Pope Francis Some Kind Of Joke?

A joke? No, he's not. He's the head, chief pastor, shoes of the fisherman Pontif of the Roman Church. An heir and fulfillment, when you think of it, of the Imperium itself. So what does the spiritual head of Western civilization have to say about the Chinese Virus? That it's caused by Climate Change, by Global Warming. Here he is:

“We did not respond to the partial catastrophes. Who now speaks of the fires in Australia, or remembers that a year and a half ago a boat could cross the North Pole because the glaciers had all melted? Who speaks now of the floods?

“I don’t know if it is nature’s revenge, but it is certainly nature’s response.”

Nature's response? Well yes, in a round about way. If a crew of Chinese Communists mess with bat viruses in a lab in Wuhan nature will, most probably, run its course. Good call, cross the road, hit a truck. 

But Francis won't name the actual truck, he can't bring himself to call out the atheist tyrants who run China and work to crush the Church. You know, the same people who unleashed this on the world. He blames climate change instead.

Name the real culprit, Francis, but perhaps you're somehow... conflicted? For goodness sake, how embarrassing.

Soylent Green,

LSP

Maundy Thursday

On the night before he suffered, Jesus instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood. In doing so Christ draws his friends, his Apostles into communion with his own paschal sacrifice. Take, eat, this is my body given for you... this is my blood shed for you, given and shed upon the cross for our redemption. 

Jesus invites us too into this saving mystery, into union with his own sacrificial action on Calvary. In the words of Austin Farrer:

"Do the disciples understand the nature of the bond? Jesus has blessed his food, to be the body he will offer in his sacrifice; do they know that they are committed to membership in such a body as that?  A body flogged, broken, crucified - see, he crumbles the loaf before their eyes.  Do they perceive the new meaning in the ancient custom, the breaking of the bread?  Are they willing to be parts of such a body, are they willing that his body, with its sacrificial destiny, should be theirs?  

The disciples were not yet fully willing, but they came to be, and so we all must; for if we do not want to be given and surrendered to God, why touch religion at all?  By partaking of the sacrificial body, we are to be made capable of sacrifice, taken up, as we are, into the sacrificial being of Christ." (From This is my Body, 1958 Eucharist Congress)

Tonight, as we watch and pray with Jesus in the Garden before his betrayal, ask him to fill our hearts with his love. The same love given on the cross and commanded of us at the Last Supper, "Love one another as I have loved you." (John 13:34-35) The same love which takes us up into the "sacrificial being" of Christ himself.

ALMIGHTY Father, whose dear Son, on the night before he suffered, did institute the Sacrament of his Body and Blood; Mercifully grant that we may thankfully receive the same in remembrance of him, who in these holy mysteries giveth us a pledge of life eternal; the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who now liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit ever, one God, world without end. Amen.

God bless,

LSP

Rest In Peace John Prine

Country singer and legend John Prine died on Tuesday from Chinese Virus related illness, he was 73 years old. Out of many  excellent obits I like this.

Rest in peace and rise in glory,

LSP

Holy Wednesday Reflection

I find this helpful, perhaps you will too:

Light From Darkness

 

It is out of that uttermost gloom of My God, my God, why have you forsaken me that the light breaks. The light does not merely shine upon the gloom and so dispel it; it is the gloom itself transformed into light.  For that same crucifixion of our Lord which was, and for ever is, the utmost effort of evil, is itself the means by which God conquers evil and unites us to himself in the redeeming love there manifested.

 

Judas and Caiaphas and Pilate have set themselves in their several ways to oppose and to crush the purpose of Christ, and yet despite themselves they became ministers. They sent Christ to the cross; by the cross he completed his atoning work; from the cross he reigns over mankind.  God in Christ has not merely defeated evil, but has made it the occasion of his own supremest glory.

 

Never was conquest so complete; never was triumph so stupendous.  The completeness of the victory is due to the completeness of the evil over which it was won. It is the very darkness which enshrouds the cross that makes so glorious the light proceeding from it. Had there been no despair, no sense of desolation and defeat, but merely the onward march of irresistible power to the achievement of its end, evil might have been beaten, but not bound in captivity for ever.  God in Christ endured defeat, and out of the very stuff of defeat he wrought his victory and his achievement.

