AMERICA BURNING: Trump, Francis and the War on God

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Saturday, October 24, 2026

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  Smoke in This Life, Not the Next Saturday, October 24 — The Mercy That Straightens What We Bend Cigar: Rustic Broadleaf  Pour: Four Roses Single Barrel There are mornings when a man remembers the small sweetnesses of childhood — the simple cereals, the bright boxes, the innocence that had not yet met the weight of sin. Sugar Rice Krinkles belonged to a world before consequence. But October 24 belongs to the world after it. Today the Church reminds the pilgrim that grace does not erase the past; it purifies it. Yesterday you faced the two pains that make a man straight. Today you face the truth beneath them: God’s mercy is not sentimental. It is corrective. It refuses to let a man remain crooked. Purgatory is the final proof that God loves too fiercely to leave His sons half‑healed. The pain of loss is longing sharpened by clarity — the soul seeing the Face it was made for and aching for what it delayed. The pain of sense is the cleansing itself — not vengeance, but consequ...
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Sunday, October 25, 2026------22nd S. af. P.

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Smoke in this life, not the next. Sun, Oct 25 — Twenty‑Second Sunday after Pentecost The Abundance That Reveals the Wound Cigar: Medium‑bodied blend Pour: Buffalo Trace Reflection: Notice the abundance. October 25 stands in the quiet breadth of Ordinary Time, where the Church asks a man to stop rushing past the truth of his own soul. Yesterday you faced the pains that purify; today you face the reason they hurt. The poor souls in purgatory suffer not because God is harsh, but because God is generous. Their pain comes from abundance — the abundance of love they finally see, the abundance of truth they can no longer avoid, the abundance of holiness they were made for but resisted. The tradition teaches two causes of their suffering. The pain of loss is the ache of being held back from the Face they were created to behold. Ott reminds us they know they are God’s friends, and the separation cuts deeper precisely because their desire is pure. Aquinas sharpens the point: the more a thing...
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Tuesday, October 27, 2026-Devotion to the Holy Face

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Smoke in This Life, Not the Next Tue, Oct 27 — Devotion to the Holy Face The Discipline That Makes a Man Transparent Cigar: Mild Connecticut Pour: Bulleit Reflection: Reinforce the discipline. October 27 falls on a Tuesday, and Tuesday belongs to the Holy Face. Today the Church asks a man to look directly at what he is becoming. The Holy Face is not merely an image; it is a mirror. It reveals the truth of the soul without ornament, without excuse, without the softening shadows we prefer. Under that gaze, discipline becomes mercy. The Catechism teaches that purgatory is the final purification of the elect — a cleansing fire entirely different from the punishment of the damned. The soul suffers because it finally sees what holiness requires. CCC 1030 names the assurance; CCC 1031 names the fire; CCC 1032 names the charity that accompanies the dead. The doctrine is simple: nothing unclean enters heaven, and God loves His sons too fiercely to let them remain bent. Devotion to the Holy F...
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October

October

November

November
Remember-Feasts All Saint, All Souls, Thanksgiving

December

December
December opens the door to quiet expectancy