The Abomination Of Desolation

"Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. "Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house."Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. "But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! "But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. "For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will."

I don't know if the situation to be described is what Our Lord had in mind when He uttered the words found in Matthew 24:15-21, but it is a logical candidate.

Yesterday was the feast of St Francis of Assisi.  This poor saint has always been trivialized as a progenitor of "flower children" and hippies.  Witness all the birdbaths that exploit his image.  But yesterday, with the pope's participation (not mere approval but active participation), idolatry occurred in the Vatican in the name of St Francis.  From Catholic News Agency we read of a tree-planting ceremony that included all sorts of pagans and even a Franciscan brother kneeling and bowing before a carved image of two naked and pregnant women, praying to it in a circle.  If nothing else, this incident provides stark evidence that environmentalism is not much more than pagan gaia worship.

Here is a video from Catholic News Service (not to be confused with Catholic News Agency) showing participants, including the Franciscan, bowing before the statue.  All are committing idolatry, but the greater culpability lies with the Catholics in that gathering.  Please note that CNS is the news arm of the USCCB.  That the USCCB allows this idolatry to be published is a sign that the progressives therein are simply becoming bolder about their disdain for the One True God.

How NOT To Honor St Francis Of Assisi

Today is his feast day.  St Francis is the founder of the orders that bear his name and by extension, the other orders that are the offshoots of those.  I link now to an article detailing the saint's life; of course there are more on the internet as well as countless books besides.  I'd urge careful, thoughtful study of these: first, to learn what his role in the Church was and second, to diffuse some of the pseudo-pious legends and sayings surrounding him.  The latter might be born of enthusiasm and admiration for him, but all too often the enthusiasm sheds boundaries of reason and actually wind up trivializing the saint's life.  I will now delve into some common gaffes:

• "He's the greatest imitator of Christ who ever lived".  I recently saw this on the internet, but it is by no means the first.  Here's the problem: a rather serious one.  The word "greatest" is an adjective of comparison.  If that statement were true, we must also admit its converse: "All other imitators of Christ are inferior to St Francis".  Whoever conceives these statements therefore sits in judgment over the sanctity of every Christian who ever lived.  That's extremely presumptuous at best.  Only God Himself is in a position to make any sort of declaration like this.  The following is similar.
• "St Francis is the most saintly of the Italians, and the most Italian of all the saints."  I suppose the first part of this canard is less innocuous than the one in the first bullet, for at least its originator sits in judgment of only those of Italian descent and not the whole of humanity.  The second part of this thing invokes some rather silly and shallow stereotypes of Italians.  I suppose it has to do with popular notions of Italians being spontaneous and effusive in their gestures and vocal inflections, often given to displays of emotions.  Surely these stereotypes have nothing to do with the more low-key, scholarly saints like Thomas Aquinas..oh, wait!  Last time I checked, St Thomas Aquinas was an Italian!
• "St Francis of the bird bath"  I don't see these so much now, but at one time they abounded.  This probably has to do with the incident of him preaching to birds, and they flocked to hear him.  This is one notion that has as an effect (hopefully unintentional) of trivializing him into a mere nature-lover.  The next and last one has no veneer of piety whatsoever and no faithful Catholic would be caught dead dabbling in this.
• "St. Francis the envirowhacko".  I wish I was making this up.  The environmentalists among us have arrogated to themselves St. Francis' name to legitimize their environmental idolatry, with all its anti-life underpinnings.  Take a gander of the job that the "Catholic Climate Covenant" has done with Franciscan imagery, being so arrogant as to call their pledge to idolatry the "St Francis pledge".

If St. Francis had to do any purgatorial pit-stop after his death, I'd be willing to bet that knowledge of the aforementioned lapses of intelligence in his name would have been part and parcel of his mortification.  Let us ask his intercession, and that of all Franciscan saints, that our Church be restored to fidelity to Christ's immutable teachings and leave behind the fantasies of the "god of surprises".