Members of the Cosa Nostra were united in their disappointment that the Vatican has not changed their stance concerning the sinfulness of murder, theft and prostitution.
“It’s a real cultural problem.” said a spokesman for the Bocce crime family. “Don Giuseppe was saying just the other day that the church’s stance unfairly stigmatizes people whose culture, tradition and inclination. has steered them in this direction for centuries.”
“It’s a terrible disappointment.” said Fr. Mel A Stophilies of Angel of Light Parish and the unofficial chaplain to the Polenta family. “Why just the other day Dona Polenta was talking about how Pope Francis’ attacks on the mafia had affected her 14 year old grandson who has dreamed of entering the family business since he was five and has just started his career as a runner: ‘Does the Vatican understand what his can do to a 14 year old just staring in the rackets? It can destroy him'”
At the business of Dino and Luigi Vercotti they echoed this statement noting that on the local level their priest have been more supportive.
“At our parish they have been much more caring toward the women in our business just trying to make a living.” Said Dino Vercotti in between answering calls for appointments, “In fact our parish priest Fr. Heretic has been using a more compassionate translation of scripture where Jesus tells the woman caught in adultery in John 9:11: ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now that’s not sin any more.’ It’s really made both our girls and their customers feel better about themselves.”
In Philadelphia some locals still expressed hope that the Vatican will see the light on these things.
“If the church is going to be part of the world and not hated they need to change with the times and recognize that the acceptance of things like adultery, theft and the occasional murder (as long as it doesn’t cross the wrong racial lines) is where society is.” said Fr. Morty Sine “After all if they took those lessons to heart have spent hours filling in and delivering ballots in the wee hours after election day? If they hadn’t done that Rome would not have been able to celebrate the election of only the 2nd Catholic president of the United States.”
“After all one man’s sin is another’s way of life.” said Fr Terr. I know our parish has greatly benefited from the support we have given the local families and I’m sure eventually the Church will see the advantages of such an arrangement.
Simon (Peter): Whoa whoa whoa whoa. What are you doing?
Matthew: You want me, to join you?
Gaius:Keep moving street preacher.
Simon (Peter):Do you have any idea what this guy has done? Do you even know him?
Jesus: Yes.
The Chosen, Season 1 Episode 7
Today is Ash Wednesday and it’s worth repeating the point I made last year about my favorite old testament passage from the Prophet Joel which is the 1st reading at every Catholic Mass today (and which I want to be the 1st reading at my funeral when the day comes).
Even now, says the LORD,
return to me with your whole heart,
with fasting, and weeping, and mourning;
Rend your hearts, not your garments,
and return to the LORD, your God.
For gracious and merciful is he,
slow to anger, rich in kindness,
and relenting in punishment.
Perhaps he will again relent
and leave behind him a blessing,
Offerings and libations
for the LORD, your God.Blow the trumpet in Zion!
proclaim a fast,
call an assembly;
Gather the people,
notify the congregation;
Assemble the elders,
gather the children
and the infants at the breast;
Let the bridegroom quit his room
and the bride her chamber.
Between the porch and the altar
let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep,
And say, “Spare, O LORD, your people,
and make not your heritage a reproach,
with the nations ruling over them!
Why should they say among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?’”Then the LORD was stirred to concern for his land
and took pity on his people.
Joel 2 12-18
This is for my money the most hopeful passage in the entire old testament and the perfect prestaging for the coming of Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, not only because of what it says but because what it doesn’t say. It doesn’t say…
Even Now….unless you’ve had an abortion
Even now….unless you’ve cheated on your spouse
Even now…..unless you are a thief
Even now…..unless you are a drug dealier
Even now…..unless you are a murder
Even now…..unless you are a terrorist
Even now…..unless you are an atheist
Even now…..unless you promote sodomy
Even now…..unless you’ve sold your soul to the devil
and it’s worth noting that there is no political connection
Even now…..unless you voted Trump
Even now…..unless you voted Biden
Even now…..unless you stole an election
Even now…..unless you rioted
Even now…..unless you’ve been cancelled
Even now…..unless you’ve cancelled someone
Even now…..unless you’ve pushed transgerderism
Even now…..unless you’re transgender
Even now…..unless you’re a communist
Even now…..unless you’re a fascist
Even now…..unless you’re Antifa
Put simply if at whatever place you happen to be in the now you choose to Turn to God with your whole heart you will be shown forgiveness and mercy.
This is actually where we are every single day of our lives, but every Ash Wednesday the church explicitly reminds us of this remarkable fact.
Apathy in the face of tyranny turns out not to be a German or Russian characteristic. I just never thought it could happen in America.
Denis Prager
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the memorials of the righteous, and you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have joined them in shedding the prophets’ blood.’
Thus you bear witness against yourselves that you are the children of those who murdered the prophets;
Jesus Christ, Matthew 23:29-31
In the sermon on the Mount one of the hardest but most important charges Christ give is this:
Stop judging, that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.
