I thank you for all the prayers for my mother-in-law..

I truly thank all those caring folks that offered prayers and condolences for my mother-in-law, Edith Ryder, who recently passed on.  It is good to know that she touched the lives of so many people she didn't even know.  God bless you all..

Gene DeLalla

Does Hell exist?

The following is an excerpt taken from an article appearing on CNSnews.com.

In his article, "Do We Still Need to Believe in Hell," Dr. Bruce writes, "Hell lost some of its purchase on humankind in the 19th century, when new scientific theories such as Darwinism eroded the authority of the Bible and the tides of sentiment turned against God’s wrath in favor of His mercy.

"... In some distant, better future, the foreclosure of Hell will be an important step in the maturation of human communities that can mete out justice on their own, without supernatural aid."

No, I don't know Dr. Bruce, but I can tell you that he is an atheist, simply, by the above quote.  

I do know that the word atheist is a pretty strong word to use these days, but there comes a time when we must call a spade a spade, and, more importantly, stand up for what we believe.

One of the main reasons for the "culture of death" that permeates American (and world) society, is the negative "belief" in something that doesn't exist!  

How can this be?  It doesn't make any sense to deny a negative!  This is the irrationality of an atheist.  But why would anyone choose to be irrational, especially when it comes to God or Christ?  Because just the mention of God or Christ tweaks their conscience; an atheist simply can't run and hide; He's everywhere.

Forget, for the time being, the supernatural, because even on the natural level, the obvious cannot be denied; the evidence is all around us; it stares us in the face; we can see it, touch it, observe it in the night sky.  Nature abounds with a finger that points to the Creator, especially when we see a child being born.  A true miracle!  I know it was for me...

I just mentioned the culture of death; it is all too real, and comes in many forms.  And that child being born?  Look at the opposite: killing that child before she is born.  Why would anyone do such a thing?  This is a rhetorical question, because we know the answer: "... In some distant, better future, the foreclosure of Hell will be an important step in the maturation of human communities that can mete out justice on their own, without supernatural aid."

That's why.

Again, just as on a human, natural level, without governance, man becomes as the wild animals in the jungle, and mirrors Darwin's survival of the fittest, or, take for example, the Declaration of the Rights of Man, written as a tenet of the French Revolution.  

One of the key provisions of the Dec. of the Rights of Man, is the "right" to do whatever you want, when you want, with no restrictions (of morality or religion) save for one: not interfering or denying the rights of others to do the same!  What Godless lunacy!

Of course, one of the tenets of the "progressives" of any revolution, is the first part of Dr. Bruce's quote: "...when new scientific theories such as Darwinism eroded the authority of the Bible and the tides of sentiment turned against God’s wrath in favor of His mercy."

Notice two things: first, he refers to Darwinism, and, two, the sloppy, warm and fuzzy "Christianity" that is floating around: "...against God's wrath in favor of His (at least he capitalized the "H" in His!  Maybe there is hope for this guy?) mercy."

I have to give him credit where credit is due: he hit the nail on the head; the emphasis is now on God's mercy, rather than His justice.  The fact of the matter is, you cannot have one without the other.  To believe in mercy without justice, is to presume on His mercy no matter what one does, but this presumption is a sin against the virtue of Hope; the other being despair.  There must be a balance; to ignore the justice part of the equation is to fall into the trap of not worrying about our actions, words, or inactions, thinking that at the end of our lives, we can presume that He will be merciful toward us! 

And that trap is what the demon wants us to fall into.  After all, he told us long ago that we can take a bite of that apple and "be like God": the ultimate PRESUMPTION.

Gene DeLalla

  

  

The passing of my mother-in-law...

At 11PM last night, (officially, 12:17am by the nurse) my mother-in-law, Edith Ryder, 88 years old, passed away with all her children around her.  A priest was called and gracefully came from a distance to pray over her.  She suffered much.  Her husband, Donald, died several years ago.  He was a POW in North Korea for nearly 28 months, and as I've read, he was a hero to his brother prisoners, getting whatever additional supplies and food to those suffering more than he.

In 1993, I lost my dad; he was 82.  In 2001, just before "9/11", my brother died at the young age of 59.  In 2007, on December 26 (the feast of St. Stephen), my mom passed away at the age of 92 (she was still sharp as a tack!).  All my former, immediate family members are now gone.  Plus, all my grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts and uncles; I guess this is an indication that I'm getting older...

It is also an indication -- maybe more like getting hit over the head with a brick! -- that we don't know when we will be called to be judged by Christ, our Just Judge, and be accountable to Him for our actions, words, or inactions, for that matter.

Can you all see just how important it is to get right with God?   And I'm not just talking about "accepting Christ as your personal Savior" either, but rather doing all that He commanded us to do, in Scripture and sacred Tradition.  We cannot pick and choose what to believe, or what commandments we wish to obey, while ignoring others that may SEEM too difficult to fulfill.  We don't have that luxury, not if we want to be part of that select group: the Elect.

