Although I had intended to start writing a commentary about an interview that Victor Manuel Fernandez gave recently to the National Catholic Register, I think that a third part of what was intended to be a two-part series is warranted by several interrelated developments.

Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us.

Saint Francis of Assisi, pray for us.

This concluding part of a two-part series could have been entitled “Sin: More Deadly Than the Coronavirus, part twenty-five.” However, as we are at the “mercy” of merciless, I believed that the title of this series is very appropriate.

Another new commentary should appear in a few days.

Our Lady of Dolors, pray for us.

Saint Nicomedes, pray for us.

Today is the Feast of the Seven Dolors of the Blessed Virgin Mary in September and the Commemoration of Saint Nicomedes.

We are called to meditate on the Seven Dolors of Our Lady every day of our lives. While there are many good meditations on the sufferings of Our Lady, including those provided by the revelations of Venerable Anne Katherine Emmerich and the Venerable Mary of Agreda, the late Father Frederick Faber has given us much food for inspirational meditation in his The Foot of the Cross, published originally as The Dolors of Mary in 1857. Consider this brief excerpt from Father Faber's reflections:

"But let us make the world stand still, and see how it looks. If our common love for God, which is so poor, is irritated by the sight, what must Mary have suffered? For what is irritation to our weakness to her would be the most deep and transcending sorrow. God comes to His creation. It does not stir. It cannot. It lies in the hollow beneath Him, and has no escape. He comes in the beauty of a mercy, which is almost incredible, because it is so beautiful. But seemingly it does not attract the world. He draws nigh. Creation must do something now. It freezes itself up before His eye. He may have other worlds, more fertile, more accessible to Him, than this. In the spiritual tropics, where the angels dwell, He may perhaps be welcome. But not here. This is the North Pole of His universe. He shed His life's blood upon it, and it would not thaw. It is unmanageable, unnavigable, uninhabitable for Him. He can do nothing at all with it, but let His sun make resplendent colored lights in the icebergs, or bid the moon shine with a wanner loveliness than elsewhere, or fill the long-night sky with the streamers of the Aurora, which even the Esquimaux, burrowing in his hut, will not go out to see. The only difference is that the material pole understands its business. which is to make ice in all imaginable shapes; whereas we men are so used to our own coldness, that we do not know how cold we are, and imagine ourselves to be the temperate zone of God's creation." Our sins helped to thrust those Seven Swords of Sorrow through and through Our Lady's Immaculate Heart at various points during her life, including during her Divine Son's Passion and Death. We must resolve never to grieve her Immaculate Heart again as consider our joy and our privilege to live penitentially as the consecrated slaves to her Divine Son, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ through the same Immaculate Heart. (Father Frederick Faber, The Foot of the Cross, the Dolors of Mary.)

We can help to make reparation for our sins that have grieved the Immaculate Heart of Mary if we pray more and more Rosaries each day, if we help to propagate devotion to her Seven Dolors. Indeed, Our Lady promises us the following graces if we promote devotion to her Seven Dolors:

1) I will grant peace to their families

2) They will be enlightened about the divine mysteries.

3) I will console them in their pains and I will accompany them in their work.

4) I will give them as much as they ask for as long as it does not oppose the adorable will of my divine Son or the sanctification of their souls.

5) I will defend them in their spiritual battles with the infernal enemy and I will protect them at every instant of their lives.

6) I will visibly help them at the moment of their death, they will see the face of their Mother.

7. I have obtained (This Grace) from my divine Son, that those who propagate this devotion to my tears and dolors, will be taken directly from this earthly life to eternal happiness since all their sins will be forgiven and my Son and I will be their eternal consolation and joy.

As a terrible sinner, I am counting on my own promoting of devotion to the Seven Dolors of the Blessed Virgin Mary to help me just a little bit at the moment of my Particular Judgment.

What about you?

The next original article to be posted will be completed by early next week. 

Finally, please remember the soul of the late Father John Joseph Sullivan, who was my seminary professor at Holy Apostles Seminary in the 1983-1984 academic year, on this day, which would have been his one hundred seventh birthday had he not died in May of 2000.

Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and all of the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

A blessed Feast of the Seven Dolors of the Blessed Virgin Mary to you all.

The concluding part of "At the 'Mercy' of the Merciless" will be published within fifteen minutes of this posting. 

Our Lady of Dolors, pray for us.

Saint Nicomedes, pray for us.

The Saviour of the world hung on the wood of the Holy Cross:

Ecce lignum Crucis, in quo salus mundit pependit (Behold the wood of the Cross, on which hung the Saviour of the world. (Adoration of the Cross, Good Friday Liturgy.)

The Cross of the Divine Redeemer was displayed prominently on street corners and in the nooks and crannies of every village in Europe during the era of Christendom. There is no "expiration date" on the Cross of the Divine Redeemer's relevance to the life of any man or of any nation.

We must lift high the Cross in our own daily lives and we must plant it firmly in the soil of our nation without any apology whatsoever as Catholicism is the one and only foundation of personal and social order.

