Goodbye to Dublin

I walked down this street almost daily for a few days short of three months. This was my neighborhood. Most of the people I met were not Irish. My neighborhood looked like a meeting of the UN.

I can only say that I am glad that the Churches have so many Masses and Confession available so often.

I must say that the Church is full of old people, like my parents' ages, mostly. There is a nice pub near here called Bruxelles on 7-8 Harry Street, but I only went once, as I do not go to pubs on my own, of course.

God bless Dublin. And, Good-bye.

Where do you think persecution will be the least severe?

New Poll.

Immediate Prayers Please

Please stop a minute and pray for an intention of a situation which must be resolved among friends tonight or tomorrow morning. Thank you so much.

St. Jerome, Pray for Us

Some saints are particularly well-suited to intercede for us in these increasingly unsettled times. Jerome is one of those. Pray to him today for help in your own struggles with sin and prayer. Pray to him for Catholic priests who are orthodox, obedient, peaceful, holy. The Co-Cathedral of St. John's in Valletta has the famous Caravaggio of St. Jerome Writing. It must have been a very hot day in the desert. Jerome's supposed cardinal's robe is off his body and his hat on the wall. He was not a cardinal, nor would this dress been the norm in his day. However, the point is that Jerome did not seek after greatness, but served God in study.

A great little article may be found here.  http://www.americancatholic.org/messenger/Sep1997/feature2.asp

And, wiki has a fascinating article of the painting.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Jerome_Writing_(Caravaggio,_Valletta)

Here is a snippet from the first article. He once described the heretic Pelagius as the most stupid of persons whose wits were dulled by too much Scottish porridge.

Goodbye to Ireland; Praying for The Remnant

After slightly less than three months, I am leaving Ireland for the third time. This visit has been the best of the three. If there is a next time, I would love to visit the Galway area. Ireland changed while I was here, and formally became a pagan country. The sadness of my Irish friends grips my heart. I am leaving disheartened and leaderless pro-life Catholics, who have no bishops to help them out of the evil fog which has enveloped this land.

The faithful go to Mass and pray. They hear cold, hard, but necessary sermons on the coming of more persecution, and the need to talk hold of one's own spiritual life.

I have heard many priests speak of the hard times to come and the necessity for Irish Catholics to become saints, without leadership or even input.

These good priests have shared from the pulpit the signs of the times. Brave and true men...

The first time I flew into Ireland, the plane flew over a clear Atlantic until we came over the island. The clouds were churning black and eerie green, as is an evil miasma was covering this place. It has.

There is a growth of the occult whose members want abortion. There is a growth of cynicism and despair from those who only love money. There is a carelessness and relativism in the young, which leads to a mad pursuit of pleasure.

I am sad to leave the TLM and the beautiful Carmelite churches which I have attended. There are still many excellent priests in Ireland. Pray for them and pray for the remnant.

If I ever return, it will not be to this exact place. But, Ireland is changing so fast, I would not be coming back to the same nation.

St. Patrick and St. Oliver Plunkett, pray for Ireland.

Interesting Statistic

http://www.infowars.com/one-quarter-of-uninsured-americans-will-pay-fine-rather-than-get-obamacare/

Moving Through the Six Levels of Prayer

The Dark Night of the Senses comes first and then the Dark Night of the Spirit. I prefer John of the Cross on this stage, one following the other, with some consolations in between to encourage the person in love. These moments of consolation are not sought, and, as I have written on this blog many times, those people who seek consolations will not grow spiritually and can most easily be waylaid by the evil one and taken off the correct path.

The purgation of the senses can be very painful, and long. And, one can slide back from all of these stages, which I know from experience. If we stop praying in the levels we have attained, we slide back.

Not good.

Remembering that God wants all of us Catholics to persevere on the road to perfection, we must keep up a level of energy and attentiveness.

The levels of prayer I have covered so far are mostly active states of prayer, not passive. These first four levels are initiated, through grace, by the person. The last two higher levels are passive, and initiated by God.

Hard work, in other words, to get to the passive stage and one becomes more aware of one's sinful state....to be continued....