Forgetful Biden Never Forgets to Use Demagoguery, part two

Lost in all the details of the most recent dog and pony show to garner the ever-fleeting attention of mere creatures whose attention span is minimal before moving on to the next dog and pony show is the simple fact that, for all their differences on matters of substantive governance, Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., and his archenemy, Donald John Trump, have very similar patterns of self-destructive, narcissistic behavior.

Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., has as much as told us that nobody “messes” [sic] “with a Biden,” meaning that he believes someone with the Biden surname is above the laws of God and men and can ever be held to account for anything they say and do. Biden is livid with Robert Hur for finding that he willfully took, retained, and used classified material that he was not entitled to take, retain, or use, and he lashes out at the press on the rare occasions he is actually challenged by that endangered species called an authentic journalist about his son’s seedy activities or about his own misrepresentation of various fact. Biden also uses obscenity, blasphemes with regularity, and uses mockery to refer to Donald John Trump and those who support him. Ever the demagogue, Biden always lives down to his reputation as a cheap-shot artist who can do or say anything he desires with utter legal and political impunity.

Similarly, Donald John Trump believes that he is incapable of erring and has never had any need to apologize to anyone for anything he has said and done. Like Biden, he holds grudges and lives to settle scores. Self-confident and narcissistic to a fault, the former president belittles others as though he is trying to outdo such legendary insult comics as the late Jack E. Leonard or the equally late Don Rickles. A man who has been married “thrice,” Trump recently asked why Nikki Haley’s husband was not on the campaign trial with her (he is serving in the National Guard overseas) even though wifey number three, Melania Trump, has not been on the campaign trail with him yet. It is easier to deal in insults and to use obscenities, sprinkled with frequent blasphemies against the Holy Name of Our Blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, rather than to speak cogently about policy differences, such as explain why former Ambassador Haley is unfit for the presidency of the United States of America because she is a neoconservative warmonger who believes that the American deep state national security apparatus has a right to monitor our daily activities. Instead, though, Trump deals in demeaning insults as he chafes with anger, perhaps feigned, that anyone would have the audacity to oppose him in his quest for his third successive Republican Party presidential nomination.

Both Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., and Donald John Trump are, therefore, practitioners of Machiavellianism that they use to rationalize their own misdeeds, and neither has any understanding of the necessity of a civil government to pursue the common temporal good in light of man's Last End, the possession of the glory of the Beatific Vision of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost for all eternity in Heaven.

Biden is shamelessly colluding with Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis and her paramour, Nathan Wade, in the timing of her Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations charges against Trump and a host of others, and the Biden White House has met with New York County District Attorney Alvin “Let ‘Em Loose” Bragg about the indictment Bragg has brought against Trump on payoff charges to a woman who posed for pornographic purposes that not even the prosecutors in the offices of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York believed were prosecutable. And, of course, Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., let it be known in April of 2022 that he was tired of waiting for United States Minister of Injustice Merrick Garland to bring charges of any kind against Donald John Trump, although he is currently livid with Garland for letting Robert Hur’s report about his willful retention of national security documents and his own evident mental decline to be published without any redactions. For all the talk of “saving democracy,” Biden acts as a crime family capo whose word is final and whose desire for revenge must be carried out by others without his fingerprints so that he can continue to business of protecting Sonny Boy while riding his bicycle along that beach in Delaware.

Trump, for his part, rather than speaking about his policy goals for a second term, is promising revenge on those who have sought to criminalize his imprudent acts and misjudgments as he refuses to acknowledge that he, much like the grifter from Delaware, is his own worst enemy. His flippant approach to serious issues of state play right into the left’s caricature of him as a “tyrant,” which he is not as a “tyrant” who had been subjected to all that he went through during his first term would have never tolerated Robert Mueller, Andrew Weissman, nor Adam Schiff for a single moment. Nonetheless, the former president has yet to make the transition from entertainment to exhibiting genuine—not feigned—gravitas on the campaign trail, and his lifelong support for the homosexual agenda, including so-called “transgenderism,” and his recent unrelenting campaign to convince pro-life Americans to accept “exceptions” to the binding precepts of the Fifth Commandment demonstrate yet again that his cluelessness about First and Last Things will be his undoing electorally.

What do I mean?

