To everybody who ever accused me of being "militaristic"...you were right.

A while back (too long ago) I said something to the effect that if people wanted to step up their action in face of this ludicrous past election they could ask me. If you're a smarty like my sisters, you responded to my use of the word "ludicrous" with "Wow, how do you really feel about that?" In response: don't ask me. You probably don't have that much time)

Anywho, I got a response:

I'll take you up on it. Can you point me to anything that documents a comprehensive Catholic strategy against abortion? I have always thought pro-lifers are too "all-in" on the Roe v. Wade thing (Though I'd vote against it eagerly if I had the chance) at the expense of a more balanced strategy. I'd like to see some thought about the most effective balance of social, economic, political, and theological things faithful Catholics can do to fight for the unborn?

So, in typical "me" fashion, I swiftly wrote a very wordy response...mostly. 

Needing to do a little research, I got distracted for about a month and a half, until I remembered what I'd been about and went back to finish. So, here's my response. Considering the time lapse between the beginning and the end, feel free to ask me for clarifications. :)

-------------------------------------------

I definitely see your point on being “too ‘all-in’ on the Roe v. Wade thing.” To clarify, I’m not actually too preoccupied with over-turning Roe v. Wade. Would I if I could? Sure…but that’s not my end goal. My end goal is to abolish human abortion by making it unthinkable. The battle is won not merely with laws – the battle is won when hearts are convicted of the truth that every human life has an intrinsic value. Overturning Roe won’t necessarily accomplish that. So – where do we fight? In the culture. The beauty of the Catholic Church is that she teaches us to engage the culture, and to win it back for Christ.

Based on the fact that America just re-elected the most pro-abortion president in our history, a man who, in fact, campaigned on abortion, a more balanced approach to addressing this issue with many Catholics is indeed called for.

Social - we need to be bold in reclaiming the discussion in the culture about abortion. Over and over I am astonished with what people do NOT know about abortion itself, whether they consider themselves pro-life or pro-abortion, or the completely nonsensical “pro-choice”. Everybody assumes everybody else knows what they mean. Re-start the conversation: don’t just let abortion advocates use their standard words or arguments, question everything.

• Example: one of the biggest mistakes pro-lifers make is perpetuating the term “pro-choice.” That term is a load of garbage. Question it. “What choice are you talking about? What IS abortion? What do you think it does, exactly?”
• Another example: most people have no clue how late abortions actually occur. I asked that question in a class once and had someone say they thought only in the first trimester. 
• Okay, first of all: “Only” in the first trimester already destroys a baby who has a heartbeat, brainwaves, all body systems functioning, and the Juno-famous-fingernails. 
• But abortions, in fact, can occur in the United States up until the day of delivery. Different states have different laws, but it is possible for a woman to obtain an abortion throughout her entire pregnancy. People need to know that. And they won’t, until we tell them.
• To have these conversations with more confidence, we need to begin familiarizing ourselves with the tactics of the pro-abortion side. A couple of good fact-finders to follow: Live Action, LifeNews, or LifeSiteNews. They’re good at tracking and (and untangling) the numbers Planned Parenthood and other pro-abortion advocates put out, so pro-lifers can be ready to respond.
• Example: Planned Parenthood is known for skewing numbers and twisting truth. When they say, for example, that 3% of Planned Parenthood’s income is abortion, we shouldn’t just accept that. 
• Our first reaction should be: “ONLY 3%? How much would be enough for you to be bothered by the fact that they make money by selling abortion to women who are so desperate they think they have no choice but to have their own baby killed?” 
• Our second reaction should be: “Is it even actually 3%?” (Spoiler alert: it isn’t. Surprise, surprise. If you'd like, you can see a good breakdown.) 
• To re-iterate: don’t let abortion advocates control the rhetoric any longer. The line in the sand is life or death – we have to make sure our language reflects that. BUT, we also must be sure we give the information in a charitable, calm, comprehensive way. Slamming people with the truth will not often cause conversions. Not every soul is as sturdy as St. Paul, we can’t (unfortunately for impatient redheads like myself) cause overnight conversions by knocking people off their horses. 

