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Wednesday, September 2, 2026
Fr. Bob's Reflection for the Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time - Guest Post
Many years ago, there was a young boy named Eugene Orowitz. He disliked his name and, by most accounts, didn't seem destined for greatness. As a skinny, 100-pound sophomore in high school, he certainly didn't look like an athlete.
One afternoon in gym class, the teacher gathered the students on the track to demonstrate how to throw the javelin. Afterward, he invited the students to give it a try.
When Eugene stepped forward, his classmates laughed. "Can you even lift it?" they teased. "Be careful – you might hurt yourself."
Ignoring their ridicule, Eugene imagined himself as a warrior preparing for battle. He raised the javelin over his head, took six quick steps and let it fly.
The javelin sailed more than 50 feet before crashing into the empty bleachers. His throw traveled twice as far as anyone else's – and hit the metal seats with such force that it bent the javelin beyond repair. The gym teacher simply handed it to Eugene and said, "Take it home. The school can't use it anymore."
That summer, Eugene practiced endlessly. By his senior year, he could throw the javelin 211 feet, farther than any high school athlete in the country. He earned a scholarship to the University of Southern California and began dreaming of competing in the Olympics.
Then everything changed.
He suffered a severe shoulder injury that tore a ligament beyond repair. His athletic career ended overnight. His scholarship disappeared, and with it, his Olympic dream. It seemed as though years of hard work had been lost in an instant.
After leaving college, Eugene took a job in a warehouse. His story raises a question many of us have asked: Why does God allow suffering? Why do our hopes sometimes seem to crumble?
Jesus offers an answer in today's Gospel: "Whoever loses his life for My sake will find it."
Those words can sound confusing at first. But Jesus is reminding us that when we place our lives – even our disappointments and hardships – in God's hands, He can bring about something greater than we could ever imagine.
That promise isn't only about eternal life. God is also at work here and now, transforming our setbacks into new beginnings, if we allow Him.
While working in that warehouse, Eugene met a struggling actor who asked him to help rehearse some lines. The experience sparked an interest in acting, and Eugene enrolled in acting school.
Before long, he landed the role of "Little Joe" Cartwright on “Bonanza,” one of television's most beloved westerns. The series ran for 14 years. He later starred in another television classic, “Little House on the Prairie.”
By then, Eugene Orowitz had become known to the world as Michael Landon.
Before his death in 1991, Landon said the best thing that ever happened to him was tearing the ligament in his shoulder. What had seemed like the end of his dreams became the beginning of a life far richer than the one he had planned.
We all experience broken dreams. We all know disappointment, loss and suffering – some more than others.
But today's Gospel reminds us not to lose hope. Trust the Lord. He sees possibilities where we see dead ends. When we surrender our lives to Him, He can transform even our deepest wounds into unexpected blessings.
My friends, sometimes, the hardest thing to do is also the holiest: “To let go ... and let God.”
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Robert Warren, S.A.
Spiritual Director
Tuesday, September 1, 2026
Monday, August 31, 2026
Sunday, August 30, 2026
Biggest Oil Deal in World History + America Controls the Strait of Hormuz + Lake Ontario Is Now Lake America - micheletkearney@gmail.com - Gmail
Biggest Oil Deal in World History + America Controls the Strait of Hormuz + Lake Ontario Is Now Lake America - micheletkearney@gmail.com - Gmail
The White House
WEEKLY BRIEFING
Biggest Oil Deal in World History: U.S. Secures Majority Control of 65 Billion Barrels in Venezuela, America Controls the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. Space Academy Commission Established, and Lake Ontario Renamed Lake America
In a bombshell announcement, President Trump declared that the United States has entered into the biggest oil deal in world history. At his direction, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth — working with Venezuela’s Interim President Delcy Rodriguez and through a partnership with private business — secured majority U.S. control of more than 65 billion barrels of proven oil reserves in Venezuela at no cost to the American taxpayer. The deal more than doubles American oil reserves, greatly increases domestic oil supply, and is projected to substantially lower gas prices for Americans long into the future, while setting Venezuela on a course toward prosperity. The administration called it a Historic Transaction that strengthens the growing relationship between Venezuela and the United States.