We must also remember that Our Lady stands at the foot of her Divine Son's Most Holy Cross in every true offering of Holy Mass just as she stood at the foot of the Holy Cross on Good Friday. She stands with us as we bear our own crosses in our daily lives. We must, therefore, seek the assistance of the Mother of God in lifting high her Divine Son's Holy Cross in our daily lives, praying as many Rosaries each day as our states-in-life permit.

The cross is ever present in each of our lives, and for this we must say with Saint Francis of Assisi, Deo gratias!

Penance is the path to Heaven.

We do our penances by carrying our crosses with gratitude.

Isn't it great to be a Catholic?

Hail, O Holy Cross! Hail!

A blessed Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross to each of you.

Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us.

This is what I wrote two and one-half months ago in A Perpetual Truth in the Midst of the Perpetual Reiteration of Error: A True Pope Is Never in Need of Correction:

The conciliar “bishop” of Tyler, Texas, Joseph Strickland, has received Jorge’s kiss of death (an “apostolic visitation”) similar that given to the late “Bishop” Rogelio Livieres of Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, and the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate. Another conciliar “bishop,” Daniel Fernandez Torres of Arecibo, Puerto Rico, was not even given the courtesy of Jorge’s kiss of death as he was removed for opposing “vaccine” mandates and not being “collegial” with fellow Puerto Rican “bishops.”  

Yes, there have been a few other “bishops” Jorge Mario Bergoglio has removed, including two in Tennessee, Martin Holley, a protégé of Theodore Edgar McCarrick, of Memphis, and Richard Stika, a protégé of the supposedly “conservative” Justin “Cardinal” Rigali, of Knoxville just today, Thursday, June 29, 2023, the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, ostensibly because of their role in covering up clergy abuse cases. The cover story, though, is not credible as there are plenty of other cases where “merciful” “bishops” who are allied with Senor Jorge’s Jacobin/Boleshevik agenda have been unmolested by any Vatican “visitation.”

However, it is nevertheless true that “Pope Francis” has been single-minded in going after “bishops” who are ostensibly pro-life, outspoken against Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., and other pro-abortion Catholics in public life, and are unstinting in their criticism of the perverted disciples of the sin of Sodom and all its mutations. “Bishop” Strickland, who has criticized the presence of sodomy in the conciliar presbyterate and the militant advance of the homosexual collective in society, including speaking outside of Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, California, on June 16, 2023, the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, prior to the blasphemous transvestites and promoter of perversity known as the “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence” receiving a “community service award” from the Los Angels Dodgers, is one such “bishop” within the conciliar structures.

Strickland, who has popularized a variation of the “resist while recognize” position from within the conciliar hierarchy (see Nota Bene: "Bishop" Joseph Strickland: "Whoever is Holy Does Not Dissent from the Pope" (Pope Saint Pius X)), has been favorably disposed to the presence of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter within the Diocese of Tyler, which, of course, is another black mark against him in the ledger kept by Senor Jorge, who has said nothing about the “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence” nor about the boldness of the possessed masses who shouted “We’re queer, we’re here, we’re coming for your children” as they processed down Fifth Avenue by the Cathedral of Saint Patrick in the Borough of Manhattan, City of New York, New York, on Sunday, June 25, 2023, the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost and the Commemorations of Saint William the Abbot and of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist.

Alas, Bergoglio believes himself to be a true pope and sees it as his sees it as his “papal” duty to sternly discipline those who dare to care sin by its proper name and to call sinners to repentance, thereby contradicting the “mercy” and “accompaniment” he wants extended to those steeped in perversity, up to and including those who want to groom children to be surgically and chemically mutilated. . . .

“Bishop” Joseph Strickland is certainly discharging the duties that belong to a Catholic bishop to warn the flock of spiritual and moral dangers, but, lacking the grace of state as either a true priest or a true bishop, he does not understand that conciliarism itself is a fountain-head of spiritual and moral dangers from which believing Catholics must be exhorted to flee once they come to recognize the fact and thus understand that the conciliar church is the counterfeit ape of Holy Mother Church, she who is the inerrant, spotless mystical bride of her Divine Founder, Invisible Head, and Mystical Bridegroom.

This very brief commentary, which contains three appendices, explains that “Bishop” Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, has to come to grips with the reality that it is never necessary for a putative bishop to resist a true pope on matters of Faith and Morals as a true and legitimate Successor of Saint Peter is the guarantor of doctrinal orthodoxy, not a purveyor of doctrinal and moral heterodoxy.

Most Holy Name of Mary, pray for us.

Today is the Feast of the Holy Name of Mary, commemorating the victory won by King Jan Sobieski of Poland over the Mohammedans at the Gates of Vienna on September 12, 1683.

The troops under the command of Jan Sobieski exclaimed "Jesus, Mary, Sobieski!" as they prayed their Rosaries and routed the Turkish forces.

