Saint Joachim, the father of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God and the Mediatrix of All Graces, knew the contempt that would be visited upon His Divine Grandson, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, sent himself into voluntary exile after he was denounced by a priest of the Old Dispensation for not producing a child after twenty years of marriage to his wife, our good Saint Anne.

It was during his exile that Saint Joachim was visited by an angel, who reminded him of the fact that Abraham's wife, Sarah, did not conceive a child until she was ninety years old, telling him that his wife, Saint Anne, would conceive a daughter named Mary, who would be the Mother of God. Saint Joachim and Saint Anne brought their daughter to the Temple when she was three years old, giving their long-awaited child back to the good God Who had given them to her so that she could be the Mother of their own Saviour, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This should teach us to do everything possible to foster vocations to the priesthood and the consecrated religious life among our children, so that we can give them back to God so as to yield a spiritual bounty of souls in His service, especially in this time of apostasy and betrayal.

The revised and much enlarged text of this article also includes a reflection and description of the life of Saint Roch, whose feast is celebrated today in those churches named in his honor, as found in Dom Prosper Gueranger’s The Liturgical Year.

Also, I would like to call the attention of this site's readers to an article written by Dr. Paul Byrne, who has certainly taught me much in the past twenty-three years since I first met him in Toledo, Ohio: Was The Death of Charlie Gard Hastened?. Please do take the time to read this article.

Finally, although I had hoped to have my commentary on the terrible events that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Saturday, August 12, 2017, the Feast of Saint Clare of Assisi, it was not possible for me to complete my work yesterday, August 15, 2017, the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This entire day will be spent completing the commentary.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saints Joachim and Anne, pray for us!

Saint Roch, pray for us.

Today is the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She who was conceived without stain of Original Sin and who committed no Actual Sins in her life did not have to have her body undergo the corruption of the grave, although she truly died and was buried after her death.

Separated physically from her Divine Son after His Ascension into Heaven on Ascension Thursday, although she received Him in Holy Communion, Our Lady was Assumed body and soul into Heaven to plead for us with her Divine Son as the Queen of Heaven and of Earth, the Queen to whom every man must pledge his heart's oblation, the Queen whom every nation must honor publicly with Rosary Processions.

 Our Lady wants us to be in Heaven with her for all eternity. She wants our bodies to rise up incorrupt and glorious from the grave on the Last Day at the General Judgment of the Living and Dead so that our bodies can be reunited with our souls for all eternity in the glory of Heaven.

We need to ask her to help us make such perfect reparation for our sins in this passing, mortal vale of tears that we will pay the debt of what we our for our sins now rather than in the fires of Purgatory. We need to ask her to help us to be serious about seeking sanctity as the consecrated slaves of her Divine Son through her own Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart.

What are we waiting for?

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

Our Lady, Queen Assumed into Heaven, pray for us.

This is a brief reflection, written originally in 2009 and revised over the years, to honor our great Wonder Worker, Saint Philomena, on this her feast day, which is also the feast of Saints Tiburtius and Susanna.

Although our Wonder Worker is not on the universal calendar of the Roman Rite, her cultus was confirmed by none other than Pope Saint Pius X. That's good enough for me! Jansenists and rationalists will have to find some other website to surf as this one makes no room for any skepticism about Saint Philomena and the honor and power with which she has been crowned by Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

This reflection includes text from a 1945 book, Wonder Worker: Saint Philomena, Virgin Martyr, which was written by Cathy Hallack and published with ecclesiastical approbation of the Archdiocese of Dublin, Ireland, in 1945, which takes note of Saint Philomena's vow of virginity, which she made at eleven years of age, and mentions the fact that Diocletian was married to Prisca from 286 A.D. to the time he resigned as Roman emperor in 305 A.D. This means that Diocletian's proposal of marriage was indeed adulterous and bigamous, analogous to that of Herod the Tetrarch himself.

It was thus very touching for us to receive Mass propers for the Wonder worker's feast from an 1898 Missal that included an entire Mass in her holy honor. This gift was sent to us by a friend of ours, one who does not agree with us concerning the true state of the Church Militant in this time of apostasy and betrayal but has not cast us out into the wilderness and down the Orwellian memory hole as lunatics These Mass propers are a tremendous treasure, one that our friend wanted us to share with true priests so that they can offer her Mass, perhaps as a votive Mass on a ferial day, in honor of our Wonder Worker, Saint Philomena. We thank our friend very much for making these propers available for those true priests who may not have had them prior to now. The link to the Mass text can be found within the body of the republished reflection: Feast of Saint Philomena Mass Propers. (Although I had problems publishing these Mass propers last year, I found a way to work around the problem by using the old Adobe Contribute platform on which this site existed for nearly ten years.)

