My Trip to The Home Depot

We discussed impending Spring in the last post, so that means a trip to a garden center, in this case, The Home Depot, since I was passing by it today anyway. Whenever I’m at The Home Depot, I manage to find something I didn’t know I needed and this time it was the battery organizer! Here is everything I bought….

An inexpensive Orchid Potting Mix, for my old orchid plant which needs some refreshing…seed starter containers and soil pods (2 different methods, both of which may be placed directly in the ground, after opening up the bottoms for the roots to grow-I love the pods, you add water and they puff up like magic, they’re really fun for children)…kale (early crop!) seeds (I’ve still got tons of seeds from last year which I will be using)…a fire extinguisher for our basement (you should have one on each level of your home and write the expiration date on it with a Sharpie)…the battery organizer (I love this thing, batteries not included LOL but it does come with a battery tester)…a new Aloe Vera plant (which is considered medicinal for the skin)…plastic indoor plant trays (I’m of the mind you can never have too many)…large Comet for a buck and Febreze cheap 2-pack. You can also see our bug-out bag and some of our maps (MAPS ARE VERY IMPORTANT! ALL KINDS!). There is our car organizer, which you can’t see too well behind everything, but it functions sort of as an extension to the bug-out bag.

Yes, I know The Home Depot is one of those big-chain monoculture seat-at-the-creepy-new-world-order-table monopolizing entities. This particular store had disturbing in-your-face cameras during Covid (because we all know why cameras are needed when there’s a virus going around), which have since been removed. I do try to limit my patronage of such stores, but I never said I was perfect. For sure, the “Mom & Pop” local businesses should be supported as much as possible…and the farmer’s markets!

I was very impressed to see an array of fruit trees for sale this year. Peach, apple, cherry and pear! I think I have to go back and check that out when hubby can carry them…but I will have to do a bit of research first, you have to know what you’re doing with fruit trees…

"Back To The Roots"

Back To The Roots

America’s Organic Gardening Company

Seeds, Soils, Raised Beds, Plant Food, Grow Kits, Innovative Products, Education & Charity

“We're on a mission to help a new generation experience the magic of gardening & reconnect back to their food.”

You can see how my Pearl Oyster Mushrooms have exploded in just a few days! These Grow Kits are amazing. They also have hydroponic ones.

“Back to the Roots” is a company dedicated to organic gardening and making it easy. Please see the website above for more info.

These were incredibly delicious and tasted almost like meat. We sauteed them in butter with salt and pepper. That’s it!

Oops, Forgot to Talk About the Ember Days!

The Ember Days of Lent (or Spring) are celebrated the week after Ash Wednesday this year. That is, Wednesday the 21st, Friday the 23rd and Saturday the 24th. Traditionally, meat is eaten at only one meal (obviously, you will not be eating meat on Friday). These are days of prayer and penance for the coming season. The Ember Days are particularly fun to celebrate with children because you can take the opportunity to come up with crafts having to do with the seasons and working in a spiritual message. If you have a trad-minded parish or group of friends, why not get the children together to learn about the Ember Days…or…

How About Planting on the Ember Days?

Seedlings my son and I planted a few years ago with a seed starting kit.

In Nomen Christi Apostolate style, let’s see how we might combine the Ember Days, the season of Spring, Lent and preparedness! On Long Island, where I am, indoor seedlings are started in February, for transplanting outdoors when temperature permits and when the plants are strong enough to handle rain and other stresses. Some common foods one might start indoors, would be Bell Peppers, Tomatoes, Broccoli and Kale. A number of herbs can also be started at this time. The Ember Days this year would be perfect days for planting these seeds indoors. Again, I’m talking about my area. If you can sow directly in the ground, think about that (or plant in pots if you’re not quite set up to garden yet) or if it’s too cold in your area, you can still do an indoor plant, perhaps even winter bulbs or cooking herbs.

