Republished: Wars and Rumors of Wars, part four, November 30, 2024

The principal point that I have tried to make in Wars and Rumors of Rumors, parts one, two, and three, is that the Russian invasion of Ukraine, whose leaders since 2014 have sought to curry favor with Western globalists and moral anarchists (see Ukraine’s Leaders Conspired With Democrats Against Trump to Prevent the Kind of War Happening Now Under Biden. The Bet Backfired Badly) who tried to sabotage Donald John Trump’s campaign in 2016 and did manage to sabotage his presidency and re-election in 2020, is unjustifiable from the standpoint of the Just War Theory.

  1. There was no immediate threat to Russia of an imminent invasion by Ukrainian military forces.
  2. Whatever military action Ukraine took within its own borders to retake the Donbas did not of its own pose a sufficient reason for a wholesale invasion of Ukraine by the forces of the Russian Federation and its mercenary associates (the Chechens, Syrians, et al.).
  3. The level of force being used by the Russians is completely unjustifiable. No one has to support Volodymyr Zelensky, who is a show boater and extortionist par excellence, to recognize that the deliberate, intentional killing of Ukrainian citizens is not justifiable. Indeed, such killing—and the massive destruction of cities and the country’s infrastructure—has not been a matter of Ukrainian disinformation. While there has been such disinformation on both sides, to be sure, any Catholic whose heart is not filled with sorrow over the bombings of civilian residences, the ruthless killing of innocent children, the slaughter of whole families by remorseless Russian soldiers, and the displacement of over 4.5 million Ukrainian nations is not thinking clearly.
  4. Ukrainian political officials and elite, to be sure, have sold their souls to the globalists in the Deep State of the Federal government in the United States of America, the European Union, the World Economic Forum, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and other such entities (see Ukraine, It Was All Written in the Rand Corp Plan). Doing so made gave Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin every excuse imaginable to launch his invasion of Ukraine as his real desire has been to subsume it into the Russian Federation or, at the very least, to partition in in a manner that would create something approximating a new “iron curtain” inside of Ukraine by keeping the disputed eastern sections of the country and making sure that a “friendly” regime is installed in Kyiv.

To wit, consider these qualifications under the Just War Theory that I have discussed many times on this site but have been summarized very succinctly on a Thomistic website:

  • D. Qualifying Conditions – from the justification of self-defense and the theory of double-effect.
    • Cannot intend intrinsically evil actions: Combatants must respect non-combatants.
      a. Combatants who cease to be such.
      i. Surrendering.
      ii. Wounded.
      b. A nation can never justly target civilians.
      i. Civilian casualties, while foreseeable, cannot be intended.
      ii. Measures must be taken to minimize civilian casualties.
    • The violence inherent in war is the tolerated evil secondary effect, never directly intended; the primary good effect of peace must be directly intended.
    • Proportionality: the good to be achieved outweighs the evil of war.
      a. One cannot war justly over a slight cause.
      (i. War is a last resort.)
      (ii. There must be a reasonable hope of success; one cannot engage in justified, but hopeless actions.)
      b. One may only use the minimal force necessary to achieve just ends. (Just War – Thomistic Philosophy Page.)

Anyone thinks that either Vladimir Putin or Volodymyr Zelensky (a) care about these principles or (b) have ordered his forces to observe them during the Russo-Ukrainian War that began when Russian forces invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, is living in an alternative universe. Catholics must stop living in imaginary worlds in which they place their own Catholic thoughts into the skulls of people who are not Catholics, do not think as Catholics, and who care nothing for the thought of their eternal salvation.

Vladimir Putin is a killer who came to power in what amounted to coup (War brought Vladimir Putin to power in 1999) as the drunken snot Boris Yeltsin, the first President of the Russian Federation who came to power after the collapse of the Union of Socialist Republics on December 25, 1991, had run the Russian economy into the ground. And all the former actor named Volodymyr Zelensky cares about is milking the cash cow that is the administration of Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., and the various governments of the European Union. Neither man has had a bit of compunction about using their young citizens as so much cannon fodder.

Indeed, the outgoing globalists in the failed administration of Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., and Kamala Harris Emhoff are urging Volodymyr Zelensky’s government to lower its draft age to eighteen years of age to provide more cannon fodder to maimed or killed by Russian troops and the 10,000 North Korean mercenaries who have been sent to the Russo-Ukrainian front by the murderous thug named Kim Jung Un:

Preesident Biden’s administration is urging Ukraine to lower its draft age to conscript 18-year-olds to keep pace with Russia’s growing military nearly three years after Russia’s full-scale invasion.

A senior Biden administration official told The Associated Press Wednesday that "the pure math" of Ukraine’s situation calls for lowering the draft age from the current age of 25 to expand its outnumbered fighting force.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Ukraine is failing to mobilize and train enough soldiers to replace its battlefield losses and keep pace with Russia's growing forces.

In April, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a law that lowered the military conscription age from 27 to 25 to replenish its depleted ranks.

Lowering the minimum conscription age, however, has some Ukrainians worried that taking more young adults out of the workforce could further damage its already war-ravaged economy. Some Ukrainian officials see the push from the U.S. as part of a Western effort to distract from their own delays in providing weaponry and other equipment.

Even with more than 1 million Ukrainians now in uniform, including the National Guard and other units, Ukrainian officials have said they need about 160,000 additional troops to keep pace on the battlefield. 

But the Biden administration believes they probably will need even more, saying that shoring up Ukraine’s manpower shortage far eclipses the need for military equipment.

White House National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett in a statement said the administration will continue sending Ukraine weaponry but believes "manpower is the most vital need" for Ukraine.

"So, we’re also ready to ramp up our training capacity if they take appropriate steps to fill out their ranks," Savett said.

The White House has pushed more than $56 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the start of Russia's February 2022 invasion and expects to send billions more to Kyiv before Biden leaves office in less than two months.

President-elect Trump has said that he will bring about a swift end to the war when he takes office on Jan. 20, 2025, though some are concerned that he may not continue to provide Ukraine with military support. (Biden admin urges Ukraine to lower draft age to 18 to replenish fighting force.)

