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Are you beginning to wonder what's going on? Oh, I forgot to tell you "I mislead you." I had this wish list and so I fabricated all of the above to protect my Church, and I deeply regret having to admit that to you. Not that I think that's wrong because lying has become so accepted in today's society that I imagine you'll just look the other way and say, "oh well, it's a free daily publication so we don't want to rock the boat." Like someone else we all know, who's been in the news a lot over the six plus years of his administration, we figured the reader would buy anything we say if we put on the emotions and cleverly couch our words to intimate threat and intimidation. Sorry, folks - we don't want sympathy. And neither should the country offer sympathy or excuses for the aberrations being foisted upon us by the president of the United States - an office that should exhibit the highest moral character of all. What we did in the above paragraph was wrong and, unlike Bill Clinton we will apologize and promise it will never happen again. We did so not for selfish reasons, but to bring home a point - an important point that, sadly, so many citizens seemed to have missed by burying their heads in the sand. Another president Abraham Lincoln, who is the difference of day and night between our present chief of staff, is credited with saying "You can fool all of the people some of the time; some of the people all of the time; but never all of the people all of the time!" How right he was. The one thing he missed, however, is that you can never fool God - not some of the time or even once! He knows all and he knows what is in Clinton's heart; He knows when Clinton lies even if the majority of gullible Americans don't. What gets us is that so many express the concern that the economy is good so why mess with a good thing, let Clinton do what he wants - even if he is deceiving the country like no leader of this nation ever has. Well, folks, here's an eye opener for you from the political side of things: Bill Clinton has nothing to do with the great economy! He inherited the economic windfall from past administrations for it takes years and years for causes and effects to take effect. After all, look at his record and all he has done is veto bills that would be good for the soul of America and pass bills that cry to the Heavens for avenging. So don't, for a minute, think that joker in the oval office, who has diminished the prestige and reverence for the highest office in the land, can take credit, but he does. After all just more lies. He is the foster child of the father of lies and, as Our Lady prophesied in early 1991, we would elect someone in our country who would take us to perdition. We stand at the brink of the abyss right now.
We're referrring, of course, to our souls. But our bodies may be in peril, too, for, to offset scrutiny against him he has done what he has always done and what satan thrives on: create a diversion. In this case it is both lashing out at those who would dare criticize him and/or rustle up a war to divert attention away. Case in point are his actions in Afghanistan and Sudan, two trouble spots that have been festering for years but only conveniently became crucial on Thursday, two days after polls began to show an erosion in his popularity among the dunderheads who are polled - if such an animal exists. We ask again, do you know anyone who has ever been polled? His hawkish actions jeopardizes not only countless military personnel overseas but Americans safe and cozy in their own homes. Terrorism is once again on the rise and it is a known fact that followers of Islam consider the United States the great satan. They first coined that in Iran under Khomeini and then parroted that during the gulf war in Iraq. They were referring back then to a country led by President Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George Bush respectively - all men who conducted themselves with decorum and class. Little did we know the Moslems were prophetic and that the great satan now sits behind the desk in the oval office! And this "great satan" is taking the nation down a very delicate, dangerous road - offering up innocent young men and women and the conscience of America in order to thwart the attention away from his own immoral actions and consequences. The consequences could be apocryphal for this country and the world for this isn't just a "Wag the Dog" - a make-believe war scenario - but a very real caldron of tension that could boil over into a full-scale war not only between America and terrorists, but a united Islam front as well. With all the lies Clinton has spun, who is to believe anything he says - especially concerning the security of our country? It is a known fact that after Reagan and Bush built up a powerful military force, Clinton has relished decimating it. Who knows what calibre of force we have and whether it has any teeth left. It is highly doubtful the tragedies that occurred at two U.S. embassies last week would have happened with a "full time" competent military intelligence. Clinton should take full blame for allowing it to happen, especially in light of the fact he admitted his intelligence sources knew the terrorists were planning something. But then, who's to believe him? He's cried "wolf" too many times. Clinton also is to blame for misleading millions for the sake of his own interests and immoral peccadillos at the expense of our country and its very soul!