Often people are coming from a place of deep hurt, and sharing the truth with compassion, gentleness, conviction, and out of concern is more effective.

Economic – if abortion is going to be unthinkable, then we need to get people actually thinking about it again. Pro-abortion groups like Planned Parenthood have sunk their roots so deep into society that often it feels like they’re “everywhere”. 

• There are groups who have taken the time to list companies who regularly give/partner to Planned Parenthood on a boycott list. Click here for an article on how to get the list, and some information on how the list works. 
• But don’t just boycott – tell them you’re boycotting. I understand not everybody feels they can avoid every single one of these companies 100% of the time. But I do encourage you to at least pick a few, have a letter/email/phone speech prepared, and start letting them know every time you don’t patronize the business. And let your friends know why you’re not going. When they start getting the feedback consistently, they will begin to reconsider. Companies don’t often persist in partnering with things their consumer base considers culturally unacceptable. We need to make sure they know we’re not okay with them giving to abortion providers. 
• On the flip side, it’s good to be aware that many pro-life organizations barely make it financially. God always provides, but He typically seems to like using His people to do it. Look around for a solid pro-life action group, maternal assistance program, your church’s Gabriel Project, or life-affirming business to financially support. Maybe even send letters to their competitors letting them know who you’re supporting and why. 
• One great example of this is the Komen/Planned Parenthood fiasco. For more information on that, check out http://www.plannedbullyhood.com/. When we want to support a cause, like breast cancer awareness, there are organizations who are free of abortion provider ties, you just have to look (or know who to ask!) For instance: http://www.theibcnetwork.org/.
• Finally, there are serious economic ramifications of abortion which most people either do not take the time to consider, or have seriously misunderstood. We need to brush up on that information and be ready to share it as well: http://www.movementforabetteramerica.org/economicimpact.html

Political – whew. This is the work that never seems to be done. The SBA List sent an email the day after the election stating they believe Romney failed to win over a larger base because he focused on economic issues, instead of taking a firmer stance on issues such as abortion. This is a sound opinion based just on my own experience, I know of MANY pro-lifers who refused to vote AT ALL because of the way Romney handled it. I definitely disagree with the choice not to vote, and as one bishop I know put it: “The moral teaching of the Church is that when we are confronted with two evils and our failure to act would result in great harm to ourselves or others, we must choose the lesser of the two evils.”

• However, this refusal to vote is a good reminder that we need to get active with our politicians, telling them again and again until it sinks in that a 100% pro-life stance is needed. To quote Marjorie Dannenfelser of the SBA List: “Polling this cycle and historical voting trends show that the pro-life issue isn’t only the right thing to do, but it is the winning thing to do politically. I’m afraid Mitt Romney and his team failed to recognize this. We will need to work on this too.”
• We as Catholics especially have a serious responsibility to take a firm stand on the Life issues. Abortion is NOT one issue among many issues. Abortion is THE issue. A truly heroic soul, Rich May, gave countless presentations on the importance of this in Catholic social teaching throughout our own Archdiocese in the months leading up to the election. If you want more information from Rich, email me or comment. I’m sure he’d love to help out with clarifying this.

Theological – easy one. I found three pieces of counsel on this one:

• “A soul arms itself by prayer for all kinds of combat. In whatever state the soul may be, it ought to pray…There is no soul which is not bound to pray, for every single grace comes to the soul through prayer.” -St. Faustina
• “He who prays most receives most.” -St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori
• "Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you." -St. Augustine

In other words:

• Pray.
• Pray More.
• Pray Harder…and then get to work.

Work in our parish Respect Life groups, supporting them and our Archdiocesan Respect Life activities, and immersing ourselves in the solid formation the Church offers those seeking to form their hearts and consciences in Truth.

