Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Today's the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. Here's the Gospel for the day, via the Anglican Missal:

St. John 12. 31. 
At that time: Jesus said unto the multitudes of the Jews: Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. (This he said, signifying what death he should die.) The people answered him: We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever: and how sayest thou: The Son of man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of man? Then Jesus said unto them: Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light.

Believe in the light, that ye may be children of light. Amen to that, in these dark and murderous times. Here's the Collect:

GOD, who as on this day dost gladden us with the yearly festival of the Exaltation of thy Holy Cross: grant, we beseech thee, that we which on earth have known the mystery of the redemption which thou hast wrought for us, may be found worthy to receive the rewards thereof in heaven. Who livest...

You may recall that the True Cross was carried into action at the disastrous battle of the Horns of Hattin, which saw the Outremer army utterly defeated by Saladin. The Cross was captured by the Moslem general, who took Jerusalem shortly after. A Golgotha? Perhaps, and I'd argue the Middle East, to say nothing of the West, is still paying the price.

Regardless, St. Francis attempted to convert Saladin. He failed, but so impressed the Mohammedan that he returned the Cross to the saint.

Pax Tibi, Per Crucem,

LSP

The Feast of St. Francis

It being the Feast of St. St. Francis, I drove across the dam to say Mass and the sky was huge, such is Texas.

Some say that Francis was a kind of hippy, although his hair was notoriously short, he didn't thieve and was a catholic Christian. Are the two synonymous? I'd say they are, at the end of the day and while we're at it, Europe is the Faith; thanks Belloc, for that. 

ChesterBelloc

Of course the old Europe is fast denying the Faith and becoming something else in its great secularist experiment which has, oddly enough, a peculiar fondness for Islam. 

Foretold, when you think about it, by Chesterton in the Flying Inn,  wherein a cheerful band of heroes roam about England with a large cheese, lots of ale and a "pop up" Inn. 

Say No To The NWO

In doing so they defeat an evil ruling elite which has embraced Mohammedanism and banned alcohol, much less pubs. Prescient stuff, GKC, and with the fierce ChesterBelloc in mind, will America take up the mantle Western Civ? 

Good question and I'd argue, if the present howling, gnashing of teeth and wailing of the Left is any metric, that we are and have a chance of winning. So get your act together, GOP, defeat the antichrist globalist elite NWO and their Illuminati Hollywood shills and #ConfirmKavanaughNow

A Saint

But back to Francis. He may not have been a thieving hippy but he did, apparently, talk to animals. That sounds pretty freakish dreadlock, right? Not so fast, punters. Francis preached to the animals because he felt he got a better response from them than he did with his human congregations.

He also went on to try and convert the great jihad general Saladin. He failed, but the remarkable Moslem, and he was, gave the mendicant saint the True Cross or fragments of it, which the Islamic war horde had captured at the disaster which was Hattin.

Saladin

Moral of the story? 

Don't be a hippy, strive to be a saint, scorn our globalist elite NWO overlords and ask for Francis' powerful intercession.

And as always,

Deus Vult!

LSP