The moral demise of America didn't begin with Bill Clinton but it did begin with his mentor - lucifer who has infiltrated every fabric of American culture from family to business to schools to churches. The latter is what we're concerned with most - especially the One, True, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. If most of the things listed in our prefabricated "wish-list" above were to come true, the Church would be in a better position to fend off the demoralization fallout, but alas, it isn't. Therefore, we must accept this as part of our cross and, as members of the Church Militant, resolve to attack the problem head on as Sister Mary Lucy Astuto in her column titled His conscience is his guide and my better half Cyndi Cain in her weekly article on the "Symphony of Suffering" entitled If we don't discard the hollow tones of immorality and lies, then our symphony falls flat express so eloquently in this weekend's issue. True to all the Blessed Mother has foretold, events in our country are rapidly approaching the times she conveyed. We have had "ten years of Mercy" which officially ends in September this year. This has been widely circulated and confirmed by that esteemed locutionist Father Don Stefano Gobbi. Many other messages point to the fall season this year as the time of a full-fledged chastisement that will culminate next year with the glorious and long-anticipated Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary as Our Lady has predicted at Fatima and Medjugorje. Between that time and now, if we don't follow God's laws and His Church's teachings to the fullest, if we don't stand up to the relativism so prevalent in society and schools today, if we don't speak out against those who mock God by flaunting sin in His face, then we can be assured we are going to have hell to pay...and that's no lie!
The Catholic Church teaches that there are three kinds of consciences: a LAX conscience, which doesn’t think that certain acts are sins OR doesn’t care; the SCRUPULOUS conscience, which thinks certain acts are sins that are not; and the RIGHT conscience that is formed correctly to know what truly offends God and what does not. We have the Ten Commandments as our major guide, thanks to our Good God Who gave them to us through Moses. And we have the teaching of the Church which explains the Commandments to us clearly. Every Christian has the obligation to work at forming a RIGHT or CORRECT conscience. That means studying and internalizing all of the moral rights and wrongs implied and given in the Ten Commandments.
If we were fortunate, we would have had a very good Catholic education, either from our parents or Catholic school or CCD program. We would have been blessed to have learned right from wrong beginning at an early age.
The reality must be faced, however, that good Catholic education has been wanting in the last 25 to 30 years. Instead of the basic truths of our Faith being taught, students were presented with an humanistic love, love, joy, joy approach to their religion.
No Catholic can be against love and joy, but the truth is that those are fruits. One doesn’t get fruit from a tree until he has first planted the seed. One does not put the roof on the house without first laying the foundation.
All of these laxities in the teaching of the Catholic Faith are now bearing bad fruit in the adult conscience today which is so ready to excuse evil and accept "it" as: "Well, everybody else is doing it. What’s the big deal?"
Satan has succeeded in creating this confusion in our day. In a previous article, I had written that a person cannot have one conscience in private and a different one in his work place. Those who think that President Clinton’s private life is none of our business must realize that if Clinton can repeatedly commit adultery (as he has done for years with Jennifer Flowers and now Monica Lewinsky, at least), and yet do a good job in leading our country, are badly misinformed. A human being brings the SAME conscience with him everywhere. If President Clinton is breaking God’s Laws in a BIG way in private, don’t for a minute think he can make morally right decisions for this nation, which is OURS. It is no wonder, for example, that he cannot SEE the evil in partial birth abortion or any abortion for that matter. His conscience is a very LAX one and is very darkened.
And dear reader, don’t tell me "we can’t judge." That’s another tool of the evil one. We CAN and MUST make objective judgments about what is right and wrong. To do otherwise is to be like those who bury their heads in the sand. There’s no "light" there.
More about Clinton next week. In the meantime, let’s pray hard for him. God bless you!
In my heart, God has let me know that this symphony from His people is most discordant, very unpleasant to the Most Blessed Trinity. Our Blessed Mother sheds many tears for her children, and pleads for the Most Sacred Heart to be merciful to the entire human race.
Still, the lack of harmony of our symphony with that eternal symphony of love and praise goes on unabated, and in many instances, the symphony is given no more thought than the TV programs we all flick on day and night to occupy our poor, tired, lazy brains.
For example, God has placed upon my heart the extreme sadness He feels at the whole presidency now in the White House, and suggests that the name "White House" should more likely be called a "Black House", for the sins of those who occupy it are many. He does not "hate" the President, nor anyone else. God hates the sin, and He expects us, if we are His children, to "hate" the sin just as He does, for that is justice, mercy, and love.
However, if one is to put any stock in the polls being taken over the scandal in the White House, then one must conclude that, by and large, we are a nation of people who prefer to have our cake and eat it too, and as long as we have that, then let's let the current administration go right ahead, unabashed, unpunished, unrepentant. If we, on the other hand, were to raise up our collective voices, condemn the sin, and seek to remove the administration for such blatant sins that cry out before God, we just might loose that comfort zone of a "good" economy.