And here again we have a tremendous advantage as Catholics: Church teaching. For example: papal encyclicals. I always feel like there’s a little knife in my gut that twists when a Catholic tells me they’ve never read Humanae Vitae. Of course, I only read it less than two years ago, but it was a game-changer. People need to take in the tremendous beauty of that truth, soak it up…and then pass it on.

And then pray hard some more.

If you really read all that and made it this far - you deserve a smile. Look, here:

"The Gray Horizons..."

Occasionally I am able to write on command. It’s not one of my strengths, honestly (as you may have noticed by the inconsistent rate at which I post). But, occasionally, it does happen.

One of my friends mentioned this past weekend that I should write a Gaudete Sunday post, but about the Sandy Hook massacre.

Well, there’s a nice simple assignment.

Just to be clear here: Gaudete means "Rejoicing". The third Sunday in Advent is "Rejoicing Sunday." Or as I sometimes call it in my head: Pink candle Sunday.

My friend had a good reason for frustration, though: the deacon giving the sermon at the parish she attended that weekend had given a rather unsatisfactory sermon about “having joy, being joyful” which apparently didn’t touch much on what joy actually was.

Quote: “It’s simple: just have joy.”

“But it’s not that simple,” my friend agonized. “You should write about it.”

Easier said than done.

So I put it off.

And then Monday I got some inspiration: the beautiful priest who helps out at my parish and speaks English as his second language, Father Josemaria, said the morning Mass.

He started off by talking about the Gospel of the day, which had been the genealogy of Jesus. As in, the 17 verse genealogy from Matthew.

“This,” he chuckled, “is verrry boring.”

“But,” he went on, “I have asked Jesus: ‘Jesus, how do You wish me to see this?’ Because to look at this as boring, that is a human consideration. But what does Jesus wish us to see here? For the Jews, this was very important, to see a person’s family tree. This is Jesus saying to us, ‘You see, I follow your boring human rules, just to be close to you, just to prove to you that I love you so much.’”

He described this tender love of Jesus and then asked how we ought to respond. For a moment he paused, and then said:

“This tragedy this past weekend,” he said softly, “It hurts the Heart of Jesus. And we – WE – must console Him.”

Father then told us something about Blessed John Paul II. Apparently there is a story that, after some great tragedy had occurred, people were looking all over the Vatican for him. They finally found him in his chapel.

He was holding the Blessed Sacrament against his heart and singing a little Polish song to Him.

“He wanted,” Father Josemaria told us, “to console the Heart of Jesus. To say: ‘I love You, I love You, I love You.’ Because only this will console His Heart, which suffers so much. ‘I love You, I love You, I love You.’”

As I listened to him, I was reminded of something Fr. Alfred Delp wrote:

“The gray horizons must light up. Only the foreground is screaming so loudly and penetratingly. Farther back, where it has to do with things that really count, the situation is already changing. The woman has conceived the Child, sheltered Him under her heart, and has given birth to her Son. The world has come under a different law.”

For those of you unfamiliar with Fr. Delp, let me give you a brief history surrounding those words of his. He wrote them in solitary confinement, after enduring 5 months of imprisonment and torture at the hands of the Nazis for opposing their regime. He wrote those words with his hands cuffed together, about two months before his execution in February of 1945.

For Father Delp, the reason for joy in the face of such horror and suffering was clear: God has come close to us.

And Father Josemaria described it beautifully when he told us to turn towards the Heart of Jesus to console Him: the very fact that we CAN turn to Him, draw close to Him, that is the cause of our joy.

“Just have joy…but it’s not that simple.”

Or is it? 

I’d say yes, and no.

It’s simple as God is simple, complicated as we are complicated.

Simple, and complicated: like the God who subjects Himself to complicated human genealogies to simply say “I love you.”

The reason for our rejoicing is that we can always turn to Him, He is always close. We can, at any moment, turn and instantly find the God Who makes Himself small to be close to us. 

Close enough to hold Him within our very hearts, to sing to Him in our broken, weeping voices: “I love You, I love You, I love You.”