To what end?

For what?

Much of eastern Ukraine is occupied by forces of the Russian Federation and Vladimir Putin is not going to relinquish control over the occupied land.

How many more men must be sent to their deaths in a war that Ukraine can neither win nor sustain but will continue for as long as Vladimir Putin, who cares nothing about the human toll exacted on his own forces, desires?

How much more of Ukrainian infrastructure must be destroyed?

What country is going to pay for the rebuilding of that infrastructure?

Might it be the same countries that have been extending the war needlessly by sending the Ukrainians sophisticated military equipment that its forces do not know use to operate?

How much more American taxpayer dollars have to be wasted to fuel the continuation of a pointless bloodbath?

Consider the facts about the human toll that has been exacted by the Russo-Ukrainian War as reported recently by Al Jazeera:

How many people have died in the war?

Last month, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), citing intelligence and undisclosed sources, reported a grim milestone: about one million Ukrainians and Russians have been killed or wounded since the war began.

The majority of dead are soldiers on both sides, followed by Ukrainian civilians.

According to government figures, in the first half of 2024, three times as many people died in Ukraine as were born, the WSJ reported.

Experts have long warned of a bleak demographic future for Ukraine.

Population loss is one of the reasons why Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has refused to mobilise men aged 18-25, as most of them have not had children yet, according to Ukrainian officials. The eligible age range for Ukraine’s military is 25 to 60.

How many are civilians?

Statistics vary.

In June, Ukrainian officials said “Russian invaders” had killed more than 12,000 civilians, including 551 children.

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) reported in February that more than 10,200 civilians had been confirmed as killed, with nearly 20,000 injured.

The London-based Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) charity reported that 7,001 people had been killed in Ukraine as of September 23, with more than 20,000 civilians injured.

About 95 percent of civilian casualties occurred in populated areas, with the Donetsk region the most affected, AOAV said.

But these figures are the lowest estimates as the charity solely records “incident-specific casualty figures” reported in English-language media, it added.

Last month, the NRC reported that this summer Ukraine marked its highest three-month civilian casualty total since 2022.

More than 3,200 civilian casualties were recorded in Ukraine between June and August this year – a 33.7 percent increase compared with the same period last year, the NRC said.

The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) also documented a sharp increase in civilian deaths and injuries over the summer.

Attacks in government-controlled territory from August 26 to September 6 killed 64 civilians and injured 392 people, it said.

In August alone, 184 civilians were killed and 856 injured, the second-highest monthly casualty figure of the year after July, when at least 219 civilians were killed and 1,018 were injured.

Why did Ukrainian casualties rise in the summer?

Joachim Giaminardi, NRC’s advocacy manager in Ukraine, told Al Jazeera that the conflict has widened.

“We are seeing an expansion of the conflict, both geographically and in terms of the frequency and intensity of the attacks,” Giaminardi said. “The people who are paying the price are civilians.”

Danielle Bell, the head of HRMMU, said in a statement last month that “powerful missiles and bombs have struck populated areas, killing and injuring civilians across the country”.

“Targeted attacks on Ukraine’s electricity infrastructure have again triggered lengthy nationwide power cuts while recent attacks have destroyed or damaged hospitals, schools, supermarkets, and critical energy infrastructure.”

Have Russian civilians been killed?

Yes, but Russia has suffered far fewer civilian deaths than Ukraine.

Russian civilians have been killed in border areas amid fighting.

Moscow has not released an official overall casualty toll.

Media outlets, some linked to the state, occasionally report on civilian deaths.

Last August, The Moscow Times, citing independent news website 7×7, said 80 civilians had been killed since the invasion began.

Two months ago, the Kremlin-aligned outlet TASS reported that 31 people had been killed during Ukraine’s surprise incursion into Kursk.

How many Russian and Ukrainian soldiers have been killed?

The death toll is impossible to verify. More on that later. Let’s start with what has been reported.

More than 71,000 Russian soldiers have been identified and confirmed to have been killed in Ukraine, according to a late-September report by the independent Russian media outlet Mediazona.

Using open source research, Mediazona has been documenting the names of Russian soldiers killed, verifying the information through obituaries, posts by relatives, statements from local authorities and other public reports.

Leaked US documents suggest that more Russian soldiers have been killed than previously estimated.

In July, The Economist reported that between 462,000 and 728,000 Russian soldiers had been killed, injured or captured by mid-June, citing documents by the US Department of Defense.

“Russia’s losses in Ukraine since 2022 dwarf the number of casualties from all its wars since the second world war combined,” The Economist reported, referring to wars in Chechnya, Afghanistan and Ukraine from 2014 until February 2022.

According to Ukraine’s General Staff, as of October 1, more than 654,000 Russian personnel have died.

As for Ukrainian troops, the Russian Ministry of Defence estimates that Kyiv has lost almost half a million men, according to a report published last month by the RT news website.

However, according to Western estimates, some 80,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since February 2022.

In June, Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters that Ukrainian losses are five times higher than Russia’s, with Kyiv losing at least 50,000 service personnel a month.

Both Russia and Ukraine face manpower woes.

A Ukrainian platoon commander cited by the Reuters news agency estimated that only 60-70 percent of the several thousand men in the brigade at the start of the war were still serving. The rest had been killed, wounded or signed off due to old age or illness.

Why is the death toll so hard to verify?

Marina Miron, a researcher at the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, told Al Jazeera that governments do not publicly report on their casualties to avoid giving the enemy information on how effective their operations have been.

During World War II, for instance, each side underreported their casualties by half and exaggerated enemy casualties by two to three times, she said.

A death is confirmed only once the body has been found, and the concerned defence ministry thereby sends a death notification to the family. But many bodies have not been recovered and are categorised as MIA (missing in action). They could be an army deserter or could have been taken prisoner, Miron said.

If a government does not officially accept a soldier as dead, it manages to evade the obligation to pay the families of the deceased, which has become a problem in Russia and Ukraine, she added.

Casualties among non-state actors, like Russia’s Wagner Group, are not included in available statistics.

What’s next for Ukraine?