On August 28, the White House released a comprehensive accounting of the administration’s naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz — the world’s most critical oil chokepoint — confirming that the United States, not Iran, controls the passage. Since the blockade’s resumption in July 2026, U.S. forces have cleared Iranian mines from international shipping lanes, turned away 75 vessels attempting to breach the blockade, and facilitated the movement of nearly 1,500 commercial ships carrying 750 million barrels of crude oil — maintaining the free flow of global commerce while cutting off Iran entirely. Zero Iranian oil has been exported through the Strait since the blockade began. Iran is losing approximately $13 billion per month in revenue, triggering a domestic fuel crisis, currency collapse, and cascading inflation inside the Islamic Republic. Gulf oil exports have recovered to two-thirds of pre-operation levels under U.S. protection.
On August 28, President Trump signed an executive order establishing a Presidential Commission to design the United States Space Academy — a new NASA-led federal institution that will prepare the next generation of Americans for careers in space. Modeled after the nation’s military service academies, the Space Academy will combine rigorous technical education with leadership development, preparing graduates for military, civilian, and commercial space enterprise careers. The Commission — chaired by the NASA Administrator — will recommend governance structure, curriculum, service requirements, location, and a pilot program framework. The initiative directly supports the administration’s goal of achieving more than 1,000 annual space launches by 2030.
On August 26, President Trump declared a national emergency to secure the United States bulk-power system from foreign sabotage, invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The executive order cites foreign actors creating and exploiting cybersecurity vulnerabilities across the nation’s electricity infrastructure — threatening national defense, emergency services, and economic stability. The order generally prohibits foreign-produced bulk-power equipment and associated software, directing the Secretary of Energy to publish implementing rules. A prior complementary order preserved an estimated 17,000 megawatts of generating capacity — enough to power 12.75 million American homes.
Also on August 26, President Trump signed a proclamation to temporarily expand lean beef trimmings imports at lower tariff rates to reduce ground beef prices amid supply shortages. The 90-day measure — effective September 1 — caps imports at 100,000 tons per month of lean beef trimmings to be combined with domestic U.S. beef, and is projected to increase the overall beef supply by roughly 10%. American cattle herds are at their lowest level in 75 years, driven by drought conditions, wildfire-related feed shortages, and live animal import restrictions imposed to prevent New World Screwworm spread.
Immigration enforcement reached new heights. ICE made nearly 50,000 arrests in July — the highest monthly total of President Trump’s second term — as maximum enforcement operations continue to accelerate. Southern border apprehensions have fallen 94% below Biden-era monthly averages with 15 straight months of zero releases. The State Department is moving forward with what officials describe as the largest mass visa revocation in American history, targeting up to 200,000 foreign nationals. And in a sweeping terror action, the State Department publicly revealed that Portland Antifa groups have direct connections to Hamas and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, triggering a broad terrorism designation action against the network.
The General Services Administration disclosed more than $13 billion in suspected fraud involving approximately 1,000 federal contractors — a sweeping audit uncovering waste and deliberate deception on a historic scale. President Trump visited Texas, where his second-term results are dramatic: violent crime is down 13%, border apprehensions near zero, no overtime taxes on approximately 25% of Texas workers, and average tax refunds reached $4,344 — second highest in the nation. Treasury Secretary Bessent warned that an “economic D-Day is coming for Iran,” as Operation Economic Outcast sanctions target Iranian military procurement and petroleum traders.
On August 27, President Trump signed an executive order renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America, directing the Secretary of the Interior to update all federal references within 30 days. The order notes that the United States supplies 9 of the 11 icebreaking vessels on the Great Lakes and has invested nearly $4 billion in the Great Lakes ecosystem over the past decade. Also on August 27, Karoline Leavitt completed her final day as the 36th White House Press Secretary — the youngest person ever to hold the position. President Trump called her “one of the best” ever to serve in the role, honoring her historic tenure and unwavering defense of the administration’s agenda.
Federal Court Rules Speech-Based Deportations Violate the First Amendment
Federal Court Rules Speech-Based Deportations Violate the First Amendment
Federal Court Rules Speech-Based Deportations Violate the First Amendment
The decision goes further than other similar recent rulings.
