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Thursday, 8 May 2025

The separated ones



Of all the people Jesus encountered it seems he had a particular dislike for the ways of the Pharisees; the elite or separated ones. Whilst occupying the seat of Moses, guardians of all the doctrines, laws, rules of the faith, meticulous in their rituals and beliefs; sadly they missed the point entirely. 

They have returned and are recruiting! 

I was invited to attend an International leadership meeting; I couldn’t really understand why but the offer seemed genuine, the person was charming, a faithful Catholic, and had all his ‘ducks in a row’ so I dispensed with the usual discernment process and accepted. 

One area of expertise I do have was about to come in handy; I know how cults operate. And so as the meeting began I was unexpectedly prepared and sufficiently detached to watch things unfold from that vantage point. 

Within 30 seconds of meeting the facilitator, a short, bearded man who gave me a similar reception to the one experienced by Zelensky in the ambush in the oval office by Donald Trump’s ill-mannered assistant; the alarm bells were ringing.  I quickly realised that many of the people in the room, although an international event, were very well acquainted, they had their own in-language, and I strongly felt were part of the same organisation. This was a ‘front’ for something else entirely. 

Whilst all were Catholic, it became evident that many were ‘Starbucks Catholics’ meaning not content with the regular Sunday Mass; they customised it to their own taste; some favoured the Latin, others the Byzantium Rites ( I had to google some of them later). 

Many discussed (triumphantly) their ascetic practices, from cold showers, to fasting, (not charity though interestingly) and at this point I regretted not having continued with my studies in music (after mastering 3 blind mice on the recorder) so that I could have announced each new speaker with a few good blasts on the trumpet ! although that would probably have been too subtle to be understood. 

One younger attendee, with the enthusiasm of a Mormon recruited by ISIS, with wild eyes, tried out his evangelising skills on me; he was clearly in the early stages of being brainwashed himself, something I could only sympathise with silently and pray for later. 

After 3 hours I realised that nothing of any real substance had been discussed, even God hadn’t been mentioned, and certainly none of the invited (non-group members) had said anything at all. The groups behind it were carefully concealed but are Catholic with dubious founders if I am not mistaken and coercive techniques, some of which were clearly displayed. 

These are dark days; the assault on Christianity and all that is good is intense and perhaps extreme orthodoxy is envisioned as a remedy or push-back against it, a worldly attempt to regain the upper hand through earthly power and positioning, influence and perhaps financial muscle but despite the outward appearance of religion, it’s a godless distortion, empty and devoid of any real supernatural power or authority and indeed of any love or compassion that I could see. Sometimes the devil works both sides of the street. The Neo Pharisees are among us!

Thursday, 10 April 2025

‘Tumble into our Graves’

 




'Many are the rainbows, the sunbursts, the gentle breezes—and the hailstorms—we are liable to meet before, by the grace of God, we shall be able to tumble into our graves with the confidence of tired children into their places of peaceful slumber.’ Blessed Solanus Casey

I was in the cemetery the other day. It was my mother-in-law’s birthday, she would have been 101 and all her children gathered to pray the Rosary for her on her birthday.

As the car pulled up the GPS said “you have arrived at your destination”. A chilling reminder, but it had a point. After the prayers I had a wander and noticed how many of the graves contained occupants younger than me; some teenagers, others in their prime. What a blessing it is to have a good innings, a length of years.

There is really only one thing we can offer to God as we go along; and we certainly owe it to Him. And that is gratitude. To thank Him for all He has and continues to give us. Life is a gift, each moment, each breath of air, every drop of water, every meal, gifts of faith, mercy and forgiveness, every person we know, all the joys of life. We miss a lot of it by occupying our minds with what we don’t have, have lost or what is not quite as we would like it to be and in doing so, rob Him of the full measure of the gratitude we owe and rob ourselves of much of the joy of life. A grateful heart is a free heart.

I love the quote above; imagine at the end of days, to “tumble into our graves with the confidence of tired children into their places of peaceful slumber” If we live in gratitude I think we will be able to live and die like that.