Miron told Al Jazeera that she does not see the war as sustainable for Ukraine, which faces numerous problems: a shortage of troops, a struggling economy, and its dependence on Western aid.

“Ukraine does not have an actual strategy, neither does NATO,” she said.

While the Russians operate their equipment, Ukraine does not have enough troops who know how to operate Western weapons systems; training them is time-consuming. Training 20 pilots to operate F-16 fighters took more than a year, she said.

“Russia will have enough resources to go on for a couple [of] years more. Ukraine does not have that time, neither does NATO because NATO itself is facing shortages in air defence systems,” Miron said, adding that Ukraine is not a priority for policymakers as the Middle East crisis worsens.

With Ukraine’s counteroffensive lagging, officials are searching for a diplomatic solution to end the war, one that would include Russia.

“Russia can sustain this [war], but Ukraine cannot,” she said. (Record high deaths in the Russia-Ukraine war: What you should know | Russia-Ukraine war News. Also see Russia-Ukraine war in maps and charts: Live Tracker | Infographic News.)

Is it any wonder that Ukrainian soldiers are deserting in droves?

With no end in sight to the ongoing war with Russia, tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers have deserted their posts, creating a “critical” problem military officials only expect will worsen with time.

The soldier shortage has hampered Ukraine’s battle plans as the Russian invasion nears the three-year mark.

“This problem is critical,” said Oleksandr Kovalenko, a Kyiv-based military analyst.

“This is the third year of war, and this problem will only grow.”

Some soldiers have taken medical leave and never returned, while others have left mid-firefight. The Entire units have also walked off the battlefield together, according to a report.

The manpower dearth could put Ukraine at a serious disadvantage in future ceasefire talks.

Since Russia invaded in February 2022, over 100,000 soldiers were charged under Ukraine’s desertion laws, according to the country’s General Prosecutor’s Office.

Nearly half of those came within the last year.

An estimated 200,000 Ukrainian soldiers have gone AWOL, the report said.

U.S. officials are urging Kyiv to draft more troops and allow for the conscription of citizens as young as 18.

The report came as Ukraine said the war has damaged 15 of the nation’s 20 civilian airports, limiting options for Ukranians who aim to travel abroad.

Separately, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un decalred that the Hermit Kingdom’s support of Russia remains unwavering after he met with Russia’s defense chief.

“The DPRK government, army and people will invariably support the policy of the Russian Federation to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity from the imperialists’ moves for hegemony,” Kim said, according to state media.

In June, the North Korean leader and Putin signed a new partnership agreement that includes a vow of mutual aid if either country is ever attacked.

North Korea has sent more than 10,000 of its troops to fight for Russia, and some have been spotted on the frontlines in Ukraine.

In other developments, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Western aid has fallen short of expectations — and needs.

Ukraine’s allies provided enough aid to fully equip not even three of the 10 Ukrainian brigades Zelensky sought support for.

“Just equip the brigades,” Zelensky told Sky News when asked what NATO or the U.S. could do to help tackle Ukraine’s manpower issues.

“They speak about mobilization, but the real problem [is] with 10 brigades which our partners didn’t equip,” Zelensky said.

The comments came a day after Zelensky revealed he’d consider ceding some territories to Russia, if it secures NATO protection for Ukraine and brings an end to the fighting. (Under-equipped Ukrainian Soldiers fleeing the frontlines.)

This is reason renough for Vladimir Zelensky to come to grips with the reality his country has lost the war. It is time to give up, and his attitude at this point is reminiscent of the infamous Bag Man in a Karakul Hat, Hamid Karzai, who wanted Amercans to keep sending money, military equipment, and troops in the effort to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan. There is no purpose to keep sending Ukrainians to their deaths. It is now irresponsible for Zelensky to keep up with he must know is a losing battle unless he, like Karzi before him, is about the money and preserving his undeserved reputation as a "fighter" for Ukraine. 

As noted in We Have No "Rooting" Interest in the Russo-Ukraine War Other Than for a Just Peace, there comes a time when clear-eyed realism informed by the dictates of the Just War Theory and the common temporal good has to reckon with these words of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ:

Or what king, about to go to make war against another king, doth not first sit down, and think whether he be able, with ten thousand, to meet him that, with twenty thousand, cometh against him?  32 Or else, whilst the other is yet afar off, sending an embassy, he desireth conditions of peace. (Luke 14: 31-32.)

The time for Volodymyr Zelensky to do this came a long time ago, and although Vladimir Putin bears responsibility for starting the war by means of his invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the war has been prolonged because of Zelensky’s vainglorious refusal to cede to the actual military reality that has cost so many countrymen their very lives and destroyed various churches and historical sites. This was all avoidable, something that Zelensky is perhaps beginning to realize now that the Western pipeline of money, arms, and supplies might be coming to an end in seven weeks, four days when the forty-fifth president of the United States of America is inaugurated as the forty-seventh president of the United States of America:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is willing to hand over territory to Russia in exchange for NATO protection if it means ending the war.

“If we want to stop the hot stage of the war, we should take under [the] NATO umbrella the territory of Ukraine that we have under our control,” Zelensky said through a translator in an interview with Sky News Friday.

“That’s what we need to do fast, and then Ukraine can get back the other part of its territory diplomatically.”

Zelensky’s comments are a stark departure from his previous stance — he vowed to continue fighting until Ukraine was returned to its internationally recognized borders, including Crimea.

In 2022, Putin annexed four regions in Ukraine — Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia — calling them “our citizens forever” in a move that was denounced by Western leaders.

Zelensky’s comments come just a week after a marked shift in the 1,000-day war — when Ukraine fired eight American-supplied longer-range missiles into Russia, several of which struck an ammunition supply location.

“All our partners always look for permission from the United States,” Zelensky told Fox News last week. “If the United States doesn’t give it, Europe will not give.”

Russia retaliated by launching new experimental, hypersonic ballistic missiles on the battlefield, a move that has allowed the Kremlin to advance deeper into Ukraine — prompting NATO officials to host emergency talks this week.

