Purgatory

 

In a ferocious and possibly unsuccessful bid to escape from the brink of World War III, I looked up Austin Farrer on Purgatory. Many Anglicans and for all I know many of you don't like the doctrine, but it's always made sense to me.  

How could we not pass through purgation on our way to glorification? The chaff, famously, must be burned away.  Anyway, here's Farrer, see what you think:

I say, then, that the teaching of Christ, the nature of our freewill, and the way God deals with us all point in one direction: the loss of heaven is a real danger. Second. I observe that Christ teaches one thing with particular insistence. Men whose moral misery is disguised from them by comfort, pride or success, will find themselves after death a prey to that flame which can surely be nothing but the scorching truth. Third, I see that Christ speaks of the flame as everlasting, as a torment which does not lose its force, or die down. The sinner will vainly wait for it to exhaust itself, or hope to escape from it on the further side. But I do not see that I am forbidden to ask, what then? Cannot everlasting Mercy save from the everlasting fire, or let the irreconcilable perish in it?

The fate of ultimate impenitence is a mystery into which I am reluctant to look. If it overtakes any, I pray they may be few. But looking to myself and the hopes a Christian dares to entertain,  I find conscience and moral reason join forces with Catholic teaching, and forbid me to to claim exemption from the burning of that flame. If Dives needed to be stripped, and to suffer the truth of his condition, do not we also?

Perhaps before we suffer it, we may be assured of mercy; perhaps the sight of mercy will make the torment, when we see what a God we have, and how we have served him; what wounds we have inflicted on the souls of our fellows by our egotism and neglect.

Purgatory was rejected by our Reformers, as undermining the sufficiency of Christ's atonement; for it was taken to be the serving of a sentence by which the guilt of Christians was in some way worked off. Such an objection has no force against the teaching, that we have a pain to pass through, in being reconciled to truth and love. And we may as well call this pain purgatorial, having no other name to call it. It seems strange, indeed, that so practical and pressing a truth as that of purgatory should be dismissed, while so remote and impractical a doctrine as the absolute everlastingness of hell should be insisted on. (Saving Belief, P154-155)

 

Sadly, I'd say that the absolute everlastingness of hell becomes more apparent by the day, but Farrer was focused on Divine Mercy and the white hot, purifying light of God's truth. 

We must all pass through this, surely, on the way to sanctification and the green pastures and still waters of paradise. Such is the progress of conviction of sin, repentance, amendment of life, and absolution.

God bless you all,

LSP

Ukraine War Infographic

 

Maybe you had too much too fast?

Don't tell me this town ain't got no heart for at least two wars. Like no kidding. Pray for our kids who are being deployed and everyone else.

Your Old Pal,

LSP

Cher - Time To Leave

 

Smash hit super celebrity pop icon Cher, 77, has threatened to finally leave America if Donald Trump is reelected. That's right, no more Cher if El Senor gets back in the Oval Office and Melania's once more in charge of White House aesthetics.

According to Breitbart, the aging singer "almost got an ulcer" when Trump defeated Hillary in 2016 and if he returns Cher will "leave":

“I almost got an ulcer the last time [Trump was elected],” Cher told the Guardian in an interview published Wednesday, adding, “If he gets in, who knows? This time I will leave [the country].”

Megastar Cher famously supported Joe Biden in his hugely successful run for President in 2020 and even reworked a song for his campaign, the mass hit, "Happiness Is Just A Thing Called Joe."  However, even though Old Joe won the Presidency, Cher still wasn't happy.

When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, massively popular Cher rode the doomsday clock, declaring that  SCOTUS would be “responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of American women.” Yes, a veritable female slaughterhouse because biological women wouldn't be killed in the womb.

Unsurprisingly, the talented singer songwriter of classics like the Shoop Shoop Song and Heart of Stone was outraged by Texas' recent pro-life legislation, shouting on social media, “WOMEN WILL DIE” and “DEMOCRACY WILL WITHER & DIE, & DICTATORS WILL THRIVE.”

Is Cher a Moloch worshiping, Illuminati Devil Witch with a whopping socialist net worth of $380 million or a simple pop genius with a social conscience? Either which way, she's out if 45 becomes 47. 

Here at the Compound and by way of serious analysis, we wonder if this isn't reason enough to vote for El Senor. Not that voting actually seems to matter much, but still.

Time you left, Cher.

LSP

Steady Boys Steady

 

Well, no sooner than an SPQR video with a brave war dog is posted than all hell breaks out in the Middle East, not that there wasn't enough of that already. Worrying, eh? Here at the Compound we're cooking ribs in the oven, lo and slow, and thanking God for His goodness. And, it being the Feast of Ignatius of Antioch, here's a prayer:

Almighty ever-living God, who adorn the sacred body of your Church with the confessions of holy Martyrs, grant, we pray, that, just as the glorious passion of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, which we celebrate today, brought him eternal splendor, so it may be for us unending protection. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

 

Ignatius, pray for us, and all of you, stand steady.