Well, as was noted in part one of this two-part commentary, and as I have been noting on this site since Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., was selected by then United States Senator Barack Hussein Obama (D-Illinois) in 2008, the current occupant of the White House is an unrepentant demagogue. Exposed as he has been as a senile octogenarian who has never cared about much other than himself and his crime family, Biden and his confederates will be completely shameless in using every means available to them to paint Donald John Trump as a threat to the existence of the world rather than what both he and Biden are to themselves: threats to the salvation of their own immortal souls.

This is all farcical. We are witnessing two elderly men go after each other a la Terry Thomas and Milton Berle duking it out in It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World sixty years ago. Neither Biden nor Trump understand the root causes of our social problems, human sin, its social glorification, and institutionalization under cover of the civil law. Both men are spiritually blind and are, barring a miraculous conversion of Biden to the faith of his youth and of Trump to the Catholic Faith, on the smooth road that leads to the wide gate of eternal perdition and from there to an eternity where they will be tormenting each other in hell for being so stupid as to have acted in life as though they were above the laws of God and the just laws of men.

Yesterday, Sunday, February 11, 2024, was Quinquagesima Sunday and the Commemoration of the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.

The Gospel passage read at Holy Mass included the account of the blind man beseeching Our Lord with what is called the “Jesus Prayer”: "Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me”:

At that time, Jesus taking to Himself the Twelve said to them, Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that have been written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished. For He will be delivered to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and scourged and spit upon; and after they have scourged Him, they will put Him to death; and on the third day He will rise again. And they understood none of these things and this saying was hidden from them, neither did they get to know the things that were being said. Now it came to pass as He drew near to Jericho, that a certain blind man was sitting by the wayside, begging; but hearing a crowd passing by, he inquired what this might be. And they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. And he cried out, saying, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! And they who went in front angrily tried to silence him. But he cried out all the louder, Son of David, have mercy on me! Then Jesus stopped and commanded that he should be brought to Him. And when he drew near, He asked him, saying, What would you have Me do for you? And he said, Lord, that I may see. And Jesus said to him, Receive your sight, your faith has saved you. And at once he received his sight, and followed Him, glorifying God. And all the people upon seeing it gave praise to God. (Luke 18: 31-43.)

The Apostles were spiritually blind to what their Divine Master was prophesying to them would be accomplished within a short time to prepare them for the events of Holy Week. They had eyes but they could not see.

The blind man on the road to Jericho could not see anything. However, he was given to “see” Who Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is, and he had the humility to beg him for mercy so that he could not only naturally but supernaturally.

Each of our souls was blind because of Original Sin prior to our baptism, and souls continue to be blinded to a greater or lesser degree because of our sins, including the sin of disordered self-love and the pride from which such disordered self-love springs and is fed unless corresponding acts of humble self-abasement before Christ the King in the Sacred Tribunal of Penance and on one’s knees in prayer before His Real Presence.

Father Francis X. Weninger’s three sermons for Quinquagesima Sunday explains the pernicious nature of spiritual blindness, a blindness that blinds those in public life even to the supernatural truth that they are going to be judged at the moment of their deaths no matter in what high estate they have been viewed by others or even in what high, self-deluded state of pride they have viewed themselves:

"For He shall be delivered to the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and scourged, and spit upon:

and after they have scourged Him, they will put Him to death."--Luke 18: 31.

The Gospel of today refers to the preparation of the Church for the great festival of Easter. This time of Lent was especially instituted in order that we might have a time, in which to meditate, with more than ordinary seriousness, on the passion of Christ. All those who, believing in Christ, obey this invitation of the Church, feel their hearts filled with bitterness and aversion for the ungrateful Jews; but how few consider that when they, as Christians, sin, they become more guilty towards the Redeemer than were even the Jews!

This we will understand if we refer the words we have just read: "He shall be delivered to the Gentiles and shall be mocked and put to death" to the life of a Christian sinner. O Mary, refuge of sinners, pray for us that we may recognize the foulness of sin, and from today banish every trace of it from our hearts! I speak in the most holy name of Jesus, to the greater glory of God!

