkout and I can hear them discussing the new regime involved in the shopping experience, saying something about feeling vaguely 'criminal'. I turn and say, 'Ah yes, we are all on an ASBO now'. They laugh, nervously. I laugh, nervously. ASBOs, as very long-term readers of this blog will know, are 'Anti-Social Behaviour Orders'. I have a friend who was on one, one of Brighton's most irritating but enduringly loveable beggars called Jason, who was in and out of jail, but who eventually got off drugs and excessive drinking and lives, albeit bored out of his skull, outside the city. Now that he isn't in Brighton, the one-time rebel without a cause is very well-behaved and has a long-term room to call home, something he always wanted. He fought the law and the law, eventually, won. His movements were heavily restricted and on some pavements he could only walk on the left / right side of the road, depending on the road. Does this sound familiar?

When Jason wasn't in prison, he was more often than not homeless. Brighton's homeless population seems to have reduced. When I do walk past them, whether I give them a milkshake or sandwich or not, they look so miserable now. After all, people weren't carrying much cash before, they're not carrying any cash now. Major outlets aren't accepting it 'at this time of Coronavirus'. Many are addicted to various things, their lives too are turned over, where are the dealers now? They are all locked up in their homes. Yes, astonishing order has been imposed on a city of dissolute life, an order of breathtaking severity, in equally breathtaking speed, of a kind that no earthly dictator could wish to achieve in weeks or months.

Remarkably, I don't see any police on the streets. It is as if they are unnecessary. No police are talking to homeless people telling them to move on, most seem to have moved on already, Lord alone knows where. Brighton is now governed by a pervasive fear. Everybody has had their text message from the government to 'Stay at home', and everybody is at home for the vast majority of the day. The few people you see around are either doing their once a day shop or doing their once a day bit of exercise, though I swear the numbers of people who used to walk for exercise on the streets of Brighton was negligible. Most people were walking to go somewhere, do something, walking was not an end in itself.

There are a number of highly disturbing things about this new society that has blanketed almost the whole world, but perhaps the most disturbing thing is how quickly we could all get used to this and even embrace it. In darker moments, it feels is as if a think-tank like the Tavistock group is running a psychological experiment on entire populations to observe how successfully obedient to the State populations can be in a time of pandemic. The raw power of the wartime conditions could lead any government to consider extending the emergency situation well beyond a season, or even two seasons into perpetuity. Right now, there is no crime. There is not even public sin or offense. No buskers, no football louts, no fights on Saturday nights, no girls throwing up outside a nightclub, no lusty affairs, no hook-ups going on. There are no rambunctious street-drinking homeless people, no needles in alleyways, even the usually filthy streets of Brighton look free of litter, the odd bus glides down the main road every now and then, the busy urban streets, if you close your eyes, it almost sounds like the countryside.

Yes, I can see how the open prison model of society, in a time of real or even perceived threat, could bring entire national States much to celebrate so much that not only would the boot on the human face be welcomed forever by the personnel of an all-powerful State, but the people themselves, realizing how much simple, regulated and ordered life could be, would even caress the boot resting gently upon their face.

My God, I have written a great deal, I shall close there. I have not yet even touched on the fact that my parish church is closed, that all parish churches are closed, that Baptism is for now forbidden, that the children of the Church may not approach the Sacrament of Confession and that nearly all men, women and children are entirely cut off from the daily Sacrifice. Brighton's priests are cut off from their people and, in desperation, livestream the Most Holy Sacrifice, not knowing who, if anyone, will watch and pray. Pray and stay close to Jesus in prayer and do watch, with Eucharistic hunger, the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Our Lady of Walsingham, pray for us.

Martyrs of England and Wales, pray for us.

Lord Jesus, deliver us.

Pray also for the liberation of Pope Benedict XVI, in whose Cross we are all sharing now. For where the Head has gone, the Body has surely followed. My, my, what a prophet he was.