 

Archbishop William Temple (1881-1944) Mens Creatrix.

God in Christ endured defeat, and out of the very stuff of defeat he wrought his victory and his achievement.

Behold the mystery,

LSP

Devil Went Down To Georgia

Thanks for the infographic, LL, and while we're at it here's the song:

Speaking of Georgia, the Private's doing well at Ft. Gordon though he tells me Chinese Plague's disrupted the training schedule and assignment to units. There's one civilian contractor in quarantine at the base hospital. So. 

God bless,

LSP

Holy Tuesday Reflection

The many art philosophers who read this lighthearted mind blog might enjoy the Visual Commentary on Scripture (VCS). Here's an excerpt on James 1:12-27 from the VCS Holy Week series:

Another letter—the Letter of James—also highlights a choice between pathways, and Clare Carlisle Tresch’s exploration of its first chapter with the help of three works of art returns us to a consideration of ‘light’. James’s hearers are to ‘put away filthiness’ (James 1:21) and receive the gifts that come from ‘the Father of Lights’ (v.17). 

The self-enclosure of Narcissus in Caravaggio’s baroque painting has led him to turn away from the light. He is mesmerised by his own reflection, captive in the black depths of a pool. By contrast, the contemporary work of landscape sculpture by David Wood faces upwards from the waters on which it floats, fully open to the light ‘from above’ (v.17). 

The third work, a Renaissance panel by Fra Angelico, envisages what Jesus’s followers may hope for at the end of the path well chosen: the reward of those who have become ‘children of light’. They have followed the way of the cross, ‘the wisdom of God’, by which the circle of self is broken open and an encircling glory offers its embrace.

An encircling glory offers its embrace. I love that.

God bless,

LSP

Bedward The Flying preacher

There's a moral here, if you care to draw it.

LSP

Skorzeny Requiem

Otto Skorzeny, the same Otto who rescued a doomed Benito in a Fieseler Storch, went on to live and prosper. Skorzeny wasn't charged with war crimes, he lived instead in Portugal and elsewhere, and lived handsomely. Why?

Could it be that Otto was subcontracted by our own Power to do its "wetwork"? Don't say Kennedy. Instead, watch this short clip of the spec ops supremo's Requiem, and ask yourself, how many people in the funeral worked for US.

Just a thought. 

Love,

LSP

Her Majesty The Queen Addresses The Nation

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN.

LSP

God Save The Tzar

Note, they stand.

Dam straight.

LSP

Cantique de Jean Racine

Gentlemen and women, you might want to rent a blue tooth speaker for the Cantique because this version's sound challenged. Still, appropriate for the time, d'ye not think?

Some of you may be thinking muh flu, deepstate hoax. I'd urge you to go here, here and here.

Whatever the case, mourn the death of Western Christendom, what's left of her. Strive to rebuild. And remember.

An armed citizen is a citizen. Not a slave.

Your best Pal,

LSP

Walking The Eschaton

It was like a midsummer day in Borth on the Welsh Riviera. Overcast, a drizzling rain, not too cold, not too hot but no, this was North Central Texas and time to take Blue Eschaton for a walk.

The streets were empty, because of the Chinese Virus or because they always are? A mystery, and so was our old friend the Meth Shack. The Shack's under new management, who've been busy gutting the place with a view, presumably, to newer and better renters. Good luck with that worthy project.

Mourning the passing of an age, we advanced to the Pick 'n Steal. It still stands, essential business in the midst of lockdown. I tethered the Eschaton to an empty newspaper vending machine and went inside for a coffee "refill" in an invincible Yeti mug. 

The store's Owl Idol looked down with unflinching eyes on its supplicants, the usual crew of pajama wearin', slipper shufflin', lottery playin', blunt buyin' punters. There they were and there it was. Reassured that some things never change, I walked the furry apocalypse back to the Compound, mission accomplished. And then a curious thing happened.

Within a space of minutes, clouds rolled in from the north and with them a fierce wind. The temperature dropped like a stone in seconds, taking us from Borth in August to Borth in April. Fearing a Polar Vortex, I showed the Eschaton inside to warmth and safety.

Poor dog. You can imagine, centuries later, explorers discovering an elderly Heeler encased in ice, the remains of a fried cherry pie in his mouth, frozen where he stood on the awful day the Climate Changed.