What about the prayerful quality of the Ember Days and Lent? You could bless the seeds with holy water and pray for a good harvest, you could thank God for your abundance and pray for the poor…or pray to the saints invoked for gardening and nature, such as Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Rose of Lima, Saint Hildegard of Bingen, Saint Isidore the Farmer, Saint Kateri and Saint Fiacre. To see the planting calendar for your own area: Old Farmers Almanac

In addition, the readings for the Ember Days are quite beautiful. This can be incorporated into your daily prayertime. Blessings to all on these wonderful traditional feasts!

"It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times..."

The first paragraph in Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, words of genius, and it sounds a bit familiar:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,

It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,

It was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity,

It was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness,

It was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair,

We had everything before us, we had nothing before us,

We were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way…”

Reading these words is like looking into a prism, a many-faceted crystal, or playing with a Rubik’s Cube. So much is here to meditate upon regarding our own times. Light and Dark are rapidly separating. This could be a Lenten exercise, if paired with self-examination. Where am I in this story?

How about this one?…

From William Butler Yeats’ poem, “The Second Coming:”

“Turning and turning in the widening gyre,
The falcon cannot hear the falconer,
Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold,
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed,
And everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned,
The best lack all conviction,
While the worst are full of passionate intensity.”

February is the Month of the Passion of Our Lord

As of Septuagesima Sunday (this past Sunday), the traditional Liturgical Calendar moves from the Cycle of Christmas to the Cycle of Easter.  We remain in this second part for the rest of the year.  We have been meditating upon the Mystery of the Incarnation and now we contemplate the Mystery of the Redemption.  The Cycle of Christmas contained Advent, Christmastide and Time after Epiphany.  The Cycle of Easter contains Septuagesima, Lent, Passiontide, Easter Time and Time after Pentecost. 

As we begin our journey into the Redemption of our souls, we consider how to best conduct our approaching Lent.  This is the purpose of Septuagesima, to arrive at Lent fully prepared and ready to roll.  Otherwise, you wake up on Ash Wednesday and say, “Oh no, it’s Ash Wednesday already.  What am I giving up?  I just made coffee.  Should I give up coffee?  I don’t want to dump it now, that’s expensive coffee.”  Or…”Why did I buy all those cookies?”  You can laugh, but YOU KNOW IT’S TRUE! 

In terms of which Lenten practices you may wish to do, maybe think a bit creatively this year, instead of the “same old thing.”  As we discussed in our “Total Eclipse” post, the world is engulfed in sin and emerging chaos.  Prayer, fasting, penance and spiritual practices in general, are so needed at this time.  And being that February is a month devoted to the Passion of Our Lord, this may help point our exercises in that direction.  Of course, there are the Sorrowful Mysteries, which some say each day in Lent.  There are the litanies of the Passion and the Holy Cross.  Here also, is a Lenten Novena.

Following are some of the notable feasts of this month (we provide both trad and new feasts)…

2nd-Presentation of Our Lord (also known as Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary or Candlemas, when traditionally, candles are blessed)

3rd-St. Blaise (Blessing of Throats)

4th-Sexagesima Sunday

11th-Quinquagesima Sunday, Our Lady of Lourdes

13th-Shrove Tuesday (Holy Face of Jesus traditionally celebrated)

14th-Ash Wednesday (fast & abstinence), St. Valentine (wonderful day to offer up for the intention of chastity)

21st-Ember Wednesday of Lent/Spring

23rd-Ember Friday of Lent/Spring

24th-Ember Saturday of Lent/Spring, St. Matthias

Traditional Calendar for February

"Pilgrimage of Mercy" ~ X Marks the Spot Total Eclipse of the Sun ~ North America

National Solar Observatory

This eclipse will take place on April 8th, and will begin in Mexico, going straight across to Maine and Canada. Apparently, the best viewing is in Mexico and Texas due to likely best weather conditions.

