This will be last commentary about the joint American-Israeli military “excursion” until after Easter as we must use the next two weeks before the Paschal Triduum begins with the praying or singing of Tenebrae on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, to prepare well for the liturgies and ceremonies of Passiontide and the Triduum.

Today, Wednesday, March 18, 2026 (the Feast of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem and the Commemoration of Wednesday in the Fourth Week of Lent),  is the forty-fourth anniversary of the death of my mother, +Mrs. Norma Florence Red Fox Droleskey, who was the adoptive daughter of Chief Red Fox, at the then named Spohn Hospital in Corpus Christi, Texas, where she had spent her adolescent years until she joined the Women’s Army Corps in 1943 at the age of twenty-two, at the age of sixty-one years, twelve days.

My mother died of stomach and esophageal cancer that had been diagnosed on Friday, January 29, 1982, just six weeks before she died. Most of that time was spent at the M. D. Anderson Cancer Hospital in Houston, Texas. It is hard to believe that I am now over twelve years older than she was at the time of her death. How the time has flown. Prayers for the repose of her immortal soul would be very much appreciated. Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her. May her soul and all of the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

Today is also the nineteenth anniversary of the death of the late +Father Daniel Johnson, who was ordained to the Holy Priesthood in 1954 and served as the pastor of Saint Mary by the Sea Church in Huntington Beach, California, form 1979 to 2004.

Father Johnson was very zealous for souls. He personally walked the boundaries of the parish three times during his quarter-century pastorate, visiting (or leaving his card with an invitation to join the Catholic Church if no one was present to answer his knock) every residence and business to encourage fallen away Catholics to the return to the Faith and to invite non-Catholics to convert. Father Johnson brought five hundred fifty-four souls into the Faith, including Mohammedans, Jews, and Mormons. Sharon herself was baptized at the hands of Father Johnson on July 31, 1999, nearly twenty months before I met her on March 11, 2001, at Saint Mary by the Sea Church as I was giving the “Living in the Shadow of the Cross” lecture program. Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and all of the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

It was also on this date in 2008 that Mrs. Theresa Colgan, the mother of a former student of mine from Saint Francis College in Brooklyn, New York, during the 1985-1986 academic year, died. Please pray for her immortal soul as well. Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her. May her soul and all of the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen,

Finally, insofar as prayer intentions for this day are concerned, a former friend of mine in the conciliar structures turns seventy-five years of age today. Please for him and for the other intentions noted above.

The next original commentary should appear by Friday, March 20, 2026, Friday in the Fourth Week of Lent. A reflection on Our Good Saint Joseph will be republished tomorrow, Thursday, March 19, 2026, the Feast of Saint Joseph and the Commemoration of Thursday in the Fourth Week of Lent.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, pray for us.

This is a tribute to our glorious Saint Patrick, Bishop and Confessor, whose work in behalf of the conversion of the Irish clans from paganism stands in very sharp contrast to the obeisance that has been paid by the conciliar “popes” and their “bishops” to every false religion and pagan superstition imaginable. It was to wipe out paganism that Saint Patrick spent his life as a missionary to the Emerald Isle, that land of Saints and Scholars which has fallen back into paganism in no small measure because of the false doctrines and sacramental barrenness of the liturgical rites of the counterfeit church of conciliarism. Saint Patrick stands ready to convert each one of us away from our own sins if only we beg his intercession to help make us saints, especially now in the middle of the Fourth Week of Lent.

We are privileged to have a relic of Saint Patrick that is venerated each night before sleep. This relic was given to us most unexpectedly by a good friend of ours some years ago now.

It is my hope, perhaps furtive, to have the next original article by tomorrow.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us

Saint Patrick, pray for us.

Yesterday’s commentary, Occasionally Catholic Remarks Do Not Make Modernists Catholics Themselves, concerned Robert Francis Prevost/Leo XIV’s March 13, 2026, address to putative confessors about the Sacrament of Penance.

One of the things I did not mention in yesterday’s commentary was that “Pope Leo” did not remind his listeners that Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Himself specifically instituted the Sacrament of Penance by uttering the following words to ten of the then eleven Apostles on Easter Sunday:

He said therefore to them again: Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent me, I also send you. When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained. (John 20: 21-23)

As the commentary in the Douay-Rheims Bible notes of verse twenty-three:

"Whose sins"... See here the commission, stamped by the broad seal of heaven, by virtue of which the pastors of Christ's church absolve repenting sinners upon their confession. 

Prevost/Leo also omitted any reference to the requirements for a good confession, namely, contrition for one’s sins, an integral confession of them made to a true priest, and a firm resolve to do penance and avoid the near occasions of sin as the means to sin no more.

Thus, I have decided to present to the readers of this site five reflections on the Sacrament of Penance and the ways to make a good Confession.

