We have just lost a great Supreme Court Justice. RIP Antonin Scalia...you are in our prayers. O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee.
Let's also keep the intention of chastity in our prayers today, in honor of Saint Valentine, priest and martyr. It is also the feast of Saints Cyril and Methodius. Dear Saints of Holy Mother Church, pray for us!
Temperatures are frigid on Long Island this weekend. I'm always on the lookout for good preparedness tips and I learned one today on the News 12 site. They recommend keeping a "light drip" on your faucets to lessen the chance of pipes bursting from freezing water. They also recommend checking the pressure on your car tires...don't know why. So...my faucets are dripping and I'm sitting here in my hat. Could be worse...I pray for anyone stuck outside in this cold.
"But pray that your flight be not in the winter." ~Matthew 24:20
I wanted to do a quick comment on the News 12 article on Scalia. Of course, I had to create an account to do this. Not just a News 12 account, a Facebook account. I don't have any social media accounts because I have a philosophical problem with them. I thought, "Let me just go with this." The first thing it wanted was a few points of personal info. I abbreviated my name....no good...they're onto me. Well, I'm onto them too. All I want to do is make a little comment on a local website....and the Brave New World Order comes rushing in! Forget it. I turned back before it was too late.
That reminds me of the last time I filled up my gas tank. It was on a stretch of road in East Northport, Long Island, fully lined with those "red light cameras." I'm just getting gas and lo and behold....the Great Glowing Screen sits before me. Flashing ads. You just can't escape it. (Please don't bring up the fact that I'm on a glowing screen right now.) And have you noticed that the shopping card is now evolving into the mega-shopping card? More and more connectedness and less and less privacy. More and more dependence on the Infallible Electrical Grid.
We must be awake. Father Alfred Delp told us that. And our Lord Himself told us that. Also from Matthew, Chapter 24:
"Take heed that no man seduce you....And this gospel of the kingdom, shall be preached in the whole world, for a testimony to all nations, and then shall the consummation come.... And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh should be saved: but for the sake of the elect those days shall be shortened....And from the fig tree learn a parable: When the branch thereof is now tender, and the leaves come forth, you know that summer is nigh. So you also, when you shall see all these things, know ye that it is nigh, even at the doors...Watch ye therefore, because ye know not what hour your Lord will come."
What do you see when you look around? Be awake and aware.