So there I was on Friday morning comfortably sitting in Kingston and contemplating whether I should leave on Saturday to check out Parliament Hill.  Next thing I know, I am getting a call and a text from a woman named “Dinorah”.  She’s coming from Oakville Saturday and was wondering if I was going to be on the Hill.  I thought to myself:  “Can’t see it happening right now…I’m a bit beat these days, and this is extremely short notice to get myself prepared.”  Then she tells me she has 650 Rosaries with her and she wants to hand them out to the truckers. “Oh….that’s just great. How am I going to say no to this?”  It’s Friday morning, and now I have to get the whole contraption moving again. I’m not going to get much sleep tonight (as I am still working until 5pm).  Then I gotta wake up at 4AM, drive 2 hours, stop in at home, pick up the stuff, and then be at the Hill by 9AM to meet her to help her hand out those Rosaries. I wanted to rest, but how could I say no?  And what about the Truckers and their immense sacrifice? And Dinorah in driving from Oakville? And the guy I later overheard on the Hill who drove 42 hours straight from BC to be there for the Evangelical organized “Jericho” march?

What was I complaining about again?  For shame. For shame.

As my daughter and I made our way up Kent Street as is our custom, we arrived at Wellington Street and headed towards the middle of the road to make our way up to the Hill.  Within a few seconds, we were approached by a young woman who identified herself as a reporter and, with a slight French accent, asked if she could interview both of us.  I replied, “OK.  So which legacy media outfit are you from? I’m not inclined to be interviewed by legacy media.”  She said she was from Agence France-Presse, which is basically France’s version of the CBC.  I was somewhat hesitant, but I kind of liked her demeanor and thought it would give me an opportunity to gently chastise her in exchange for my co-operation for her interview.  Besides, foreign press is generally fairer than domestic legacy media outlets.  I started out by telling her that all of the legacy media’s credibility right now is zero, and that is not a good thing because we should be able to rely on our media for fair and honest reporting.  And I told her, “You can manipulate the truth of things all you want, but every time you do, you eat into the cornerstone of the press which is that credibility.”  So we had our interview.  They were good and thoughtful questions, so I was pleasantly surprised and hopeful that we will get a fair shake.  A few things that I said that really stood out:  1) I told her that given what these Canadian Truckers have inspired around the world (including her own France), I have never been prouder to be a Canadian in my life – ever, ever, ever.  And for that alone, I will be eternally grateful if only for the small spark of hope that they have enkindled in all of us.  2) She also asked what I did for a living. I said I was an accountant, but that I was particularly disappointed that the professions in this country let us down on defending our freedoms and that it took the humble truckers and working people to stand up for our fundamental rights.  That should be a very stark and sobering reminder to all Canadians that we always need to show profound respect to every single trade and job and never look down or minimize the importance of any person, regardless of what they do…because one thing that Covid and its cronies have shown us:  we are one Trucker away from Tyranny. 3) When she asked about how long this protest would last, I paused for a moment, reflected, and said, it might last months (or until Trudeau is kicked out by his own Party which ever comes first).  I can’t see any reason why it couldn’t last months, frankly.  After all, we are coming out of winter.  In fact, now that I think of it, I will be very sad when it’s over because we are suffering this together and in unity…which is a light burden.

So we finally arrived at the Hill and awaited for Dinorah arrived.  As a group of us  waited, a very large group of Evangelicals assembled and prayed before they would commence their very biblical “Jericho March” around the Parliament buildings.  They will do so for the next six days as well.  We joined them in prayer and wished them well.  We are all praying that the walls of division that separates us as Canadians comes crashing down.  “Nothing is impossible with God” – even the most unlikeliest of outcomes.  As the group set off on their walk, I was rather envious that the Evangelicals turned out in large numbers. There might have been 500 of them.  And for us as Catholics?  A mere faithful remnant is all that remains.  Our leadership has all but abandoned us and we are left alone with Our Mother to fight this thing…and so we’ll fight…like Gideon.  We don’t need large numbers. We just need faithful Catholics who say “Yes, I will go. Yes, I will do as you say, dear Mother.”  As we waited, someone remarked to me:  “There is an outside chance that they might arrest us today.”  I shrugged my shoulders, “I don’t care.  I don’t give it a second thought to be arrested for this country or my Faith.  They can pound dirt.”

Because of traffic, Dinorah arrived late (around 10AM) with her two carriages of Rosaries – all 650 of them.  As I looked at all those Rosaries, I drew back a bit and I thought, “Is this really going to work? Isn’t this going to be awkward?  Most of these guys are not even Catholic.”  Human reasoning and equivocation started to seep into my thinking.  I knew that was a mistake, and one of the reasons why Our Lady generally only appears to children – they listen and do what they are told without questioning or complicating things with human respect or political considerations.  So, I snapped out of it, grabbed several dozen bags of “Rosary packages” and set out with a friend to deliver those Rosaries.  We only had about 30-40 minutes before the Rosary would start and I would need to be back at the Centennial flame.  We were able to deliver about 12 or so.  How many Dinorah and her crew were able to deliver is unknown, but one thing is for sure is that it went very well – at least for me.  They were all very receptive to receiving the Rosary and appreciative of our prayers for them.  I told them that Our Lady loves them and is using them to do great things, and that there was a small note in the bag addressed to them…”Dear Patriotic Truck Drivers and friends…”  Later on in the afternoon, I read this email that was sent to me by someone who was unaware of this Rosary distribution:

John, while praying this morning a very revealing thought came to me. Give a Rosary to every Trucker whether they are catholic or whether or not they believe. Tell them it is for protection that the rosary has saved lives! Tell them that When police come for them to hold the rosaries with both hands up high and ask for Our Lady – The Mother of God the Blessed Virgin Mary, the woman clothed with the sun and whose foot is on the head of the serpent to come to their aid. BOTH HANDS OUT STRETCHED WITH THE ROSARY UP HIGH. -SHOW THEM. Tell them to put their trust in the mother of God. Police will become unmovable. They won’t know what to do.