Saturday, August 29, 2026
Meditation of the Day The Courage to Stand in the Truth
Meditation of the Day
The Courage to Stand in the Truth
A brave man, who has produced that supreme act, that singular testimony to Christian truth which we call martyrdom, in one step passes from earth to heaven. No martyr sneaks into heaven like a thief; there is no martyr who stumbles into heaven as though he had been hurled along by a hurricane of prayer. There is no hesitation or dallying along the way for the martyr, that he might shine up just a little more for a fitting entry into the city of God. Rather the martyr sweeps into heaven like a conqueror coming home. That is precisely what he is. He has lost his life in order to find it; he has made the difficult choice of death in preference to desertion of the faith or of virtue. He has conquered death like his Master….
Such a man is certainly a man of virtue. He has stood firm in truth and justice, which is the very essence of virtue…. He is a brave man, for he has stood against the great evil of death in a private war for the divine good of virtue. He is a man of faith, for he has witnessed to that faith even at the cost of his life; and he is a man of charity, for the norm of friendship is sacrifice, and he has made the supreme sacrifice….
It takes courage to be human. It takes even more courage to be Catholic. And it takes still more courage to reach those sublime heights of Catholicism which are called sanctity. Or, to put it another way, courage is necessary for the practice of virtue. As a man becomes more and more virtuous, he faces more and more difficulties and so needs more and more courage. Man needs courage to face human life, for human life cannot be lived without virtue, without good habits, without reason being in command. By Catholic life a man steps above the limits of mere humanity; he must not only be human now, thoroughly human, he must be divinely human; his ends are no longer the ends of mere man but the ends of God.
Friday, August 28, 2026
Thursday, August 27, 2026
Wednesday, August 26, 2026
Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard wants Iran ‘off the map’, says wars on Turkey and Egypt are next | Middle East Eye
Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard wants Iran ‘off the map’, says wars on Turkey and Egypt are next | Middle East Eye
M: John Whitbeck
Transmitted below is a brief report on the electoral campaign platform of Jonathan Pollard, a traitor whose freedom was a first-term gift from Donald Trump to his most generous funder/purchaser, Sheldon Adelson, on one of whose private planes he "returned" triumphantly to Israel.
Hostility toward and contempt for the United States continues to be viewed as an electoral asset in Israel.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israeli-spy-jonathan-pollard-wants-iran-map-threatens-war-turkey-and-egypt
Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard wants Iran ‘off the map’, says wars on Turkey and Egypt are next
[Salon] Comment on "Oil: The Donald And Demand Destruction" -
Comment on "Oil: The Donald And Demand Destruction"
We thank Alastair Newton for this comment on yesterday’s newsletter:
Following US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's 'elaboration' on Donald Trump's 'economic D-Day' against Iran Brent crude has slipped by around US$6pb. Given that no new sanctions were actually imposed, that Tehran has dismissed the whole caboodle and (perhaps most importantly) China has committed to retaliate if it is targeted with secondary sanctions, this may seem surprising. But strange things can happen in August when many fund managers are taking a break and this reaction feels very like the rapidly reversed rally Mr Bessent spurred last week in his equally dismal attempt to tame the bond market.
Reference to the bond market is very pertinent. The interest rate on long duration US government bonds (aka Treasuries) has been easing upwards for some time now but, unusually, this is not principally because of inflation expectations (even though these have recently started to creep up).
The substantive link between these two issues is a simple one, i.e. higher oil prices will drive up inflation which will then see investors demanding a higher return on US government debt, pushing what is known as the 'long end' (of the yield curve) higher still. This is precisely what Mr Bessent was trying to argue against last week - unsuccessfully even without the added complication of the threat of escalating economic pressure on Tehran.
Even before Mr Bessent intervention yesterday the FT's Katie Martin had written (on 22 August, in fact) of his bond market intervention as follows:
"Scott Bessent’s running battle with the bond market is starting to look like his boss’s war in Iran — started by his own hand with a tangled set of objectives, an underestimated opponent and an implausible path to victory. And like the conflict in the Middle East, we are all going to suffer its effects.”
That the two losing battles he is fighting have become increasingly entangled is therefore more than somewhat ironic.
Tuesday, August 25, 2026
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