Sunday Sermon - Christ Walks on Water

Christ walks across the water of the lake to the disciples' boat, which is being beaten by the waves. After rescuing Peter, who goes out to meet him and sinks, Jesus enters the boat, stills the storm and guides the ship to shore.

The imagery is powerful. Jesus, appearing in the midst of the turbulent water in the darkness of the 4th Watch. So too is the symbol. The ship of the church, the ark of salvation, is beaten by waves of disbelief, iniquity, and hate only to rescued by Christ.

This is true in every age, not least our own, but consider. As in the miracle, Christ saves his church. For example, he raises up El Cid and Charles Martel, and the False Prophet is driven from Spain and France. The Jihad is routed by Sobieski in 1683 and Vienna saved, the evil, satanic Nazis are utterly defeated and the Iron Curtain blown away like so much noxious smoke.

Point being, as surely as he came to the beleaguered disciples in the midst of the lake, Christ saves his Mystical Body from the tempest which rages against her. He will save the church in our age too if we remain faithful, even desperately so, and cry out with Peter, "Lord, save me!" That must be our prayer.

There, in the act of faith, shouting out in the darkness, against all the odds, lies the path to paradise. Christ catches Peter by the hand, restores him to the safety of the boat, and in the end, to Paradise itself, the far shore of the lake.

So take heart. Our lord and Savior is infinitely more powerful than the iniquity which rages against his Body the church and against us, his faithful.

Sermon over,

LSP

What Dhimwits

Here's Blue Martel relaxing on an attractive Moslem rug, he's obviously not Islamophobic. Neither is Ss. Matthew & Luke Darlington, which offered to veil its crosses and a picture of Christ so that local Muslims could pray in the church without being offended. 

Offended by what? Christianity, of course, which this church used to represent. Christianity is the world's most persecuted religion. Too bad that places like Ss. Matthew & Luke are part of the problem.

Here at the Compound we call them dhimwhits.

Kizmet,

LSP

Magnificat

If you follow the strange new modernistic lectionary you'll have heard the Magnificat this morning at Mass, Mary's exultant hymn of praise to God. My soul doth magnify the Lord, sings the Virgin to Elizabeth.

Consider the depth and power of the canticle and while we're at it, here's an Advent carol from the Cambridge crew.

Some argue that the West won't defeat the twin jihad of Secularism and Mohammedanism until its people recover their faith, which is the ancient, unconquerable Faith of the Church. 

It takes Spirit to defeat spirit or to put it another way, Charles Martel didn't forge his hammer in a vacuum. 

Magnificat anima mea,

LSP

Anglo-Catholic As The Day Is Long

Keen-eyed readers of this popular mind blog might recall the oddity that is Anglo-Catholicism.

That's right, a movement that asserts catholicity for the Church of England and its various branches around the world. It started a while ago, with Pusey, Keble and Newman in Oxford, and spread.

Then in the '70s it went bust with the ordination of women. How could Anglicanism claim sacramental authenticity with the innovation? Not easy and its supporters didn't even try, it was all a matter of equal rights for a disenfranchised, oppressed "minority," women. 

Women are oppressed, runs the logic, because they can't have all the jobs men have. So hurry up, Nazis, and make them priests. The Anglican Church  in the West fell beneath the irresistible force of this powerful algorithm. And who can blame it. 

A creature of the state since Henry VIII, why should Anglicanism suddenly mutiny when its overlords start riding the rainbow?

For the most part it didn't, it embraced the rainbow, lovingly. But Anglo-Catholics held the line, protesting against all the odds that their denomination isn't a denomination at all but part of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church founded by Christ to be the Ark of Salvation.

We're at it today and you have to ask, is it a wasted effort? No, it's not. It's one small strike, to be sure, in the fight against evil and that's never a waste. On the contrary, it's a Gospel imperative.

 So, give up or hold the line? Ask Charles Martel.

STAND STEADY,

LSP

Cast Into The Blitz!

Guderian

Fishing can be fun and sedate, it can also be fast and furious. It was furious this evening. There we were, standing on the shore of Lake Whitney as the fierce white light of the Texan sun was starting to set, casting out in hope of fish.

No joy. The fish were there, jumping, but about 100 yards away out of range. Would they come in to the shore? We bet the monkey on just that and switched out to topwater lures, all in the hope that what looked like a school of Sand Bass would close in. Sure enough, they did.

Bang! Before you could say Heinz Guderian, there they were, leaping, thrashing and blitzing through swarms of Shad. You know the wisdom, where leap the Shad, so bite the Bass, and that's the way it was. It sounded like fire crackling through dry tinder. 

We couldn't cast fast enough. "Cast to the blitz, lads!" and "Fish on!" echoed around the dam like Charles Martel's victorious war cry against the Moslem horde. Crazy, intense, topwater action, and all the better for the youngest member of the team getting his first fish of the year. Well done! More to follow.

A Fish

Then it was dark and time to head back to the Compound, adrenaline up and fishing tales abounding. Big, victorious excitement. 

And that's just the way it was.