Christ prophesied of Himself: "The Son of man shall be delivered to the Gentiles." This complaint is also directed to the Christian sinner. Each sin is treachery. A child of the Church who commits sin is a traitor to Christ, as Judas was; for at baptism he swore to be true to God; and, in addition to this, he has, perhaps, received Him frequently in holy Communion. A sinner is a traitor to Christ; for if he be a child of the Church, he generally prays and lives outwardly as though he were a genuine follower of Christ. He becomes a hypocrite, confessing with his lips love for God above all else, and outwardly seeking only to know and fulfill His holy will, while all the time he is acting exactly the opposite. Thus his whole life is a life of treachery.

Christ prophesies of Himself: "The Son of man shall be delivered to the Gentiles and shall be mocked and scourged." Every sinner scourges the Lord anew! St. Alphonsus Liguori tells us that the Lord once appeared in Rome to a great sinner in the form of a young man. The woman rejoiced at His coming; but when she asked Him who He was, the figure of the youth changed, and Christ the Redeemer stood before her crowned with thorns, and His body lacerated by scourging. "Do you know Me?" asked He, the Lord. "Behold how I have suffered for and through you. When will you cease to scourge Me?" The woman, weeping bitterly, cast herself repentantly at the feet of Christ, and abandoned her evil ways.

This vision concerns not only this one sinful woman, but all sinners, and to each Christ addresses the sad question: "Do you know Me?" And to each the Apostle says: "Whoever sinneth, crucifies Christ in his heart." The sinner revives the passion of our Lord; he scourges Him anew.

Men who live in the state of mortal sin are generally guilty not only of one sin, but of many, both in number and kind. A man offending God by impurity is likewise often angry, envious, full of hatred towards others, and intemperate. He braids all these sinful fetters into a lash with which he scourges the Lord in his heart.

Even to a single sin several guilty acts may concur. Thus the seducer offends not only in deed, but also in thought and word; then how long, how broad, how sharp the lash becomes with which he scourges Jesus!

And not only this, but he gives scandal by his sinful life, and is the cause that others offend God and scourge Jesus by their sins of thought, word and action. We can understand how the number of these scourges is increased, if we but consider how those corrupted by one sinner lead others into the path of evil, and these again others, and so on, God only knows how long, even to the end of time.

Have you ever thought of this dreadful lash with which you yourself have scourged Jesus by your sins, and by the scandal you have given? Has not Christ the right to address the same words to you which He spoke to the sinner in Rome: "Do you know Me?"

Behold how I am scourged by the number and greatness of you sins! Oh, cease to scourge Me with your countless sins! Christ prophesies further: "The Son of man shall be mocked." The sinner mocks and derides Christ as God and as Redeemer. To comprehend this, we need only think of the Lord's prayer, and then consider how the sinner derides God when he repeats it!.

He calls God "Father," and yet, as Christ says, he is born, through sin, of his father, the devil! He says with his lips: "Hallowed be Thy name," and desecrates it daily by sin! He prays with the mouth: "Thy kingdom come," and yet destroys it in his heart by sin, and in the hearts of others by his vicious life and the scandal which he gives!

He prays: "Thy will be done," and follows only his own sinful inclinations, and this with an ingratitude, a wickedness that is worse than that of the devil, because his soul has been redeemed with the blood of Christ.

He asks: "Give us this day our daily bread," and works as hard as though he thought there was no God, and every man had to take care of himself. He gives no thought to nourishing his soul by the frequent reception of holy Communion; he lives for this earth only, and cares nothing for heaven. He prays that God may forgive him as he forgives others, and yet he refuses to pardon; what mockery!

He entreats: "Lead us not into temptation," and does not avoid, but seeks temptation. He begs God to deliver him from evil, and remains voluntarily in a state of sin, which is the source of all evil.

Lastly.--The Son of man is, according to the prophecy of Christ, to be crucified. Every Christian who sins crucifies the Lord in his heart. He crucifies Jesus, and can not prevail upon himself to take Him from the cross of sin. The three nails which fastened the Lord to the cross are: Custom,--the forgetfulness of eternity,--the example and society of others! These are the three obstacles which generally prevent the conversion of a sinner.

Divine grace, however, is all powerful; may its triumph be celebrated, and may every sinner now present profit by it, in order that the Lord may, during this Lent, arise in his heart; and, celebrating Easter within it, dwell therein from this day on for evermore! Amen!

Second Sermon.

"When He drew nigh to Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the way-side.--Luke 18: 35.

Today's Gospel, besides relating to us the prophecy of Christ concerning His approaching sufferings, speaks also of a "blind man who sat by the way side begging." It might at first sight appear that there is no connection between these two circumstances, and yet there is.