Putin, who has boosted his dwindling troops with an estimated 11,000 North Korean soldiers, has also threatened to strike Ukraine’s “decision-making centers” in retaliation.

The Kremlin has made huge advances in Ukraine over the past week, taking 90 square miles in the long-bombarded Donetsk region, the fastest clip since the war began nearly three years ago.

Putin had previously claimed the only path to peace would be for Ukraine to surrender all its territory that Russia has laid claim to and renounce its intention to join NATO. (Zelensky willing to cede territory to Russia in exchange for NATO protection — in stark departure from previous stance.)

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has had no business intervening in the Russo-Ukrainian War, which the leaders of its member nations helped to provoke by its decades long meddling in the internal affairs of Ukraine. In this regard, the administration of Barack Hussein Obama/Barry Soetoro and Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. (who stood a lot to gain personally from making sure a “friendly” Ukrainian government would give Burisma, in which his son was invested, the natural gas and oil deals it sought), bears particular responsibility, especially for its covert role in helping to promote the so-called “Orange Revolution” in 2014 that overthrew a pro-Russian government in Ukraine. (The complex history of Ukraine’s relationship to Russia, both during and after Soviet captivity, was summarized in Wars and Rumors of Wars, Wars and Rumors of Wars, part two, and Wars and Rumors of Wars, part three.)

Currently, of course, the outgoing administration of Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr, and Kamala Harris Emhoff has decided to pursue the utterly reckless course of providing the untrained Ukrainian military long-range missiles capable of striking deep into Russian territory:

Amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, supporters of President-elect Donald Trump took to social media on Sunday to react to President Joe Biden's reported authorization of Ukraine to use U.S. ATACMS rockets to launch strikes into Russian territory.

According to Reuters, who spoke to three sources familiar with the decision on Sunday, Biden will authorize Ukraine to use U.S.-provided weapons to launch strikes against Moscow, adding that the first deep strikes are likely to occur in the coming days, with further details under wraps due to operational security concerns. In addition, Ukrainian forces could use ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) rockets, which have a range of up to 190 miles, to launch the strikes.

It comes after Ukraine has for months urged the U.S. to authorize long-range strikes into Russian territory, but the White House has resisted doing so over fears of escalation. However, Moscow's decision to deploy North Korean soldiers to the Ukrainian front has changed the administration's thinking.

The National Security Council (NSC) previously told Newsweek on Sunday that it had nothing to provide on this report. The Pentagon also declined to comment to Newsweek.

Trump Communications Director Steven Cheung told Newsweek: "As President Trump has said on the campaign trail, he is the only person who can bring both sides together in order to negotiate peace, and work towards ending the war and stopping the killing. Only official statements on this matter will come directly from President Trump or his authorized spokespeople."

Russian media reported that Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told RBC TV that Russian President Vladimir Putin has already spoken on what he thinks about potential strikes inside Russia with U.S. long-range weapons.

Referring to remarks made on September 12, Putin said that the potential decision to use Western long-range missiles against Russia would be viewed as the United States' and other North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries' direct participation in the war, which he said would significantly change "the very nature of the conflict."

The decision drew immediate backlash as several Trump supporters took to X, formerly Twitter, to accuse Biden of escalating the conflict with just months left in office and highlighting Trump's campaign promise to end the conflict.

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican and staunch Trump supporter, condemned Biden writing on X, "On his way out of office, Joe Biden is dangerously trying to start WWIII by authorizing Ukraine the use of U.S. long range missiles into Russia. The American people gave a mandate on Nov 5th against these exact America last decisions and do NOT want to fund or fight foreign wars. We want to fix our own problems. Enough of this, it must stop."

Venture capitalist and co-host of the All-In Podcast David Sacks also posted on X and wrote: "President Trump won a clear mandate to end the war in Ukraine. So what does Biden do in his final two months in office? Massively escalate it. Is his goal to hand Trump the worst situation possible?"

Responding to Senator Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, who wrote on X that "Libs love war" and "War facilitates bigger government," billionaire Elon Musk retweeted Lee's post with the message, "True."

While Trump has not yet made a statement on Biden's decision, his eldest son Donald Trump Jr. wrote on X: "The Military Industrial Complex seems to want to make sure they get World War 3 going before my father has a chance to create peace and save lives. Gotta lock in those $Trillions. Life be damned!!! Imbeciles!"

Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk wrote on X, "Biden is trying to start World War 3. This is pathological and totally insane. US weaponry should NOT be used to fire into the interior of Russia! Imagine if Russia supplied missiles to fire into America!"

Newsweek has reached out to the White House via email for comment.

Meanwhile, Trump has previously said that if he were at the negotiating table with Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the war between the two Eastern European nations would end "within 24 hours."

After he won this year's presidential election, Trump wasted no time and called Zelensky and Putin within the first few days. Zelensky recently told Ukrainian outlet Suspilne that Trump's return to office makes it "certain that the war will end sooner."

However, critics warn that a rushed settlement of the war could favor Putin.

The Biden administration has pledged to continue strengthening U.S. military support for Ukraine in the final months of his administration, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed Wednesday.

The announcement follows intensifying Russian attacks, most recently a Russian missile and drone strike on Kyiv, marking the first such attack on the Ukrainian capital in 73 days.

"We will continue to shore up everything we're doing for Ukraine to make sure that it can effectively defend itself against this Russian aggression," Blinken told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels, prior to meetings with allied envoys and Ukrainian officials.

In addition, the decision comes as North Korea recently sent around 10,000 of its elite troops to Kursk, a Russian region that Ukraine took over this summer when its forces made a major and unexpected push across the border.

The Biden administration fears that more North Korean special forces could deploy and bolster Russia's forces. Vedant Patel, a U.S. State Department spokesperson, told reporters last week that Washington remains "incredibly concerned" about the Kursk development. (Trump Allies React to Biden Allowing Ukraine to Hit Russia With US ATACMS. Another very good commentary can be found at Reject 'Just Peace' in Ukraine, and Just Seek Peace.)

