As the ongoing campaign of harassment being waged against us has entered a new phase in the past two days, "all" I can offer you today, the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost, is a republished reflection on the life of Saint Clare of Assisi that was published oringinally two years ago. The reflection speaks to the timeless virtues of detachment from the world, self-denial, modesty and a total embrace of holy poverty for love of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and His Holy Church.

This reflection emphasizes Saint Clare’s rejection of worldliness and worldly pleasures. No matter what our own sins and failings with respect to worldliness might be now and have been in the past, Saint Clare’s life and holy example inspires us to quit the world once and for all and to prepare for the world to come by storing up treasures in Heaven that do not rust or fade away, and that no thief can take away from us.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saint Clare of Assisi, pray for us.

Saint Francis of Assisi, pray for us.

Blessed Agnes of Prague, pray for us.

[Alert: Someone who has nothing better to do with his time is attempting to impersonate me by using an e-mail address that is not mine: drdroleskey@gmail.com, Please disregard any e-mails you receive from this address and I ask the readers of this site to write to me if anyone receives an e-mail from that address. My own e-mail address is DrThomasADroleskey@gmail.com, and that is the only e-mail address that I use. Disregard all others. Thank you. Saint Philomena, pray for us.]

Our Federal taxpayer dollars are being used in a supposedly “pro-life” presidential administration to underwrite the “transplantation” of “fresh” aborted baby parts into the immune system of mice, something that is labeled as the “humanized mice” program by the wholly-owned subsidiary of the Big Pharmaceutical industry, the United States Food and Drug Administration (F.D.A.)

There will be no outrage about this expressed by the apostates in the so-called United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, who are too busy at this time praising “Pope Francis” for “changing” the irreformable Catholic teaching on the death penalty, which is a Natural Law right of the civil state, duly constituted, to impose upon malefactors found guilty of heinous crimes after the discharge of the due process of law, and endorsing the “Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act” that was the subject of Bought-and-Paid-For Stooges of the Merchants of Death five days ago.

Please continue to pray for us in the midst of the current campaign of harassment and intimidation by the local ne'er-do-well, for whose conversion we are praying very fervently, and his confederates. Thank you.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saint Philomena, pray for us.

Saints Tiburtius and Susanna, 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. A Latin-English translation of these propers completed by Mr. Michael Creighton can be found by clicking here--Latin-English Mass Propers for the Feast of Saint Philomena--or by scrolling below.)

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. 

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

Saint Philomena, pray for us.

Saints Tiburtius and Susanna, pray for us.

Well, I was just about to post a new article when the cursor of my four-year-old notebook computer moved on its own accord, something that has been a chronic problem with machine since I purchased it in July of 2014, and I press a key that deleted the four open pages in the window containing the new article. Although the text is saved in a Word format, I had spent a good deal of time formatting it for publication on this site on the Drupal platform that has been used in the past four years. I will get to that task early this afternoon.

Before reposting my reflection on our great Wonder Worker, Saint Philomena, however, I did want to provide the readers of this site with an English translation of the Mass Propers for the Feast of Saint Philomena. The translation was done by Mr. Michael Creighton, who is also working on a translation of the Office for today’s feast in honor of our Wonder Worker.

Although this is not a universal feast of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, this is a day when a Votive Mass or Requiem Mass may be offered). Those of us who are devoted to Saint Philomena, therefore, should express our gratitude to Mr. Creighton for his hard work that provides us with spiritual enhancement for this feast day.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saint Philomena, pray for us.

Saints Tiburtius and Susanna, 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 has started on my next commentary. However, most of today will spent dealing with the aftermath of the events of Monday evening. More cameras must be purchased and a witness's statement needs to be notorized and presented to the proper authorities. Penance is indeed better than ever in 2018. It is my hope to hae my next commentary published by Saturday as I do not think that much can be done on it today given the time that must be spent on protecting ourselves as best as possible from madness.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

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

Saint Lawrence the Deacon, pray for us. 

Saint Romanus, pray for us.

The United States House of Representatives recently passed The Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act on Monday, July 23, 2018, the Feast of Saint Apollinaris, to expand the reach of the modern merchants of death in order to “ration” healthcare according to the “quality of life” assessments made by deathcare “teams.”

Readers of this site, few in number though they imay be, know that my work attempts to focus on root causes of problems rather than rend garments and gnash teeth over the contemporary consequences of those root causes. This commentary is no different.

