“The wildlife and its habitat cannot speak, so we must and we will.” – Theodore Roosevelt
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First Principles: The Wildlife and Its Habitat Cannot Speak, So We Must and We Will
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Tagged First Principles, Habitat, Must, Speak, Theodore Roosevelt, Wildlife, Will
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For Pope Francis
For Pope Francis
by Michael Doyle
Firstly, I admit I was not a big fan
Of either his station or the man
Despite this, he imprinted this century
With his words and his legacy
I'm for building bridges, but legally.
It doesn't make me less about mercy
To believe my duty is to my family
And not invaders of my country
The walls of the Vatican say it all
The spite of hypocrisy takes its fall
Still, what was the Communist's legacy
How did Francis change the papacy?
Off the cuff and blunt in his style
He offered soundbites worth the while
Buenos Aires Italian quietly rose
But was it substance or a pose?
The sands of time filled the hourglass
But there's a lot, I can't let pass
Wondering about what kind of a dent
His damage did by being irreverent
Was it just confusion or was it heresy
There was a shock and awe of controversy
In a Leftwing attempt at giving dignity
Traditional doctrine became ambiguity
Until an allowance for sin became leniency
It was a wonder he rose to the papacy
Compassion isn't about being capable
But a world of sinners doing as best able
It is not as if God's laws aren't eternal
To soften this is something infernal
A pope is allegedly God's representative
This isn't really something interpretative
The line was drawn at denying Christ's divinity
It is as though Francis skipped all of theology
Though I genuinely hope that he now finds rest
His infallibility often failed and fails the test
(c) April 21, 2025 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Uncategorized
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First Principles: I’m A Christian, A Conservative and A Republican, In That Order
“I’m a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order.” – Mike Pence
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Tagged Christian, Conservative, First Principles, Mike Pence, Order, Republican
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Thought For the Day: It Is Not Enough To Say We Are Christians. We Must Live the Faith, Not Only With Our Words, But With Our Actions
“It is not enough to say we are Christians. We must live the faith, not only with our words, but with our actions.” – Pope Francis (R.I.P.)
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Actions, Christians, Enogh, Faith, Pope Francis, Rest In Peace, Say, Thought For the Day, Words
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Resurrection Day 2025
Resurrection Day 2025
by Michael Doyle
My youngest daughter worries too much about perfection
But I tell her it's all about the right direction
We can't worry about yesterday or tomorrow
Today's our day to walk in God's grace, not sorrow
The pages read are meant as a heavenly mirror
Not a mallet to whack us down about any error
We put Jesus in front of us in every step we take
Without any of the vanity that leads to heartbreak
On this Resurrection Sunday we reflect on Paul's letter
And how in even Nero's day, the quest was to get better
Like a Christian constitution, the Book of Romans led
To an understanding of God's word beyond what's read
The Father's portrait of the Son, painted by the Spirit
Hung on every word written if we would only hear it
Like a wedding ring's diamond, Chapter 8 carries weight
Sparkling in its answer that God's love anticipates
We live in a world that claws at us for our attention
Often times it feels ripe for conflict and strong tension
I encourage my daughters to lead a godly life every day
As long as we walk in love and do our best in every way
Still, there are times we need to decide what to nurture
And sometimes that lead to necessarily scoffing at culture
Likewise, culture has its scoff at our takes on Christianity
This is the way of the world to engage in the incendiary
It's a challenge in this world to live a Biblical perspective
It's not the donkey or elephant but the lamb in our connective
Laid out and played out in our tissues as we join in conversation
About the needs, wants, and desires in our political nation
We need to watch the unbound feelings that come on too strong
Yet, know we are members of our church's community and belong
Watching with restraint to be mindful of our imperfect humanity
While holding on and protecting our Father's heavenly community
Faith and driving similarly require us to mindful of others
To give grace, and be attentive, and watch out for one another
It's in staying in our land that we prevent fragmentation
It's the Christin peace that heals the world's lamentations
The Bible can be seen as guided by God's peace through grace
We are called to be peacemakers, soul shaking as we embrace
Conversations with the broken world where scoff leads to shimmer
Is often a spider's web that only makes the light dimmer
And it is from this that we must delicately walk redemption
In an all to clever society that we approach in contemplation
Too often we treat others as labeled objects for observing
Rather than the children of our God who are better deserving
This life we lead is one of constantly needing to learn
Always changing and less judging even as we live and discern
We learn to restrain our tongue from life's frustration
Failing to live creation's potential, yet in anticipation
That each of us shares an internal compass of right and wrong
Shared in similar convictions that echo and are felt strong
Hardwired by the truths we feel in our individual souls
Each moment lived is given by God though it feels out of control
Godliness is not random but in the image of the holy and divine
We are not to be frustrated by living as the last in line
All things that pass are worked together for our best good
This is the simple truth that is best as we have understood
This then is the deepest part of a human life's wayward drift
That to follow God and walk in harmony requires us to shift
Changing as we become a part of the resurrected life
Taking on the ways of peace and leaving behind strife
God's eternal love is not only mankind's best resource
But is beyond any doubt the most potent force
And then leveraged more greatly by God's intentionality
To be aimed toward each of us are our best lived reality
In return for this bargain, there is no obligation
God gives us direction without any sense of condemnation
And between humanity and God there is no separation
As the needed bridge was supplied by our blessed redemption
God is for us and not against us who have chosen to believe
It is from God that we have met our requirements and receive
God has decided that we have met our righteous justification
Christ's intercession has brought us together with creation
(c) April 20, 2025 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged 2025, Bible, Book of Romans, Christian Constitution, Christianity, Daughter, Error, Faith, God, God's Grace, Heartbreak, Heavenly Mirror, Jesus, Mallet, Mirror, Pages, Perfection, Poetry and Poems, Resurrection Day, Resurrection Sunday, Right Direction, Tomorrow, TSorrow, Vanity, Yeterday
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Have A Blessed Easter 2025!!