I ask all those of good will to pray for my mother-in-law; for God's mercy on her immortal soul.

RIP, Edith Ryder.

Gene DeLalla

 

Hollywood and the ghost of John McCain invade the Middle East...

The title of the article should be: Hollywood and the ghost of John McCain CONTINUE to invade the Middle East.

Let's take a quick look at the "civil"-war-torn country of Syria...

First, it is not a civil war, hence the quotation marks.  It is, and has been, a war of the government forces of Assad, and the outsiders attempting regime change.  The "rebels" have been, and continue to be, supported, financed and encouraged by the ghost of John McCain and his legion of war-hawks tied in to the military industrial complex of the U.S. of A.

When it comes right down to it, a nation's sovereignty means little if anything to those with the agenda of perpetual war, never satisfied with the death, destruction and destroyed lives that their insatiable appetite for --- MONEY --- causes.  As I always say: follow the money trial...

If there is a big winner in any war, it is, by far, the military industrial complex that former President Eisenhower warned about so many years ago.

Second, President Trump has, I'm afraid, fallen for the trap set by the war mongers in his cabinet, including, but not limited to Nikki Halley -- his ambassador to the U.N., as well as John Bolton as security advisor.

I point to one example -- there are many -- of the so-called gassing of the Syrian civilians by their president, Assad, and his forces.

If anyone has ever read or heard of gas being used in war, there is a certain attribute that is inherent in such attacks, not only to those that are affected, but also includes medical personnel attempting to render aid.

Take a look at the horrendous effects of gas used by the Germans against the allies in World War I.  To my understanding, the gases used were of the nerve and mustard varieties.  Exposure was deadly, or at least completely debilitating, or life-changing to those unfortunate enough to be caught without a gas mask.

In Syria, there was a supposed gas attack, followed quickly -- with little investigation to find out the truth of what actually happened -- by Pres. Trump launching dozens of Cruise missiles at an air field, where, supposedly, there was a stockpile of cannisters of poison gas.  And now, there is talk of another imminent -- false flag -- gas attack, again, by Assad against his own people.

It just doesn't make any sense.  Why?  Because the government forces, with the help of the Russians, and others, are defeating the rebels that have been attempting to drive Assad from office, and to further destabilize the country.  But these "rebels" have been, and continue to be, supported by the likes of the now-dead McCain and his cronies.  And Trump, again, has warned that another gas attack will be met with more Cruise missiles and who knows what else?  Will there be an investigation after such an attack, if it does happen, or will there be a rush to judgment without placing the blame where it really belongs?

And now, Hollywood...

I have seen some really bad acting in the areas of the supposed gas attacks and the aftermath, with victims and medical personnel obviously following a scripted scenario.  Not only that, but the so-called "white helmets" have been accused of being the actual perpetrators of the false flag attacks in several areas of Syria, as well as being friendly with the so-called "rebels."

If you think that Hollywood's involvement is far-fetched, think of the elites of that debauched group and what their mission is here in the U.S.: taking out Trump at all costs, and in any way possible -- peaceful or not.  Tie this together with the disaster of Syria, and the picture becomes much clearer.  Again, follow the money and ideological trail, it usually leads to complete socialism, and absolute government control of every aspect of our lives.

Please pray for Pres. Trump, and pray for our country.

Gene DeLalla

We want our Church back!!

About 2,000 years ago, an interesting incident took place somewhere in the Holy Land.  It seems that a Pharisee by the name of Saul of Tarsus, was heading overland to Damascus, Syria, to obtain more damaging information about the early Christians.  His chore: to bring those Christians to "justice."

As he, and his cronies, were approaching the famed city, an extremely bright light along with a loud sound as if a mini-whirlwind had encircled Saul, and knocked him off his donkey.  The men travelling with him were confused and scared, but they didn't see all that was affecting their companion, and they certainly didn't hear what Saul heard: (a voice from out of the clear blue sky) Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?

Saul was stunned beyond comprehension, then blinded.

He exclaimed something to the effect: who are you?  What do you mean I'm persecuting you?  I don't even know you?

All this while in sort of a drunken stupor, flailing around on the ground, reaching for thin air...

What was the source of the voice from above?  It was the "dead" Christ.

Saul wondered why he was accused of persecuting this Christ, when he never even met Him?

The point of this encounter was two-fold: one, this was the beginning of the transformation of Saul of Tarsus, to becoming St. Paul, the great Apostle to the Gentiles.  And, two, to indicate to Saul of Tarsus, that when he was persecuting the nascent Christian Church, he was, in reality, persecuting Christ Himself!

In other words, Saul had been persecuting Christ!  The Head of the Mystical Body, the Church.

Fast forward to today...

There is another persecution of the Church going on right now on a massive scale.  Not only from without, but also this time, from within by the very shepherds designated to lead the flock to their eternal destiny, but instead are scandalizing and corrupting their charges in the most heinous of ways: infidelity, in the form of sexual deviancy.  Not just personal sexual deviancy, but in many cases overt homosexual deviancy.

