I’m tellin’ ya’, friends, have plans against the day that bad things happen!
Think it through. Game it out. Use your imagination.
Here’s what Louisville CO looks like now after the Marshall Fire.
Disasters always happen to other people… until it’s your turn.
You should have plans and backups, especially if you have loved ones to care for.
Food. Water. Power. Defense. Meds. Comms.
Transportation for evacuation.
Know what you have. Know what to do with them. Know where to go.
Obtain a ham radio license. I am delighted that quite a few readers here have let me about passing their exams! It really isn’t that difficult. You can have a lot of contacts and information via local hams on repeaters.
Preparing for the worst is the responsible thing to do.
Disasters never happen… until they do. Therefore,
GO TO CONFESSION!
We do not know the time or place of our death.
One of the most poignant and important petitions in the Litany of Saints is our plea to God:
A subitanea et improvisa morte, libera nos, Domine.
From a sudden and unprovided death, save us, O Lord.
Sudden death is one thing. It can be a grace, as opposed to a long, drawn out agony. On the other hand, for some people the long agony is a grace, for it gives them the chance to repent and offer their suffering in reparation for their sins.
So, sudden or foreseen or long or quick… that’s one thing.
Unprovided is another.
An “unprovided” death is a death without access to the last sacraments, especially absolution from a priest.
That’s a scary thought…. especially if you haven’t been to confession for a long time.
When did you last go to confession?
Dear readers, one of the main reason I put myself into this blog, my force multiplier, is because every single one of you is going to die.
I want every one of you to enjoy the happiness of Heaven. I want my enemies to get to heaven, even if God has to allow them a suffering which will spur conversion.
Some of you haven’t darkened the door of a confessional for a long time.
I tremble for you.
I beg you.
GO TO CONFESSION.
Fathers… if you are responsible for a parish and you are not promoting and making confession available, you are probably on the path to Hell.
Loading ...
Poor people of Colorado, God bless them.
Fr. Z I got shriven today. Best feeling in the world! I’ll mess it up soon enough, but that’s okay, Fr. will hear me again. The only thing better than Confession for yourself, is knowing a loved one made their confession before they passed. What consolation. I asked a loved one to go to confession as my birthday gift. They did it! They were really glad about it too, so it was great for both of us.
had to make an effort to get to confession this time. perhaps a reminder against presumption.
went yesterday to the Cathedral. thanks to traffic, i arrived 5 min after the hour of confessions started and immediately realized the line was so long i wouldn’t be heard.
went to a backup parish later yesterday afternoon. they had a note up saying they cancelled both their 3 hour block yesterday afternoon and their 1.5 hour block today. that was right before the first snowstorm of the season hit.
got to the Cathedral today, driving slowly on icy roads both ways. an unfamiliar priest heard my confession and gave good counsel.
I live 15 miles directly east of where the fires started burning in Superior. My daughter’s work and granddaughter’s Catholic high school were barely outside the mandatory evacuation zone in Lafayette and Broomfield. We had ashes in our yard. Our patio furniture is covered in black soot. My hair smelled like smoke. The winds were ferocious, over 100 mph, and carried the ashes and smoke a great distance! My daughter’s former classmate lost their home. Another one of her friends was on vacation in Florida but by the Grace of God, her home was spared although it was in the hardest hit neighborhood. Yet out of all the tragedy, a statue of our Blessed Mother was left unscathed by heat or flames, despite the fact that literally everything around it was burned to the ground. The home was a total loss and owned by an employee at my granddaughter’s Catholic high school. The Archdiocese of Denver has set up a fundraiser for those who lost their homes in this tragedy. Many prayers for all those families whose lives are forever changed.
I love your repeated Confession recommendations. Sacred Heart of Mary Church, just a little west of Louisville, Colorado, was narrowly missed by the fire. A Traditional Latin Mass is celebrated there every Sunday afternoon.
These sardine designed housing developments are a disaster waiting to happen for such a firestorm.
Where would one place a firebreak with houses stacked on top of each other ?
That drone with cam would be handy for situational awareness before the evac.
In my hometown, December 11th we had a tornado. It killed 17 people and destroyed about 500 homes and 100 businesses. It will take months and months to recover. On New Years Day, we had another small tornado come through and cause some damage to businesses, homes and farms. No one was killed or injured this time, thanks be to God. I am meeting my confessor Saturday.
