What Are These Times

Deus, in adjutorium meum intende. Domine, ad adjuvandum me festina.
O God, come to my assistance. O Lord, make haste to help me.

Where shall I begin? I have been reading and reading, mulling over what to write, how to present what I want to share.  Every day I see online, in the newspapers, on TV, things that are so distressing and unsettling.  So much of it is culturally and politically troubling, our country sliding further and further into an abyss from which, I fear, it will never be able to pull itself out of.

I find myself praying more and more. I'm sure my family thinks that I've gone overboard with the "spirituality" thing.  But, after all, what is the most important thing in life? It is to save our immortal souls.  We are "in the world, but not of the world." The books I've been reading simply make stronger my feelings of dread for our world. I know what can change the course we've set upon, but most of the people in this world are oblivious to the fact that the answer has been given us and we continue to ignore it. Prayer and penance, right living and sacrifice are the simple answers.

Look at the lack of a real moral compass that most people have.  What are the most prevalent sins? Adultery, fornication, same-sex acts, immodesty in dress, speech and action, all against the sixth commandment. Women are guilty of causing men to sin mentally, at the very least. In the last 30-40 years women's and girls' fashions have become grossly immodest. Skirts and dresses are so short that underwear (if it is worn) is visible when seated or when bending over. Bikinis and thong bathing suits are a disgrace. Yet, people will laugh when I say that. Women commentators on TV wear too short skirts and too low cleavage. The latest beauty contest winner is shown over and over in the skimpiest of bikinis. Diet advertisements show women in the same state of undress. I've advocated for modesty before. The Blessed Mother has said more than once in her appearances to certain chosen ones over the years, that more souls are in hell for sins against purity than any other. In Fatima as long ago as 1917 she said that fashions would be introduced that would offend Our Lord. Well, they've been around for a long time and seem to be getting worse.

I can't believe what I see in wedding gowns.  The white gown, modestly covering the bride, was once a symbol of virginal purity, something to be cherished. When did strapless gowns become the
norm, when purity no longer mattered?

Now I'm getting to the gist of this post.  Even those who may disagree with a lot of what I have said, can see that we are in a terrible time in the world, a time that has been prophesied for a couple of centuries by mystics close to Our Lord and Our Lady and from apparitions and warnings from the Blessed Mother to innocent children and relayed to us. We haven't listened.  Whole nations will be destroyed. The United States will be brought low. We are under a chastisement right now, and it will get worse. Our government is the instrument and is rapidly shredding the Bill of Rights. Christians are persecuted and killed around the world by muslims determined to stamp our christianity as well as judaism.

Just a little quote from 55 BC (Cicero): The budget should be balanced, the treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogant officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.

That, of course, is if the government really wants those things. What is happening to destroy us is deliberate, not just incompetence. It's more than financial ruin; it's our whole foundation.

Let me quote from Isaiah 6:1-13.
    Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying: "Whom shall I send? Who will be our messenger?" I answered. "Here I am, send me." He said: "Go and say to this people, 'Hear and hear again, but do not understand; see and see again, but do not perceive.' Make the heart of this people gross, its ears dull; shut its eyes, so that it will not see with its eyes, hear with its ears, understand with its heart, and be converted and healed." Then I said, "Until when, Lord?" He answered: "Until towns have been laid waste and deserted, houses left untenanted, countryside made desolate, and Yahweh drives the people out. There will be a great emptiness in the country and, though a tenth of the people remain, it will be stripped like a terebinth of which, once felled, only the stock remains.
The stock is a holy seed."

The mystics have seen that two-thirds of the human race will be destroyed. The third that remains, a "remnant" will be the "stock... a holy seed," which will rebuild the Church, which has been infiltrated by Satan. He has divided its members and seated his followers in high places. Christ the King will reign once more.  His Mother will be honored, as she should be. There will be, in the end, a period of peace and unity for mankind. Christ will have manifested Himself in such a way, not the second coming - yet - but by His signs, visible to all mankind.

The Church reminds us that we are all called to be saints.  We are to do our duties according to our state in life, faithfully, honestly, humbly, with love and fear of the Lord.  In these days we are called also to be apostles, to speak fearlessly and openly about our Faith, to proclaim what Almighty God demands of us, even if others make fun of us, think we're crazy, even persecute us for our beliefs.  Persecution comes in many forms. It has begun in the United States and very possibly will get worse, with jail for priests and bishops, nuns and even lay people who defy the illegitmate laws being passed against religious convictions, against gun ownership, and whatever else   might suit an overreaching dictator.

Pray for grace. Pray for your families. Pray for strength to sustain yourself through whatever tribulation is to come. Pray for the souls of sinners and for those who even yet do not know God.

Psalm 105:47      Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the nations, that we may give thanks to Thy holy Name, and may glory in Thy praise. Thou, O Lord, art our Father and Redeemer, Thy name is from eternity.