Information has come to light of a vast and widespread network of corruption and scandal among  some of the rotten apples in the clergy.  Of course, even the good guys wearing the Roman collar are now lumped in with the same rotting fruit that has fallen from the evil tree, confusing even more, the lay faithful.

Whom can they trust?  Whom can WE trust?

Let me now harken back to the now-converted Saul, renamed Paul, and with the "St." in front of his name...

It seemed there was a controversy bubbling just below the surface among the hierarchical structure of the new Christian Church, with Peter (St. Peter) concerning some of the old customs of the new Jewish converts, causing confusion -- and scandal -- between those very same Jewish converts and the Gentiles that had entered the Church.  Basically, should those old customs be carried over into the new Christian traditions?

St. Paul attempted to iron-out the controversy, but how?

By resisting St. Peter to his face (as reported in Scripture).

Remember, St. Peter had been a weak and sinful man who denied Christ not once, but three times.  And yet, Christ selected and appointed him to be the head of His Church!  It should be easy to see, that the reason for the Church in the first place, is for sinful men and women; the just have no need of penance.

The point of my short article is to point out that today we lay faithful and those clergy who abhor the vast scandal affecting the flock, and remain in solidarity with Scripture and Tradition, must fight those rotten apples and pray for their conversion or defeat.  Even if that means going all the way up to the pope; to resist him to his face!

We faithful Catholics want our Church back!

Right now, we are in a period of severe testing, perhaps like no other in its 2,000 year history.  Will the Church survive this crises?

The answer is YES!  How do I know?  Because we have Christ's own words: the gates of hell  will not prevail against it.

I ask those of good will to pray for the Catholic Church, and to pray of our country.

Gene DeLalla 

Reflections in The Wall...

Poem from a Vietnam Combat Veteran:  Reflections in the Wall.

Reflections in The Wall:

I was drawn to the black granite monolith known as The Wall,

Yet too far to see the names, but close enough to see people weeping.

For a moment, I stopped dead in my tracks: should I continue?  Could I take what I was about to see?

As I approached The Wall, I became smaller, and it became bigger.

Soon, I could see flowers, medals, Rosary beads, letters, and more people weeping…

Now in view were the names that for a time I could not see.

Turning to confront the names, I looked into The Wall…

There were my brothers looking back at me.

As I looked at their reflections, I saw myself standing with them.

Placing my hand on The Wall, I began to shiver as if I had a fever,

But it was a warm, sunny day.

I began to pray for my brothers in The Wall;

Selfishly, I began to pray for myself.

I am getting older by the day, but I’m alive, but those in The Wall are not.

Someday, my name, too, will be on The Wall.

Will anyone come to see me in The Wall?

Gene DeLalla

Traitors.

Traitors; they come in all shapes and sizes, and in all institutions, and that includes the mess that has been revealed in the Catholic Church.

When it comes to those who betray their office, whether priest, politician, police officer, school teacher, etc., they scandalize, not only the people, but the institution as well, making people feel that the institution is corrupt, not just those involved.  Yet, if we follow this thinking, the logical conclusion would go something like this: people get divorced, so marriage is worthless, and is corrupt, and the institution of matrimony should be relegated to the trash bin of history.

Or, take for example, a police department of a small town, or a metropolis, it makes no difference, if a cop is on the take, the reputation of the good cops is smeared along with the miscreant.  But does that mean that all police departments should be done away with?

How about a politician who betrays his constituents by taking bribes, or is involved in other illegal activities, does that automatically condemn governance?

Then there is the public school teacher who takes advantage and abuses one of his or her students, should all public schools then be shut down because of one "bad apple"?

Or a priest that uses his Roman collar to take advantage of those under his spiritual charge, engaging in the most heinous activities against the vulnerable. (Keeping in mind that we are talking about homosexuals that are part of the "lavender mafia" within the Church, and must be rooted out and brought to justice.)  But does that mean that the priesthood is to be condemned and terminated?

On this subject, the difference between a corrupt priest (bishop, cardinal, etc.) and the Church itself must be made clear: the Church is spotless, holy, pure, yet is made up of sinners.  (I know, I'm one of those sinners.)  

But how can this be?  

The answer is "simple": the perfect Christ -- the divine Founder -- cannot be the Head of an imperfect body.  (Luther was wrong because he failed to make the distinction between sinners and the sinless Church.)

We are talking here about fallen, weakened human nature.  It is not, for the most part, the office or institution that is corrupt, but those sinful men and women who cause scandal and foster corruption within their respective offices.

One of the obvious results of the maleficence of office, is that those influenced by those who hold that office, will understandably lose faith or confidence in the office, and not just the person holding that position.   

And that is what scandal is all about.  We see this today in the Catholic Church; people leaving, or losing their faith, or going elsewhere.  But, as Christ questioned His Apostles: will you too walk away?  St. Peter answered: Lord, where else can we go, You have the words of eternal life... Remember, the gates of hell will never prevail against her...

Please pray for our country, and pray for peace.

Gene DeLalla