Unveiling the Temple

Posted on November 9, 2023 by veilofveronica

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks were split. Matthew 27:51

With the news today of the Vatican allowing transgenders to be baptized and become Godparents, I am sure many people find themselves confused. We live in a time of identity crisis, where most of the world does not know the Father, and where confusion reigns the day. I like to look at these things through a wider lens of the story of God and His call to His people, who it seems, are not listening, but who He wants to save. In order to do this, we have to look at the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Prior to the fall, the union, it is beyond what we can picture. God wants us back in union and He gave us Mary, who is singular, in her grace filled unity.

Mary was saved preveniently by the Passion, death and resurrection, applied to her outside of time. Let’s now step back a moment into the Old Testament.

In the Old Testament the Temple held the Ark of the Covenant.  The area where it was kept had a veil, a curtain, that separated the Ark from the front portion of the temple.  The area of the Ark had no candles or natural light.  It was illuminated by God’s glory.  The lambs were slaughtered outside, the One High Priest would take the blood of the lambs and he would crawl under the veil or curtain and he was the only one allowed to do this.  He would then pour the blood of the lamb onto the ark in the center where it was illuminated by God’s glory.  This area in the center of the Ark where the blood was poured was known as the Mercy Seat.

Mary, who is the new ark of the covenant, was saved preveniently by the cross.  Her body is also a temple of the Holy Spirit, full of grace. Because she was already saved, the act of the temple veil being torn in two at the crucifixion had already been applied to her, meaning she was unveiled before God at the time of her conception, totally transparent and Immaculate.  In the Old Covenant the One High Priest had to crawl under the veil and he was the only one allowed in, but with Mary because the merits of the Cross were already applied to her, she was unveiled by the Holy Spirit and so bound to the Spirit was she, that the One High Priest, Jesus, made His home in her totally transparent, totally unveiled, totally pure, womb. Her soul and body so full of grace that she became the Ark, the Mercy Seat, at her Fiat to the angel. She was, so to speak, completely naked and unashamed before God. This is about her body and soul being so open to God, so unveiled, because of the saving Grace of God. His blood sacrifice applied to her, once and for all.

At the Nativity, like the Glory that illuminated the Ark of the Old Covenant, Mary too would have been illuminated with the light of God’s Glory. You can picture the birth, not as a regular birth, but one so filled with light that would emanate and pass through her. A light that would make Joseph fall face down on the ground. A light that would be marked in the heavens. She would have borne none of the curse that came upon us at the fall for she was Immaculate.

This light of the Mercy Seat is extended to us at our baptism. It’s where Christ gives us a piece of Mary, so to speak. That is to say, that through the Immaculate Conception, we are reborn in the waters of baptism, like waters of her womb, the womb of the temple, and we are washed in her Immaculate Conception, the gift that God gave her, and we are born again. But from there, we have to journey to the cross for our own complete unveiling. While Mary remained unveiled with God, from conception to the Cross and her own dormition, we have work to do. Most of us don’t want to be unveiled, that is to say, we don’t want to be shown how far we are from God. We don’t want to take up our Cross and follow him. This is because, in comparison to Mary, we are a misery. I know I am. But this unveiling of us brings total purification.

The unveiling is actually known as the Apocalypse and it’s where everything becomes transparent, and God reveals all.  We will see how far we have fallen. We will see how twisted our identity has become and how demons trained us to think. Our souls will be laid bare, and we will see clearly.  Those inside the church have failed at many things. Many and have rejected the invitation to the cross and to purification. We even stopped praying for people to convert to Christ. We find ourselves in a house that is burning, wondering how we got here.

Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son.  He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come.  Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.’  But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Matthew 22:1-7

Rome is burning. God has invited all to the banquet.

Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad, so the wedding hall was filled with guests. Matthew 22:8-10

With all the people at the banquet, we will soon find out who is purified and who is not. God will be the judge, not us. Your duty is to see to it that your own heart is pure and surrendered to God.

“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless.  Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.” Matthew 22:11-14

Pray to be purified. Take up your cross and follow Him. Be unveiled by God because this is where true charity will be forged within you. You will be a Temple of the Holy Spirit.

One day at the end of time, our bodies will be glorified for those who chose God, which is to say who chose Jesus, love, mercy and truth. The wedding garment will be white. It will render you without blemish.  We will either be naked and unashamed accepting mercy, or we will find ourselves naked and ashamed and rejecting mercy, blaspheming the Spirit to which Mary is so bound. The blasphemy of the Spirit is the unforgivable sin. Take Mary into your home. Don’t blaspheme her or her Holy Name. No matter where these times lead us, let the direction of the Cross guide you. Follow Christ and His Mother. Pentecost is on the other side.

O, My Jesus, save us from the fires of hell and save all souls in most need of thy mercy.

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Grief

Posted on October 30, 2023 by veilofveronica

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18

The past couple of years with all the things that have happened in the world, and all the things that have happened personally, I have touched grief up close. There is a book by Daniel Walser called To Make a Life. I have not read it so I don’t know if I can recommend it. But in the book, he apparently describes grief like being in the upstairs room of a house on fire and all of your friends are outside trying to help with firehoses but they’re not in the fire with you, and most don’t want to come close because they can’t stand the fire. Christa Wells wrote a song called Come Close after reading this passage in the book.

The other day I listened to the lyrics of the song;

I’m afraid of the space where you suffer
Where you sit in the smoke and the burn
I can’t handle the choke or the danger
Of my own foolish, inadequate words
I’ll be right outside if you need me
Right outside

What can I bring to your fire?
Shall I sing while the roof is coming down?
Can I hold you while the flames grow higher,
Shall I brave the heat and come close with you now?
Can I come close now?