We are very devoted to Saint Philomena and pray the chaplet in her honor as a family every Saturday evening after Our Lady's Most Holy Rosary. I pray her chaplet every day. 

I am still working on part two of An Unsurprising Hatred of Catholic Truth, part one. As today will be consumed in going to chiropractor, part two will not appear before Monday at the earliest.

Our Lady of the Universal Living Rosary Association, pray for us.

Saints Tiburtius and Susanna, pray for us.

Saint Philomena the Wonder Worker, pray for us.

Today is the feast of Saint John Mary Vianney and the Commemoration of the Vigil of Saint Lawrence the Deacon and of Saint Romanus.

Saint John Mary Vianney is the patron of diocesan priests, a man who humbly recognized that he was not the brightest pupil, that he was, to use even his own description, slow in his studies. He had great difficulty learning his Latin. Other studies came hard to him as well. He did not give up. Helped by a wonderful mentor, Father Balley, who had worked as a carpenter during the French Revolution so as to hide his identity as a Catholic priest as he offered Mass in various hideaways and without any "communion" with the bishops and priests of the "constitutional church," John Mary Vianney persevered time and time and time again, praying to Saint John Francis Regis for help and guidance.

Yes, he was tempted to quit his studies, believing himself to unworthy of priestly ordination because of his lack of intellectual aptitude. Father Balley told him very pointedly, "You've decided to give in to the devil?"

That knocked some sense into our Saint, and it should knock some sense into any young man today who might have experienced some difficulties and perhaps even gross injustices in their own pursuit of the priesthood.

Never give up. We need priests, especially now in this time of apostasy and betrayal.

Always close to Our Lady, Saint John Mary Vianney was brought to the point of his priestly ordination on August 13, 1815. His superiors judged that his moral qualities had overcome any academic deficiencies that would have held others back from being ordained to the priesthood, and they were vindicated in their judgment by the long and devoted service that he gave to the people of Ars.

Oh yes, sure, he tried to run away from his people on three occasions, wanting to seek the solitude of a monastery. Each time, however, he responded to the pleas of his sheep who loved their shepherd, who spent so much time in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament and in the confessional to hear the confessions of the thousands of people who flocked from all over the world to the merits of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus applied to their souls through his priestly ministry, and returned home to Ars.

Saint John Mary Vianney, who knew failure in his studies for the priesthood, was a firm supporter of the "patron of failures," Pauline Jaricot, the foundress of Society of the Propagation of the Faith and the Universal Living Rosary Association, and zealously devoted to the cause of our great wonder worker, Saint Philomena.

Saint John Mary Vianney spent himself tirelessly in behalf of the flock that was entrusted to his pastoral care. We need to invoke his intercession so that our own true bishops and priests will be fortified by his example as they seek to serve faithful Catholics, the scattering and wandering sheep of this time of apostasy and betrayal, unto eternity.

Work continues in a most methodical manner on my commentary on the Antonio Spadaro and Miguel Figueroa article in La Civilta Cattolica that appeared a month ago. As the hour is too late now, the entirety of today will be spent completing my commentary. However, I am doing my best to make various points in a clear and cogent manner.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for is.

Saint John Mary Vianney, the Cure of Ars, pray for us.

Saint Lawrence the Deacon, pray for us. Saint Romanus, pray for us.

(I will publish an update about the health of Teresa Johnston, the fifteen-year-old girl who was injured when a tree fell on her in Irvine, California, nearly six months ago, when I posted my next original article. In the meantime, please continue to pray for Teresa as she is suffering very much from the report that I received two days ago now. Please also pray for parents, Dr. and Mrs. Roch Johnston. Thank you.)

The great friend of Catholic truth and tireless defender of Venerable Mary of Agreda and The Mystical City of God , Mr. Timothy A. Duff, M.S., Ed., was kind enough to send me this excellent commentary for publication on this site. I am very happy and grateful that he has done so as his commentary provides some very important background about the causes of the current state of apostasy and betrayal that afflicts the Church Militant at this time.

Please pray three Hail Marys for Mr. Duff, his wife, children and grandchildren.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saint Cajetan, pray for us.

Saint Donatus, pray for us.