Many of us are at a crossroads.   Some of us are either oblivious to this reality, or are refusing to acknowledge it.  Some of us are facing multiple crossroads at this time.  

It is very difficult to make a choice that you know will be self-determining and irrevocable.  It’s even harder when others you had hoped would go down your path, whichever one it may be, decide that they cannot.  It makes one feel isolated.  It makes one feel conflicted.  It can even tempt one to do something that he simply knows is wrong.  

Last week I spoke on the phone with someone I hadn’t talked to in over a year.  A very smart person whom I deeply respect.  I asked him for some consultation on Jean-Paul Sartre and Friedrich Nietzsche for the philosophy section of the book I’m writing, The New Standard.  

After providing some great insight, he began asking me specific questions about the topic on which I am writing.  As I spoke on the subject of transhumanism, he became fairly quiet.  He eventually responded with something to the effect of, “this is all rather alarming, but we all have our own practical choices to make at this time.  Should I really be compelled to change my current lifestyle because of the radical aims of some ambitious futurists and a few influential elites?”  I then attempted to put it in terms of what is happening right now.  I responded, “20 years ago, a handful of men predicted that mRNA vaccines would be ready by the early 2020s.   Everyone else either disbelieved or were simply not even paying attention.  Lulled asleep by a parallel progression of technology that brought us high definition television and the smart phone, we are now all being forced to receive a DNA altering gene therapy that seems to have come out of no where.  When do you suggest we start making changes and say ‘enough’?”.  To which he responded, “The Covid vaccine alters your DNA??”.  

The conversation only got worse from there.  He shared with me a personal experience similar to what many others have endured over the last year.  One summer afternoon, he was having a moment with his baby nephew.  All of a sudden, his mother abruptly took the baby.  She whispered to him, “Your sister is concerned because you are not vaccinated”.  This friend of mine felt compelled, by the disapproval of his under-informed and discriminatory extended family, to receive a therapy that he himself did not fully understand and did not wish to take.  He went on, “So I got double vaxxed.  And I know that I gave up some freedom and perhaps even a bit of my humanity in doing so.  But in exchange, I get to continue to be part of the lives of people I love”.

I do not begrudge my friend more than I plain feel sorry for him.  Like most of us dealing with difficult decisions, he didn’t choose his crossroads, rather it was placed in front of him.  And like many of us facing difficult decisions, he was pressured by loved ones to choose against what he believed was right.  But I feel most sorry for him because he was not better informed before making his choice.  There was no point in proselytizing to him at that moment, as he had already made his decision.  But because I know what I know (that decisions to take or not take more experimental and increasingly transhumanistic “treatments” will continue to be put in front of us all as time goes on) I simply did my conscience and gave him the best information I had as to why compliance was and will continue to be the wrong move.  I followed my conscience and attempted to better inform his.  It's the best I could I do.

And that is my point.  As the last two years have unfolded, I have figured out that more and more messy crossroads will continue to be put in front of us all.  My take away so far is that this calls us all to practice more intense conscience formation than ever, and to be resolute in making decisions that we truly believe are right . This applies even if it means losing others.  It applies even if they begrudge you for not going down the path they insist you go down.  And that is why I say “take the high road”.

By following a well informed conscience, you will be in a better position as time goes forward.  I guess that’s actually called taking the high ground.  I have particularly found this to be true as I have traded many friends over the last two years in my willingness to do things many would be uncomfortable doing (praying outside of abortion clinics, knocking door to door to get politicians I truly believe in elected, rallying dozens of men to defend churches that could be in danger, etc…).  I no longer spend significant time interacting with people who don’t share my beliefs or whose priorities aren’t even close to mine. 

On a couple of occasions where old friends have asked me “how about dem Cardinals?”, I have straight up told them, “The world is in the midst of an elitist globalist New World Order takeover.  I have stopped watching spoiled men who get paid millions of dollars to play a child’s game.  And I especially will not support the larger organization who forces their employees to get an experimental gene therapy while simultaneously saluting communism”.  On one occasion I followed up with, “Would you be interested in praying the full rosary with me and some friends while marching around the capitol building this weekend?  We call it a Jericho March.”

Honestly, at this point, I don’t even consider the people I spend my time with “friends”.  More like “brothers”, “sisters”, “comrades in arms”.  We are awake together, we pray together, we hold each other spiritually accountable, we secure the gates of our church together, we hold local politicians accountable together, etc… These people are my family.  The further this society spirals out of control, I have confidence that I can confide in them and I hope they share the same confidence in me.  We will walk this parallel path together or die trying.  

When I was in high school, there was a girl I played chess with who was very talented.  I never beat her.  Once I asked for some general advice.  She said, “Think of chess like life.  You have to make calculated decisions, you have to follow many rules of conventional wisdom, you must also be willing to take risks, and you have to be willing to make sacrifices”.  She was clearly wise beyond her years.  I have many times reflected upon the life advice she gave me that day.  Whoops, I mean “chess advice”.  While having difficult crossroads placed in front of you is never pleasant in the moment, God always gives you the grace necessary to take the high ground/road.  And if you do the right thing, you will protect your king while advancing closer toward your opponent’s.  Or in this case, you will protect your very peace and harmony with self while gaining closer on heaven.

While I sit here and preach, yet again, I hope that whoever is reading this can take it with the spirit in which it is intended: witness.  That is all I am trying to offer.  I certainly appreciate principled witness when I see it.  I have recently been inspired in seeing men I know take the high road. 

Recently, a man I know was let down by someone who had made a commitment to be somewhere, but later changed his mind.  Not only has this man stayed firm in his resolution to go down the path on which his conscience has set him, but he has also discouraged others from doing anything other than take the high road over the situation.  When one is let down, it can be tempting to do some bashing, even against those who have walked beside him before, but now feel they cannot (at least not at the present).  If someone who has deomnstrated reliability and uprightness so many times before suddenly feels that he cannot be somewhere, then so be it.  I am happy to see men keep up their enthusiasm, while resisting any urge to be distracted by misdirecting their frustration or angst.  We have bigger fish to fry at this time.  Stick to the plan, rally the troops, and let’s take the high ground/road.

As I said before, there will be many other crossroads placed in front of us going forward.  If you are getting nervous and cold now, just imagine what it might be like with a Cupich junior as bishop.  Many wake up to such a reality every day within their respective diocese.  And if that is not your present situation, get ready for a new reality where you may have all sorts of tough decisions about roads to take.  Roads that not everyone in your present bunker will be able to join you on.  And that’s okay.  Good decisions will put you in the company of good new companions.  

And to anyone who may be faced with a decision to either bend too far or lose his job (this happens in the Church all the time, especially in transitory phases), then I pray you will make the right decision.  But when that time comes, just as now, rest assured knowing that if you continue to sincerely form your conscience and you are willing to act courageously, you will have total peace of mind and conscience.  As Pope Benedict XVI, said, “the world offers you comfort, but you were not made for comfort, you were made for greatness!”

Finally, don’t ever let ignorant people who attempt to pressure you into doing something wrong rob you of your peace and joy.  Take the high road.  The more research I do on the current situation of the world and its trajectory, I am oftentimes tempted toward anger.  But as my wife frequently reminds me, it’s not worth it.  I don’t wantt to let such people have that kind of power over me.  Christ’s yoke is easy and his burden is light.  Choosing to love and to pray for such people is what we are called to do.  Who knows, maybe there will be a moment when they find us on our path and ask to join.  Let’s aim for sainthood and beat that path with some real purpose.  I have a feeling that over the next year, many more will be asking to join the path that the awake and active have been beating.  

God bless,

Gadfly