This blind man, begging by the way-side, personates the sinner. No one is able to restore to him his sight but He Who came into the world to suffer and die for sinners. The particular fact to which I wish to draw your attention today is: The blindness of sinners. I desire the more particularly to speak of this blindness as we live in a century which boasts of its enlightenment, and of its progress in art and science.

It is true that in a temporal point of view we have reason to marvel at the inventive genius of men, but at the same time we have no less reason to wonder that these same men should be so blind and grow daily more so in regard to everything that concerns their future life.

O Mary, thou first bright beam of Christ, the rising Sun, pray for us that we may receive light to see the misery of that blindness with which sin encompasses men! I speak in the most holy name of Jesus, to the greater glory of God!.

At the siege of Assissi by the Turks, when the latter were attacking the cloister in which St. Claire and her sisters lived, the saint had the Host brought before the gates of the convent and cried to the Lord for help. Christ heard her prayers, and while the Turks were scaling the walls of the convent, they were suddenly struck with blindness and precipitated to the ground.

Blindness, spiritually considered, is the state in which all sinners live, especially those who, though belonging to the Church of Christ, conduct themselves like heathens. Let us draw a comparison; a blind man does not perceive that the rays of the sun descend upon the face of the earth; the darkness of night surrounds him. The sinner passes his days in spiritual blindness. He who looks with his physical eyes upon the world, sees the wonders of the wisdom, power and kindness of God. He recognizes how Providence cares for everything, preserves every thing, and leads all things to the end for which He has destined them.

And when we look about us with a heart filled with love for God, how many causes greet our sight to love, honor, worship and serve Him! The divine attributes become clearer to us, if we think of all that God has done for mankind by the work of Redemption. What proofs of His Wisdom, Power and Goodness we have in the creation of divine grace! But of all this the Christian sinner seems to see nothing. For him it is night, as it was night for Judas when, on the evening of holy Thursday after having unworthily partaken of the Lord s supper, he went away and betrayed Christ.

The Catholic sinner confesses with his lips all the tenets of his faith, but they do not influence his life; he remains in utter darkness, and in the light of faith lives like a blind heathen. This is especially the case if he has never been thoroughly instructed in his faith. Oh! how many spiritually blind people there are in this enlightened century, even among the children of the Church. Whatever may be the size of an object the blind can not see it. So it is with the spiritually blind. The truth of faith stands in its eternal grandeur before the eyes of his mind, but he does not see it, he does not deign to regard it.

A blind man knows nothing of the beauty of colors, nor of the harmony which unites all things in nature and forms of them one great picture. Thus it is with one who is spiritually blind, it is as if he had no perception of the beauty of true holiness and of a virtuous life.

He experiences no longing after perfection, and regards all aspirations to a higher life as unfeasible. He is hardly aware that there have been saints upon earth. He never raises his eyes to these glorious stars in the firmament of the Church, and if he does accidentally, these far-off luminaries, these worlds of holiness, appear but points of light, and it never occurs to him, while contemplating them, that they shine for his illumination.

The blind man does not become convinced of the existence of a thing until his hands have felt it. Thus one spiritually blind believes only that which he can seize, so to say, with his hands; he thereby dishonors his intellect and reason.

A blind man passes the most costly diamonds, the most brilliant jewels, and stretches out his hands towards a pebble which lies in his path. He is incapable of earning his livelihood, and would starve; if no one took care of him. Thus, one spiritually blind starves mentally, though he is in the midst of plenty and could gather with every breath merits of incomparable worth for the life to come. He is heedless of this fact, and wastes the precious time of his life in groping about in the darkness until the approach of that night when no one can work.

A blind man is unaware of the abyss that yawns at his feet; one step more and he will be precipitated into its measureless depth. If he is in danger, he does not perceive it, and would not leave his place if a wild beast came rushing towards him ready to tear him to pieces. Thus with the man spiritually blind. He must, as a Christian, be aware that the dangers besetting salvation are manifold, and he must know what Christ has said about the broad path leading to destruction and the torments awaiting the sinner, yet he never gives a thought to his danger, and is not concerned even if he is reminded of it.