God bless,

LSP

WAR!

 

Note brave war dog and "what we do in life echoes in eternity."

SPQR,

LSP

Gone Fishing

 

So, what'd you do today, so-called LSP, if that's your real name, which we doubt. Well, nothing complicated, a morning visit to the Pick 'n Steal and then off to the lake and its dam to try my luck against the piscine adversary. Would they bite?

No, they did not. Don't get me wrong, I tried, I really did, but the fish weren't having it. There they were, predatory gar lying in ambush downstream of the spillway pool, you could see them loud and clear through cleverly polarized glasses.

But no, they weren't having it, frozen shad didn't cut it today, so I tried my luck at Soldiers Bluff on the other side of the dam. There were fish there, yes, you could see them, but would they bite? No, they would not.

In fact, it was like fishing into a wind tunnel and who can blame the fish for keeping their heads down beneath the surging waves. So I packed up light Ugly Stick rods and headed for home, thankful for a morning under the big clear sky and clean air of Texas.

Don't worry, fish, your day will come. Draw the moral as you care to take it and that, dear readers, is the story of that.

Never Surrender,

LSP

A Short Sunday Reflection

And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:

And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Mt. 22:11-13)

Ferocious words from Christ and perhaps they seem somehow unfair. After all, the man had been invited off the streets, no wonder he wasn't dressed up. But our Lord isn't talking salvation through haberdashery, he's addressing the state of a person's soul.

Is that clothed correctly? If it's not, if our hearts are full of darkness, of pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, sloth and incumbent wickedness, then we have no part in the marriage feast; we can't participate or be a part of the celebration of the union of God and Man in Christ. On the contrary,  our home isn't in heaven, it's in the other place, the outer darkness where there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth, Hell.

So put on the wedding garment, all you who've answered the invite of the king and turned up at the feast which is the worship of the Church on earth and in heaven. Put on the garment or find yourself thrown out as a soul incompatible with divine love. But what is this garment?

St. Paul describes its character and quality, writing to the Philippians,  "...whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence..." Truth, honor, justice, purity, love, grace, excellence, these are the defining qualities of a soul fit for the feast. And they are the virtues of Christ himself. As the Apostle says elsewhere, we must "put on" Christ as a garment.

To that end, turn to our Savior in humble, repentant faith that he may clothe us in righteousness and admit us to the marriage feast of the Lamb, to paradise itself.

You'll note, Worldwide LSP Communion, that I am preaching to myself.

Vade Retro Satana,

LSP

Heart Of Glass

 

Good heavens

would this be banned today?

Your Best Pal,

LSP

Glass

 

It wasn't easy to tear myself away from our impending doom 24/7 news war cycle but that's what I did, put down the internet and drove out to Mission #2 for a presentation by Bryant Stanton of Stanton Studios on his glasswork. This features at the Mission in a series of windows, which he made in the '80s.

Since then he's grown in expertise and so has his family business, which produces remarkable glass, not least for the Church. Seriously, here's a person, a true artist and craftsman who creates beauty in this medium, glass.

I tell you, a rare breed and even rarer, totally without side, a humble and faithful Christian artisan. I was totally impressed. You can see his studio's work here and, if your church needs new or restored stained glass, give him a call. Most definitely the real deal. I understand he works nationally but perhaps overseas too.

And herein lies a lesson. We've surrounded ourselves with ugliness in our shortsighted greed and this reflects an ugliness of the soul. Stanton and people like him are about the exact opposite, we must support them.

Cheers,

LSP

Listen Up - You Pagans

 

wisdom

GloboHomo really hates this and, back in the day, they killed his servants. What did the King do? He sent his army to kill those murderers and burn their city down. Here, in Western idiom:

Do you think, gentlemen and women, that the King will act differently today?

Titus and Vespasian forever,

LSP

The Southern Deanery

 

There are many deaneries in the Diocese of Fort Worth but only one deanery, the Southern Deanery. I'm in charge of that, which makes me a Rural Dean, curiously. But what do I mean by "curiously"? Loyal son of the South all the way. Let's have a look, plates to prove it.

We met together tonight amidst candlelight for wine, cheese, meat and Hawaiian buns, tasted pretty good. And what good boys, all for the Faith. And that's what we're talking about, when this sinful edifice comes crashing down as it surely must, the Faith will remain.

Bless you all,

LSP

Just Take It Easy

 

Hey now, maybe this helps, but perhaps anodyne? Then there's this... anthem:

DFTR,

LSP