Now this command refers to the state of one’s soul and in accompanied by the injunction in the Our Father (also known as the Lord’s Prayer) to forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Or to put it simply, if you want to be forgiven, forgive.
This came to mind as I finished my piece on courage and freedom being the exception and not the norm and it got me thinking about something.
There was a time I had thoughts of being able to earn a living as a blogger commentator perhaps even breaking into media. I had one local Fox appearance, a NY Post Op Ed. Had been credentialed press for several events, the tip jar was rocking and things were on the rise.
All of it seemed to crash and at once, it took years to get me back to where I am today and I recognized that I’d likely never be able to much more than I am today. That’s fine, I’ve done things and seen things that most people in their lifetime have not and it’s been a great thing to share my thoughts with you who have kept the bills paid around here with perhaps a little extra to spare each year.
But what if I had made it, broken into media with a good paying gig or as I considered back in my twenties, gotten into government and perhaps even as far as congress. What if I was in the place those in the state legislagtures, or the courts or the congress or the media are today when the axe is falling down and the choice is being made?
Robert Ingersoll once said of Abe Lincoln:
“If you want to find out what a man is to the bottom, give him power. Any man can stand adversity — only a great man can stand prosperity. It is the glory of Abraham Lincoln that he never abused power only on the side of mercy.”
There are a lot of folks in media who are making six figures or more, who have comfortable lives, who have children who have a chance to live in comfort because of their jobs.
There are a lot of folks in politics who are making good money, who have the potential to make a lot more when they leave, who have the chance to see that they and theirs are comfortable for the rest of their days.
There are a lot of folks in entertainment and academia who are in the same boat. They are comfortable, they are honored, they are given deference.
And for every one of those people who have made it there are hundreds perhaps thousands of those who are striving for that brass ring.
Now comes the day of testing. They are being told that unless they play ball, unless they tow the line giving exactly the message that is desired by the deep state all of those things are going to be taken from them, and any secrets they have will be exposed. They will go from having the potential for anything they want at any time to being at best a regular nobody or at worst a criminal to be punished.
Cue Henry Hill
It’s the last line in that speech that says it all.
I’d like to think that given the choice of doing the right thing or protecting my prerogatives and my family’s prerogatives I like to think that the way I was raised and the way I raised my children and that I could do this and my family would be willing to endure the loss of income, of position, prestige and the scorn of those around me, but thanks to a merciful God to whom I daily ask “Lead me not into temptation” I don’t have that choice, or to put it another way, all I’m risking by speaking the truth is to remain the average working still that I am while being online by people who don’t know me and will never meet me and perhaps treated in a condescending way by some folks I know.
I’m likely old enough and grounded enough to handle that.
But would I with money in the bank, a bigger mortgage than I have now, with kids going to expensive schools and a chance for them to be set for life, would I have the courage and character to risk all that for the truth to face the fate of Henry Hill who ended his speech saying:
Henry Hill:I’m an average nobody. I get to live the rest of my live like a snook.
Good Fellas 1993
Would my faith and trust in God be enough if I had that much to lose? Remember there’s a reason why Christ said how hard it was for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
That’s why I’m going to do my best not to judge those who did not come through on any level. I suspect many of them in their own minds and hearts are already judging themselves because cowardice is as C. S. Lewis said:
Cowardice, alone of all the vices, is purely painful – horrible to anticipate, horrible to feel, horrible to remember
So instead I will try to take to heart these words from Our Lord:
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy
Matthew 5:7
As a person who needs God’s mercy may I take that command to heart
Screwtape: Look, you must think of your man as a series of concentric circles, his will being the innermost, his intellect coming next and finally his fantasy. You can hardly hope at once to exclude from all circles anything that smells of the enemy…
Wormwood:You mean the Germans?
Screwtape:No NO! Not them you fool! I mean the REAL enemy!
The Screwtape Letters Focus on the Family
Given what I’ve been seeing and hearing from some of my brother Christians I think it’s incumbent to remind people of something.
Christ came to save us from the clutches of the enemy.
The enemy he was referring to is Satan, not the Democrats, not the deep state and not Biden or Harris as the song notes
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, let nothing you dismay.Remember Christ our savior was born in Christmas DayTo save us all from Satan's power when we have gone astrayOh tidings of comfort and Joy, comfort and joy.Oh tidings of comfort and joy!
It is for the redemption of our sins allowing us eternal life, not relief from the effects of the sins of others than Christ came in the world lived and died.
If you are counting on God saving us from them you are likely to be as disappointed as the Zealots who expected the messiah to bring down Roman Rule.
While it’s true that the enemy had some influence on those who did it, the fraud and theft of this election is the work of man. It’s up to men to make it right.
God can provide virtue to such men, and their Guardian Angels might prompt them to do so, but in the end, men they must make that call.