Close enough that we can offer Him our weary, ragged hearts as Veronica offered Him her veil: to console Him, and to leave with His very Image seared into our souls.

With such a God, such a Lover, such a Love…we can rejoice, even in darkness. Just because we can know He is near.

“The world is more than its burden, and life is more than the sum of its gray days. The golden threads of the genuine reality are already shining through everywhere. Let us know this, and let us, ourselves, be comforting messengers. Hope grows through the one who is himself a person of the hope and the promise.”

-       Fr. Alfred Delp.

Of Arbitrary, Otters, & Advent

I know people who would say that was an excellent choice of words for some of my not-infrequent behavior. Most of them live in the same house…the one where I live.

For example, my mother and sisters just roll their eyes at me when I ask which of two outfits I should wear. “Whatever,” they huff, “You’ll just wear the one I DON’T pick.”

Despite my protestations, it usually turns out to be true.

Or, for instance, between the ages of about 9 and 13, it was some sort of trend with girls my age to “love” dolphins.

I honestly never really understood the appeal there. I don’t hate dolphins, but I definitely don’t “love” them either. Whenever dolphins came up my response was usually, “Actually, I prefer otters.”

What? Otters are WAY cuter. See?

*ahem*

Moving on…

I would argue this isn’t technically arbitrary, there IS a system…I apparently like whatever everybody else doesn’t.

And no, I am not a hipster.

There was also the time in First Communion class when our sweet teacher asked us all what our favorite season on the Liturgical Calendar was.

(Do not even tell me you were never asked that as a 6-year-old. I don’t want to hear it.)

So, as a 6-year-old, I said Advent. And I remember quite clearly that there were three reasons:

1.     All the other kids were saying “Christmas” or “Easter,” so CLEARLY those were not MY favorites.

2.     My teacher also happened to be one of my mother’s best friends, and I was pretty sure my excellent behavior and obvious genius were frequently reported on, and “Advent” sounded WAY more sophisticated than Christmas or Easter. Duh.

3.     I actually (believe it or not after #1 and #2) DID love Advent the best.

In fact, as far as I can remember I have always loved Advent best.

This is easily explained. It is hereditary. From my mother’s side.

Mostly just from my mother, actually.

I grew up with a Jesse Tree, a little cradle that was put out at the beginning of Advent and remained empty until Christmas (except for the cotton balls we got to put in for our “good deeds,” and make a soft place for Baby Jesus to sleep when He arrived), and a faithfully lit Advent wreath. We have had, ever since I was little, an Advent Calendar where we counted down to Christmas by adding Nativity figures.

Advent…it’s a Big Stinkin’ Deal ‘round these here parts.

As my momma likes to say, “Anticipation is half the fun!”

Normally I agree with her, but not on that. If Advent is the “anticipation” of Christmas, I have WAY more than just half the fun with it.

My theory about why is this: we’re always waiting for something. Always. My single gal friends and I, waiting on husbands and families. Married couples I know, waiting on babies. Parents with babies, waiting on them to grow up so the parents can reclaim something which apparently becomes more elusive with every kid, (I think they call it “sleep”). People waiting on better jobs, bigger houses, more stable health, kinder friends…you name it. Waiting, all of us, on something.

And during Advent, the Church swells up around us in solidarity, all of us waiting for the same thing.

But we’re reminded, because the Church is a good Mother, that we don’t just wait with impatience, with ingratitude, with a blindness to what we already hold in our hands. We are taught to wait in joyful hope.

That’s why I love Advent, I think – because every year God in His goodness gives me yet another chance to cooperate with His desire to transform my heart. Every year He sets aside practically an entire month to sit me down, look me in the eye, and ask, “Do you trust Me?”

Unfortunately, too often my response to that question from the Heart of God is something like: “Uhm…well…sure.”

The enthusiasm is inspiring, right?

But during Advent, I get another chance. I get a fresh start.

Literally. After all, it’s the beginning of a new liturgical year!