That aside, I hope you've all managed to recover your firearms from the lakes and rivers and sensibly saved on SCUBA by use of powerful magnets and sturdy ropes.

God bless,

LSP

Arm Up You Fools

A lot of people lost all their firearms and ammo in boating accidents over the last year, and that's a tragedy. Maybe now's  a good time to hire SCUBA teams to salvage?

Just a thought, as looting and two-bit lawlessness starts to break out here and there. To be succinct, in the words of one of our London correspondents, "Junkies are fighting outside my window." The supply chain's diminished, you see.

Trump sends a letter to Sen. Schumer and it is worth reading in full. pic.twitter.com/jrvFnEI8oa

— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) April 2, 2020

In other news, the Pelosi/Schumer combine have started a new impeachment drive because they can't kick the habit, viz. junkies, and 45's announced war on the cartels. Meghan Markle, on the other hand, has made a stunning debut on Disney.

Coal Burner?

Whatever. Message to market. Arm up, be prepared. It's simple math and you've lost nothing for following it. Heck, you can always shoot the rounds later if they're not needed. 

As it is, they might be.

God bless,

LSP

Stardust

I love this song, calms you right down.

Your Friend,

LSP

Coronavirus Pandemic, Day 16.

Here's a report, from a survivor:

If anyone is still out there, I’m alive but struggling. Food is running low. Down to only 459 days worth. My hands are super sanitized and my butt is super clean.

Down to 1599 rounds of ammo (dropped 1 round down the heat vent while doing daily inventory). Power still on, but for how long? 

Missing human interaction but I have my dogs... for now... (I'm soaking their food in BBQ sauce in an attempt to marinate them from the inside in case I have to eat them). I fear dark days ahead. News is all bad. Neighbors have attempted to leap from windows to their death, (or near death... most have single story homes so they are badly bruised). 

Blew through most Amazon Prime TV series so may have to rewatch some again. Basic Survival is a definite challenge. I vow to persevere to the end, I am a survivor! 

Please, if there is life out there, communicate with me to help preserve my sanity.

*Copy and pasted from another fellow survivor *

For a viral roundup see Zero. For something more chilling, check out Aesop.

Cheers,

LSP

The Left Fears This

Full screen, please, and can't say as I blame 'em, what? Monkey on the home team.

#5w,

LSP

Tin Soldier

Here we go now,

LSP

Navajo Bread -- Cooking With LSP

What, cooking with LSP? That's both dangerous and stupid. Not so fast, punters, here's how it's done. First up, gaze wonderingly at all your wisely stockpiled flour and ask, what're you gonna do with it, eh? Make bread, obviously, Navajo Bread. It's easy and goes like this.

Put 2 cups of regular stockpiled flour in a mixing bowl. Add 1 stockpiled teaspoon salt, then follow that bad boy up with a tablespoon of baking soda. Throw in two teaspoons of hoarded vegetable oil and a teaspoon of salt. Or not, anarchist, your call.

Whisk it about but don't run off and fall asleep under the nearest tree like some kind of Mexican, your job's not done. No, add lukewarm water to the mix until it becomes a tacky, shaggy, workable dough. Around one cup perhaps.

Then mix that beast up, put it on a floured surface and knead the thing until it's elastic, around three or four minutes. Well done, congratulate yourself on getting this far and place the dough in an "oiled container," the original mixing bowl will do. Cover it up and let rest for an hour.

Next step? Cut the dough into six pieces. Roll each piece flat on a floured surface and fry the offerings in a hot, oiled, iron skillet. Don't be an idiot and burn the delicious bread, take each piece off the heat as brown spots occur and it's obviously done. 

You'll find, if all goes well with the culinary odyssey, that you end up with something like a cross between a tortilla and a naan. Awesome on both counts. And then, bread on hand...

Fall on your scoff like a warrior,

LSP

Lazarus Come Forth

Here's a short reflection on today's Gospel:

We see Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. This is terrifying because it confronts us with our own mortality, like Lazarus we're destined for death. As Ash Wednesday reminds us, "Remember, O Man, that thou art dust and to dust thou shall return."

