http://wdtprs.com/blog/2012/05/fr-zs-annual-rant-about-ascension-thursday-sunday-2/#comment-341144

Why do our Church leaders feel they must conform to the whims and fashions of the world?  Is not the Truth timeless?  Why are the great Holydays of Mother Church being systematically eradicated by a culture that has time for all manner of nonsense, but not time for our Creator? 

In all but a few dioceses in the United States, Ascension Thursday has turned into “Ascension Sunday,” presumably because its “too hard” for people to get to Holy Mass more than one day per week.  I love Ascension Thursday.  The only child I was able to bring into this world was born on Ascension Thursday.  I was in the hospital for almost a week and the only day Our Lord came to me in Holy Communion was that day that my son was brought forth, just prior to his birth.  I continue to meditate on what the meaning might be that my son was born on Ascension Thursday.  I actually was supposed to have him the day before, but he didn’t want to come out.  So the next day, a Caesarean was performed and my almost 10-pound baby showed his beautiful face to the world! 

Many other Holydays are going the same route, when one falls next to a Sunday.  The point is, these Holydays matter.  They are precious.  They should be preserved.  Catholic Survivalists must fight this fight.  Just as we must protect our water supply, our trees and our animals, we must protect the traditional riches of the Holy Roman Catholic Church.

Woe to the culture that fails to find time for God.  That fails to find time to attend Holy Mass.  For the just consequence is that God will begin to forget us.  “Oh, you’d like Me to stop that earthquake?  Well, let Me check my schedule…gee, I’m really rather booked up for today…you’d like Me to cure your cancer?…yeeeaaahhh…its not really looking good for today, I’ve got a few new universes to create…I’ll get back to ya!” 

Let us attend Holy Mass and receive Our Blessed Lord as often as possible, lest these great privileges be taken from us.  At that hour, there will be wailing by the locked Church doors,  pleading for Him to return to us.

Collect for the Feast of the Ascension (from the Mass of St. Pius V):

Grant, we beseech Thee, almighty God, that we who believe Thine only-begotten Son, our Redeemer, to have this day ascended into heaven, may dwell in spirit amid heavenly things. Through the same Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.

Scott P. Richert from “About.com:  Catholicism,” writes:

“Christ’s bodily Ascension foreshadows our own entrance into Heaven not simply as souls, after our death, but as glorified bodies, after the resurrection of the dead at the Final Judgment. In redeeming mankind, Christ not only offered salvation to our souls but began the restoration of the material world itself to the glory that God intended before Adam’s fall.”

For the complete text: 

http://catholicism.about.com/od/holydaysandholidays/p/Ascension.htm

For the “Novena to the Holy Ghost,” which is traditionally began on Ascension Thursday, to commemorate the days between the Ascension and Pentecost:

http://catholicism.about.com/od/prayers/p/Novena_HG.htm

For more on the Feast of Our Lord’s Ascension into Heaven, please search to the right for “ascension.”  You’ll also come up with info on the Rogation Days, which were celebrated this week.  Hopefully, Ascension Thursday won’t go the way of the Rogation Days.  Don’t forget, Ember Days are coming up soon!

O Lord, Ascended into Heaven in Glory, have mercy upon us!

I became a member of Collapse Network, which deals with cutting edge thought and news on impending collapse of global structural systems and ecology.  One of the great features of this website is the fact that it is a network, which can bring members together in their own communities.  This is intelligently done by giving your town of residence, without any other personal info.  The parties may then begin corresponding and then decide if they want to get personal.  I’ve already met one member near where I live and we’ve become friends.  I’ve extended invitations to many others in my area, with not much luck. 

I will warn you that Catholic ideas are not necessarily met with respect in these arenas and you have to be prepared for that.  All the more reason to get involved and win souls, right?  Or at least to defend the Holy Faith which desperately needs it among souls who have been brainwashed against the Church, think the Church is part of the New World Order/Illuminati, insist population control including abortion is necessary to save the planet, etc.

I don’t agree with Mike Ruppert on everything but I admire his passion and humanity.  Even his flaws are endearing.  And he’s helped me on my own journey to understand this complex reality we are living in.  He seems to have a unique grasp on world systems in general, a comprehensive objective view.  I am sad to see him leave, but he feels he must move on to another place in his life and I totally relate to that.  Collapse Network will continue to run, with a fresh management and format.  I look forward to remaining a member and seeing where it goes.  I also look forward to Ruppert’s future work-he states he will begin work on a new book. 