Although there are a few of the Trotskyite neoconservatives from the days of George Herbert Walker Bush and George Walker Bush still in the Republican Party (most notably, of course, war hawks such Addison Mitchell McConnell, who is going to be new Willard Mitt Romney when the next Congress convenes on January 3, 2025, by seeking to thwart President Donald John Trump at every turn along with fellow war hawks Lindsey Graham, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, newly-elected John Curtis, and Thom Tillis), many of the never-ending wars Trotskyites such as William Kristol and Robert Kagan have declared themselves to be bitter Never Trumpers who remain as committed to pursuit of wars that result only in the needless deaths of American service personnel and thousands upon thousands of deaths of innocent civilians in those countries these war hawks deem worthy of being “liberated” by their “American exceptionalism.” Gee, how well did that work in Iraq or Afghanistan?

While Vladmir Putin has threatened the NATO powers with retaliation for the Biden administration’s reckless decision to send long-range missiles to Ukraine, there will be no nuclear war as Putin knows there will be new American decision-makers who oppose endless American interventions in foreign wars and that he can have confirmed at the negotiating table what his military forces have already won, at great cost to Russian soldiers and to the citizenry and infrastructure of Ukraine, on the battlefield.

Even when there is a cease-fire and ultimate treaty or accord to end the hostilities, there can never be any true peace as long as men are at war with Christ the King by means of their unrepentant sins and that of the reasons Ukraine, which is a mostly atheistic nation (Zelensky, of course, is  secular Jew whose immortal soul is steeped in the ravages of Original Sin), is being chastised by the amoral actions of the amoral Vladimir Putin, who is a Russian imperialist and not a “savior” of Western “values,” is the  widespread use of contraception in Ukraine and its permissive policies permitting the slaughter of innocent preborn babies, to say noting of the Zelensky’s open embrace of the sodomite agenda, have made Ukraine, which once had a thriving Catholic population prior to the Holodomor, so spiritually poor that its leaders have permitted the country to commit population suicide just as have the countries of most of Western Europe have done over the past one hundred six years since the end of World War I.

The people of Ukraine have forgotten the message of Our Lady of Ukraine concerning what would happen to their country if they did not heed her call to pray her Most Holy Rosary and convert to the Catholic Faith:

Our Lady herself appeared in Ukraine in 1914 to warn Catholics there of grave chastisements that would befall their nation, which is why she implored them to pray the Rosary, a practice that is not part of the tradition of many Uniat Rites, although many individual Uniat Catholics, including Ukrainians, do indeed pray the Rosary daily. The warnings of Our Lady were quite specific and should serve as a wake-up call to us all:

Ukraine 12th May 1914

The year 988 marks the beginning of Christianity in Kievan Rus’ when Grand Prince Vladimir and his family were baptised. Kievan Rus’ was a loose federation of Eastern Slavic and Uralic people and ‘Belarus, Ukraine and Russia, all claim Kievan Rus’ as their cultural ancestor’. In 1037, Prince Yaroslav the Wise, dedicated the region to the Mother of God, making it the first European state to honour the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Our Lady appeared in the village of Hrushiv some 350 years ago and a weeping willow was planted to commemorate the apparition. A spring developed under the tree and in the Cholera plague of 1855, the villagers restored the spring, and from then  on, no one died of cholera.

On 12th May 1914, two weeks before WWI, twenty-two people were mowing the field near the church of The Holy Trinity, when they saw Our Lady. She asked for prayer, fasting and penance and said,

“There will be a war. Russia will become a Godless country. The Ukraine, as a nation will suffer terribly for eighty years – and will have to live through the world wars but will be free afterwards.”

(In 1929, Stalin’s intensive collectivised farming destroyed Ukraine’s independence. This plan to ‘liquidate the kulaks as a class’, was the beginning of the famines which killed between 7 and 10 million people.)

26th April – 15th August 1978

Ukraine had been a Christian state for nearly one thousand years, when Our Lady appeared in Hrushiv a third time. Exactly one year after the Chernobyl disaster, Marina Kizyn, aged twelve, saw a bright light covering the church of the Holy Trinity, and a woman, who appeared to be floating above the cupola. Over the next four months approximately 500,000 people saw Our Lady, including the KGB and Russian Military personal. The apparition was also filmed and shown on TV.

‘I have come on purpose to thank the Ukrainian people because you have suffered most for the Church of Christ in the last seventy years. I have come to comfort you and to tell you that your suffering will soon come to an end. Ukraine will become an independent state.’

‘Do not forget those who have died in the Chernobyl disaster. Chernobyl is a reminder and a sign for the whole world.’

‘Forgive your enemies, through you and the blood of the martyrs will come the conversion of Russia. The times are coming which have been foretold in the end times…. See the desolation which surrounds the world…. the sin, the sloth, the genocide. Pray for Russia. Oppression and wars continue to occupy the minds and hearts of many people. Russia, despite everything continues to deny My Son…. if there is not a return of Christianity to Russia, there will be a third world war, and the whole world faces ruin.’ (As found at: Our Lady of Hrushiv. There are references to “Saint John Paul II” in other parts of this article that one can ignore as completely irrelevant. For more information on Our Lady’s apparition in 1987, please see Our Lady of Ukraine.)

Our Lady’s specific call for the Rosary to be prayed by Ukrainian Catholics was made when she appeared to Marina Kizyn on April 26, 1987. Here is the message:

I have come on purpose to thank the Ukrainian people because you have suffered most for the church of Christ in the last 70 years. I have come to comfort you and to tell you that your suffering will soon come to an end. Ukraine will become an independent state.

Do not forget those who have died in the Chernobyl disaster. Chernobyl is a reminder and a sign for the whole world.

Forgive your enemies. Through you and the blood of martyrs will come the conversion or Russia. Repent and love one another. The times are coming which have been foretold as being those in the end times. See the desolation which surrounds the world…the sin, the sloth, the genocide. Pray for Russia. Oppression and war continue to occupy the minds of and hearts of many people. Russia, despite everything, continues to deny my Son. Russia rejects real life and continues to live in darkness. If this not a return to Christianity in Russia, there will be a Third World War: the whole world will face ruin.

