~

“He drew a deep breath. ‘Well,’ said Sam, ‘I’m back.’”

Unfortunately, unlike Master Samwise, though I’m back too, it’s still not the end of the story.

In fact, if I were to draw an analogy, I would say that we are at the point where the smokes and reeks of the evil country are covering the sun and men are everywhere girding themselves for war. Everywhere we look the terrible conflict – that some have been predicting for a very long time – is manifesting and it is more and more clear that this is the will of this group of men in Rome who have seized power.

They took the citadel for this reason and no other, to divide the world. Every battle has been formulated, instigated and aggressively prosecuted by them. Reports from inside confirm that other less ambitious men in the Curia are shocked at how intransigent, how un-appeasable these people and their agenda are. They are not playing the Vatican game. There has been no hesitation, no conciliation, no quarter given, no prisoners taken, and there’s been nothing subtle about it. And sights are being set on more targets as we speak.

This, at last, is the Revolution with its mask thrown off. It is clear that they want a schism, that nothing else will do, and every action they’ve taken in the last few years has been to accomplish one. I think this is mainly because their goal is simply to keep power, and the only way to do this is to divide the world between those who can be bribed or tricked or duped, intimidated or coerced into bending, and those who cannot.

We can’t escape the obvious conclusions. Open war is upon us, whether we would have it or not. Anyone now trying to deny it, will simply be left behind, since we can spare them no further trouble. All our minds now must be on the current task. The sides have lined up, people who would try to avoid a fight will be drawn into one against their will because ultimately the choice for or against Christ cannot be avoided by anyone. The choice this Bergoglian cabal has given us is simple: fight or be assimilated by default.

~

Of course, not blogging for a few months doesn’t mean that I haven’t been writing, as readers of The Remnant, One Peter Five and Orwell’s Picnic will know. And we’ve been having a hilarious time on Twitter, haven’t we? But I have tried to stay off reporting on The Crisis directly, and tried to focus on lifting up the corner of the cloud to find something shiny underneath. It’s very well to continue reacting to every little word and deed, and of course getting a laugh now and then to try to lighten the load. But this blog was at first intended as a response to the Synods, and later, as we saw that the Synods were the primary vehicle for fomenting the current crisis – that did nothing but escalate and gain strength, speed and power – to try to help people make some sense of it.

We are at the stage now when it really can no longer be denied that the crisis of the last 50 years has developed into a state of apocalyptic emergency.

How then shall we fight it? The same way we always have; we keep the Faith. In fact, it’s nothing like as hard as we imagine. We have been given very specific – and quite easy-to-follow instructions from the Queen of Heaven herself: “My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God.”

Perhaps the most important thing we can be praying for is that the Consecration of Russia be accomplished. If we are looking for a secret plan, something small and simple that will stop the entire machine in its tracks, it can only be this:

“You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to My Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace.

“The war is going to end; if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will beak out during the pontificate of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that He is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father.

“To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays. If My requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church.

“The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated.

“In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph.

“The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me, and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world. In Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved…(etc)”

“When you pray the Rosary, say after each mystery: ‘O my Jesus, forgive us, save us from the fire of Hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those who are most in need.’

“Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and to pray for them.”

~

Pretty simple marching orders.

Keep the Faith. Fight the inner demons, the temptations to despair and to bitterness and fear. We all know what our temptations are and though they are different for each of us, in fact the devil’s repertoire isn’t very broad. And we know the way to deal with them. If you slip, don’t hesitate to get to confession and get going again. Lamentation is a waste of time and a distraction. The fight for most of us is easy, since it is to be conducted in the negative; by not doing things. By not sinning. By not giving up. By not going along with the suggestions of these wicked people. By calmly carrying on with what you are doing.

Actively, what then?

Easy.

Pray. Fast. Make small, secret sacrifices. Say the Rosary. Stay in a state of grace to the best of your knowledge and receive Holy Communion in that condition. If you have bad habits (which you do) try to identify them and work calmly on giving them up, fighting your temptations by first coming to recognise them, becoming more self-aware. Live whatever commitments you have in your state in life. Try not to fret too much or depend too much on your own lights and wits. Try to remember that understanding everything that is going on isn’t as important as the task at hand. Let some things go.

If you are led to some particular work, a thing that is clear and evidently necessary, offer up your weakness and limitations and get on with the job with as little fuss as possible. Try not to think too much about “what good it will do” or “how much difference it will make.” This isn’t your business. Remember, for almost all of us who aren’t cardinals and bishops, this war is one whose primary battleground is between your ribs.

Cultivate a little secret interior life. Spend a few minutes as often as you can thinking about the Lord, as though you are visiting with Him personally, think about His Passion, His Resurrection, His acts and words; learn to turn these over in your mind and imagination and return to them often. Get to know Him, and you will find acts of adoration, thanksgiving and petition – acts of love – coming to you quite naturally. It doesn’t have to be a struggle, and He is waiting for the least sign from you to pour graces down on you.

If you find the Rosary a bit intimidating, say five decades instead of fifteen. Or say one instead of five. Get into the habit of saying three Aves before falling asleep and saying them again when you wake up in the morning, in those first few confusing minutes when you’re trying to figure out which way is up and remember what day it is. Which way is up doesn’t matter nearly as much as saying those little prayers.

Say the little prayers we know well as often as you can through the day. Get into the habit of filling your mind with these prayers whenever you have an idle moment, or when you’re doing something simple like washing dishes or standing in a queue or tidying up.

Ave Maria, gratia plena…

O God, come to my assistance; O Lord, make haste to help me.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

O Most Holy Trinity, I adore You! My God, my God, I love You in the Most Blessed Sacrament!

There are probably thousands of them in the Catholic Church’s treasure chambers. Go find them, dust them off and start using them again.

~

As for me, I’ll say only that I’m recovering. Now at last figuring out how to move forward. A loss of a battle, or the loss of a town, isn’t the end of the war. Though it is sensible to take some time to come to terms with this, to gather up the strength of mind to face certain realities, there is nothing in the end to be done but to go on.

I needed a bit of a rest (and some time and mental space to do other things) but there are still things to do, and they won’t wait any longer. Personally I find the internet a bit dumb. As a person raised on books, I think of it as a kind of childish distraction, like television only a bit more interactive and a lot more silly. The way I was raised, screens were something you do at the end of the day if you have a few minutes after all the Real things you have going in life. You watched Star Trek after school. But of course, that idea is a product of my generation. My grandma would never allow the TV to be on before six pm, and then it was for the news after dinner, followed by the hockey game on Sunday nights. But in those days, the idea of living life glued to a screen was just science fiction.

But of course, the world is changed, and this thing, despite all its pitfalls, can be and really must be used for the good. It contains many dangers, of course, and we don’t forget that the medium is the message. But as a way of reaching out to people who have no other resources to come to grips with what is going on, it can’t be matched.

It’s said many times as a lament that “the internet has given us the wisdom of all the ages, and we use it to look at pictures of cats…” I don’t have anything against pictures of cats, and I find funny memes and jokes and a bit of fun is one of the main helps to get through this escalating horror. The Devil hates a simple and honest joke, so let’s not be too terribly serious, and no long faces.

So, it’s back to work. We will carry on doing what we have been doing, but I think be less reactive. The only thing we really need to pay attention to Rome for now is to see what ideas need correcting. And the great deposit of the Faith is available to us right here to provide the correction. The Faith is still out there, just waiting for us to take it up again like a great banner. And we can do it with joy. In a world of darkness, even a little light is a great and uplifting thing.

We’ll fight, and we’ll do it with a smile.

 

~