Finally, as I noted nearly seventeen hours ago, the situation with our ne’er-do-well neighbor and the children he is training to follow in his nefarious footsteps continues unresolved as law enforcement officials will do nothing even though there are two eyewitnesses to happened about twenty-three hours ago. Please continue to pray for as and I would appreciate whatever non-tax-deductible gifts to purchase the additional security cameras, accessories and lighting that we need.

We live in a world filled with injustice. Then again, each of us is frequently unjust by means of our sins. We need to be mindful of our own need to make reparation for our sins as we pray for the conversion of others as well as ourselves.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saint Cajetan, pray for us.

Saint Donatus, pray for us.

[Update on the Feast of Saint Cajetan and the Commemoration of Saint Donatus.

[Although it was my intention to complete my next article for posting this morning, August 7, 2018, I learned while en route home from running errands connected with getting accessories to our security system that the ne'er-do-well who despises us used his son and a friend of his son to trespass onto our property and aim BB guns, which local law forbids minors to own or use, at Lucy's goats. A neighbor caught them in the act, surprising them when she told them that they did not belong on our property. Law enforcement officials came out, speaking with Sharon and our neighbor. It is unclear what will be done, although it does not appear that much is going to happen to the man and his wife, who are contributing to the deliquency of minors.

[I do know, however, that we have to get three more security cameras in addition to additional one that I purchased yesterday to protect more of the property. This means purchasing three more twelve volt solar panel battery chargers and two more twelve volt batteries in addition to security lights to help illuminate the property better to afford the cameras a greater range of distance in the dark. 

[While we did receive two unexpected donations yesterday, one went to assist in the house payment and part of another was spent on getting the first additional camera, the solar panel and other accessories. Any help that can be provided at this time would be appreciated.

[As I have noted in the past nearly five weeks now, this situation is occurring with the Providence of God and it is a chastisement being visited upon us for our sins. While I do not particularly like the man who is causing these problems, I will his good, which means his conversion away from his self-hatred and displaced anger to the true Faith so that he can see in all others the Divine impress and treat them as he would Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. One must seek justice without vengeance while recognizing that crosses such as this one are a sign of God's merciful love for us erring sinners.

[The graces won for us by Our Lord on Calvary and that flow into our souls through the loving hands of Our Lady, she who is the Mediatrix of All Graces, are sufficient for whatever suffering occurs in our lives according to the workings of God's Holy Providence. We remain in supplication to Our Lady and Saint Philomena in these present difficulties, mindful that we have much to pay back for our sins.

[Please continue to pray for us.]

Today is the great Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ on Mount Thabor in the presence of the Apostles Peter, James and John and in the company of Moses and Elias. God the Father repeated the proclamation that He had made as His Co-Equal Son made Flesh in Our Lady's Virginal and Immaculate Womb was baptized by His cousin, Saint John the Baptist in the Jordan River prior to the assumption of His Public Ministry, "This is My beloved Son, hear yet Him."

Our Lord was transfigured in the glory that He shared with the God the Father and God the Holy Ghost for all eternity in Heaven in order to show forth His Sacred Divinity to Saints Peter, the first Pope, Saint James, the first Bishop of Jerusalem and the first of the Apostles to be martyred, and Saint James's brother, Saint John, the beloved Apostle and the Apostle of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, to help console them during the events of His Passion and Death. It is our goal to be transfigured in glory for all eternity in Heaven.

The only path to the heavenly Mount Thabor, however, is by climbing atop Mount Calvary every day of our lives, willingly bearing our crosses in reparation for our sins and those of the world as we offer whatever merit we gain for the patient and joyful endurance of these crosses to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Indeed, our climb to Heaven by ascending first to Mount Calvary is signified every day a true bishop or a true priest completes the prayers at the foot of the altar and ascends the three steps (mystically symbolic of the Thee Persons of the Most Blessed Trinity and of the three stages of the interior life) to the altar itself.

If we desire to be transfigured in all glory in Heaven we must, therefore, be willing to be shamed and humiliated by the the ignominy associated with the Holy Cross. The glories of Heaven are worth such temporary shame and humiliation and ignominy, are they not?

May Our Lady, who awaits us in the heavenly Mount Thabor and intercedes for us from there, help us to ascend to Mount Calvary every day in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass so that we can keep her company at the foot of the Cross every day our lives as a a preparation for spending all eternity in the glories of Heaven with her and Saint Joseph and all of the angels and the saints.