Teach the children to pray. Then them to live in truth and live yourselves in truth. Say the Rosary, It is the weapon against Satan. He fears the Rosary. Recite the Rosary at any gathering of people.

I have come to comfort you and to tell you that your suffering will end soon. I shall protect you for the glory and the future of God’s kingdom on earth, which will last for a thousand years. The Kingdom of Heaven and Earth is close at hand. It will come only through penance and the repentance of sins.

This wicked world is feasting on depravity and impurity. Many lies are proclaimed against the Truth. The innocent are condemned. Many come as false messiahs and false prophets. Be diligent. Be on your guard.

Happy are they whose lives are blameless and who walk in fear of the Lord.

My children, all of you are dear to me and please my heart. I make no distinction of race of religion. You her in the Ukraine have received knowledge of the One, True, Apostolic Church. You have been shown the door to Heaven. You must follow this path, even though it may be painful.

The Eternal God is calling you, This is why I have been sent to you. You in the Ukraine were the first nation to be entrusted to me. (The ruler Yaroslav the Wise dedicated the Ukraine to the Most Holy Mother of God in the year 1037.) Throughout your long persecution you have not lost faith, hope, or love. I always pray for you, my dear children, wherever you are. (As found at: Our Lady of Ukraine.)

Before any legalists in cyberspace point out that this apparition has not been approved by the authority of the Catholic Church, I would urge one and all to see that the words attributed to our dear Lady, she to whom the cause of world peace has been entrusted by her Divine Son through her Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart, are both inspiring and efficacious. They serve as a warning to us take seriously the holy season of Advent, which begins with First Vespers this evening, November 30, 2024, the Feast of Saint Andrew, especially prayer and fasting, and the message of Our Lady of Ukraine exhorts us to pray her most Holy Rosary, to forgive our enemies, and to remember that she loves all children, including infidels, apostates, and heretics, as she desires them to be enfolded in the one true church, the Catholic Church.

Vladimir Putin knows nothing of forgiveness as he is a vengeful former KGB officer in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the head of its successor, the FSB, the Russian Federation under President Boris Yeltsin in the 1990s. He is a ruthless, remorseless killer who has ordered a massive roundup of those opposing his war policies. Numerous of his domestic critics have had rather untimely “accidents.”

Volodymyr Zelensky, whose “comedy” act was so lewd that it cannot be mentioned, is a secular Jew who knows nothing of forgiveness, which is why he has sought control the press in his own right and why he was unwilling to cede the Donbas to the Russians to stop the carnage that he, egged on by his Western enablers, helped to provoke and thus unleashed Putin’s pent up rage about the dissolution of the Soviet empire.

The world must be punished because men continue to sin unrepentantly and because they believe that they can establish a “better” world and build “peace without Christ the King and His true Church and without a tender devotion to and firm reliance upon His Most Blessed Mother, especially through her Most Holy Rosary. This is true of the West, and it is true of Russia, which has not been converted back to Christianity as true Christianity is found only in the Catholic Church:

Just as Christianity cannot penetrate into the soul without making it better, so it cannot enter into public life without establishing order. With the idea of a God Who governs all, Who is infinitely Wise, Good, and Just, the idea of duty seizes upon the consciences of men. It assuages sorrow, it calms hatred, it engenders heroes. If it has transformed pagan society--and that transformation was a veritable resurrection--for barbarism disappeared in proportion as Christianity extended its sway, so, after the terrible shocks which unbelief has given to the world in our days, it will be able to put that world again on the true road, and bring back to order the States and peoples of modern times. But the return of Christianity will not be efficacious and complete if it does not restore the world to a sincere love of the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. In the Catholic Church Christianity is Incarnate. It identifies Itself with that perfect, spiritual, and, in its own order, sovereign society, which is the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ and which has for Its visible head the Roman Pontiff, successor of the Prince of the Apostles. It is the continuation of the mission of the Savior, the daughter and the heiress of His Redemption. It has preached the Gospel, and has defended it at the price of Its blood, and strong in the Divine assistance and of that immortality which has been promised it, It makes no terms with error but remains faithful to the commands which it has received, to carry the doctrine of Jesus Christ to the uttermost limits of the world and to the end of time, and to protect it in its inviolable integrity. Legitimate dispenser of the teachings of the Gospel it does not reveal itself only as the consoler and Redeemer of souls, but It is still more the internal source of justice and charity, and the propagator as well as the guardian of true liberty, and of that equality which alone is possible here below. In applying the doctrine of its Divine Founder, It maintains a wise equilibrium and marks the true limits between the rights and privileges of society. The equality which it proclaims does not destroy the distinction between the different social classes. It keeps them intact, as nature itself demands, in order to oppose the anarchy of reason emancipated from Faith, and abandoned to its own devices. The liberty which it gives in no wise conflicts with the rights of truth, because those rights are superior to the demands of liberty. Not does it infringe upon the rights of justice, because those rights are superior to the claims of mere numbers or power. Nor does it assail the rights of God because they are superior to the rights of humanity. (Pope Leo XIII, A Review of His Pontificate, March 19, 1902.)

Those of you who have yet to accept the simple truth that the Catholic Church cannot make any compromises with error ought to reread the following sentence from the passage above as the conciliar “popes” have indeed made terms with error have polluted the integrity of the doctrine of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and all that Jorge Mario Bergoglio at this time to put these errors in easily understandable terms to as to tickle the itching ears of the multitudes:

It makes no terms with error but remains faithful to the commands which it has received, to carry the doctrine of Jesus Christ to the uttermost limits of the world and to the end of time, and to protect it in its inviolable integrity. (Pope Leo XIII, A Review of His Pontificate, March 19, 1902.)

Yes, Pope Leo XIII was a very wise pope, and we have not had the voice of a true pope for over sixty-six years, which is why so many people are looking to “conservative” figures in the counterfeit church of conciliarism for leadership and guidance. The counterfeit church of conciliarism is no more the standard bearer of Christianity than is the Russian Orthodox Church.