A blind man, when threatened with some calamity, does not see the means of escape even if they are within his reach. This is exactly the case with one who is spiritually blind. He does not perceive that sureness which the Catholic faith imparts, but wanders about without a guide; or if, retaining the appearance of a Christian, he seems to perceive the light of revelation, he nevertheless sits motionless, like an owl on a withered branch, turning his eyes in every direction, but seeing nothing in the clear light of the sun.

Large numbers of these night-birds, of these spiritual owls, are to be found in the streets of cities. A true conversion to God by His preventing grace will restore the sight to these blind men when, on some occasion in their lives, the Lord passes by, and they perceive His presence by the grace that arouses their conscience.

It is especially on great festivals of the Church, in Missions and Jubilees, that the sinner feels the approach of Jesus, and is moved to follow him like others. Well for him if he then open his heart to the light of faith streaming upon him, or, should this light be still flickering in his heart, well for him if he endeavor, with the help of grace, to revive its feeble flame.

Christ said to the blind man: "Thy faith hath made thee whole." Sinners, and all ye who are spiritually blind, take this admonition to heart, reanimate your faith, and you will see clearly the path of salvation. Then will you make rapid progress upon this path, and one day behold Jesus and understand the miracle which His power and love hath wrought to enlighten and save you. Amen!

Third Sermon

"Now it came to pass, when He drew nigh to Jericho, that a certain blind man sat by the way-side begging." Luke 18: 35..

The holy time of Lent is approaching, and the Church endeavors to prepare the hearts of her children for this solemnity. She would have us not only believe that Christ came into the world in order to save us by His bitter passion and death, but also wishes us to use strenuous endeavors to make His merits our own. Unfortunately the words of Christ to the Apostles, or rather what the Gospel says in regard to their mental condition, may be applied to many children of the Church: "They understood none of these things."

The principal cause of this intellectual blindness is the state of sin which prevents them from understanding the true import of religious truths. We have a picture of this pitiable state in the blind man who sat by the way-side begging. The sinner is blind; we considered this truth last year on this Sunday. Today I say: he is also a beggar. I shall endeavor to show you the truth of this comparison, and to draw thence some important lessons.

O Mary, restorer of divine grace, pray for us that we may turn to God, and, forsaking the misery of sin, grow rich in merit as true children of God! I speak in the most holy name of Jesus, to the greater glory of God!.

St. Chrysostom, commenting on the parable of the prodigal son, says that the unfortunate young man feels particularly one circumstance of his miserable condition, which sinners, whom he represents, seldom take into consideration.

This circumstance is, that he served as a swine-herd, and without stated wages. He was hungry, but had nothing to eat. With how little would he have been satisfied! He craved the insipid husks which the swine devoured, yet no one offered them to him. Sinner, does your master give you bread ? Do you not serve him without recompense? Are you not obliged to beg your food of the swine?

Yes; even so! The master whom the sinner serves in capacity of swine-herd, is Satan! He serves him without stipulated wagers. There is no doubt of it. For what can Satan promise man in return for the slavish service of sin? He possesses nothing, nor does he rule the world. But even were he to promise something, the sinner could not be certain of his wages; for "Satan" according to the testimony of Holy Writ, "is a liar, and the father thereof." All reward is uncertain, even the very husks of enjoyment which man receives from the indulgence of his passions. How often is sin the cause even of man's temporal misery! How often does it not weary him of life, and hurl him into the suicide's grave!

But even if all the enjoyment of the world were the sinner's, his heart, created for God, would remain empty and sigh with Solomon: "Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity," except to serve God, to love Him, and possess Him. Oh! that the sinner would bear this in mind, and say to himself like the prodigal son: I am the son of a rich father; "the hired servants in my father s house have plenty of bread, and I here perish with hunger."

Sinner, miserable beggar, are you not ashamed of yourself? Why do you not cease begging? God alone can give you that which you ask of human creatures. He alone can satisfy the longing of your heart. Men are poor themselves, and can give you nothing for food save husks, which can not allay the hunger of your soul.

We will see the truth of this if we consider the intrinsic value of those goods which the heart of man yearns to possess. First, man desires an occupation by which to earn a living; then he wants this occupation to be profitable enough to enable him to amass wealth. To succeed in this he becomes a beggar--begs of men. And yet what would it avail him were he to gain all the gold of the earth? It is but dust, and he can not take it with him to the other world. More over, he often receives for his labor only poor wages, and frequently the harder he labors the less he is repaid.