So we left you to fight your own battle
And you buried your hope with your faith
‘Cause you heard no song of deliverance
There on the nights that followed the wake
We never though to go with you
Afraid to ask

What can I bring to your fire?
Shall I sing while the roof is coming down?
Can I hold you while the flames grow higher,
Shall I brave the heat and come close with you now?
Can I come close now?

Lay down our plans
Lay down the sure-fire fix
Grief’s gonna stay awhile,
There is no cure for this
We watch for return,
We speak what we’ve heard
We sit together, in the burn

What can I bring to your fire?
Shall I sing while the roof is coming down?
Can I hold you while the flames grow higher,
Shall I brave the heat and come close with you now?
Can I come close now?

I cried because I have been in both positions of this song. I have been the person on the outside who doesn’t understand and has had “foolish inadequate words,” who left people to fight their own battle. I have also been inside the burning house this past couple of years.

In the past few years besides the Global pandemic we all went through, I lost my dad and I was the one who found him dead. I lost my mom to dementia, though she is still living. I lost my dreams for my kids who became filled with anxiety in an overwhelming world. I lost my health when I threw my back out and got COVID. I lost a lot of my ministry that I was doing and I lost my little dog, Rosie too. And I was left in the fire of it all. Save for a very small number of friends and family, I may have choked to death. I almost lost my faith. My faith was tested to an extreme and my sweet remembrance of time with God, who seemed to have left too during that time, was what I clung to. I finally realized that God loved me in the middle of it all. I look back now in thanksgiving, but I was stripped to nothing. It is a surrender I cannot explain.

I have emerged on the other side of that severe time with a deeper understanding of God and His love for us. I can see how in the church we have failed on a lot of levels to minister to people who were in a house on fire. People who turned to the church when their son or daughter experienced same-sex attraction and the church had no answer to help, or perhaps did but relegated it to the embarrassing basement where we won’t talk about it openly. I can see why it needs to be talked about. But I also see the grave error of trying to throw away truth and accept sinful disorder as a place that God cannot be big enough to overcome, as was the opinion I read in the book, Building a Bridge, by Father James Martin. There is no belief that God can lift a person out of sin, so people don’t even try. This is not correct.

I can see too how tradition brings comfort and protection and how it must not ever be lost, but I can also see that tradition alone is not the Savior. Tradition has revealed Truth. Truth is a person and we must never ever leave truth behind. Both sides can miss the narrow way; the way of love.

I was watching a Jansen Bagwell’s video on Halloween the other day and in the video he was talking about when Jesus went to Gadarenes and healed two demoniacs sending the demons into the swine (Matthew 8:28-34). The response of the people in this town was to ask Jesus to leave. It was easier to go back to what they knew, rather than to acknowledge the one who heals can heal even the most possessed sinner. We too who know the law of the Lord can lose sight of the fact that God is big enough to heal anyone or anything too. We can all be short sighted.

Today, I went to confession. For my penance the Priest told me to meditate on my favorite passage in the bible. My favorite passage is when Jesus gives Mary to John at the Cross. I opened to read chapter 19 of John and I read my favorite part but I kept reading a little further. I read this from John 19:38-42;

After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, though a secret one because of his fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission, so he came and removed his body. Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds.  They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews. Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid.  And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

I started to cry in church at the picture of these two religious men, men who knew who Jesus was but were afraid to openly go where he went, wrapping His dead body with such love and such care. The two of them witnesses to the Love of God they saw in Jesus but were too fearful to let go of their religion to follow. When they placed him in the tomb in their grief, they placed their own expectations and religious belief in there with him. They would never leave behind where they came from. They would soon understand the fulfillment of where they came from. It took the death of God for them to fully surrender and know that God is good.

We are in a period of time where the church is being crucified. It is a grief and we must process it. For this is not the end of how God intended things to be. We must always remember that the purpose for this is purification. We must always remember that God is good even when the world looks so bleak. We are headed towards the tomb, but it isn’t a tomb, it is a tabernacle. We will come forth from it with new life if we let God work in us. Even after the Resurrection it took some time until Pentecost, but a new Pentecost is coming.

To all the people out there who came to the church for help when your house was on fire with a situation of grief, where your hopes and dreams or your loved ones or your health were lost, I am sorry. Don’t leave truth behind but instead speak to God about your fear and then follow the truth of what the church teaches and be open to where God takes you. To all the people out there who are afraid to leave your comfort zone and surrender to God’s plan, know that God wants better things for you, better than you can imagine and let go of your worries and fears and pray like never before and let God pour grace into it all.

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Do You Believe?

Posted on October 19, 2023 by veilofveronica
Ford Maddox Brown – Jesus washes the feet of Peter

Why do you call me good? God alone is good. Mark 10:18

On October 12, after viewing what was happening in Israel and at the synod, I took a blessed picture of Saint Michael and I placed it on my front door. I prayed for protection and guidance for my family.

In the early morning hours of October 13, well before I would normally wake up, I received a phone call of yet another crisis. I won’t go into it here except to say it was another huge personal suffering. I laid in bed in tears asking God if he had heard my prayers. In the silence the still small voice asked me a question.

Do you believe that I AM good?

I responded, “yes, Lord, I believe, at least I am trying, help my unbelief.”

He whispered, “Mary believed, in all things and in all circumstances, that I AM good.”

I was then shown an image in my head of God physically moving a mountain. And I knew, I knew, that God alone is good. I had no doubt that he has the nations, the synod, and my personal circumstances in the palm of His hand and I was able to rest.

