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No one should be surprised at the recent brutality wreaked upon Israel by Hamas and the other toadies of Iran. It was just a matter of time, a long time.
We recently commemorated the Battle of Lepanto, which took place on October 7, 1571, when a Christian fleet overpowered a vastly superior Ottoman Turk force. It was a turning point in the spread of the Ottoman Empire and of the Islamic thrust to conquer all of Europe, if not the world.
Tradition holds that Pope Pius V credits his admonition to pray the rosary for the unexpected victory of the Christian forces. Millions listened to him and assailed heaven with a blizzard of Hail Marys. The rosary was thus established as a powerful weapon and remains so today, to the point that some in the fake-Catholic Biden administration see it as a weapon of mass destruction, especially when in the hands of "traditional" Catholics.
The Pope may have thought that the battle was won. But it wasn't. It is still being fought today, and the forces of radical Islam are winning. The rosary is still needed in the ongoing conflict.
Look up and down the European continent these days and you will see turmoil everywhere. Formerly peaceful Scandinavian countries like Sweden are seeing almost daily mayhem, with sections of some cities designated as no-go locations for the police. France is likewise experiencing ongoing riots and deliberate civic unrest.
It doesn't take a genius to realize that it is the tremendous influx of refugees from North Africa and elsewhere that is behind all this. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has been the object of much leftist diatribe for her attempts to seal the border and stop the influx coming across the Mediterranean to her shores. A German friend tells me "Enough is enough," and that these so-called refugees are nothing more than troublemakers. Brussels remains piously blind to the slow disintegration of the European Union. Not everybody likes these violent foreigners.
And what about our southern border? Do you really believe that all those destitute people swimming the Rio Grande are poverty stricken folks from South America? We have long been aware that they are coming from everywhere: China, Pakistan, even Iran. Are we to naively think that they are here to better their lives, or in fact to destroy us and our way of life?
Lepanto lives today in Gaza, in Jerusalem, in Stockholm, in Chicago, Minneapolis and New York. Radical Islam has not forgotten that defeat of 452 years ago in the Mediterranean. It still wants to even the score, and it is winning. The religion of peace operates under a strange definition of the word, but we have believed them and welcomed them with open arms. To criticize Islam is cause for cancellation and to disrespect the Koran means death.
Khaled Mashal, founder of Hamas, has called Muslims to a "Day of Rage" on Friday, the 13th. What exactly this means and how it will be brought about is hard to guess, but those of us who remember 9/11 and hear and read about the atrocities committed throughout Europe as well as the insensate brutality currently underway in Israel, might find it hard to sleep tonight.
Israel has been viciously and unjustly attacked by hordes of marauding thugs. Left-wing nut jobs like AOC, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and a dozen or so loony Democrats declare the conflict to be all Israel's fault. Meanwhile, student groups and even faculty of semi-prestigious schools like Harvard, Yale and Penn are showing their support for Hamas with demonstrations that are mostly peaceful at this point. Hollywood half-wits have also raised their voices, spouting words that they themselves have written, meaning they make about as much sense as a barking dog.
World events are spiraling out of control, with unrest in Ukraine, China, Russia, Iran, and now Israel. The attack on Israel may seem to be about the Jews; but it really doesn't matter. It won't stop there. It won't stop until the entire globe is conquered and the loss at Lepanto is erased from the history books. After Israel, who will be next? Sweden? Germany? Us?
Worldwide leaders, including the Pope, need to wake up and see the reality surrounding them. The enemy is not inclined to play nice; is not persuaded by weakness or diplomacy, rather is emboldened by it. If there is to be peaceful coexistence it will have to be generated by a realistic view of a historic battle of October 7, 1571, that is still being fought today.
Dave Mishur is a graduate of Loyola University-Chicago, where he majored in Philosophy and met Patricia Pochron, his wife of 55 years, who passed away in 2020. He is a former Latin Teacher, Public Relations professional for several major corporations, and a Marketing Consultant. Located in Central Illinois, he has been a newspaper reporter and editor and penned a column called Second Thoughts that was locally syndicated for 15 years. In 2021 he published The Jesus Diary, An Anonymous Observer's Record of the Life and Accomplishments of Our Savior. In his new book, The Big Tent: The Saga of Christianity After Christ, which was published in May of last year, he uses the same anonymous observer to bring life and excitement to the adventures of Peter, Paul and the apostles after the Ascension of Jesus Christ.