Very interesting about Our Lady’s statue. Images of her likeness are spared a lot when disasters hit. Makes me think there is a demonic element to it. Fr. Ripperger has said we should consecrate all of our external goods to her as well.
My wife is from this area. She knows so many Catholic families who somehow had both their homes and offices spared. This includes homes being destroyed next door, the fire stopping at their back yard fence, and other possibly-miraculous anecdotes like that.
My father-in-law is chief of public works and utilities for Superior. His home and office were both spared, Deo Gratias.
Thanks Fr. Z for these occasional helpful reminders about the possibility of a future in extremis situation.
These days in these United States there are many groups- composed of Catholics, Protestants, Jews and, yes, a few Muslims- versed in the Holy Bible, the U.S. Constitution and American history. Well-represented with combat veterans and other skilled professionals, they are prepared to interact bluntly then severely, as did the Catholic Church in the turbulent Middle Ages, against any gangs of anarchists, messianic cults, narcissist theocrats, racist thugs of any color, political lunatics, pagan idol worshippers or religious zealots regardless of their identity or claims.
These God and Country groups suggest a healthy familiarization with the Holy Bible, the Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers and the U.S. Constitution is the appropriate course of action.
Philmont237: Deo gratias.
“Preparing for the worst is the responsible thing to do.”
Indeed.
Preparing for the worst involves applying thought and weighing unpleasant courses of action.
In contrast, thoughtlessness and virtue signaling was in full bloom on December 17 in a Matt Fradd-Alex Plato interview when the topic of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 1945 arose.
The uninformed philosopher and the uninformed vlogger, spouting tribal pseudo-catholicism while whining about “patriotism” and “anericanism” are invited to educate themselves, as they are clearly under the influence of the Elizabeth Anscombe cult. There are many facts provided in the links below that will aid them in thinking rationally for themselves about a complex situation:
https://wdtprs.com/2020/09/75th-anniversary-of-the-end-of-wwii/
https://wdtprs.com/2020/10/st-augustine-of-hippo-in-tutti-fratellitutti/
At the moment, Fradd and Plato thirst for the blood of over ten million dead in an amphibious invasion of Japan likely to last two years, during which several hundred thousand Asians each month would also die under Japanese occupation. That is a barbaric price to pay for the greater glory of Anscombe’s opinion and pseudo-catholicism. Now that is “intrinsic evil.”
The probability of mass migration or internal displacement is high during or after civil war, nuclear war, EMP, plague, etc. The documents mentioned above- Declaration of Independence, Federalist Papers and Constitution- are collected in a small paperback by several publishers. The Heritage Guide to the Constitution is also helpful, but may be too large in a mobile situation.
Some folks have printed speeches such as Washington’s Farewell Address, Archbishop Carroll’s Prayer for Government, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and Second Inaugural, and Bishop Fulton Sheen on Patriotism and tucked them in the paperback.
The following might be helpful for those considering a move from the city to the country:
Tips for moving to the country, concerning not the house search but situations encountered when adjusting to country life, written in a Bad-Good-Best Response format:
https://survivalblog.com/2020/11/17/tips-moving-country-novice/
Once you’re established in the boondocks, there’s something else to consider. Many good links in this article.
Countering The Retreat Freeloader Meme, by Caroline B.
https://survivalblog.com/2012/06/16/countering-the-retreat-freeloader-meme-by-caroline-b/
After those two guest posts here’s Yoda, the blog editor Jim Rawles on charity during disasters:
https://survivalblog.com/2007/04/06/charity-in-disaster-situations/
Genesis 6:21 Thou shalt take unto thee of all food that may be eaten, and thou shalt lay it up with thee: and it shall be food for thee and them.
Preparedness is Biblical. It also involves more than chow, such as medical skills and self-defense.
The Book of Armaments, a Blessed medieval text:
“And Saint Attila raised the hand grenade up on high, saying, ‘O Lord, bless this thy hand grenade, that with it thou mayst blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy.’ And the Lord did grin. And the people did feast upon the lambs and sloths, and carp and anchovies, and orangutans and breakfast cereals, and fruit-bats.”
Try SurvivalBlog’s archives or search for homeschooling, communications, homesteading, product reviews, livestock, gardening, hunting, fuel storage, Getting out of Dodge, retreat groups and security, sanitation, clothing, books, water purification, etc.