Tight lines,

LSP

Anglo-Catholics, This One's For You. A Confession

I know it's terribly confusing, but there's a movement, or a shadow of a movement, within Anglicanism that asserts catholicity for our part of the church. Scripture, creeds, sacraments, apostolic tradition, piety, liturgy, salvation, the nature of the church herself, all these and more are viewed and believed in through a catholic lens.

Now, as a part of this movement, such as it is today, I have a confession to make -- and yes, make yours before Christmas, if you can -- there was a time, not so long ago in the greater scheme of things, when I felt that if I didn't have this:

St. Nicholas du Chardonnet

I wasn't somehow cutting it. But I got this:

Rural missions in Texas. Not shrines in Boston, New York, Philly, Chicago, or even Texas, for that matter. And you know what, I don't feel shortchanged for a moment.

Don't get me wrong, I love a Solemn High Mass as much as I loathe, scorn and despise liturgical dance, or the monstrous regiment of priestesses, women bishop figures and associated clowns. But here's the thing -- don't let yourself become that most ridiculous and pathetic of creatures, a church snob. God will surprise you. In my case, that's been for the good.

Don't Teacup, Fool

In related news, I've reminded the bishop that it'd make a lot of sense to put a new rule in place regarding postulants for ordination. Viz. If you can't ride and you don't shoot, you can't get in.

That is all.

Your Old Pal,

LSP

You Pathetic Fools

Breitbart -- "Your country has just been attacked by a wave of at least half-dozen terror attacks. More than 120 innocent people are dead. Upwards of 300 are hospitalized. Your iconic city is trembling in fear and unease. Muslim-extremist barbarians, many of whom you invited to live among you, are cheering, plotting, and anticipating the next round."

So you draw a peace sign. Why not a rainbow, and a unicorn too? Then you could doubly beat back the Jihad.

You pathetic fools.

ISIS laughs.

LSP

Cooking With LSP, Poppers. Jihad Version

"You can't cook with LSP!" you exclaim indignantly, "That's as dangerous as it is absurd." Not so fast, my friend. You can, and here's how.

Buy some Jalapeno peppers, larger ones work better, and cut them in half. Then scoop out the seeds and fill the pepper shells with cream cheese. You can use a Spyderco Perseverance to cut the peppers, but any knife will do. Just make sure it's sharp!

Next, wrap the cream cheese filled peppers in bacon. Go on, use a slice per pepper, then skewer the bacon-wrapped awesomness with a toothpick. Stand back and admire your handiwork, life is good.

Put the poppers in the oven at 400 and bake, turning half-way through, until the bacon's done, for about 20 minutes or so. then remove those bad boys from the oven and savor the delicious smell of cooking pig that fills your house. Have a beer, maybe a glass of wine, you've earned it.

After you've let the poppers rest a bit, say grace, and eat them, like Charles Martel. 

And that's cooking, with...

LSP

Crusader

It's unremarkable to me that our President chose the occasion of a Jordanian pilot being burned alive in a cage to castigate Christianity at the National Prayer Breakfast.

Unremarkable? That someone called Barack Hussein doesn't want to call his coreligionists? Go figure. 

Regardless, why attack the Crusades? Especially the first one, which won. The West, in its wickedness, didn't keep Outremer alive and that's a big shame.

Reverse the Horns of Hattin, and Manzikert, please, and let's have another Charles Martel.

The problem with the Crusades is that we didn't have enough of them.

Time to end the Islamic death cult.

LSP

Make His Paths Straight

Being a Parson, I get to preach every Sunday and I tend to stick to the Gospel, while occasionally lashing out at pansexuaists, Libs, Hippies, Marxists, Hitlerites, Illuminati pagans, big government, Bilderberger NWO shills, and assorted progleft enemies. Sometimes General Lee gets an honorable mention, along with Charles Martel and other heroes. Go figure.

Blue Tours

But there was none of that today. I just stuck to the Gospel, which featured John the Baptist, crying out in the wilderness against wickedness. Like Isaiah, preparing the "way of the Lord," making "his paths straight."

But what are the ways by which a thing makes its "path" to us? I suggested that the basic paths in question were fourfold. Viz. Senses, Affections, Intellect, Actions, and when these are blocked and twisted by evil, God can't reach us. So, we have to hear the Baptizer, and clear and straighten the paths through repentance in order for God to make his home in us.

I used lots of examples to illustrate the theme; I thought it was pretty clear. Nothing deep, or even controversial, although I did blast adultery. Then during the Peace, my MC, who's a former rodeo star (world Bronc Champion several years running), asked, "Padre, was there a point to that sermon?" 

Ride More, LSP

He's a good BS barometer and a great horseman, so I looked him in the eye and said, "I think you need to repent." I rode one of his horses the other year around some barrels only to learn afterwards that the animal was worth... a lot. It was like being on a living Ferrari.

In other exciting church news, the ladies of one of the Missions have taken to feeding Blue Armageddon kolaches at Coffee Hour. I rebuke them but they pay no attention.

Things are obviously spinning out of control.

LSP