I’d like to quote now, from Ruppert’s eloquent “goodbye:”

In the last two months I have arrived at a clear awareness of multiple “systemic” failures in human civilization which cannot possibly be reversed in this world as it currently operates and approaches crises. Those include economic and climatological conditions, Peak Oil, the killing of the Gulf of Mexico, and the ongoing, uncontrolled nuclear disaster at Fukushima which is now recognized as the single greatest immediate threat to human existence. My country is an open fascist state and the Constitution I was taught to revere is a rotting, gutted corpse — roadkill on the oil-paved highway of infinite growth…Our Mother Earth, humankind and every species that lives here is about to enter incomprehensibly uncharted territory…(italics added)

We have established a deep reach among the builders of the new paradigm…Before a new house — one that includes a safe place for all life — can be built, the old one — the one that is sick, putrid, corrupt and dying — must be completely destroyed and defeated. It will achieve the fulfillment of its death wish. It will be satisfied with nothing less. There is no easier, softer way. Embrace the death of the old that you may experience, participate in, and rejoice in the birth of the new…From my view this is, and always has been, spiritual warfare…

Wow.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47339655/ns/technology_and_science-space/

“IAN BREMMER: If I’m Right, We’re Headed For A Fractured World:”

http://www.businessinsider.com/ian-bremmer-interview-2012-5

Found the above at Mike Ruppert’s Collapse Network:  News and Commentary for Post-Petroleum Human.

My 2 cents:  Not sure I agree that the state of affairs for the past 70 years has been “optimal.”  He’s right, there have been winners and losers.  But even the “win” was flawed and unsustainable and we are the children who have to deal with the inevitable “lose” part of the equation.  What he fails to mention is the Beast waiting in the wings to turn G-Zero into a New World Order Global Government of Tyranny.  Gee, I hate to sound so negative.  This is the month of Our Lady-let us give her our hearts’ concerns, honor her in a particular way this month and leave all to rest in her loving Motherly arms.

“In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph!”

For more on Ian Bremmer and related topics:

http://www.businessinsider.com/s?q=ian+bremmer

“Hostium nostrorum, quaesumus, Domine, elide superbiam: et eorum contumaciam dexterae tuae virtute prosterne. Per Dominum.” 

“Crush, O Lord, we beseech Thee, the pride of our enemies: and prostrate their arrogance by the might of Thy right hand. Through our Lord.”

http://wdtprs.com/blog/

And today is the historical feast of The Finding of the Holy Cross. 

“We adore Thee O Christ and we praise Thee.  Because by Thy Holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world!”

Stations of the Cross:  http://www.fisheaters.com/stations.html

“School Lunch Guidelines:  Preschooler Told Homemade Turkey Sandwich Not Nutritious Enough, Given Nuggets Instead:”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/15/school-lunch-guidelines-p_n_1278803.html

“Obama Administration Urges Freer Access to Cell Phone Records:”

http://news.yahoo.com/obama-administration-urges-freer-access-cell-phone-records-185827971.html

http://www.businessinsider.com/april-30-may-7-is-going-to-be-huge-2012-4#ixzz1tKzrVTBX

Hello, my friends!  I hope you are enjoying the early Spring as much as I am!  As a gardener, this is serious work time, but I love every minute of it.

If you have been following futurecatholic.net, you know that I have been on something of a hiatus for about 6 months.  I’ve re-examined my life, gotten more involved in my local community and lost 35 pounds.  I feel better than ever and am still committed to making the future brighter at a time of concern and potential global changes.  We must allow Our Lord to fill us with His life-giving positive energy to meet the challenges of our times with optimism and grace.

I will resume posts on a weekly basis, but with less perfectionism.  You may not get all those pretty colors and pictures and comprehensive analysis-I just don’t have the time for it.  But that doesn’t mean I can’t share some important, high-quality info with you that may help you on your personal spiritual and temporal journey.  So, let’s begin with today’s feast of Saint Fidelis, from http://www.mycatholic.com/ , the Catholic homepage that I use and recommend…

St. Fidelis (1577-1622)-Disgusted by greed and corruption, Fidelis abandoned his law practice to become a Franciscan priest. He gave all his wealth to the poor and minstered to wounded soldiers. He was martyred while preaching to Protestants.

“Woe to me if I should prove myself but a half-hearted soldier in the service of my thorn-crowned Captain.”

Saint Fidelis

Saint Fidelis, pray for us!