How many such beggars are there in this world! If they did for God and heaven only a tenth part of what they do for the world they would become, as Thomas a Kempis says, great saints, and immensely rich in the goods of heaven.

Yes, thou blessed Thomas, if men would do but a hundredth part of what they do for the world, what a great number of saints we would possess. But as it is, they are indolent in the service of God, and go begging, ask for wealth, honor, and renown. And how soon death deprives them of all they have gained by begging, while whatever is done for the service of God is gathered and kept for evermore in heaven!

The human heart craves not only possessions but also esteem, and what will not a sinner do to win distinction? and what will he not endure not to be disgraced before man or to gain his good graces? And yet of what worth is the honor bestowed by man? It is like vapor, which rapidly dissolves. Yet how many sycophants there are upon earth! Of those, however, who serve Him, God says: "Whosoever shall glorify me, him will I glorify." A holy life renders us an object of admiration even to the angels, and secures for us a throne in the kingdom of God.

Ambitious human creatures, why do you not think of this? why do you persist in asking man for what God will give you bountifully, if you only live in such a manner upon earth as to be worthy to be called His child?

The human heart does not alone desire the possession of wealth and honor, but it also craves enjoyment and the sinner goes begging to human creatures for it. But all in vain! St. Augustine rightly says: "Thou, O Lord, hast created our heart for Thee, and it can not rest, until it rests in Thee!"

The joy which man seeks from his fellow-man, how unsatisfactory and empty, how frivolous, and often debasing! The sinner deservedly merits the reproach of the Apostle: And what benefit did you derive from that of which you are now ashamed?

On the other hand, how great the enjoyment which God prepares for those who serve Him, and who unite themselves to Him in prayer! As we read in the lives of the saints, they enjoy a foretaste here below of the bliss which awaits them in eternal life. (Father Francis X. Weninger, Sermons for Quinquagesima Sunday.)

These three sermons describe not only the state of those who are in the public eye, including the prideful demagogue named Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., and the prideful narcissist Donald John Trump, who loves demeaning others without any regard for the charity spoken of by Saint Paul the Apostle in the passage from his Second Epistle to the Corinthians that was read during Holy Mass on Quinquagesima Sunday, but to each of us.

We must pray to Our Lady every day so that the spiritual eyes of our immortal souls will be enlightened by the ineffable graces that her Divine Son, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, won for us during His Passion and Death and that flow into our souls through her own loving hands as the Mediatrix of All Graces.

On the cusp of Lent, therefore, we beg Our Lady to help us be humble, not proud, to be pure, not worldly, and to make penance for our past sins as we strive with her maternal assistance, especially by our prayer recitation of her Most Holy Rosary, to root out all attachment to sin from our hearts and souls as we give ourselves unto her Divine Son as his consecrated slaves through her own Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart.

On the Feast of the Seven Holy Founders of the Order of Servites

Today’s feast day, the Feast of the Seven Holy Foundres of the Order of Servites, should be very important to anyone who loves the Mother God and is devoted to her Seven Dolors, something that is explained in the readings for Matins as found in today’s Divine Office:

In the thirteenth century, when the more cultured parts of Italy were rent by the dread dissension of the Emperor Frederick the Second and by bloody civil wars, the mercy of God set forth divers men eminent for holiness, and among others raised up seven nobles of Florence, who were bound one to another in charity and gave an illustrious example of brotherly love. Their names were Bonfiglio Monaldi, Bonajuncta Manetti, Manetto Antalli, Amadeo de' Amidei, Uguccio de' Uguccioni, Sosteneo de' Sostenei, and Alexis de' Falconieri. Upon the holiday of the Assumption of the Virgin into heaven in the year 1233 they were praying in the oratory of a guild called the Guild of Praise, when the same Mother of God appeared to each one of them, and bade them embrace a life of greater holiness and perfection. These seven men discussed the matter with the Bishop of Florence, and then, considering neither the nobility of their birth nor their wealth, and clad in haircloth under vile and worn - out garments, withdrew into a little house in the country upon the the day of September, that they might begin their holier life upon the same day whereon the Mother of God herself had by her birth begun her life of holiness upon earth.