Over the next week as I went to daily Mass I listened as we prayed for peace in the Middle East and God whispered, “there will be no peace without conversion.” And I knew that is exactly what we are supposed to pray for.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” John 14:6

Last night I went outside and took off my shoes. Though it was cold I placed my bare feet on the grass in my backyard. My yard has been blessed. My home has had Mass prayed here. I stood on this holy ground thinking of Moses at the burning bush.

 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ” Exodus 3:14

In the quiet of the night my feet grounded in creation, God said, “I AM good”. And my body sobbed as I breathed out grief. Grief that we don’t know how good He is, so good that He sent His only Son;

‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. John 3:16

And I began to pray ardently for the conversion of myself, my family, my community, my nation and of the world.

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; It is the name above all names Lord, and at the name of your Son Jesus every knee shall bow: Thy Kingdom come; May every nation be baptized in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, baptized into the Kingdom: Thy Will be done; pour out and confirm us in the Holy Spirit, bring us a new Pentecost: On earth as it is in heaven; Lord bring us into union with you, in our marriages, our families, our communities and our nations, return us to Eden: Give us this day our daily bread; May we all come to know your true presence, your Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar: and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; May we be absolved and reconciled to you, to the church, to one another, receiving your mercy so we may love as you love; Lead us not into temptation; Lord strengthen and purify the Priesthood the guardians of the flock. Help them protect us and guide us in the authority you gave them, help them and help us to evangelize your love to those who do not know you: but deliver us from evil; Lord we are sick, very sick, our hearts are blackened, anoint us with your holy oil so that we may be healed in our minds, hearts, souls and bodies, and so that we may be with you forever. Amen.

Believe.

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The Passion Begins: Bear Good Fruit

Posted on October 4, 2023 by veilofveronica

If you will only obey the Lord your God, by diligently observing all his commandments that I am commanding you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth;  all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the Lord your God: “Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field.“Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your ground, and the fruit of your livestock, both the increase of your cattle and the issue of your flock. Deuteronomy 28:1-4 – on obedience

When I first sat down to write this post, I was apparently confused, something that seems common these days. It has become known to me now that Pope Francis answered the first Dubia originally sent quite awhile ago on July 11. The second Dubia was a response to his response, which asks yes or no questions. This analysis is one of the response to the first Dubia, which the 5 Cardinals did address themselves so perhaps this is redundant. The answer to the first Dubia was a veritable word salad of ambiguity that definitely appeared to contradict teaching. What I read was Protestant. It explains why a second Dubia was sent. My heart is sad. For my part, I will comment on two things.

First, in regard to blessing same-sex unions, part of the answer states, “However, in our relationships with people, we must not lose the pastoral charity, which should permeate all our decisions and attitudes. The defence of objective truth is not the only expression of this charity; it also includes kindness, patience, understanding, tenderness, and encouragement. Therefore, we cannot be judges who only deny, reject, and exclude.” It goes on to say, ” Therefore, pastoral prudence must adequately discern whether there are forms of blessing, requested by one or more persons, that do not convey a mistaken concept of marriage. For when a blessing is requested, it is expressing a plea to God for help, a supplication to live better, a trust in a Father who can help us live better.”

This begs the question that was asked. What kind of blessing are we talking about? If a person, a child of God, asks for a blessing, it seems to me the Priest can bless that person, for within the blessing invoking the Most Holy Trinity, will come the conviction of sin on a person’s heart. At Mass the righteous and sinner are blessed are blessed alike. Blessing guides people to truth. However, the question was asked about blessing the sin, this can never be done, as it calls down curse not only upon the sinner, but also the one blessing the sin.

 “But if you will not obey the Lord your God by diligently observing all his commandments and decrees that I am commanding you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you: “Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. “Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.  “Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your ground, the increase of your cattle and the issue of your flock.  “Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.  “The Lord will send upon you disaster, panic, and frustration in everything you attempt to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly, on account of the evil of your deeds with which you have forsaken me.  The Lord will make the pestilence cling to you until it has consumed you off the land that you are entering to possess.  The Lord will afflict you with consumption, fever, inflammation, with fiery heat and drought, and with blight and mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish.  The sky over your head shall be bronze and the earth under you iron.  The Lord will change the rain of your land into powder, and only dust shall come down upon you from the sky until you are destroyed. “The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out against them one way and flee before them seven ways. You shall become an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. 26 Your corpses shall be food for every bird of the air and animal of the earth, and there shall be no one to frighten them away. The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors, scurvy, and itch, of which you cannot be healed. Deuteronomy 28:15-27 – on disobedience

If the response remains unchanged, we just had curse called down upon us and it will come from the work of human hands. We can expect war and pestilence. Let’s pray that the Pope responds solidifying teaching to this second Dubia.

The question’s “nuance” is over the difference of blessing a person vs. blessing a sin. We do and we should exclude blessing sin. Sin is not our identity, but it is being made to be by modernists. While at Mass a blessing of the people is called down upon sinners, we ask though that the unrepentant sinner not receive communion. Imagine if women suddenly started coming to the Priests asking for blessing for their abortion. Or if thieves started coming to Priests asking for blessing to steal. Or adulterers brought their concubine for blessing their illicit sexual act.

Which brings me to the next point. The answer to the Dubia also stated that Priests could absolve the unrepentant because, “There are many ways to express repentance. Often, in people who have a very wounded self-esteem, declaring themselves guilty is a cruel torment, but the very act of approaching the confessional is a symbolic expression of repentance and of seeking divine help.” This may or may not be a true statement. There is actually no way to know if someone approaching the confessional is repentant, unless they actually say so. To assume that simply showing up is an expression of this, is to assume someone else’s interior. To be sure, the Pharisees themselves had their self-esteem wounded by Jesus, and I would think declaring themselves guilty was too cruel a torment for them. Yet, they sought him out. But it wasn’t because of contrition, but pride. Pride wrapped in a cloak of pastoral mercy is still pride, and it is deadly. The unrepentant thief on the cross did not hear the words, “today you will be with me in paradise (Luke 23:42-43)”, that was only for the thief who expressed remorse.