Ya’ll knew that, right? Advent IS the Catholic New Year. So, this year, with the help of a few new (and some old) friends, I’m working on my Catholic Nerd Skills and making some New Year’s Resolutions.

First, I just have to throw out there that I am tremendously excited, because this coming Friday, the 23^rd, is the feast of….*drumroll, please*….Blessed Miguel Pro!

Bet you didn’t see THAT one coming. ;)

Seriously though, if you’d like you can look at an old blog post in which I explained howthis man, priest and martyr, lived with that joyful hope that is the trademark of our saints. A lifestyle referred to by another beautiful Jesuit as “the Advent of the Heart.” That phrase was coined by Fr. Alfred Delp, who died in 1944 at the hands of the Third Reich. Father Delp is my official Advent buddy this year, thanks to Ignatius Press.

In December of 1944, days before he was executed, he wrote (with his hands cuffed together, I might add):

“Advent is a time of being deeply shaken, so that man will wake up to himself. The prerequisites for a fulfilled Advent is a renunciation of the arrogant gestures and tempting dreams with which, and in which, man is always deceiving himself. Thus he compels reality to use violence to bring him around…But at the same time there is much more to Advent than this. The shaking is what sets up the secret blessedness of this season and enkindles the inner light in our hearts, so Advent will be blessed with the promises of the Lord…It is precisely in the severity of this awakening…in the wretchedness of experiencing our limitations that the golden threads running between Heaven and earth during this season reach us; the threads that give the world a hint of the abundance to which it is called, the abundance of which it is capable.”

If we were sitting next to each other, we could read that again, and look at each other silently with awe in our eyes, and not need to speak for a little while.

Padre Pro, Father Delp, and the Church Herself point the way to a fruitful Advent. An Advent where we come face-to-face with our own inadequacies and are filled, not with despair, but with the childlike confidence that meets the Father’s gaze and is able to answer positively His question of “Do you trust Me?”

Advent helps us learn to give the answer of the martyrs, the answer of the Patriarchs and Prophets we will soon be hearing in our Mass readings, the answer of Our Lady at Nazareth and Cana and Golgotha…the answer of a hopeful heart.

“’I believe, Lord – help my unbelief.’

 I love – help my fear.

‘My soul waits upon the Lord, 

more than sentinels wait for the dawn’…

I wait, in joyful hope.”

A Different Kind of Super-Hero

There are few things as disorienting to me as having about 15% of a blog post which I simply MUST write swirling around in my head, while I have no concrete idea what the post is actually about. 

This could get interesting, since I'm not really sure where it's going. Hang on, though - might be someplace good. :)

First thing: I saw this picture the other day. In my head, this picture is captioned: "A different kind of Super-Hero." And I love it. Here, look:

I mean, honestly. You ever feel like that little red kid? I'll admit, I'm not really good at superheroes, I don't even know who he's supposed to be (if you do, feel free to share). But he isn't exactly, ya know, fitting in.

One of the other tumbleweeds in my head are the Catholic baptismal promises. Specifically the beginning part: 

V. Do you reject Satan? 
R. I do. 
V. And all his works? 
R. I do. 
V. And all his empty promises? 
R. I do. 

Empty promises.

It's funny, if I recorded my talks you could probably hear different ideas evolving, and one of the things evolving lately is this theme of Satan's empty promises.

I, being a nerd, like to Google random things. Just now I tried "Satan's empty promises Catholic."

Fun. 

No, really. You should try it, it's fun. I got some good results, like an archived homily from EWTN. I like the way it gets started, quoting paragraph 391 of the CCC: "Behind the disobedient voice of our first parents lurks a seductive voice, opposed to God, which makes them fall into death out of envy..."

"A seductive voice..."

I'm becoming more and more convinced that one of the biggest empty promises of Satan evident in our modern culture is silence. Not the holy silence born of being wrapped in the cloister of Carmel or the weight of the Consecration at Mass...but the godless silence of a people too terrified to speak in the face of grave evil.

One silence comes from being immersed in the Presence of God. 