Men in a totally planned world will find themselves unspeakably lonely. If they have completely lost sight of God, they will feel the whole horror of their poverty. Then they will discover the little flock of believers as something wholly new. They will discover it as a hope that is meant for them, an answer for which they have always been searching in secret. - Fr Joseph Ratzinger, 1969

Now That We've Stopped Talking About Pope Francis

There is something unreal about the sense of chaos now enveloping almost the entire world over Coronavirus, COVID-19, a sense of doom and anxiety is etched on the faces of those who still walk the streets, the media talks of nothing else and why would they? They seem to relish this kind of event.

Everything is out of control, the world is entering turmoil over a disease. For us Catholics, this is a reality check, as we are plunged suddenly into a more intense spiritual struggle than we have hitherto perhaps ever experienced.

Firstly, we are confronted with death and judgement. Well, we are, if we are Catholic and have a Catholic understanding that upon our death our souls will undergo our private judgement in the light of God Himself.

Suddenly, all our personal hopes, dreams, ambitions are being placed at the back of our minds as we contemplate just how close we could be to imminent death. This should spur us on to place ourselves at the foot of the Cross, implore God's mercy, seek the Sacraments of forgiveness and healing and desire God in prayer.

It should move us to be reconciled to others we have offended or been offended by, to forgive our enemies, to love God and our neighbour and to live in God's grace. It should move us to live a deeper Lent than we had anticipated.

In a way, it is liberating to have a different plague to confront other than Pope Francis and his hireling Bishops. Many of these men have switched the lights off in the churches and shut up shop, leaving Catholics who long for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, for our Eucharistic Lord, for the sight of statues of Our Blessed Lady and the Saints, the Sanctuary Lamp, the Tabernacle, for the Confessional light switching from red to green.

Millions of Catholics have been abandoned by Bishops precisely at our hour of deepest spiritual need. The supermarkets remain open for food for the body, but public Mass has been suppressed by Bishops, starving the Flock of Christ of food for the soul. It is unfathomable, if in purely human terms, understandable.

The Bridegroom has been taken away from the Bride, the Eucharistic Lord from many of the Faithful, in circumstances that can only feel apocalyptic. Bewildered by the present, two thoughts pass through my mind as if along parallel lines.

What if I die during this outbreak?

What if I live through this outbreak?

I look at life now through the prism of death, the end of earthly existence, fear of judgement and hope of eternity, I look at death through the prism of continuing life, one which involves complete uncertainty and fear about what could emerge from a crisis like this. Like all Catholics, in all of this, I have nowhere to turn but to God, Who alone has every right to my complete trust.

Bishops have abandoned the Faithful. God is faithful. What will emerge from this crisis? We do not know for certain but many imagine the worst. Death by virus? God is faithful. Death by vaccine? God is faithful. Communism? God is faithful. World Government? God is faithful. The Antichrist? God is faithful. Mass apostasy? God is faithful. The UN taking over our cities? God is faithful. Microchipping of the human race? God is faithful. All my conspiracy theories becoming true? God is faithful. Evil being paraded triumphant in the Vatican? God is faithful. Freemasonry lauding it over the Church on Earth? God is faithful. Camps for those who dissent from the edicts of a ruthless dictatorship? God is faithful. Imprisonment? God is faithful. Poverty, penury, pain, destitution? God is faithful? Death at the hands of the wicked? God is faithful.

God is faithful.

Whatever emerges from this, we know now that we can take nothing with us on our journey to eternity and what we have stored here is mostly rubbish. Apart from toilet roll. Toilet roll is useful.

God is faithful and all of his judgements and commandments and His promises are to be trusted. Jesus Christ is truly Saviour, Jesus Christ is truly Lord and King of Heaven and Earth, He has no rival, He is with us in life, He is with us in death, His victory is assured, and He will crown those who trust in Him, who turn to Him and turn away from sin, seeking His mercy and His love.

Jesus, Son of God, Sovereign Lord and Divine Bridegroom, look down from Your Heavenly Throne and have pity and mercy on me, a poor and wretched sinner. Spare me, O just God.

Have mercy on us, O Lord.

Spare us, O just God!

Come, Lord Jesus!