Such a strategy would not be unprecedented in modern Catholic history, either, such as what happened in the Philippines in1986.  As for those “Freedom Rosaries”, I still have many of them to distribute to the Truckers and to receptive Canadians. I look forward to doing so in the near future and I invite anyone who is interested in doing so to contact me to assist.

By the time we started the liturgy, the Hill was pretty packed and more and more fellow Catholics had arrived. It was a decent crowd.  (Unfortunately, because of the inclement weather, we had issues with our Zoom transmission and could not livestream the event).  At the beginning of the Rosary (see my reflections below in Announcing the Mysteries), the Evangelicals had gathered in the front and started singing some beautiful hymns and we joined them between our prayers and before the Rosary.  Once the Rosary started, their singing and our praying almost took my breath away.  It really did.  Our Lady consoles us even when we are abandoned and cast out by our own family, friends, work and church.  For me, it was a confirmation that God was indeed among us in this great Canadian moment.  These past few weeks have indeed been “days of folklore” and continue to be so.  For us as Catholics, we need to understand that a victory on this front may well be the end of the story for the Truckers, but for us, this is only the first few chapters of the book we are writing together.  The remaining chapters tell the story of how Our Lady will convert this nation and use it to re-evangelize the West.  Believe it…because it is happening right before our very eyes.

Next Steps

1. This Thursday (Feb.17) – I will be on the Hill this Thursday to pray the Rosary.  Hope to see many of you out there. We’ll try again to Zoom it for those who want to join on the internet.  Details will be forthcoming.

2. Next Saturday (Feb.19) – I would really love to do a solemn Rosary procession with a Statue of Our Lady on a platform, and a lot of Catholic flags of all sorts.  It would be a great witness to our fellow Canadians if we saw hundreds of Catholics out in support of the Truckers in solemn procession.  A dream, I know!  But dreams sometimes come true, too!  If anyone has some good leads on where to get such a statue, please contact me. I have a couple of possibilities right now, but nothing firm yet.  I would like to get this arrangement confirmed as soon as possible. Thanks.

In her Immaculate Heart,

John Pacheco

St. Joan of Arc Community

_______________________

Rosary Reflections: 

First Luminous Mystery: The Baptism in the Jordan – In the Baptism of the Jordan, we see a pre-figurement of that baptism which is the initiation into the mystical Body of Christ and Kingdom of God and imparts to us supernatural life by Faith.   This is in contrast to the Covid Health Cult which is the cause of so much strife, sickness, and death in our nation. The Cult does not offer us a gift but rather an imposition on our free wills through fear, compulsion, threats which foisted on us by a Godless State. In this mystery, we pray for the conversion of hearts so that Supernatural Faith might triumph over unhinged and paralyzing fear.

Second Luminous Mystery: The Wedding Feast At Cana –  We are reminded of a voluntary union of love between a man and a woman, which forms the bedrock of society.  We observe how far this bodily sacrament is from the unnatural, divisive, and destructive abortion-tainted vaccines, and the forced artificial union that has all but obliterated the trust in our society of which the Sacrament of Marriage is the foundation.  We pray for a renewed appreciation of the sacredness and inviolability of the human body, freedom and the sacredness of the human conscience, and the restoration of trust within our families and nation.

Third Luminous Mystery:  The Proclamation of the Kingdom –  Jesus proclaims to everyone the good news of His sacrificial love for all people without discrimination.  We compare and contrast this to the propaganda by pharmaceutical companies who act in their own self interest to forge their own false Communion to increase their profits at the expense of our own health.  Scripture says: “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:1–2),  We ask that the Lord send his Holy Angels to counter the influence of the Prince of the Air and his acolytes in the Media in giving us the courage to speak the truth to their lies.

Fourth Luminous Mystery: The Transfiguration – We have watched our society be transfigured into an ugly, horrible, and paranoid monster.  The thin veneer of a western culture pretending to uphold human rights, freedom of conscience, speech and religion has been ripped away overnight, and our country has fallen into utter darkness as a result.  Standing in stark contrast to this is the Lord who, before three of his Apostles, showed his true and resplendent light.  While Christ is hidden and cloaked in his Humanity, He shows us a glimpse of who He really is.  So, we pray for God to allow us to unmask and expose the darkness around us and boldly call all to repentance and conversion.

Fifth Luminous Mystery:  The Institution of the Holy Eucharist:  In the Catholic Faith, we have our seven sacraments, and the most precious of these is God’s very body, blood, soul and divinity.  Jesus taught us that whoever eats of his flesh and drinks of his blood will have eternal life.  The Covid Health Cult too has its own sacraments and priesthood of sorts.  While God calls us into free Communion with Him, the Cult compels Communion with it by coercion and creates its own fake church.  Those who have its mark are permitted the veneer of freedom, while those who refuse to bend the knee are outcasts of society.  The high priests of this religion will not let us live unless we partake of this pharmakeia – a pseudo and blasphemous Eucharist.  Big Pharma, Big Media, Big Tech and Big State have pronounced us heretics to the new religion.  Let us pray, therefore, that our fellow Catholics wake up and understand that the rise of this Cult and its false Eucharist is directly related to the attack on the Holy Eucharist and the restrictions placed on it.  Let those in authority understand what grave responsibility they bear in refusing the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass to those who profess the Catholic Faith.