Can any economy be called "good" if it is obtained through evil? Can any prosperity of possessions, which surround us with luxury, leisure, and unholy entertainment, ever be pleasing to God? However, condone this sin, this administration - we do repeatedly. We prefer to justify and rationalize the sin so that we do not jeopardize our luxury and comfort in a good economy.
God's commandments apply to every single human being. No one is exempt. To lie, to cheat, to steal, to commit adultery, to kill (not with weapons of mass destruction, but with our tongue that lies and misleads) are all abominations before God. Where there is anyone or everyone committing sin and remaining unrepentant, then the effect of the sin touches every human being on earth.
Did not the sins of mankind cause God to send His Only-begotten Son to earth to teach, heal, preach, work miracles, and show us a new way, the Good news of the Gospel? In addition, did not the sins of mankind cause Jesus Christ, our Lord, God and Savior, to die on the Cross?
If we believe this, then how in the name of God can we sit, stand or lie back idly while such abuses against God go on, for if we do, then we truly do not love God, nor do we seek mercy for the human race, and whatever prayers we offer do not ascent to Him, but return to us unanswered.
Just in the United States these past days, our symphony has been so unmelodic as to be the din of hell. The populace of these United States, by and large, wants to sweep the debacle in the White House under the proverbial rug, and go on as if nothing happened. The polls indicate that the majority of the people say that the current administration's "sins" are much less than other administrations, which were "not caught in the act." Since when is "adultery", a minor sin? Since when is lying, cheating, misleading, killing others and their reputations by the words that come forth from the mouth okay for us because God understands?
God understands that we are weak, and we are weak because we prefer the things of this earth to His things, which are eternal and give life.
It is time to retune our symphony. It is time to get back on the right melody before it is too late to stay the Justice of God, where the righteous as well as the unrighteous will suffer in many ways. It is time for each person to stand up and be counted, to testify by word, by deed, and in our thoughts, for the Truth, which God has bestowed upon us.
We cannot afford to look the other way, to dismiss this administration's foibles as justified because, after all, the president and his associates are only human.
If we are going to be held accountable before God for our actions, or lack thereof, then so is the president, his aides, his family, and all who condone these actions. Furthermore, if we are to have respect for ourselves as human beings, respect as a nation, and expect to be respected by other nations, then we had better live up to high moral standards, practicing virtue to a very high degree, lest we find ourselves falling as did the Roman Empire, many centuries ago.
Is that not what is happening? Is not our nation falling into the abyss, just as Our Blessed Mother told us we would were we to elect the current administration the first time, not to mention re-electing it the second time?
If we cannot honor and respect our president, then we certainly cannot sit idly back, rationalize, and justify the actions of this man, and his staff. Were we intent upon joining in the symphony of suffering, we would get down upon our knees and pray for the president and his family. We would pray for our nation to be in God's favor, and not the stock market's favor. We would seek mercy from God for this administration, and for our ailing country's morals and values.
Only then would our prayers, our sufferings, our hurt at the president's failures, reach upward, joining in the eternal symphony of heaven. Only when we stand up and say, "Enough!" to the sin that is going on, can our prayers be answered with mercy. Only when we do that which is right in the eyes of God can our eyes look upon these grave sins and see them for what they are, and then seek to forgive the administration, which has forged alliances with the powers of evil, and not those of God.
To lie, and to lie skillfully, is not a gift from God. It comes from satan, and it is all too easy to overlook it, as has been done in the case of our current president. No matter that other presidents have fallen, too. That was then, this is now, and it is our now. We have to do something, we have to make it known to one another, and to God, that we are not going to permit this horror to go on, and we are going to sweep clean the "White House", and the Congress and Senate, and any other government department in need of a cleansing, because we want our nation to shine before God.
So, in the coming days and weeks as this scandal continues to fill headlines in the newspapers, to consume all the talk shows, and to be blared endlessly on the TV set, we should find ourselves in deep prayer, making sacrifice and doing penance for the sins of this administration, while we seek and will to forgive the president, et al, as God also commands.
It is imperative in our symphony that we remember God demands of us that we stand up for Him, for the Truth, and to deny and denounce all that is not of God, and keeps us from Him.
In this coming week, let us each offer one extra Mass, one extra Holy Communion, one extra rosary, or a favorite prayer, that the administration may be swept out of sight, and that God's infinite mercy may descend upon those who have brought our nation to such a base state, while the forgiveness in our hearts remains pure and genuine.
Then, our symphony will have meaning and melody. Then will our symphony be lifted up with Jesus' Infinite Merits, and our suffering will not be in vain, but rather, it will be a song of infinite value heard by God and answered by His Mercy, now and for all eternity.