The other kind of silence comes from elevating an ideal into the place of God and becoming immersed in the filth that surrounds such idolatry of the heart. Tolerance, co-existence, fill-in-the-blank-with-your-choice-of-mush-brain-mealy-mouth-liberal-replacement-words, whatever. 

The "tolerance" being sold by the world today never satisfied anyone's soul, and how could it? Our souls are consumed by a hunger that can only be sated by one Source. There's an older name for turning a blind eye to evil, and it's more correct than what people prefer to call "tolerance" these days: being lukewarm. And, feel free to check Revelation 3:16 on this, being lukewarm is not exactly the kind of behavior which gets a seal of approval from Scripture.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, one of the most well-known people to meet death in a concentration camp, put it this way: "Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act."

But not to speak, not to act...it is so very, very easy. We fear offending or hurting others, we fear losing friends, we fear running into trouble. Fear is a great instigator of silence, and fear is spoken to our hearts in a very, very seductive voice.

"But perfect love casts out fear."

I actually looked up what specific verse that is, and it turns out it's 1 John 4:18. Part of the fun of looking up verses is seeing the different translations, and the Douay-Rheims version is a gem: it uses the word "charity" instead of "love". 

Since I've already busted myself on the fact that I'm a nerd and like looking things up, check it out:

I. Like. That.

Just to pick out one of the many things I feel like writing about after I read that, I'll go with the last: "the root and foundation" of all Christian virtues.

I would like to take this moment to remind us all that one of the things the Church requires before recognizing a Saint is proof of their heroic virtue.

Heroic. As in, outstanding. Above and Beyond. Valiant. Stalwart. All aflame.

Virtue.

It is too tempting to resist quoting Chesterton at this moment, so I won't resist: "The act of defending any of the cardinal virtues has today all the exhilaration of a vice."

My friends, what is a Saint, but a different kind of hero? 

Different, that is, than what the world tells us heroes are made of. I mean, hey, I'll watch The Avengers right along with the next person, but seriously, could Ironman really hold up against, oh, say...St. Ignatius of Loyola? 

Ehhh...

Heroic. Virtue.

Virtue that requires the heroism of rejecting Satan's empty promises: silence in the face of grave moral danger, or settling into mediocrity instead of embracing a life that dares to obey the commands of a Savior who "came to set the world on fire".

It's not enough to be a "nice" person. I would seriously doubt the credibility of anyone who ever tried to tell me that Jesus Christ was a "nice man." Nice says "not offensive." 

It doesn't say "hero."

And heroism, my friends, is what is required of us. So let's do it. Let's be that different kind of hero, the ones that don't "fit in" with this culture. 

I think a great place to start might be throwing ourselves into some of that Holy Silence, sinking into the Ocean of Mercy that is the Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Swim in those depths and you cannot help but catch that holy fire, the fire of Christ's love which He meant for us to spread. In His Presence we will not be able to resist being pierced by the agony of the love that drove the saints to the heroism which springs from that Divine Source. 

The silence that comes from love of Christ will teach us to reject the empty promises of a fear-full silence, and His grace will enable us to respond heroically, as someone like St. Francis Xavier did when he was told to "Go, and set all afire."

"The Noise of the Crusade"

The rest of the story...

Now that his Holy League crusade was in motion, the Pope called for a second crusade: one of prayer, particularly the Rosary. He entrusted this naval crusade to the care of the Blessed Virgin, and insisted that the men of the Holy League and all faithful Catholics unite in this powerful prayer.

“In that enormous silence, tiny and unafraid,

Comes up along a winding road the noise of the Crusade.

Strong gongs groaning as the guns boom far,

Don John of Austria is going to the war.”

Each ship carried a priest, every soldier was given a Rosary, and one of the commanding officers carried in his cabin a fascinating portrait: a copy of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe which had been touched to the original tilma, at that time barely 40 years old. 

The entire Holy League had placed itself under the protection of the Blessed Virgin.