We must always remember these words of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and not permit those who make a living discussing doomsday scenarios that generate plenty of “hits” to their websites or videos that do nothing the advance the Supernatural Virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity in the souls of Catholics, who, above all people, are expected to remain calm in the midst of whatever circumstances God in His Divine Providence permits to unfold during our lives here below as members of the Church Militant on earth:

And Jesus being come out of the temple, went away. And his disciples came to shew him the buildings of the temple. [2] And he answering, said to them: Do you see all these things? Amen I say to you there shall not be left here a stone upon a stone that shall not be destroyed. [3] And when he was sitting on mount Olivet, the disciples came to him privately, saying: Tell us when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the consummation of the world? [4] And Jesus answering, said to them: Take heed that no man seduce you: [5] For many will come in my name saying, I am Christ: and they will seduce many.

[6] And you shall hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that ye be not troubled. For these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. [7] For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in places: [8] Now all these are the beginnings of sorrows. [9] Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for my name's sake. [10] And then shall many be scandalized: and shall betray one another: and shall hate one another.

[11] And many false prophets shall rise, and shall seduce many. [12] And because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold. [13] But he that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved. [14] And this gospel of the kingdom, shall be preached in the whole world, for a testimony to all nations, and then shall the consummation come. [15] When therefore you shall see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place: he that readeth let him understand.

[16] Then they that are in Judea, let them flee to the mountains: [17] And he that is on the housetop, let him not come down to take any thing out of his house: [18] And he that is in the field, let him not go back to take his coat. [19] And woe to them that are with child, and that give suck in those days. [20] But pray that your flight be not in the winter, or on the sabbath.

[21] For there shall be then great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, neither shall be. [22] And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh should be saved: but for the sake of the elect those days shall be shortened. [23] Then if any man shall say to you: Lo here is Christ, or there, do not believe him. [24] For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive (if possible) even the elect. [25] Behold I have told it to you, beforehand.

[26] If therefore they shall say to you: Behold he is in the desert, go ye not out: Behold he is in the closets, believe it not. [27] For as lightning cometh out of the east, and appeareth even into the west: so shall the coming of the Son of man be. [28] Wheresoever the body shall be, there shall the eagles also be gathered together. [29] And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be moved: [30] And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all tribes of the earth mourn: and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with much power and majesty. (Matthew 24: 1-30.)

Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ taught us to remain calm in every circumstance of our lives, explaining that there will be wars and rumors of wars but that the end is not yet to come. We must remain ever calm in the loving arms of Our Lady, who told Juan Diego the following as his uncle was suffering from an illness from which Juan Diego thought he was going to die:

"Listen and take heed, least of my sons," she said quietly. "There is nothing which thou needst dread. Let not thy heart be troubled. Do not fear this illness, neither any other illness or affliction. Am I not here beside thee; I, thy Merciful Mother? Am I not thy hope and salvation? Of what more dost thou have need? Let nothing distress or harass thee. As to the illness of thy uncle, he will not die of it. Indeed, I ask thee to accept as a certainty my assurance that he is already cured." (Frances Parkinson Keyes, The Grace of Guadalupe, published in 1941 by Julian Messner, Inc., pp. 47-48.)

We are not to fear any illness or affliction. There is no suffering, nor any world crisis, that we can bear in this life that is the equal of what one of our least Venial Sins caused Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to suffer in His Sacred Humanity during His fearful Passion and Death as those Seven Swords of Sorrow were plunged through and through the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Let us entrust ourselves in our daily combat against the world, the flesh, and the devil to Our Lady, especially through her Most Holy Rosary, remembering also those who are caught in the crossfire of worldly combat waged by amoral criminals so that they will know the peace of the Divine Redeemer as His consecrated slaves through her own Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart.

Our Lady of the Rosary, 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.

Saints Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, pray for us.

Appendix

Father Francis X. Weninger on the Feast of Saint Matthias

The holy apostle Matthias was born in Bethlehem, a city of Judaea. His parents reared him carefully and instructed him in the Commandments and ordinances of God. As soon as Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world, had commenced to preach the Gospel, Matthias was among his hearers, and, taking His teachings deeply to heart, he followed the Divine Master, and was thus admitted among the seventy-two disciples of Christ. He also witnessed most of the miracles which our Saviour wrought during the time of His preaching. It cannot be doubted that Christ, after His resurrection, appeared to him as to others of His disciples, nor that he was present upon the mountain when Christ was so gloriously carried up to heaven. After the ascension of our Lord he repaired, with the apostles and other disciples, into the dining-hall, where they prepared themselves, in obedience to Christ's command, to receive the Holy Ghost. St. Peter, as the chief of the apostles, rose in the midst of the assemblage and represented to them that one of those men, who had been constant in their attendance on the teachings of Christ, must be chosen in the place of the unhappy Judas. The latter, having betrayed and sold Christ for thirty pieces of silver, had ended his miserable life by hanging himself on a tree, where, his body bursting, had emitted his entrails. The place of this unfortunate traitor, who had been chosen an apostle by Christ, had to be filled and the missing member of the Apostolic College supplied.

Two men were proposed; Joseph, who, on account of his piety, was surnamed the just, and Matthias. The meaning of the latter name is, the gift of God. To ascertain which of the two God wished them to choose as His apostle, they all united in the following fervent prayer: "O Lord, Thou who knowest the hearts of all men, manifest to us which of these two Thou hast chosen to take the place and apostolic function which Judas deserted." After having thus prayed they drew lots, and as the choice fell upon Matthias, he was associated with the eleven apostles. On the day of Pentecost he received the holy Ghost with the other apostles and disciples, and began at once to preach Jesus Christ as the true Messiah, bearing witness of His resurrection and ascension, and openly announcing the teaching of the Saviour. When, afterwards, the apostles dispersed over the whole world to preach the Gospel of Christ, the part which was assigned to St. Matthias to convert was Judaea. He began the work of conversion with true apostolic zeal, went through all the cities and villages of the land of Judaea, preaching and announcing Christ, and confirming, with many miracles, the truth of his words, gaining by this means many thousands to the number of the faithful. He was, however, not satisfied with merely converting them, but was also assiduous in directing them to lead a truly Christian life. St. Clement, of Alexandria, records that this holy apostle preached to the newly-converted particularly of mortification: how, in following the precepts of Christ, we must mortify our body, carry our cross, and battle with our evil desires. "Against the flesh," said he, "we must battle and never yield to its sensual desires."