The eclipse, when seen with the total eclipse of 2017, makes an X across the US, a 9,000 square mile area, over Missouri, Kentucky and Illinois. Some think this is a prophetic sign. The last total eclipse across the US (before 2017) was in 1918, the close of WWI. I might add that “the Lady clothed with the Sun and the Moon at her feet” was seen in the sky also in 2017. This image is notably written about by Saint John in Apocalypse. In addition, during the 7-year time period between eclipses, we have all crossed the “Covid Threshold” and we are facing numerous other polycrises. The world has changed between those 2 eclipses, that together create an “X.”

How about a pilgrimage to beseech god’s mercy upon the usa?

Since the US is getting the “X,” it sounds like a good idea to step up prayer for this country. And in this time of Septuagesima, maybe we can make a Lenten plan to that effect. Jesus said that some demons require prayer and fasting to remove. Demons are clearly running free across the world at this time, like never before. I don’t think I need to give examples. So…prayer and fasting this Lent.

An idea I came up with is to perform a…

“Pilgrimage of Mercy”

the week of the eclipse, April 7-13

My family is traveling to the eclipse and we will be doing this pilgrimage. We will be visiting 6 holy sites during the week and praying the Rosary. We will provide supplemental prayers, which will be posted here in PDF form. If you don’t want to miss this, please get on our email list. (See button above.)

Think about some shrines, churches, etc., that you can visit during that week with your family, to beg for God’s mercy and lift up prayer to Him. Or…organize something with your church or ministry! If you’re not in the US, then do this for your own country, as the whole world is engulfed now in sin and Judgement is upon us.

God bless you all and your families! Chiara F Mathews:)

please spread the word about this pilgrimage ~ thank you!

…and let us know if you participate

New York Gov Issues Snow Travel BAN (Climate Lockdown)

I’m in NY and didn’t even know about this till a few days ago. This occurred Jan 13th in Erie County. This article from “Signs of the Times” is written by the attorney who is handling the case against Gov Hochul regarding “Isolation and Quarantine Procedures, Rule 2.13,” the infamous decision to allow the NYS Dept of Health unprecedented bodily control over citizens…

Conspiracy Theorists Were Right About Climate Lockdowns

"The Wonders of the Holy Name" Booklet: Act Now!

In this month of the Holy Name of Jesus (in case you haven’t noticed, this ministry is dedicated to the Holy Name), TAN Books has a great sale on the booklet mentioned above. It normally sells for $4.95 each, but if you act by January 31st, you get 5 for $10.00! It is not a prayer book, but it contains many historical anecdotes, such as Pope Gregory X’s devotion, a plague in Lisbon, glorious martyrdoms and the faith of many saints in the Holy Name.

TAN also has a monthly $10.00 “leatherette” book. They have quite a selection now of these beautiful, well-made spiritual classics and Bibles. The prices range widely, so taking advantage of the monthly offering is a good idea. As a Catholic prepper, having good quality classic books is a must. If you still need to develop your spiritual library, TAN provides a great way to move forward. They also have sets of books you might want to look at.

One warning: unless you like lots of spam, don’t sign up for their email list. Just make a point to visit the site once a month and take advantage of the leatherette, for sure.

Praise the Holy Name of Jesus now and forever!

Let us defend it valiantly!

Holy Name of Jesus Tridentine Mass

We had the privilege of attending this Mass recently at a church on Long Island which occasionally offers the Latin Mass on feastdays. In this month of the Holy Name of Jesus, it was wonderful to attend this Mass for the first time. Here is the Introit and a link to the full Propers, which you may wish to pray with your family during the remainder of January:

In the name of Jesus let every knee

bow of those that are in heaven, on

earth, and under the earth; and let

every tongue confess that the Lord

Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the

Father. O Lord, our Lord,

how wonderful is Thy Name in the

whole earth.

Glory be to the Father

and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now and

ever shall be, world without end.

Amen.

mass proper: holy name of jesus

(Propers on extraordinaryform.org are PDFs and may easily be printed!)

Thought for the Day

Life is a vast wood in which only a few paths may be explored.