A blessed Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to you all. 

Work has commenced on the next original article to be posted on this site.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saint Peter, pray for us.

Saint John the Evangelist, pray for us.

Saint James the Greater, pray for us.

Pope Saint Sixtus, Saints Felicissimus and Agapitus, pray for us.

Well, Theodore Edgar McCarrick has lost his purloined red hat.

That’s one down and twenty-twenty four to go. While we’re at it, the imposter from Argentina and his Hegelian predecessor from Germany have to hand over their white cassocks as well.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saint Dominic de Guzman, pray for us.

Today is the Feast of Saint Dominic de Guzman, who had such great zeal for souls from his earliest days in seminary. As is well known, it was a conversation with an innkeeper in the Albigensian stronghold of Toulouse, France, changed the whole direction of his priesthood as he sought to win back souls from the darkness of an early forerunner of Calvinism, Albigensianism.

Our Lady, sent by her Divine Son out of the ineffable Mercy that He has in His Most Sacred Heart, which was formed out of her own Immaculate Heart, to bring back the lost sheep (and not to beat up on the sheep when their souls are sorely distressed) out of the new form of Manicheaism that had arisen in southern France, gave Saint Dominic her Most Holy Rosary to the be the weapon to crush the Albigensian heresy. Saint Dominic de Guzman used the weapon of Our Lady's Most Holy Rosary very well and taught others how to do so.

Every Catholic, of course, owes a great deal to Saint Dominic, who walked between southern France and Rome several times during his life--and who accompanied two of the first Dominicans, Saints Hyacinth and his brother, Saint Ceslaus, on the first leg of their trip in Italy back to Krakow before he, Saint Dominic, had to turn back.

The next original article for this site is almost completed. However, the hour is late and there is just enough work left to do that would require a 1:00 a.m. posting, which is beyond my physical strength at this time. It is my hope to have it posted by the latter part of the afternoon on this feast day.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saint Dominic de Guzman, pray for us.

Today is the Feast of the great Saint Alphonsus de Liguori, the Patron of Moral Theologians. It was over nine years ago now that I recorded each of the Sunday sermons of Saint Alphonsus for the "Save Thy Souls" section of Traditional Catholic Sermons.org. It was a very sobering experience as I recognized that Saint Alphonsus was speaking directly to me, condemning my sins and my tepidity.

Ouch.

He certainly gave me what for, and I am grateful that he did so.

This particular reflection was enlarged last year to include three complete sermons composed by Saint Alphonsus de Ligouori. Saint Alphonsus de Liguori, the founder of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (the Redemptorists), was particularly emphatic in teaching us that we must avoid sins of human respect. That is, we can show no partiality or favoritism to those in power if they are doing things that put the temporal or, more important, the eternal welfare into jeopardy.

This applies to the likes of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who blasphemes God on a regular basis and considers it his duty in the name of "mercy" to enable hardened, unrepentant sinners in their lives that are leading to them eternal perdition, and to most of his "bishops," men who believe that the sheep are their enemies and that they can stonewall and intimidate the sheep into remaining silent about real and documented abuses of power and real and documented violations of the integrity of the Holy Faith:

"And when there is question of the divine honour, we should not be frightened by the dignity of the man who offends God; let us say to him openly: This is sinful; it cannot be done. Let us imitate the Baptist, who reproved King Herod for living his brother's wife and said to him: 'It is not lawful for thee to have her'--Matt., xiv. 4. Men indeed shall regard us as fools, and turn us into derision; but, on the day of judgment they shall acknowledge that they have been foolish, and we have shall have the glory of being numbered among the saints. They shall say: 'These are they whom we had some time in derision. . . . . We fools esteemed their life madness, and their end without honour. Behold how they are numbered among the children of God, and their lot is among the saints'--Wis., v. 3, 4, 5. (Sixth Sunday After Easter: On Human Respect.)

The next original article is being written. As I am undergoing twice weekly chiropractic treatment for the subluxation of a bulging lumbar disc that was aggravated by the fall I took two weeks ago now, articles will be completed as it is possible for me to do so. However, I do not anticipate going anywhere today, which means that I will able to complete what must be a relatively brief article for posting by tomorrow morning.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saint Alphonsus de Liguori, pray for us.

Pope Saint Stephen I, pray for us