She showed by a miracle how acceptable in His sight should be their manner of life, for a short while after, when these seven men were begging alms from door to door through the city of Florence, it came to pass that some children, among whom was holy Philip Benizi, who had then scarcely entered the fifth month of his age, called them blessed Mary's servants, by the which name they were called ever after. To avoid meeting people, and in the desire to be alone, they all withdrew together to the solitude of Monte Senario, and there began a kind of heavenly life. They lived in caves and upon herbs and water only, while they wore out their bodies with watching and other hardships, while they contemplated unweariedly the sufferings of Christ and the woes of His most sorrowful Mother. One Good Friday, when their thoughts were fixed thereon more than ever, the Blessed Virgin appeared to them twice, and showed them her garments of mourning as those wherein they should clothe themselves. She bade them know that she would take it right well that they should raise up in the Church a new order to recall the memory of the sorrows which she bore beneath the Cross of the Lord. Holy Peter, the illustrious martyr of the Order of Friars Preachers, learnt this not only from his familiar converse with these holy men, but also from a special vision of the Mother of God, and it was on his incitement that they founded the regular Order called that of the Servites, or servants of the blessed Virgin, the which Order was afterward approved by the Supreme Pontiff Innocent IV.

These holy men, when they had gathered to themselves some companions, began to go through the cities and towns of Italy, and especially of Tuscany, everywhere preaching Christ crucified, stilling contests among the citizens, and calling back almost countless backsliders into the path of grace. Neither did they make Italy only the field of their Gospel labours, but also France, Germany, and Poland. They passed away to be ever with the Lord when they had spread far and wide a sweet savour of Christ, and were famous also for the glory of signs and wonders. As one love of brotherhood and of the monastic life had joined them together upon earth, so one grave held their dead bodies, and one honour was paid them by the people. For this reason the Supreme Pontiffs Clement XI. and Benedict XIII. confirmed the honour which had for centuries been paid to them individually, and Leo XIII., after proof of their miracles which had been wrought by God on the common invocation of these saints, after their veneration had been sanctioned in the jubilee year of his priesthood, decreed to them the honours paid to Saints, and ordered that their memory should every year be kept throughout the universal Church with an office and Mass. (From Matins, The Divine Office, Feast of the Twelve Holy Founders of the Servants of the Blessed Virgin Mary.)

We must take heart as we implore the holy intercession of the Seven Holy Founders of the Order of the Servites of the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose remarked embrace of penances that were unheard of before they practice them brought many to repentance, including heretics back to obey the Roman Pontiff. Quite unlike Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who makes light of penance, the following prayers to the Seven Holy Founders, which are found at the end of the daily Septenary that many of us pray prior to their feast, which is commemorated today, Septuagesima Sunday, remind us that Catholics who love Our Lord and His Most Blessed Mother always want to practice penance as we compassionate them for what our sins and those of all men in the whole world caused them to suffer.

Holy Mother Church exhorts her children to quit their sins and to make a good and integral confession of them to a true priest. She does not reaffirm her children in their sins or protest that it would not be “merciful” to exhort hardened sinners to change their lives lest they perish in eternal hellfire after their deaths.

For example, several prayers to the Twelve Holy Founders of the Order of the Servites contained in the Septenary to them prior to their feast discuss how the Twelve Holy Founders sough to eradicate sin from the lives of those steeped in it by compassion for the Seven Dolors of the Blessed Virgin Mary:

TO THE SEVEN HOLY FOUNDERS

O MOST glorious Patriarchs, who by your sublime sanctity became worthy to be chosen by the Mother of God herself to propagate the devotion to her Dolors; at her bidding you separated from the world and, hidden in the caves of the Mount Senario, chastised your bodies with unheard-of penances, and fed your spirit whit the continual contemplation of the great mysteries of the faith, thus preparing, without knowing for the mission which was afterwards entrusted to you and your Order, namely, to eradicate sin and iniquity from the hearts of men through compassion for the Dolors of the blessed Virgin Mary; then, bearing the Passion of Jesus and the sufferings of His Mother deeply engrave in your hearts, you strove everywhere to quell civil feuds, move sinners to repentance, and bring back heretics to the obedience of the Roman Pontiff.

Deign, O glorious Saints, now that you are reigning in heaven with Christ, deign from the thrones of your glory, to look down upon us, unfortunate pilgrims, who have still to fight in this land of trial and combat. The devil with his suggestions, the world with its deceits, the flesh with its concupiscence, as so many roaring lions, are ever seeking to devour us.