So where does this leave us? It leaves us knowing the truth, knowing what will come as a result of this, and knowing we must be more like Mary in order to persevere in this Passion. We cannot be compelled to sin, we can say no to sin. If it gets us exiled like Athanasius, then so be it. I won’t leave, but I will be obedient to consequences of bearing witness to the truth.

The other day I went to confession and the Priest told me for my penance to write down the Hail Mary three times and really meditate on each word as I wrote it down. And so I did. This is what stuck out to me;

fruit of thy womb

 Jesus’ words came to me, “

“A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit.  So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.” Matthew 7:17-20

The fruit the Blessed Mother bore was God Himself. She is our guiding light in these times of what a creature should do in the face of Passion. Mary is co-redemptrix in that her identity as “the Immaculate Conception” began at her conception as a gift from God through the merits of the cross to come, but it was completed when she stood at the cross as she gifted back to God what always belonged to him – the sacrifice of her Son.  She stood trusting in the goodness of God entirely gazing in love, sorrowful, but still loving.  This journey from her conception to the cross fulfilled her complete identity as Immaculate Conception, at once full of grace always full of grace, she completed the race, so to speak. 

 I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.  From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing. 2 Timothy 4:7-8

From his side, the church was born through her and her spousal union with the spirit, the uncreated and created Immaculate Conception; when we are baptized we are gifted part of the Immaculate Conception to be “born again”.  If we travel to the cross as she did we reach the fullness of perfection. God wants to perfect his church, the bride. And I think we are headed in that direction, but the question is, will we be perfected, or will we give up in despair when we see the signs of the times? I like to ask myself, in the players that were present for the Passion, which one will I be? I would love to be Mary, but she was singular in her perfection as a creature. Many of these players struggled, but it was Judas who despaired didn’t get the crown. We refer to the others as Saints. We are different from them, but we have years of sanctifying grace from the Sacraments and we have the Communion of Saints and the Rosary.

We’re in for a wild ride. Focus on His Holy Face and Trust. Pray for the Pope, Bishops and Priests. Repair, Fast and Pray like never before. God’s plans are bigger than we can imagine. May God Bless you all.

And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. Matthew 16:18

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Fighting Communism

Posted on September 22, 2023 by veilofveronica

For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like.  James 1:23-24

I have been reading a book called The Secret of the Holy Face, The Devotion Destined to Save Society, by Father Lawrence Daniel Carney III. The author points out how this devotion is meant to combat communism. All these years the Lord drew me to this devotion, even using tragedy to bring goodness and a blog named Veil of Veronica. I thought, “of course”. This is the devotion to usher in the Divine Will and combat what’s being thrust upon the world. The movement of sexual perversion and identifying yourself that way, coupled with climate change, the nebulous blob that seems to ask that all humans just die for the sake of the planet, and we find ourselves on the brink of a new world without God.

 This all too imminent danger, Venerable Brethren, as you have already surmised, is bolshevistic and atheistic Communism, which aims at upsetting the social order and at undermining the very foundations of Christian civilization – DIVINI REDEMPTORIS ENCYCLICAL OF POPE PIUS XI
ON ATHEISTIC COMMUNISM – March 19, 1937

Without God and doing what he asks, we forget what we look like. His Holy Face brings us back to relationship, with Him and with one another.

To be clear, I do not condemn people who struggle with same sex attraction, or even those who don’t know their proper identity, after all, their struggles are real. Therein lies the brilliance of this God ordained devotion. When you look at the Holy Face of Jesus you can see that you are in relationship with a real person. When your loved one stands in front of you struggling, you can see you are in relationship with a real person. You can pray and guide a real person to their true identity. The demonic driven agenda, however, you must oppose on all fronts. Our true identity lies in the fact that we are children of God. Anything else is perversion. You can label yourself whatever you want, but truth is a person and that person is Jesus Christ, and until you know Him you actually know nothing, especially not yourself.

Additionally, I actually do believe our environment is poisoned, but not from the CO2 we breathe out, rather, it is from the sin of our hardened hearts that we breathe out. A pure heart that loves God has a God who can pour his power into weakness and make the environment their dominion. A sinful unrepentant hard heart reaps what it sows, and the environment around them becomes desolate. Again, a mere look at the Face of God and you will see back a true identity and a Kingdom of heaven; a Kingdom of Love where all of creation shouts for joy.

Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
    let the sea roar and all that fills it;
    let the field exult and everything in it.
Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy
   before the Lord, for he is coming,
    for he is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness
    and the peoples with his truth. Psalm 96:11-13

It is time to look at His Holy Face. It is time to see that He is the one who calms and keeps the storm. Promulgate this devotion. Jesus Himself left us His face during the Passion with the Veil of Veronica, in His death on the Shroud of Turin, and in His resurrection on the Veil of Manopello.

By looking at His Face we can see his Sacred Heart, we can see the love in His heart for us. We can ask Him to help us love others as He loves us. It is this relational knowing of God that can crush communism. Place His Face where all can see.

 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18

Archconfraternity of the Holy Face

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Even the Elect will be Deceived

Posted on September 19, 2023 by veilofveronica
Luca Signorelli 1501

For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and produce great signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.  Take note, I have told you beforehand. So, if they say to you, ‘Look! He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look! He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever the corpse is, there the eagles will gather.Matthew 24:24–28

The other day I was invited to a movie preview, where the movie is shown prior to its actual release. I often get invitations to preview Christian themed movies prior to their release. I don’t write this as a movie review, although, it would appear that is what I am doing, but I write it as a warning to stay awake to certain things.

