The Devil You Know

What a week it has been.

First, my husband and I had to cut our daughter's godfather out of our lives after he brought over his new "girlfriend" to our home last Saturday to introduce her to us, and she turned out to be a prostitute that he picked up in a convenience store parking lot (he lied to us about where he met her too!). The whore also stole some cosmetics and brushes from me after we let her in to use our bathroom. I didn't realize what had happened until after he left to go home with the prostitute and I was cleaning up the bathroom since she'd been in it. Ironically, the stolen items weren't worth much monetarily. The cosmetics were ones I hardly used and was planning to dump, however the brushes were my favorite and I used them regularly. Though I filed a police report about the robbery, my husband and I were out for blood. I was very angry that I'd been robbed (it always hurts worse when someone close to you is the perp), but my husband was even more furious at his former friend because he'd stood as our daughter's godfather at her Baptism and swore an oath to uphold the teachings of the Church, which he had now thrown away for a lot lizard; blaspheming the Holy Ghost. We've blocked him from communicating with us after sending off angry messages telling him what happened and to stay away. I don't think I will ever forgive my daughter's former godfather for this incident.

My husband and his now former friend at our daughter's baptism.

Fast forward to Thursday, when we went to noonday Mass at the Cathedral across the street from my husband's clinic where we'd gone to get his biweekly supply of medicine. My husband suggested the venture and while I was reluctant to go, we had nothing planned for the afternoon and since we were in the area, why not? In spite of my reluctance, it was clear almost from the moment we set foot on the property that the Lord wanted us to be there that day. We met a pious young woman who was new to town and saw some old faithful friends from our other church too. And the cherry on the blessing sundae? The sermon was about not casting pearls before swine, and that some people will just never accept the Lord no matter how hard you try and inspire them to do so. That really resonated with us because we tried so hard to bring our daughter's godfather, my husband's former friend, back to the Catholic Church. We'd encourage him to come to church with us (and he did on many occasions), pray more often, to cut toxic people out of his life, he was the Best Man at our wedding, and when I became pregnant, we offered him the position of being our child's godfather if he would come back to the Church by going to Confession and start receiving Communion regularly again. He finally did go to Confession during Holy Week and took Communion on Easter, but he was never as committed to being a good Catholic after that.

She wasn't too crazy about having water poured over her head either

Today at the other church, we got another reminder about how real the Devil is. There was a disruptive parishioner who set my demon meter off the minute I laid eyes on him. I suspected he was mentally ill and lacking for treatment, but something else didn't sit right about him. Interestingly enough, he disappeared during Communion and was not seen again for the rest of the Mass. Then after Mass, while my husband and I were fellow-shipping with our friends and fans, one of our good friends there told us about how she'd been attacked by demons with unexplained scratches, bruises, and bites appearing on her body after she'd gotten her life straightened up following a divorce and end to a toxic relationship. She told us how she had to seek relief from the torment by having the diocesan exorcist pray over her, and a trip to his monthly healing service where he does special prayers and lays the monstrance on people who are spiritually under attack. Our friend reported that the exorcist's church was full of devils, and some people claim to have seen Satan himself in the chapel. My husband knew the church where this exorcist served because his late best friend/dope dealer belonged to that church and that many dope dealers frequented this church, bringing the demons of their trade with them. It may seem paradoxical that a Catholic church should be full of demons, given that people seeking exorcisms usually go to a Catholic exorcist first. But, keeping in mind that demons are more attracted to something/someone more sacred, it makes perfect sense. There is a parable my husband told me before we were married that does a pretty good job of illustrating this situation, which I will include as a footnote at the end of this post.

It is said that only God can take a bad situation and bring good out of it. My prayer life, while never particularly strong, has been lacking for some time. He was using the robbery and subsequent fallout to remind me that it's not a good idea to take His protection for granted, and that I need to step up my prayer life more. October, being the month of the Rosary, is a good time to do that.

Have a blessed week, and take care everyone.

***
The parable of the two churches: A seminarian had a dream in which an angel showed him two churches on opposite sides of the road from each other. One church was immaculately neat with a manicured lawn, wealth, well-dressed parishioners and well behaved children, a choir in tune and nice cars in the parking lot. The other church was more run-down, impoverished, with poorly dressed parishioners who were smoking during Mass and talking about football while the priest gave his homily. Demons swirled around the parishioners and the priest in this church, tempting them with thoughts about money, sex, murder, etc. What cars were in the parking lot were jalopies and the choir could barely keep a tune. The angel then asked the seminarian which church was saved-the middle class church or the run-down church?

The answer: the run-down church. It was saved because the people had faith, which was why the demons were swirling around and attacking everyone there so viciously. The absence of demons at the middle class church was because the people there had no faith. Thus, there was no reason for the demons to be present and attack people there.

Slavery in the "Free Market"

Over the weekend, a friend of mine emailed me an article written by the friend of a friend, and it has gone viral among my network of friends. The article, written by an Israeli living in Jerusalem, is a well-written scathing critique about how the "free market" inevitably enslaves all those who participate in it in one form or another.

It's too long for me to post here, so I will link to it. But there was one quote that stood out from the whole piece.

We should take birth, life and death as they come, as was done by our ancestors. If we won’t stop this plague now, we shall see our children and grandchildren stripped for organ transplants to the rich bankers who want to live forever, if not bought and sold for the amusement of gay couples. We shall see children being manufactured and mass-produced for transplants, for war, for labour, as Aldous Huxley prophesied in his too-prescient book. God’s plans can be overridden only at a huge cost, a cost that will dwarf the override of Obama’s Iran Treaty.