Have then compassion on us, and pour down into our hearts a portion at least of that tender devotion to the Dolors of Mary with which you were constantly penetrated, that the sight of our Mother, so afflicted may enable us resist the seductions of sin, and preserve us from renewing by our sins of Passion of our divine Redeemer and her own Sorrows.

Obtain for us, we beseech you, O powerful Protectors, docility and promptitude to answer the calls of God, detachment from the fallacious goods of this world, a true spirit of mortification and penance, that following on earth your examples of perfection and sanctity, we may deserve to be with you in heaven, to praise for ever the tender mercies of our crucified Redeemer and exalt the glory of the Queen of Martyrs. Amen.

Another Prayer

O GLORIOUS Servants of Mary, beloved sons of the most holy Virgin, seven brilliant stars of her sacred Order, you so pleased her in your youth by your filial devotion, that, showing herself in her glory, she called upon you to leave the world and to dedicate yourselves to God and her special service; and not content with this favor, she showed you her tender love by continual wonders, now causing little infants to give you that this beautiful name of Servants of Mary, now showing you to her great servants, Saint Peter Martyr, under the figure of seven lilies as white as snow and exquisite fragrance, now giving you that wonderful picture of her Annunciation, which even to our days has worked so many miracles, but, above all, enduing you with her own garb of mourning, and entrusting to you the touching mission of propagating everywhere compassion for her Dolors and hatred of sin.

Deign, I beseech you, admirable models of devotion to Mary, deign to use great power with her, and obtain for me, through her intercession, all the graces where of I stand in need. Especially obtain for me an intense hatred of sin, together with the heartfelt sorrow for those I have ever committed, and the most tender love for my crucified Savior and His sorrowful Mother.

Pray to her that during my life my soul may always be pure and spotless as a white lily of sweet fragrance, and that in my last hour I may, like you, be comforted by sweet presence, and die a death precious on the sight of the Lord. Amen. (The Servite Manual: BEHOLD THY MOTHER: A Collection of Devotions Chiefly in Honor of OUR LADY OF SORROWS, p. 329-330, published originally in 1947 by the Servite Fathers and republished by Refuge of Sinners Publishing, Inc., with the permission secured by the Gauvin and Sentman families, who funded the printing of the first two hundred copies. Please do pray for the Sentman and Gauvin families who took the initiative to have this great spiritual treasure republished.)

Very few people today, including most especially Jorge Mario Bergoglio as well as his friend Joseph Robinette Biden, have any kind of hatred for personal sin, believing that the only kinds of “sins” that exist are those that do not permit “open borders,” deny “climate change” and oppose statist schemes of income redistribution in the name of “solving” poverty. This is, of course, of displaced guilt as one of the greatest refuges of those steeped in their own sins and who celebrate it in the lives of others is to contend that “morality” is to found in actions that deify nature and empower the civil state in the midst of wanton barbarism, which is civil and religious leaders alike bown down to false gods and reaffirm men in their sins. It is not for nothing that the false "pontiff" continues to disparage penance and those who practice it. Remember, Antichrist is not going to use a calling card to present himself, and it is the work of Antichrist to disparage penance as it is entirely anti-Christ.

The joy of Easter Sunday awaits us in but forty-nine days away. The period of time between now and then is a simile for life itself. Whether we live to be seventy or eighty or ninety years and beyond, life is over in but a flash. An unending Easter Sunday of unparalleled joy awaits the just who persist until their dying breaths in a state of sanctifying grace. Is not a life of penance, lived in a more intensified manner, to be sure, during some parts of the liturgical year, worth the prize of an eternal Easter Sunday in Paradise?

Our Lady, Refuge of Sinners, help us to be like thee. Help us to be so consecrated to thy Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart that we will one day come to detest even the thought of sin and will work more attentively to root it out in our own lives and thus be an instrument of rooting out in the life of the Church and the life of the world. O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.

Vivat Christus Rex! Viva Cristo Rey!

Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.

Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.

Saint John the Evangelist, pray for us.

Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Gabriel the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saints Joachim and Anne, pray for us.

The Seven Holy Founders of the Order of Servites of the Blessed Virgin Mary, pray for us.

Viva Cristo Rey! Vivat Christus Rex!

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.