The movie I went to see is a musical about the birth of Christ that is due for release in November. I was actually very excited to see the movie because I love all things Jesus and I love musicals. I was expecting to be thoroughly uplifted. Though I often have trepidation about the depiction of Mary when Protestants depict her, I was not prepared for what I saw. I actually got up and walked out after 30 minutes. Our Lady was depicted as a feminist being held down by the man (Saint Joachim). She didn’t want to get married but was being forced to. She wanted to be a teacher and all her dreams were being smashed. There was even a scene where she told Saint Anne that she wished she had more faith!!!!

And Joseph, well, he was trying to pick up women in the market! He didn’t know the woman he was trying to pick up was Mary. But the message was clear, Joseph was out on the prowl.

It was as if the bible was never read prior to the making of this film. And the early church Fathers were certainly not read. Mary wasn’t a faith filled woman full of grace;

The angel came to her and said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” Luke 1:28

and Joseph certainly wasn’t a righteous man;

 And her husband Joseph, since he was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her….Matthew 1:19

I wish I could tell you that the movie got better but I didn’t stay long enough to find out. I left a scathing review of how they essentially blasphemed the Mother of God.

To be fair, there was an opening where the makers of the film spoke of why they made the film. You could tell they loved Jesus. I know they did not know what they were doing.

 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. Luke 23:34

And I left so sorrowful, not wanting to give another minute of my time to such a lack of understanding. What could have been so heartening became a grief. I felt that in an effort to relate to the modern man, the movie had made Mary and Joseph the dregs of modern man.

I thought of the verse at the top of the article. The eagles pecking on the corpse of womanhood trampled upon left by a society who doesn’t really know God, even those baptized, who perhaps, desire to, but cannot look up enough to believe their nature can be elevated. Even the elect will be deceived. This isn’t just a statement about Protestants who denigrate Our Lady, Catholics do it too. There is one thing I know for sure, Our Lady, daughter of God the Father, Mother of the Son, and spouse of the Holy Spirit, is the key to these times. Those who degrade and blaspheme her will be deceived. People who do not realize Mary had total mortification of natural ego, are themselves submersed in ego. It is ego that keeps us from seeing and ego that leads to deception.

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
     my spirit rejoices in God my savior.
 For he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness;
    behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed.
The Mighty One has done great things for me,
    and holy is his name.
 His mercy is from age to age
    to those who fear him.
 He has shown might with his arm,
    dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart.
 He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones
    but lifted up the lowly.
 The hungry he has filled with good things;
    the rich he has sent away empty.
 He has helped Israel his servant,
    remembering his mercy,
 according to his promise to our fathers,
    to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

Luke 1:46-55

This may have been just a movie, but it speaks of the larger deception. But for those who submit themselves under the mantle of the Mother of God and surrender themselves to her Son, who is God Himself, they will be lifted up, even in their weaknesses.

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I Never Knew You

Posted on September 5, 2023 by veilofveronica
Jesus and Nicodemus – Matthais Stom 1640/50

The God of peace will shortly crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Romans 16:20

I was reading the exchange between Jesus and Nicodemus, the exchange in which Jesus speaks of being “born again;”

He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with that person.” Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.”Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. John 3:2-5

At first glance we may want to laugh at Nicodemus for such a literal interpretation, but Jesus does not tell Nicodemus he is dumb.  He merely states that to enter the Kingdom of God you must be born of water and the spirit.  He knows that Nicodemus doesn’t understand what He is saying.

It occurred to me though, that Nicodemus’ question is not too far off the mark.  We know from Blessed John Duns Scotus and from Saint Maximilian Kolbe who expounded on Scotus’ teachings that Mary is pre-redeemed as the created Immaculate Conception.  According to Fr. Peter Damian Fehlner, FI, who summarizes Kolbe, she is;

“the only human person who has no other reason to be, nor in fact ever existed in any other way except as ‘the Immaculate Conception’, thereby making our becoming immaculate possible in being freed from sin. (St. Maximilian Kolbe, Martyr of Charity Pneumatologist, His Theology of the Holy Spirit, by Father Peter Damian Fehlner, FI, page 88. – emphasis mine)”

This means, that by virtue of the cross outside of time, Mary was preserved, but also that when we are baptized we are partaking in those merits of the cross through the Immaculate Conception.  In other words, even though we are conceived in sin, we are “born again” from our mother’s immaculate womb through the action of the Holy Spirit, the uncreated Immaculate Conception, who is bound as spouse to Mary, the created Immaculate Conception.  This makes Mary our Mother and since we are the church, she is Mother of the Church.  We do come forth from our mother’s womb cleansed.  Nicodemus may not have understood, but his question was far from foolish.

Our baptism makes us “born again” cleansing us of our original sin, which saves us, but it does not elevate our nature.  We still suffer from concupiscence.  The journey to heaven is a journey of purification where we rely more and more on God to elevate our fallen nature back to the purity in which it was created, but even more mature.   A journey that was shown to us by Jesus with his Mother at His side. Baptism cleanses the sin, but it does not elevate our nature which desires sin.  The road to this cleansing is the road to the cross.  So our life is really a dual conversion.  The first takes places when we recognize Jesus as Our Lord and Savior.  We are redeemed. The second takes place when we deny our desires for the sake of God’s desires, which is to say, we take up our cross and follow him after accepting Him as Lord and Savior.  We are restored. It is a cooperative action which requires us to try. 