This brought to mind a conversation my friend and I were having. My friend mentioned that while he was looking for a new job, he came across the website of a facility in Scottsdale (a wealthy suburb of Phoenix, AZ) that cryogenically froze dead people. That was not a typo-the same cryogenic freezing that you see in the movies is what this facility did (in the desert, no less!). I told him how weird I thought it was that people would want to freeze themselves in the hope of being resurrected in the future. Even with freezing to hold off the rot, you'd have to get a new brain, new nerves, basically be reprogrammed cuz if you were to be revived a millenium from now, you couldn't cope with what the world then would be like. My friend responded by saying that this sort of set up, where you could be wealthy enough to have yourself frozen and then have the failing parts changed out like a computer, is a recipe for damnation. Like fundamentalism, this utilitarian mentality spits in God's face because it tells Him "the souls You have created are not worthy of my acknowledgment! They aren't even worth life unless they have something materially to contribute."

Read the rest of this excellent piece here. It's well worth your time.

Melancholia

Tonight the ghosts of the past
Swim 'round in my head like a whirlpool
A life gone by and miscast
Fallen, disregarded, and cruel.

What began with such promise and riches
On to whom dreams and ambitions were pinned
Stay on the path and in leashes
Lest you become the Other and chagrined.

The fall from high up is hard
But the writing on the wall is clear
This old life, you must discard
An illusion, sustained by the financier.

To keep these creatures of comfort
One must work day and night
Hard work, no less, must assert
Your privilege, in a society Darwinite.

Good bye, middle class home and lifestyle
Good bye, luxuries of wealth
Good bye, existence juvenile
Good bye, retirement and health

I knew what I was getting myself into
When I walked away from it all
Disappointment, difficulty, make-do
Were sure to make trouble and stall

Charity is a two-way street
In both giving and recieving
Bottom-feeder, tick, deadbeat
Liberator, clever one, always scheming

Oh Melancholia, cruel mistress
Why do you trouble me now?
To remind you of illusions dangerous
And your freedom to preserve and endow

Protesting Planned Parenthood

Today was the big nationwide protest against the infamous abortion provider, Planned Parenthood. While I've been fairly quiet about the controversial videos released which proport to show Planned Parenthood executives and staff engaging in illegal activities (organ trafficking, infanticide, etc), know this: I am, and will always be, pro-life. My pregnancy and subsequent birth served to reinforce and enhance that which I had been taught regarding the sanctity of life, both in AND out of the womb.

A card my hubby picked up from the registration table. If you don't respect life in utero, you'll view it as worthless outside of the womb too.

It's one thing to see a picture of an ultrasound baby on a poster or hold a plastic fetus at various stages of development. But it's also something totally different to actually see the fetus wiggling and floating around in utero, real-time in front of your eyes and instinctively know "wow. That's mine. I made that."

It would be one thing if Planned Parenthood actually did what it claimed to do and offered STD testing and treatment, counseling, women's health care, etc. But it doesn't. Abortion is ALL that Planned Parenthood does, and the dishonesty put forth by that organization is an injustice to women everywhere. That has always been my beef with Planned Parenthood, even when I did not have the vocabulary to articulate it in the way I wanted to.

While I am largely in favor of crisis pregnancy centers as a means of giving women an alternative to murdering their offspring in utero, I've gotten away from blindly supporting them like I used to. When I got pregnant, I went to a crisis pregnancy center (CPC) not because I wanted an abortion, but because I was a low-income individual seeking to get low-cost prenatal care. I was hoping a CPC could assist me with that.

Exile

You've built your life up

It seems so secure

But then the unexpected appears

And you crash down unsure

The ones you called friends and allies

Turn their backs in your darkest hour

They will even betray you

Drunk with newfound power

Now you must flee

Your life depends on it

Where you are going, God knows

But this current place is unfit

Finally, God guides you to a new place

You can settle and begin to rebuild

But, oh how the hate burns inside you

For the betrayers who wanted you killed

The world says karma will get them

Jesus says turn the other cheek

While the betrayers bask in their malevolent bliss

And your own faith feels so weak

But then something miraculous happens

Your utmost dependence on God brings fruit

His protection and guidance sustain you

And doubt begins to uproot

And when you encounter reminders

Of the life you'd left behind

It hurts to know you can never return

But you are also no longer blind

There are others out there like you

Pushed away or thrown out like the trash

You are an exile

And like the phoenix, you will rise again from the ash

tamtam

The Return of Tamtam

Ladies and gentlemen,

After a nearly three-year hiatus, filled with much change, growth, and challenge, I have returned to the world of blogging at long last.

To commemorate my return, I will post this poem that a friend of mine sent to me a few years ago. I believe it's called The Logical Conclusion, but I've also seen it listed as The Ass Shall Sigh Uninstructed.

When earth's last thesis is copied 

From the theses that went before, 

When idea from fact has departed 

And bare-boned factlets shall bore,

When all joy shall have fled from study 

And scholarship reign supreme; 

When truth shall "baaa" on the hill crests 

And no one shall dare to dream; 

When all the good poems have been buried 

With comment annoted in full 

And art shall bow down in homage 

To scholarship's zinc-plated bull, 

When there shall be nothing to research 

But the notes of annoted notes, 

And Baalam's ass shall inquire 

The price of imported oats; 

Then no one shall tell him the answer 

For each shall know the one fact 

That lies in the special ass-ignment 

From which he is making his tract. 

So the ass shall sigh uninstructed 

While each in his separate book 

Shall grind for the love of grinding 

And only the devil shall look. 

Against the "germanic" system of graduate study and insane specialization in the Inanities. 

-Ezra Pound