The history of the Church states that St. Matthias, during thirty-three years, continued his apostolic labors with unabated zeal in Judaea nnd Galilee. Meanwhile, it became unbearable for the obdurate Jews to see the number of the faithful increase daily, and to observe that Jesus Christ, whom they had crucified as a malefactor, was regarded and honored as the Messiah and Saviour of the world: they therefore determined to make away with the aptotle. Ananias, the high-priest, caused Matthias to be brought before him in an assemblage of the elders, and asked how he dared to seduce the people of Judaea from the Commandments of God, and entice them to worship one whom, as a blasphemer, they had nailed to the cross? At the same time he menaced him with death, should he not desist from preaching in future.

Matthias, inspired by the Holy Ghost, demonstrated clearly to all assembled that He whom they had crucified as a blasphemer was the Son of God, the Messiah so long promised, who had risen from the dead, and who was to come again to judge both the living and the dead: adding that he would live and die in his faith in Christ. No one in the vast assemblage could refute his words, and, on this account, they became more furious against him. Ananias pronounced the sentence: "Matthias, as a blasphemer, shall be stoned alive." The others assented to this judgment, and, seizing the apostle, they led him out of the city to the place of execution. The Saint went joyfully, thanking God for bestowing upon him the grace to die for Christ, and prayed with bended knees for the salvation of all present and for the whole country. The enraged Jews immediately seized stones, and hurled them on him until he sank half dead upon the ground, when a Roman soldier beheaded him with an axe. The Christians buried his body with great honors, and the holy Empress Helena had it afterwards brought to Rome. When, however, the Empress received, from Pope Sylvester, St. Agritius, as Bishop of Treves, she gave to him, among other relics, the seamless garment of Jesus and the body of St. Matthias, to remove them to Treves, where, to this day, they are preserved in great honor, while St. Matthias is invoked as patron of this old and renowned city.

Practical Considerations

Have you observed what St. Matthias preached of the mortification of the flesh? Read it once more, and learn that not only the religious in the convents, but all Christians, are obliged to practice mortification and to battle against the sensuality of the flesh. Those who yield too much, who allow the flesh all it craves for, and who strive only to do what is agreeable to it, deserve not the name of Christians, neither have they part in Christ nor in the rewards He has promised to His followers. Those who wish to belong to Christ must, according to the teachings of St. Paul, "Crucify flesh with its vices and concupicences" (Galat. v.). Thus acted this apostle, as well as all the other apostles and disciples of Christ. A life of luxury and sensuality has not yet opened to any one the gates of heaven. Do you perhaps imagine you will be the first? Ah! take care. Believe not the world and the Evil One when they endeavor to persuade you that such will be the case. They deceive you to your eternal perdition. Believe, much rather, our Lord Jesus Christ, who says, in distinct words: "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away" (Matthew xi.). The violent are those who do violence to themselves and their evil inclinations, who suppress them and lead a life of self-immolation. He who, without mortification, without self-abnegation, without valiantly wrestling against irregular desires, would gain salvation, must not imagine that he will thus bear away the kingdom of heaven. Violence must be applied. Therefore it is that Eternal Truth exhorts us with these serious words: "Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say unto you, shall seek to enter and shall not be able" (St. Luke xiii.). These many are, according to St. Chrysostom, those who, without mortification of their flesh, without self-abnegation, without earnest endeavors, suppose they will go to heaven. Are you not one of that number? Will you belong to them also in future?

Today's feast recalls to us the sad history of the wretched Judas, in whose place St. Matthias was chosen an apostle. Judas, an apostle of Christ, became the betrayer of his Divine Master--a suicide, a companion of the devil--and is now forever buried in the fire of hell. What an unhappy, what a terrible fall! But what has precipitated him from the height of his dignity into the abyss of misery? Nothing else but avarice, or the inordinate, the immoderate love of money. To receive thirty pieces of silver he scrupled not at the vilest means, namely, to betray and to sell Christ. Avarice tempted him into the blackest, the most horrible crime; from this he sank into despair, and from despair into hell.

Oh! how true are St. Paul's words: "For they that will become rich, fall into temptation and into the snare of the devil, and into many unprofitable and hurtful devices, which drown men into destruction and perdition. "For the desire of money"--the immoderate desire of riches--"is the root of all evil, which some, coveting, have erred from the faith and have entangled themselves in many sorrows " (I. Timothy vi.). How many thousands who have experienced this are in hell with Judas! Avarice, and the inordinate desire of earthly possessions, mislead men to make use of inadmissible, injurious, and baneful means to become rich. They will lie; they will deceive; they will be faithless; they will steal; they will rob; they will practice usury, prostitution, and injustice; they will oppress poor widows and orphans; they will pay neither earned wages nor debts; and at last they will even murder. To the use of such horrible means, to such heavy crimes, has avarice led many a man. And what has been their end? They have died impenitent in their sins, and they have gone to eternal destruction. How did they fare upon earth? What benefit did they derive from what they had amassed so unrighteously? Some of them seemed to enjoy it for a time, but, when they least thought of it, death came unawares and took everything away from them. With empty hands they went into eternity, leaving all that they possessed to others. Some have had the fate of the unfortunate Judas, of whom St. Chrysostom writes: "He committed the crime, enjoyed not the money, and lost his soul forever." They did not even enjoy what they had unjustly amassed. At the moment they thought of enjoying it the words of the Gospel became true: "Thou fool this night do they require thy soul of thee, and whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?" (St. Luke xii.) Both the first and the last of whom I spoke have rendered themselves everlastingly unhappy. That is what they got by this sin. Picture it to yourself, and be careful that you never gain earthly goods by unjustifiable means. "Take heed and beware of all covetousness," exhorts our Lord Jesus Christ (St. Luke xii.). True, also, are the words of the Apostle: "The covetous shall not possess the kingdom of God " (I. Cor. vi.).