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life? Matthew 16:24-26

The first conversion recognizes who saves.  The second conversion is a path of handing over the human will to the Divine Will whereby the Will of God elevates our desire from our fallen nature to a place of divinization where He totally fills us with Himself.  It is a path of action, but the action involves the surrendering to the Savior our fallen desires.   We conform ourselves to the Cross and we proclaim the goodness of God.  This proclamation of the goodness of God is something concupiscence steals because it corrupted our vision and we fail to see his goodness in our suffering.  Our lower desires for comfort take over.  The temptation is to do what is easy.  But we can cooperate with God. It begins with our recognition that we have a path to take and that our restoration is not as instantaneous event.  The fall didn’t happen in an instant.  The thought or desire to “be like god” started in the hearts of Adam and Eve before the action of sin took place.  In other words, their nature began to be corrupted prior to the actual sin of when they fell.  We can see this happening when Eve converses with the devil while Adam stands there and does nothing.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’ ” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die,  for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate.  Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.  Genesis 3:1-7

This corruption (along with sin) is what the Lord is trying to purge. He wants our conversations to be with Him, not the devil. He wants our relationship to be with Him, not the devil.

So we can see, God in His mercy gave us a way back.  It is a way through the Immaculate Conception and the Cross.  The Way is forged forward because of Christ by the Church and her Sacraments, but also by Our Holy Mother who guides us.  Baptism removes the sin and lets us partake in the Immaculate Conception so as to be born again.  Confession keeps us reliant on God’s mercy.  The Eucharist purifies our hearts and our vision. 

Mary did not have the fallen desires, or concupiscence, because she was full of grace, but she still had the free will to choose.  There was never any corruption that began in her heart.  She had total unitive relationship with God as a daughter, a spouse and a Mother.  And because we have a share in her Immaculate Conception by virtue of our being baptized and born again, we have a Mother who will walk with us and intercede for us in the journey to the Cross; the one where we nail our human will to that cross.

Because of sin and concupiscence we are born into a relationship with evil.  But scripture tells us what kind of relationship that should be;

I will put enmity between you and the woman
    and between your offspring and hers;
he will strike your head,
    and you will strike his heel.” Genesis 3:15

Though most of us tend to desire what is evil, this is not what we should give into.  Our relationship with evil should embrace the enmity that God instituted as stated in the scripture.  Enmity is a Holy Hatred that was instituted by God.  Mary, though sinless and without concupiscence would have had perfect enmity.  Her knowledge of evil was the knowledge of our sin. That would have been her only relationship with evil.  But as she traveled the path of the cross, she, like Jesus, grew in wisdom;

And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man. Luke 2:52

Mary as a creature, grew in perfect love.  Jesus is perfect love Himself and here is what we know about the perfect love of Jesus and what the cross did;

having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace,  and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. Ephesians 2:15-16 *

That is to say that Jesus, who is perfect charity, conquered evil which conquered death.  He did the Will of the Father perfectly and Heaven has no evil.  Jesus’ Resurrection and Ascension abolish enmity.  It is a raising to no knowledge of evil; no thought, word, or action of evil. You could phrase this abolishment of enmity as saying, “I never knew you.”

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you who behave lawlessly.’ Matthew 7:21-23

Jesus is recognized in His authority by the demons, but Jesus doesn’t even let the demons speak and banishes them. He gives them no voice;

 In the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice,  “Leave us alone! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet and come out of him!” Then the demon, throwing the man down before them, came out of him without doing him any harm. Luke 4:33-37

Mary, who is so filled with the Spirit can also declare, “I never knew you” in her bodily Assumption into heaven.  She is totally pure in mind, body and soul and did the Will of the Father. This relational break with the devil, this abolishment of enmity, does not recognize the identity of the devil.  This is the devil’s humiliation.  He cannot stand not being recognized as the god he can never be because of the victory of the cross.  This is why he fears Mary so much.  She is so bound to the Holy Spirit through the mediation of her Son that the two cannot be distinguished in his eyes.  And for her part his banishment is the only result.  It’s why in exorcism the Holy names of Jesus and Mary convey such power.  While an exorcist may seek the name of a demon, this is to enhance enmity, and identify what needs to be expelled, both the sin and the demon.  But heaven has already expelled this evil so when heaven shows up here, demons flee in humiliation.  Saints in heaven have a share in all of this.

But this path is for us as well.  Jesus and His Mother desire our cooperation and this cooperation is the path to living in the Divine Will.  We must cooperate and do our part, but we must also wait on God to complete our perfection.  We will never be like Mary, but we can be her children, the children of God, not just redeemed but eventually, in the plan of God, restored.  Until then;

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff— they comfort me. Psalm 23:4

*Typically I use the NRSV bible translation, but the newer translation says “hostility” instead of enmity. I used the NKJ version which says enmity for this quote. Though both are correct usages, for the sake of clarity, I used the version with enmity.

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When Love Has Nowhere to Go

Posted on August 22, 2023 by veilofveronica
Louis Edouard Fornier

The end of all things is near; therefore be serious and discipline yourselves for the sake of your prayers.  Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins.  Be hospitable to one another without complaining. Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 4:7-11

This past Sunday’s reading I was struck by the Second reading from Saint Paul in a way that I never have been before. The reading said this;

Brothers and sisters:
I am speaking to you Gentiles.
Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles,
I glory in my ministry in order to make my race jealous
and thus save some of them.
For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world,
what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?

For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.
Just as you once disobeyed God
but have now received mercy because of their disobedience,
so they have now disobeyed in order that,
by virtue of the mercy shown to you,
they too may now receive mercy.
For God delivered all to disobedience,

that he might have mercy upon all.

Romans 11:13-15, 29-32

What struck me is how, even when we reject God, he is always working to extend His mercy and save, save even those who reject Him. He is fathomless mercy.