Each of us does battle every day with the Turks, that is, with the forces of the world, the flesh, and the devil. We must call upon the Holy Name of Mary, something we do at least one hundred fifty-three times every day if we pray all fifteen mysteries of Our Lady's Most Holy Rosary.

This sweet name of the Mother of God must ever be on our lips, and it must be exclaimed by public officials as she is honored as the Queen of Heaven and on earth, yes, of each and every nation on earth, including the United States of America. No one should be ashamed at any time to proclaim the Holy Name of Mary publicly. 

Indeed, we must do so with joy and confidence. Saint Louis de Montfort taught us in True Devotion to Mary that those who are the consecrated slaves of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary should address others with a Marian salutation.

How felicitous it is, therefore, to greet others with Ave Maria! or a Salve Regina!

How glorious it is to make invocations such as "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, we love you, save souls!" or "Sweet Heart of Mary, be my salvation" or "Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us now and the hour of our death."

May Our Lady, she who is our life, our sweetness and our hope, help us to grow in this virtue, especially in this time of apostasy and betrayal.

Part two of my current series is still being written, although I have a very, very, very short commentary that will be posted within twenty minutes of this republication of this reflection. 

O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.

This part one of a two-part series,

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saint Nicholas of Tolentino, pray for us.

This is a republished tribute to Saint Peter Claver, S.J, whose true missionary zeal for the conversion and sanctification and salvation of souls stands in vast contrast to the blase and practically indifferent attitude of the conciliar "popes," including Jorge Mario Bergoglio.

Saint Peter Claver, S.J., personally baptized over 300,000 people in Colombia who were destined for chattel slavery in the Americas, thus freeing those souls from enslavement to the devil by means of Original Sin, equipping them to offer up the injustices of chattel slavery as disciples of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and as the devoted clients of His Most Blessed Mother. Saint Peter Claver's example does indeed stand in stark contrast to that of the revolutionaries of the counterfeit church of conciliarism.

Still chugging along with the next orginal commentary.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saint Peter Claver, S.J., pray for us.

Saint Gorgonius, pray for us.

Today is the great feast day of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, she who is the fairest flower of our race. The Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost is also commemorated today.

The angels rejoiced around the crib where Good Saint Anne placed her all-holy daughter, who had been conceived without any stain of Original Sin nine months before, that is, on December 8. The New Eve, whose act of perfect obedience to the will of God the Father at the moment that Saint Gabriel the Archangel announced to her that she would be the very Mother of God untied the knot of the first Eve's prideful disobedience in the Garden of Eden, shone at her Nativity with exterior beauty and brightness that reflected the interior beauty and brightness of her immortal soul, filled with grace at the very moment of Immaculate Conception.

The favor of God rested upon Our Lady from all eternity. How can words capture our gratitude and joy to God for giving us Our Lady to be our own Heavenly Mother and Queen?

They can't.

Words can only approximate our gratitude and joy this day--and every day of our lives--over the fact that the Singular Vessel of Devotion in whose Virginal and Immaculate Womb would be conceived Our Divine Redeemer was born this day.

We would not have any chance of getting to Heaven if Our Lady had not been conceived and born.

We have no chance of getting to Heaven without Our Lady's help, which is why we, as the consecrated slaves of her Divine Son, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ through her own Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart, must cling to her at all times, especially by means of wearing--and the fulfilling the terms of our enrollment in--her Brown Scapular and by praying as many Rosaries each day as our states-in-life permit.

Perhaps the best birthday gift that we can give to Our Lady, apart from our worthy reception of her Divine Son in Holy Communion at a true offering of Holy Mass at the hands of a true bishop or a true priest if this is possible where one lives in this time of apostasy and betrayal, is to resolve now to do live more penitentially in reparation for our sins and those of the world world. By living more penitentially and by praying more Rosaries each day, you see, our souls might--emphasis on might--begin to be filled with more fervor and tenderness for Our Most Blessed Mother, she who made possible our salvation and who is the Mediatrix of All Graces.

A blessed Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary to you all.

The next original article will be posted when it is completed. I have to stop predicting when articles will be completed as the time and care required to write a commentary cannot be rushed. I am not as young as I used to be. Things move slower as a result. I am sorry.

Maria Bambia! We salute thee as the fairest flower of our race. Pray for us!

Saint Hadrian, pray for us.

This commentary, which deals with Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s constitutional reluctance, if not aversion, to criticizing Communist regimes even whey they persecute Catholics, was published in four parts from August 27, 2022, to September 27, 2022. It is being republished now as a single unit because of the Argentine Apostate’s recent exhortation to Chinese Catholics to be “good Christians” and “good citizens” even through the Red Chinese government wants Chinese Catholics to be good and obedient servants of a Communist state whose leader has ordered crucifixes removed from Catholic churches and replaced with his own visage.

An original commentary will appear tomorrow, the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and, yes, I am working on part twenty-five of “Sin More Deadly Than the Coronavirus.”

Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us.

Saint Cloud, pray for us.