In spite of the vast differences between the thousands of men he was given to command, John somehow managed to maintain his authority. Arguments over tactics began to shift into a firmness of purpose when the Holy League stopped briefly at the port of Corfu, and found it recently ravaged by the Ottomans. The atrocities they witnessed in the wake of Islamic destruction helped solidify their alliance, which increased as reports of other atrocities in nearby Cyprus and Famagusta made their way to the Christian ships. 

The Holy League drew closer to the Ottoman fleet, and on the morning of October 7, they began to draw themselves into position for the great confrontation, in the gulf of Lepanto.

Something that's important to remember at this point are the ships: galleys, massive vessels powered either by sails when there was a favorable wind, or men with oars when there was not. And the Ottoman ships were rowed by Christian slaves. 

“Christian captives sick and sunless, all a labouring race repines

Like a race in sunken cities, like a nation in the mines.”

Another important thing to keep in mind is that with naval battles at that time, the ships didn't simply sit and shoot their cannons at one another. They came side-by-side, boarded one another, and then engaged in bloody hand-to-hand combat.

So, the morning of October 7th, there was a lot of wind. And all of it was in favor of the Ottoman ships. Which meant the Christian ships were rowing, and they didn't have any extra slaves to do it. John of Austria was being taken back and forth along the line of ships in a little rowboat, shouting encouragement and making epic Aragorn-like speeches to the men. 

The Christians, standing silent as their priests were giving blessings and general absolution, could hear the Ottoman fleet screaming across the gulf, the wind carrying every blood-thirsty shriek straight to their ears. And they were coming closer all the time.

Then, the wind died. Completely.

For a few moments there was utter stillness.

Then the wind returned, but it had completely reversed its course. The wind now came directly at the back of the Christian fleet. Flags bearing the names of Jesus and Mary spread in the breeze, men who had been rowing sprang up and were armed, and the Ottoman ships scrambled to drop their sails as the Christian slaves below their decks were forced to begin rowing.

When the two fleets crashed into one another head on, the Christian slaves began an uprising, a riot from the very center of the Ottoman forces, and between these freed slaves and the Holy League men, by late afternoon everything was over.

“Scarlet running over on the silvers and the golds,

Breaking of the hatches up and bursting of the holds,

Thronging of the thousands up that labour under sea

White for bliss and blind for sun and stunned for liberty.”

Holy League casualties: 8,000 dead, about 16,000 wounded, 12 ships sunk.

Ottoman casualties: about 8,000 dead, several thousand captured, 50 ships sunk, 117 ships captured. 

Miles and miles and days of travel away, in Rome, Pius V was in the middle of a financial meeting the afternoon of October 7. Suddenly he stood up, strode over to the window, and stared out of it for a long time. Turning after a while, he announced, "This is not a moment for business; make haste to thank God, because our fleet this moment has won a victory over the Turks." Pius V had seen the victory in a vision, and afterwards declared October 7 the feast of Our Lady of Victory, giving credit where it was due.

So…why is this so exciting to me?

Well, uh, if you’re not the tiniest bit inspired by all of that, I honestly don’t know what to tell you. Lepanto is, to me, a lesson for every Christian in every time. The beauty of it pierces the heart with the truth that is captured in 2 Chronicles 7:14:

“If then My people, upon whom My name has been pronounced,

humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their evil ways,

I will hear them from heaven and pardon their sins and heal their land.”

Is there anything we need more than this, right now? Humility, prayer, seeking God’s face, turning from evil ways, pardon for our sins and healing for our land? 

Lepanto proves God keeps His end of this promise when we respond to the call. 

Lepanto proves that even the nameless, the outcast, the weak, and the broken can become a glorious vessel for God’s grand designs. 

Lepanto even shows the way to make all of this a reality: trust in the care and intercession of the Blessed Virgin, whose task is always to bring us closer to Her Son, and deeper into the mysteries of God’s mercy.

"Dim drums throbbing..." in which I begin to geek out.

"I love October."