This is because love is always giving. True love, Godly love, gives, always looking for one a receiver to pour into. This pouring is holy and sanctifies a soul. I was pondering this reading as I went into the chapel to pray. I was suddenly struck by the story of Sodom and Gommorah. I thought about how Abraham was interceding for people, and how God kept telling Abraham he would relent if a certain number of righteous people were found. God looks for receivers of love. Abraham was one such soul. Abraham loved and interceded.

  Then he said, “Oh, do not let my lord be angry if I speak just once more. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” 33 And the Lord went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place. Genesis 18:32-33

The Lord’s description of these cities was like this;

Then the Lord said, “How great is the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah and how very grave their sin! I must go down and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me, and if not, I will know.” Genesis 18:20-21

And I thought about those words, how grave their sin! The Lord heard the outcry, the lack of love. And I knew that there was no love, love had been rejected, en masse, by the people in these cities. We see this happening in our own society today. Since God is love, when a place is devoid of love and love has nowhere to go, destruction ensues. We know this did actually happen.

But God is always looking for those who will receive His love;

So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had settled. Genesis 19:29

For the sake of Abraham, God remembered. Love looks for those who are willing to receive it. He is always chasing us. Destruction falls when love has nowhere to go.

Which brings me to today’s Feast. It is the Queenship of Mary. Mary is one who received, in perfection, all of the love of God. It is why she is Queen of the Universe.

Painting at The Basilica of Mary Queen of the Universe in Orlando, FL

Our Salvation needed our cooperation.  God is Love in and of Himself and He pours love outward from Himself because that is what love does. The Father poured this love in its fullness, through the Son and the Spirit who are one with Him, into the Blessed Virgin.  She is singular in her perfection of the reception of God’s love. She is also the archetype of the church. It is for love of Our Lady, and the Church, who is open to all, that God invites us into His love which saves us, redeems us, and restores us. But we must accept the truth of what love is. We must know in our soul and our body what love is.

When we abuse our bodies, be it sexually, as was the case with Sodom, with food, with drugs, by denying the reality of the body, or with things that don’t recognize the dignity of who we are made to be, destruction befalls the body. When we abuse our souls by neglecting the things of God, destruction befalls the soul.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. John 10:10

Destruction comes when love is no longer recognized and minds become twisted from the barrage of lies flung at us daily. We become like animals. Violence is the result.

Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles. Romans 1:22-23

Each member of the church that allows God to purify and surrenders to this purification becomes a vessel of love. But none surpass Our Lady. She is, in a human person, the vessel of God’s perfect love united to the Uncreated Immaculate Conception (the Holy Spirit), which is united to the Trinity. She is Mother of God.  God’s love for her is so great. God’s mercy for us is so great that He created her.  Her cooperative yes is filled with the love of God. She is the culmination of creation and there is a union between her and God that is beyond what our human minds can grasp.  God wants to extend to all of us, through her, the mediatrix of all grace, this love He pours out. The church through her Sacraments pours out the Love of God. Our Lady through her intercession pours out the love of God. When we receive and give this love things around us change.

We know this because we see it in the Saints. Saint Therese of Lisieux and Saint Bernedette and their cooperation have left a mark on France. Countless have been brought into the love of God because of them.

When we look at the state of America we can easily fall into despair, but don’t, let love have a place to go. Believe that God’s love can change you and trust that you’re where your supposed to be, even if it’s in the middle of suffering. Make Mary your Mother and be a light in the darkness because love covers a multitude of sins.

If you would like to hear an interview with me and Ashley Blackburn about our new book The Queen’s Triumph, on Battle Ready with Father Dan Reehil on Radio Maria USA, you can listen here.

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The Queen’s Triumph

Posted on August 12, 2023 by veilofveronica

In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph. – Our Lady of Fatima to the Children of Fatima July 13, 1917

I write in my journal as if the Lord or His Mother are speaking to me. If what I have written in my journal, the church says is not true, then the church is correct and I am wrong. Please know that as you discern the journal entry I will share.

Six years ago in the late evening of March 8, 2017 to the early morning of March 9, 2017, after pondering the Litany of Our Lady of Victory, I felt as though Our Lady was speaking to me about the healing of families. In particular, what struck me were the relationships mentioned in the Litany of Our Lady of Victory. I felt Our Lady wanted me to focus on her relationships with The Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I felt these relationships and titles are of the utmost importance to her. I felt back then that she was and she is trying to teach us how to have relationship with the Trinity, which would heal us and heal our relationships with one another. The Litany of Our Lady of Victory mentions her relationship with the Trinity is VICTORIOUS. A triumph. Here is my journal entry from that day, all those years ago;

March 9, 2017

Beloved,

I am Our Lady of the Family. I am the Healer of Families. I am all things relationship with the Divine. Out of Eve’s disobedience my obedience was born. The father of lies is intent on destroying families. He is the thief who steals the peace. I will crush his head. My son is the restorer. Promulgate my name as the Healer of Families. Let every nation know that what has been broken can be restored and restoration begins in the domestic church at home and spreads outward to the nations. The Most Holy Trinity will cleanse the untruths, purge the wicked and the lies, and restore the beauty.

All nations will call me Blessed and take me into their homes, and into their families, because the Father wills it.

I am your Mother. I am Immaculate. I am humility. Make me part of your family.

John 7:19

To me, Our Lady was also clear that she did not want me to write this by myself. In fact, I got an image of my friend Ashley Blackburn in my head, and I knew I had to call Ashley and ask her to write this Litany with me. You may remember that I wrote about this before.

That was six years ago, and today, we finally have a book of compiled prayers. The book has the imprimatur and Nihil Obstat of the Diocese of Nashville.

Originally we were just going to call the Book a Family Healing Prayer Book, but I awoke from a dream with The Queen’s Triumph clearly in my head.