Rather than face this unsettling truth we're inclined to run from it, to pretend immortality, and the culture around us bolsters the myth. We live in a world which has pushed death to the sideline, as if by denying it we will by some strange alchemy remove its specter. "You will not surely die," says the snake, eat of the apple "and you will be as God." (Gen. 3:4-5)

Satanic deceit and DFTR aside, the recent crisis has punctured the bubble of our supposed, godlike immortality. A disease looms over us which can be fatal, we must thank God that it's not more so, and over which we have little control, there is no cure. 

No wonder, then, that society around us is panicking. Our mortality, the very thing we've imagined out of existence, stares us in the face, the bubble is burst. Today's Gospel confronts us with the reality and tragedy of the thing. Lazarus is dead, Jesus wept. But consider.

Lazarus is dead and can do nothing about it, he has no power to help himself in the grave and neither do we. Christ, however, does.  He raises his friend to life, "Lazarus, come forth!" and Lazarus returns, alive, after four days in the tomb. 

We see that Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, has power over death. He defeats it himself, dying on the Cross only to rise again, triumphant over Hell, and he will raise us up too, his friends, his faithful, as he raised Lazarus.

So, in the words of our Lord who walked over the waters to his disciples, "be not afraid." (Jn. 6:20) Have no fear, we live in Christ, we are his friends, and neither the grave nor Pit has any power over us. We share in his victory, alive in him, to  everlasting life.

Take courage and rejoice in the mystery of our salvation and may God bless, preserve and keep you all, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Here endeth the Lesson, 

LSP

Victory Over The Turk

Sultan Erdogan wasn't happy with his failed drive to expand his wannabe Caliphate further into Syria, his embarrassment at the hands of Vladimir Putin, and declining popularity at home. There he sat, a dismal failure with a wretched 41% approval rating, hardly the stuff of Ottoman Imperial glory. So the Sultan turned West.

Humiliated by Putin And Forced to Stand Under Catherine The Great

In a bold barbarian attempt at blackmail, Erdogan told the European Union that the billions they'd paid him in 2016 to keep millions of unemployed military aged males from their borders wasn't enough. No, they had to pay him more, and when they didn't he opened the Turkish border to Greece, the gateway to Europe and the ultimate prize, Rome itself. The Big Apple.

Asylum Seekers

The Sultan was apparently counting on the multicultural, diversity is our strength, Islam's a religion of peace weakness of the West and Greece in particular. He might have failed in Syria but by the Beard of the Prophet, Greece would be annexed by a sheer movement of people rolling over a hollowed out, supine people, ready and waiting to be dhimmi slaves of the Ottoman overlord.

Rapefugees With Ladder

So thousands of Afghans, Iraqis, Libyans, a few Syrians and the contents of Turkish jails were unleashed on the Greek border. Greece said no, you can't come in. The Moslems lit fires, threw tear gas with the help of Erdogan's operators, attempted to storm the border fence with makeshift ladders. And still Greece said no as Austria and Poland sent the beleaguered country reinforcements to man the border while patriots offered the Hellenes a Gurkha Greek Legion (GGL) to assist in the fight.

The Miserable Turkish Camp

As of yesterday, the Sultan has withdrawn his army from the Greek border to undisclosed locations in the barbarian hinterland, after torching its makeshift and miserable camp. A victory for Greece and the West, a resounding defeat for the Turk.

Is the fight over? No, a battle's been won and thank God for it, but the war continues.

Deus Vult,

LSP

Adrenochrome Come Down

Living in Special Times............thank GOD for imagination and fried fish! 🐠🐠🐠 #quarantine #covid_19 #staysafe #becreative pic.twitter.com/AsStqQObOO

— Madonna (@Madonna) March 20, 2020

A lot of people are asking, "What's an Adrenochrome come down look like?" Here at the Compound we're happy to supply the answer, "Look no further, readers."

#quarantine #covid_19 #staysafe #becreative pic.twitter.com/DvU0i8GZzX

— Madonna (@Madonna) March 21, 2020

Adrenochrome medical studies report that the high level drug triggers "psychotic reactions such as thought disorder, derealization, euphoria and dissociation."

Bob Fosse is always a good distraction. Feeling inspired to write my own musical!! Feel free to make suggestions! 🎭🎤🎼🎬. #quarantine #staysafe #becreative #bobfosse pic.twitter.com/2nBsviiKQB

— Madonna (@Madonna) March 26, 2020

The elite, sought after drug is harvested in vivo from the adrenal gland of living humans, or by oxidizing epinephrine. Users typically exhibit fits of bizarre, narcissistic withdrawal and borderline to extreme psychosis.