I keep hearing that around lately, and usually people are saying it in reference to the (slightly) changing weather we Texans supposedly experience about this time.

Well, I actually do love October, for a straight-up-Catholic-NERD reason: ya'll, there are some pretty epic feast days.

St. Therese, the Guardian Angels, St. Francis of Assisi...and, my personal favorite, October 7th.

I say the date instead of the name, because the date is pretty essential to understanding why, exactly, I happen to totally geek out about this feast. The name of the feast has actually changed before, and the current title is a tad long-winded: The Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary.

Formerly known as Our Lady of Victory.

So-called because of the Battle of Lepanto.

(I am now making my EXCITED NERD face, but you can't see it, so I thought I would just let you know.)

All right, all right - some of you are now wondering "What the heck IS Lepanto, anyway?"

I'ma try and un-complicate that explanation. It’s kinda long but totally worth it, read it in sittings if you have to. In fact, I'm even doing this in two parts again, to break it up a little. You should know about this. To keep you interested in the history lesson, there are little italicized snippets of Chesterton’s Lepanto, which is EPIC, and which you should read if you ever get the chance.

The year was 1571. Which meant there were basically two world powers: Christendom, and the Ottoman Empire.

The Ottoman Empire was the name used to refer to the forces of Islam, and they were not interested in peace. They were in for total domination, and they were on a roll. The crescent flag had been edging its way toward Europe at a seemingly unstoppable pace, and the method used thus far had been simple: convert to Islam, or die. They had desecrated countless sanctuaries, murdered ruthlessly, and enslaved thousands of Christians: women and boys were sent to the harems, men to the ships as galley-slaves. 

Christendom was falling apart, because it was no longer the alliance of Catholic monarchies it had been. Lutheranism had been raging across the continent for nearly 60 years, and Elizabeth was developing what would be known as Anglicanism in Britain. The throne of France was occupied by a Catholic-in-name only Charles IX, while the country was actually ruled by his mother, a woman described as "Macchiavellian." Spain was ruled by Philip II, who was Catholic, but very much preoccupied with maintaining the empire his father had left him, including the Spanish claims in the New World. Venice was also a great power at the time, especially on the sea, but they were very protective of their individuality and independence.

The man sitting on the Chair of Peter in Rome, Pius V, saw all of this with alarming clarity. He knew the only response, and he made it: a call for a new crusade. But this crusade would not be to the Holy Land, this crusade would go to meet the forces of Islam in a place many had begun to consider them unbeatable: at sea.  Pope Pius V called all of Christendom's rulers to send men and ships to join a Holy League and stop the Ottomans before they could set foot on the soil of Europe. 

“And the Pope has cast his arms abroad for agony and loss,

And called the kings of Christendom for swords about the Cross.”

The response was, shall we say, less than enthusiastic.

Everyone else had their own problems, and most of them felt they still had plenty of distance from the problem. But a series of Islamic atrocities galvanized Europe into action, and the task of choosing a commander for the patchwork Holy League fleet fell to the Pope.

One shudders to imagine the politics involved.

But with a brilliance inspired by the Holy Spirit, Pius V selected a man without a nationality, a great name, or even a real family: John of Austria. 

“Dim drums throbbing, in the hills half heard,

Where only on a nameless throne a crownless prince has stirred,

Where, risen from a doubtful seat and half attainted stall,

The last knight of Europe takes weapons from the wall.”

John of Austria was the illegitimate half-brother of the King of Spain. They shared a father, but John's mother was Austrian and he had partly been raised in that country before being transplanted to the Spanish royal court, where his royal half-family could keep a close eye on him. Illegitimate half-bloods were not allowed a lot of leeway. 

But John, in spite of the level of distrust with which he tended to be treated, turned out to be handsome, charming, popular, a fairly devout Catholic, and very loyal to his half-brother King. 

Age at the time he was tapped by the Pope to command the Holy League: 24.

And THEN things got interesting.

The rest of the Lepanto-geek-out-history-lesson will be continued tomorrow. If you're still reading...