It's Independence Day: Pray for Our Poor, Battered Country

Lady Liberty is under direct assault from liberal mobs who don't give a hoot for law except to use it as a bludgeon to target those who disagree with them. Hence we have Obamacare pounding people of conscience and federal and local laws designed to suppress dissent and deny reality.

Instead of living in the land of the free and the home of the brave, we are living in the land of the over-regulated and the home of the wimps. What must our Founding Fathers think of the California law that allows "transgendered" people to use restrooms, showers, locker rooms, etc. that correspond to the way they feeeeeeel instead of the biological reality of who they are. Feeling like a woman will NEVER turn a biological male into a biological female. Little boys will still be little boys no matter how many tutus hang in the closet or how many operations disfigure their bodies.

Sadly, this Independence Day can be summed up by describing America as a land where citizens have the independence to believe and legislate any nonsense no matter how unreal or untruthful. In this new, improved (according to liberals) country, everything is up for grabs and each individual can create his own reality based on...whatever! Our new national motto has changed from In God We Trust to In (fill in the blank) I trust. As for the former motto E Pluribus Unum (From Many, One), that has degeneration to From many, even more. We no longer have a common language; we no longer hold common beliefs. The country is unraveling while bobble-headed liberals tell us we are getting better and better. Ah...if only it were true!

But, as the Christophers say, it is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness. Each of us is responsible to be a light in his own family and community. Like the glorious little sparks of light in the June sky, each of us can be like the little firefly who twinkles in the night. Darkness can never overcome the light, because darkness is nothing! It is simply the absence of light. So each time one of us lights up, darkness is defeated. And while many serve the darkness, like the Texas pro-aborts chanting, "Hail, Satan!", they are doomed to ultimate defeat because they serve an already-vanquished prince. May they change allegiances before they share his doom!

So light your lamp and place it on the lampstand to give light to all in the house. And when you watch the fireworks tonight, remember to shine your glorious light of Christian truth and love for all the world to see. Will you pray the rosary today for our country and push back the darkness? That's my plan.

Time Out for Refreshing the Soul

I didn't use the computer much today. Instead I met with a group of women friends for lunch. We are all serious orthodox Catholics engaged in a wide range of apostolates: Catholic education, pro-life, working to get moral politicians elected, etc. Between lunch and desert we stopped to pray the rosary for our country, the election of our Virginia ticket next November, and for our individual prayer needs.

Listening to the lovely voices of these women praying together filled my heart with joy. During our visit, we shared information about each others families, talked about politics, religion, and books, and, not surprisingly, my own latest project: bee-keeping. We laughed a lot. One of my friends commented that we should only agree to discuss gay marriage at the insane asylum because that's where the discussion belongs. Amen!

We decided at the end of our afternoon, as we were all hugging and saying good-bye, that we need to do this on a regular basis, maybe once every few months. In a world hell-bent on suicide, where sanity seems to have fled the scene, those who love God need to meet and rejoice in our common embrace of Christ and His Church. What a refreshing and delightful respite this was, dare I say, a little preview of the joy of heaven?

Yes, we will meet again for fellowship and prayer and bring others into our blessed circle. True joy dispels the darkness. Evil hates it and flees from it. If you are feeling surrounded by evil, smile and repeat the name of Jesus. If you don't know Him, if you don't believe God even exists, ask Him to show you. God never leaves us alone in the dark and He reads our hearts. If we are sincerely seeking Him, we will find Him. And how can anyone, on finding Him not react the way the woman who swept her house looking for her lost coin reacted - with celebration. As Scripture says, "Rejoice in the Lord always."

That's what we did this afternoon and it was a joy to behold. Praise God for good friends!

And to top the day off, on the way home, as if to confirm the joy of the day and His promise to be always with us, we saw a brilliant rainbow arcing across the entire sky. We didn't need the pot of gold at its end to feel rich!