I have just been watching a documentary on Teddy Roosevelt.  It featured World War I, whose toll was what prompted a divine appearance at Fatima, Portugal.  The Blessed Mother’s choice of three so young children as her emissaries puts the authenticity of those appearances beyond question.  Unfortunately, the message did not completely get through to humankind, because we had World War II.  But Russia, atheistic Russia, was knocked down.

Russia did not completely return to the Faith, and suffered in the process.  But so did we; humankind achieves some of its greatest victories after suffering.  We reached the moon after the Second World War.  Some victories, like the one over polio, through the guidance of Jonas Salk, M.D., are like a gift.

Despite the coronavirus pandemic, Lucy, Jacinta and Francisco might be happy to see that we’ve made some progress.  At least an old guy like me still prays like they urged us.

Emotion is a good stimulant to action, but once you get going, it’s better to let the outer cortex of the brain (reason) take over. The Black Lives Matter organization is a good example of this.  They started with an excellent slogan, but then became violent, and one of their less educated members said, “Hey, how about this guy Karl Marx.  He has some good social ideas.”  They are now Communist.  It’s the result of too much emotion.

I’d say, “How about this guy Jesus Christ.  He has some good social ideas.”  Yes, they changed the whole of Western Civilization, and yes, there was violence there, too, but we’re waiting for the outcome, both for civilization and BLM.

I look for the outcome of this November’s election.  Who’ll win,  the Left, or those who are with the Christians?  Don’t be Left Out!  So you’re not an Evangelical or a Catholic.  Use the outer cortex.

The man who walked on water, and whose feat we commemorate today, predicted that his followers would do greater things than that.  Indeed, Harry S. Truman, a humble man, gave the word and World War II ended, just like that.  To do the first you have to know how water molecules are spaced, and then step where the surface tension will bear your weight.  To do the second, you have to know what your scientists are capable of, and what will sway the mind of your enemy.

Truly great things, however, are known only to the Searcher of the Human Mind.  He knows the worth of a nickel to a widow, and the worth of $100,000  to a financier.  And then let him decide whether the financier or the widow contributed more to the Covid 19 hungry.

There are many things that we don’t know how to value, and its better we admit this ignorance to Him Who will someday evaluate us the way He said He would.  I mean, can you evaluate the surface tension of the waves in a stormy sea?

Grandma’s Cake

Some things are handed down to us verbatim, some genetically, and some by the culture.  The recipe for Grandma’s cake was originally lost, but then reconstructed by two granddaughters, who hit the ingredients right on the nose, as was verified when a copy resurfaced in 2020.  Let me tell you, that cake, which used no baking powder, soda, or yeast, was delicious.

But we are handed down more things than that.  We received the legacy of a lone Israeli who followed through on all the predictions of the Messiah, died terribly, but left great changes to Western Civilization.  So far, his followers have resisted any changes to the negative, and this over a period of 2,000 years.

Of course, that doesn’t mean they haven’t strayed.  I assume you know how nature works—human nature, that is.  It’s a sort of cumulative, mathematical average effect.  Given human weakness, it can’t be perfect.  But the Savior was as perfect as humans could be.

I have never seen the U.S. press so guilty of slander, so fond of calumny and detraction.  One prominent newspaper, which always boasted it printed the facts, will reword a headline to make one man look bad.  And that man (he cheerfully goes on tweeting like a spring sparrow) is Donald Trump.  I don’t know how he stands up to it, but stand up he does.

What we don’t know is that there are people who admire hardiness, durability, and if you want to know their name, it’s the Evangelicals, the Catholics.  The PEW research recorded that unlike their European brethren, the U.S. Christians are not secular, they are not washed out by historic religious wars.  They take the New Testament seriously.  And they’re for Trump.

All I can say is come November, I pray for them.  They’ll save this country with the hand of God.