The book contains litanies and novenas to the Holy Family as well as other prayers and meditations. It is meant to help you focus on healing of your relationships.

I wish I could give the book to all of you for free because I do believe, in God’s providence, that the time for these prayers is Now. I am not here to market Jesus. I am here to tell you that God wants to heal us. God wants Mary’s Immaculate heart to Triumph. God wants his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Unfortunately, because we did self-publish, I cannot give it away for free, but I did try to make it affordable.

The book can be purchased online at Spirit Daily Bookstore or Saint Mary’s Bookstore. It is also available in person at Saint Philip Franklin, TN Bookstore and Saint Catherine Columbia, TN Book Store.

God wants your heart beating in unison with His.

I hope this book blesses you should you choose to buy it and pray the prayers. As the Feast of her Assumption approaches, may we come to honor Our Lady more and love the Most Holy Trinity more and more.

Our Lady of Victory. Pray for us. Our Lady, Healer of Families, pray for us!

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Pray without Ceasing

Posted on July 31, 2023 by veilofveronica
Maximilian Kolbe, Stanley Rother and Emil Kapaun. Images by: http://www.januaryjaneshop.com

 Rejoice always,  pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1Thessolonians 5:16-18

Several years back, I was at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, AL. I came outside of the church, having attended adoration, and I felt the Lord whispering, “make your life liturgy.” And it was in that moment that I understood the scripture, “pray without ceasing.” And it became something, not that I wanted to do, but that I wanted to be. I wanted to be a living liturgy.

The catechism of the Catholic Church defines liturgy like this;

It is this mystery of Christ that the Church proclaims and celebrates in her liturgy so that the faithful may live from it and bear witness to it in the world:

For it is in the liturgy, especially in the divine sacrifice of the Eucharist, that “the work of our redemption is accomplished,” and it is through the liturgy especially that the faithful are enabled to express in their lives and manifest to others the mystery of Christ and the real nature of the true Church. CCC 1068

It further states;

The word “liturgy” originally meant a “public work” or a “service in the name of/on behalf of the people.” In Christian tradition it means the participation of the People of God in “the work of God.” Through the liturgy Christ, our redeemer and high priest, continues the work of our redemption in, with, and through his Church. CCC 1069

So while for many people think of liturgy as just going to church on Sunday, it is so much more than that. It is in and through that Sunday liturgy that we are fed Divine Life. We are sent out on a pilgrim journey that should mature us to a place where our life becomes worship of God. We seek His will for us and work for His people and His Kingdom. Our life should become, in our very breath, a prayer without ceasing because we are so in union with God. Praying without ceasing doesn’t mean we pray for hours in the chapel everyday, it means that in all we are and do, we love God. And I have said this before, this is not something we earn, it is something we surrender ourselves to by actively choosing it and letting God do the work in us.

I bring this up because the church herself is on a trajectory, one that looks bleak at the moment. And we may be wondering what we should do because we have so little control. Everyday the news barrages us with problems in the church, problems in the world, from aliens, to rejection of the moral life by those in the church. We seem on a precipice of an abyss. But if all the daily Masses and Rosaries we have attended have only left us in anxiety and despair, then we really don’t know or trust God.

Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. John 14:9-10

Have we been receiving Him all these years and we still don’t know Him or the Father who is in Him? It’s a question we have to ask ourselves.

Are we still more afraid of those who can harm the body than can harm the soul?

Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, fear the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Matthew 10:28

We know and have been given the truth. We don’t have to make things complicated. We will be persecuted, but it always comes down to love. Where we love, God fills.

“I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues, 1and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the gentiles.  When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you at that time,  for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.  Matthew 10:16-20

And so, it is in these moments that I look to the Saints. The three in the picture above were three men who were in the worst of situations.

Born Raymond Kolbe he took the religious name Maximilian. He was simply known as prisoner 16670 to the Nazi’s. He celebrated Mass with smuggled bread. He took beatings for hearing confession. He sang Marian hymns while they tried to starve him to death. They lethally injected him. His life was a liturgy.

Fr. Stanley Rother cared for the poor and the sick. But a civil war in Guatemala where Catholics were being persecuted, made his name end up on a death list. Though he went home for a time, he returned to his people in Guatemala, to the people he loved, for the God he loved, even though doing so would put his life in danger, because he said, “a shepherd cannot run at the first sign of danger.” They shot him to death. His life was a liturgy.

Father Emil Kapaun had a chance to escape the bloody battle in North Korea where Chinese soldiers descended upon the US Army’s 3rd battalion. But he didn’t choose to escape. Instead he chose to run to the front lines to rescue men. He was captured. The months that followed were brutal but Fr Kapaun would visit 200 soldiers a day and tend to their wounds and lead them in the Rosary. Every soldier there began to speak of him with reverance. Kapaun died in prison, but the men there remembered him doing acts of service for others. His life was a liturgy.

In the middle of the darkest of crosses, there these men stood as a light. The Eucharist they consecrated and received had transformed them. They knew the Father. They knew communion and so did everyone around them who saw them. They stood as a light of Divine Love. It is a love they surrendered themselves to and it surpasses understanding and elevates our nature. It is a love that is divinized. The Divine Will was seen in action in these mini-Christs who surrendered themselves to the mercy that the rest of the world rejects.

When the world brings down the hammer of injustice, surrender to God and let the iron scepter of mercy swoop in and light your soul on fire with love.

To everyone who conquers and continues to do my works to the end, I will give authority over the nations,
to rule them with an iron scepter,
    as when clay pots are shattered— “even as I also received authority from my Father. To the one who conquers I will also give the morning star.  Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Revelation 2:26-29

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