Three of those reflections are sermons given by the great Austrian missionary to the United States of America, Father Francis X. Weninger, S.J., one is a reflection by Saint Francis de Sales, and the final two were written by a devout Barnabite priest, Father Carlo Giuseppe Quadrupani (1740-1807).

The next original commentary for this website is being written. I hope to have it completed for posting by this time tomorrow morning, the Feast of Saint Patrick, but it might not be completed until Wednesday, March 18, 2026, the Feast of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Robert Francis Prevost/Leo XIV gave an address to putative confessors on Friday, March 13, 2026, Friday in the Third Week of Lent, that gave a fairly good description of the Sacrament of Penance.

One must remember, however, that Modernists can sound Catholic on one occasion while acting as Modernists on others (praising false religions for their “ability” to produce “peace,” establishing a special chair for the head of the heretical and schismatic sect, King Charles III, etc.).

This commentary gives credit where credit is due but also discusses the omissions found in Prevost/Leo’s March 13, 2026, address.pur

Reflections on Laetare Sunday are found near the end of this commentary.

With a heavy sigh, I must return to the work of the war with no clear but ever shifting goals later today, although I might not have it completed for posting tomorrow, Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent, given the lateness of this current posting.

A blessed Laetare Sunday to you all.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

This is another relatively brief commentary on what President Donald John Trump calls a “military excursion” against Iran in conjunction with the Zionist State of Israel.

A republished reflection about Pope Saint Gregory the Great, whose feast is celebrated today, Thursday, March 12, 2026, on which is commemorated the Mass of Thursday in the Third Week of Lent, was published about twenty-five minutes ago or so. Please scroll below.

Also, three people were kind enough to make donations two days ago, but there is still a very urgent need to raise another $750. Please consider making a non-tax-deductible gift now if you have the financial wherewithal to do so. Thank you very much.

Today, the twenty-third day of Lent, is the chronological halfway mark of our Lenten journey into the desert. There are forty days of fasting in Lent plus the six Sundays (the first four Sundays of Lent, Passion Sunday, and Palm Sunday) that add up to forty-six days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday.

Let us continue to pray to Our Lady through her Most Holy Rosary to grant us perseverance in our Lenten resolutions as Holy Week will be upon us in but sixteen days with the praying of First Vespers for Palm Sunday on Saturday evening, March 28, 2026!

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Pope Saint Gregory the Great, pray for us.

Saints Cosmas and Damian, pray for us.

This is a republished reflection on Pope Saint Gregory the Great, whose feast is celebrated today, Thursday, March 12, 2025 (which is also Thursday in the Fouth Week of  Lent), that draws principally upon Pope Saint Pius X's Iucunda Sane, March 12, 1904.

A new commentary will be published almost immediately hereafter.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Pope Saint Gregory the Great, pray for us.

The title of this commentary is self-explanatory.

The next original article should appear on Friday, March 13, as I intend most of today working on a book project.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

This is a brief commentary that focuses on how the lie of “religious liberty” gives such free rein to the adversary that a Superior Court judge in Indiana has ruled that the killing of innocent babies is an exercise of “religious freedom.”

I will have a related commentary on Wednesday (I am just too tired from the writing of this article) before returning to Donald John Trump’s and Benjamin Netanyahu’s preemptive war of choice, which has now taken the life of an eighth American service member who should never have been put in harm’s way in behalf of the “Greater Israel” Project.”

Non-tax-deductible financial gifts are urgently needed at this time. Please make a donation, especially if it has been a while before you did so. Thank you.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saint Frances of Rome, pray for us.

This article in honor of Saint John of God, whose feast is commemorated today, Sunday, March 8, 2026, the Third Sunday of Lent, was written ninteen years ago now. A lot of hard work went into its completion. I believe it to be one a piece that will give great consolation to those who have not as of yet read it.

Saint John of God was little understood during his life. It was the case that even his longtime spiritual director, Blessed John of Avila, who knew him fairly well, did not understand his decisions. Saint John of God suffered from all manner of slanders and even beatings in his life. He suffered slanders even up to the point of his own death. It was enough for him to be understood by God. It should be enough for us as well, especially during this time of apostasy and betrayal when so many of us are misunderstood and castigated by relatives and friends and acquaintances as being "outside of the Church" for our refusal to make any concessions to conciliarism or its false shepherds. We should be grateful that we are as misunderstood and hated and calumniated as was Saint John of God!

The appendix contains reflections on the Third Sunday of Lent.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saint John of God, pray for us.

Believe it or not, a few readers have written to me to say that the government United States of America is exempt from the Just War Theory and from most other aspects of the moral law because it is not a Catholic nation and is so “exceptional” that God blesses whatever its leaders believe is best for the national security.