Madonna, get well. You're better off without it!

Your Friend,

LSP

Shopping In The Plague Year

“And here I must observe again, that this necessity of going out of our houses to buy provisions was in a great measure the ruin of the whole city; for the people catched the distemper, on these occasions, one of another.” 

Daniel Defoe, History of the Plague in London.

Mindful of Mr. Defoe's admonition, I traveled to Walmart, not so much to shop as reconnoiter. The shelves were mostly full of necessities such as milk, bags of frozen fish, even a small amount of flour, though there was little meat. But there were few enough people to take advantage of the newly provisioned shelves. 

Stuck between the menace of Scylla and Charybdis, of the pest looming North to Dallas and South to Waco, they had stayed at home, such that you could fire a canon down dairy to beyond and not hit a soul. Still, some few had ventured out. 

Several, like myself, on reconnaissance. They stared silently at newly restocked pizzas and looked in vain for dry goods. Others, actual shoppers, pushed carts full of supplies. Some wore face bandannas as impromptu masks and  plastic gloves as protection from the plague. Both, doubtless, made in China.

I left the store with a Four Cheese pizza and a bottle of red wine and the words of Luke's Gospel echoing:

"...as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man: People were eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all..." (Lk 17: 26-27)

What a moment. Pope Francis in pouring rain, praying alone from the steps of an empty St Peter’s square.

“We are all in the same ship. We cannot make it alone. Only together.”
pic.twitter.com/aa2o3nrNRl

— Joyce Karam (@Joyce_Karam) March 27, 2020

Lest it do, pray with Pope Francis that this pestilence will pass over us and take note of his prayers before the miraculous crucifix of St. Marcellus and the icon of Mary Salus Populi Romani. A friend commented, "Ancient and spectacular and terrifying."

Ave,

LSP

The Truth?

With the rider that the current crisis will doubtless see a remarkable rise in awful novels, I like this infovideo.

Feel free to disagree,

LSP

A Beautiful Spring Evening But Don't Forget Detroit

Here we are on a beautiful Spring evening in North Central Texas. Peacocks shriek, roosters crow, fierce robins face-off against marauding squirrels and Mexican music fills the air as Eduardo tends to the neighboring chicken operation. 

All good, nature obviously rejoices at the Kennedy Center's $25 million gift, which you can read about on Virtual Mirage, LL's gentle and tolerant news portal. But of course things aren't so good, Kennedy Center pork notwithstanding, as the Chinese Virus starts to lay hold of the DFW metrosprawl. Then there's Detroit.

A Typical Detroit Street Scene

Detroit, America's onetime thriving Motor City has the highest rate of contagion outside of New York and New Orleans. Who would've thought it? Spare a prayer for the hapless city and its declining population.

Pre-Virus Detroit. Now It's Shut

But enough doom and gloom, it should be dry enough to get out to the range tomorrow for some plinking, or maybe fishing. We must thank God for his many mercies.

This Old Gentleman is Resting

Train hard, think positive, fight easy,

LSP

Powerful Prayers From Moscow

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow has approved the following prayers for inclusion in the Litany of Fervent Supplication. Via Anglican Ink:

Again we pray unto Thee, O Lord our God, for the mercy and salvation from the disastrous epidemic coming onto us, for the deliverance of Thy faithful people from spiritual and bodily death, for the healing and health of the diseased and for Thy divine protection and help, we pray unto Thee, O merciful Lord, hearken soon and have mercy.

Again we pray for the pacification of confusion and every fear among people, for the protection of Thy faithful by firm faith, for filling our hearts with peace and quietness, we pray unto Thee, O Lord, hearken and have mercy.

O Lord our God, enter not into judgment with Thy servants and save us from the disastrous epidemic coming onto us. Have mercy on us, Thy lowly and unworthy servants who in repentance, with fervent faith and broken heart, prostrate ourselves before Thee, O God, merciful and ordaining every good change, and trust in Thy mercy.

For Thy property it is to show mercy and to save us, O our God, and unto Thee do we send up glory, to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Thank you, Patriarch, for these powerful supplications.

God bless,

LSP