Though our struggles are many, these do not exceed God’s blessings and love for us all. May there be peace and joy in the lives of every reader of this blog, and indeed for all of humanity. Let’s invoke hope and love on this day of remembrance of our Father’s sacrifice of Jesus that we may all be redeemed. Happy Resurrection Day to one and all!!
Thought For the Day: There Is No Saint Without A Past, No Sinner Without A Future
“There is no saint without a past, no sinner without a future.” – Saint Augustine
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Tagged Future, Past, Saint, Saint Augustine, Sinner, Thought For the Day
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First Principles: If Christ Is In You, Though the Body Is Dead Because of Sin, Yet the Spirit Is Alive Because of Righteousness
“If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.” – Romans 8:10
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Alive, Body, Christ, Dead, First Principles, Righteousness, Romans 8:10, Sin, Spirit
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Goodbye Pax Americana
Goodbye Pax Americana
by Michael Doyle
At war's end and freed from fascism
Europe breathed with American optimism
Barbarism had been thoroughly defeated
And a brave new world was timidly greeted
The Marshall Plan was the discovery
That would lead to economic recovery
It was a masterstroke of economic strategy
It would restore Europe to liberty and dignity
After an era of hellish and savage destruction
America reseeded Europe with tools of construction
The goal was Christian moral order as the law
And the rights of mankind was the dutybound call
Like a Phoenix rising from the ashes of disunity
Europe created NATO and founded economic community
It was not just a matter of convenience but duty
But this time seems to have past irresolutely
Europe has sunk to a technocratic apostasy
That has long shunted our commonality of society
It might be that one day we might emerge again as friends
But for now, this common path has its temporal end
Post-national and godlessly secular in its worldview
Our moral grammar no longer finds it passage through
Universalist humanism has strained the welfare state
Until the allies we had seem destined to an unkind fate
Culturally leftward, the EU become also mercantilist
Disadvantaging America, our allies have become protectionist
In treated agreement after agreement, there are costs
All of which comes at America's lost until alliance is lost
Despite Germanic Zeitenwende, inertia has had consequence
Europe continues to be a strategic free rider without recompense
Our so called allies have maintained their soft-power diplomacy
While America's hard power continues to underwrite the security
In terms of game theory, there has been a loss of equilibrium
The moral-political vision is lost to the point of absurd-ium
An ally who continuously stabs one is the back is not an ally
There is a heavy dose of dysfunction in our once family
America's choices are now conditionality, restructuring or an out
Europe's duplicity has left the US cautious and in doubt
America's security requires shifting eastward for it defense
And requiring old partners to do more than live in pretense
These points made are not the abandonment of solidarity
But a cry into the winds of change and of truest clarity
The spiritual bond has frayed into quiet hostility
Mutual interest and shared assumption are needed for civility
(c) April 19, 2025 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Allies, American Optimism, Ashes, Barbarism, Brave New World, Christian Moral Order, Commonality, Consequnce, Convenience, Culturally Lefward, Defeat, Dutybound, Economic Community, Economic Recovery, Economic Stategy, EU, Europe, Fascism, Godlessly Secular, Goodbye, History, Inertia, Law, Liberty and Dignity, Marshall Plan, Masterstorke, Mercantilist, NATO, Pax American, Phoenix, Poetry and Poems, Politics, Post-National, Protectionist, Reseeded, Rights of Mankind, Russia, Society, Technocratic Apostasy, Temporal End, Trump, War, War's End, Welfare State, World War II, Zeitenwende
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Thought For the Day: One Cannot and Must Not Try To Erase the Past Merely Because It Does Not Fit the Present
“One cannot and must not try to erase the past merely because it does not fit the present.” – Golda Meir
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Cannot, Erase, Fit, Golda Meir, Merely, Past, Present, Thought For the Day
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