Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
It Turned So Cold at the End of the World

It Turned So Cold at the End of the World

Last updated on: November 2, 2025 at 12:16 am by Mary Pezzulo

0 Comments

It Turned So Cold at the End of the World 2025-11-02T00:16:53-04:00 Mary Pezzulo

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

a photo I took from the side of the shale cliff near my house, on a cold Autumn evening

image by Mary Pezzulo

It turned so cold at the end of the world.

It turned so cold, I heard that West Virginia got its first snowfall of the year, way up on top of the real mountains four hours away, but down here in the foothills it’s just chilly. It’s so chilly that the guinea pig can’t go out in the evening to nibble the grass. The cat who lives on the porch keeps trying to sneak past me to come into the house and warm up every time I open the door. Michael has the night shift at the restaurant, and he has to pack his coat and gloves when he goes to work because it’s been near freezing when he leaves in the pre-dawn hours.

The mad king is going to build a ballroom, for himself and his intimate friends. That’s old news by now. In addition to the ballroom, he just revealed that he remodeled the Lincoln bathroom as well, with mottled white marble that makes it look like snow on an old-fashioned television screen. People want me to be upset about that bathroom, but I just don’t care very much. I was angry when he demolished the East Wing, but I don’t have time to be angry about this. It’s a bathroom.

I don’t have time to be angry, because I’m too busy worrying about my friends.

They don’t know how they’re going to eat this month.

The grandmother of the Baker Street Irregulars keeps trying to give me food. I can’t get through her head that I’m not on food stamps anymore, so the EBT crisis doesn’t directly affect me. We’re still pretty poor but we make a little too much money for food stamps. She has to keep her family eating for the next few weeks, for the next however long this crisis lasts, and she has more mouths to feed than I do. But she doesn’t understand. She can’t not be generous in a crisis. Yesterday she cheerfully handed me a box containing nine pounds of dried pinto beans, two salads and a half pound of blackberries– things from the food pantry that her children weren’t going to go through. “These are hard times and we have to take care of each other!”

I thanked her. It’s too much to try to explain again. All she knows how to do is feed people, so this is what she’s doing now that she’s afraid.

I’ll try and make the pinto beans into something nice for the soup swap this weekend. The soup swap was another neighbor’s idea, though I don’t know if she coined the name or not. It’s sort of like a grab-and-go potluck for the entire neighborhood. Everybody in the neighborhood who can spare any food, is bringing a big pot of their best soup and a canned good to share, and anybody who wants can take a bowl of each of the soups home for the fridge. It’s not going to save anybody’s life, but it’ll be a few warm meals and a way to make friends. Both are good things. I’m trying to count the good things. I can’t afford to feed the neighborhood, but I can make a pot or two of soup.

Twice last week, the mad king was court ordered to use the funds Congress reserved to get people their November food stamps, but he’s refusing to do so. He’s fighting to keep the poor from getting fed unless the Democrats agree to help take away their healthcare. Last night, while all this was happening, he had a luxurious party at his summer palace, Mar-a-Lago, featuring Roaring 20s costumery. There was an ice sculpture with a chute in the middle to cool your drink, and skimpily-clad dancers cavorting on a stage. His wealthy friends danced and ate merrily.

The people I love, my friends and my neighbors, could starve before Christmas.

I was told I’d burn in hell if I voted against the mad king, because the mad king was pro-life.

My other friend, the one in Chicago, sends me photos and videos of the ICE raids. I’m more and more afraid for her children. One of her sons is badly disabled. If an ICE agent grabbed him for being a brown-skinned, bilingual Mexican-American in the wrong place at the wrong time, and shoved him into a van– how could she ever find him again?

My friend has all the courage I lack. She’s strong in the face of all of this. She won’t keep her children home from school. She heckles when she sees the ICE truck.

I looked at the pictures of priests celebrating Mass outside the ICE detention facility again, even though the soldiers are shooting clerics with pepper balls.

It looked as though it was taking place on a foreign planet. Catholic priests in Steubenville don’t act that way. They would never defy a Republican president.

One of the priests was wearing a wool snow hat, because it had turned so cold.

It’s turned so cold and it’s going to get colder.

Jimmy’s boy came over this afternoon, excited to trick-or-treat in his funny alien costume. We went for a walk up and down the alleyways, looking for more lemon balm before it all dies. He was chattering about carving the pumpkin we got on our trip, excited to go hiking at the waterfall with me when I had the time. I promised we’d go soon. I promised I’d take him to the Christmas parade next month, and any other fun activities I could find.

The trick-or-treaters filled the street a little before dark. There were children of all ages, milling from house to house, and cheerful grownups passing out sweets. Jimmy himself brought the boy over in the late evening for candy. He promised to finish those last repairs on my car, so it’s sure to stay roadworthy for years. I promised him we’d pay him every penny we still owe him, and told him to just ask if he needed any help this month, things being what they are. He thanked us, and said “I know yunz are good for the money,” and that he’d see us tomorrow.

Will anyone remember how kind he’s been?

Will anyone remember the grandmother of the Baker Street Irregulars giving me food?

Will they say that my friend in Chicago was brave, and that my friends in Ohio were generous, and that I was sick with worry and tried to cook a sack of beans that somebody else gave me?

When they write the history of this time, will anybody put in a note that in a good-for-nothing corner of Northern Appalachia, in a town too small to be a city and too large to be really rural, there were people who tried to feed each other by pooling their resources and making soup? Or will it only be the cold people will remember– the cold, heartless, wealthy and decadent people who fought to starve the poor and threw a party as the country fell into ruin?

When it’s over, will anyone remember that we were people?

The moon was bright, and then a pall of clouds rolled in. It turned so cold, I had to turn up the furnace before I went to bed.

And it was night.

Mary Pezzulo is the author of Meditations on the Way of the Cross, The Sorrows an d Joys of Mary, and Stumbling into Grace: How We Meet God in Tiny Works of Mercy.

Steel Magnificat operates almost entirely on tips. To tip the author, donate to “The Little Portion” on paypal or Mary Pezzulo on venmo

Previous Post

October 27, 2025

Beside the Still Waters

Next Post

November 4, 2025 Epiphany at Tunnel Number Eight

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"I'm still considering it myself. I don't know what the answer is. I respect where ..."

Mary

On Traditionalist Bullies, and the Death ..."

"Thank you for bringing so much goodness into the lives of so many children.Ran across ..."

alwayspuzzled

The Passion of the Red Oak

"This current administration has had me reflecting on the Nuremberg trials and the like, for ..."

axelbeingcivil

On Traditionalist Bullies, and the Death ..."

"You're talking about supercessionism, the idea that Christians "replace" the covenant that the Jewish people ..."

Alex

Yes, the Old Testament is About ..."

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion Abuse Advent America American Christianity angel angels Annunciation Appalachia apparition apparition chaser apparition chasers apparition culture art art review babies baby baby Jesus Bad Lip Reading bad statue contest bath beauty Bible story blog blogkeeping blood book review Brandon Sanderson breastfeeding bus Catholic catholic conspiracy alarmism Catholic Oppositional Disorder Charismatic Renewal Charlie the Cat chastity Christ Christian idenitity Christianity and Judaism Chronic Illness clean clothing COD piece comedy compassion conscience conspiracy theory conversion cop-on-black violence Crucifixion cry of the poor culture Daesh Daily Saints death death penalty devotional diaconate diaper diapers dirty disability Donald Trump Dorothy Day dream drugs Eastern Catholicism Eastern Christianity education election election update Elsewhere on Patheos empathy environment Fear feminism film review fish flashback fluffy buns food Franciscan University of Steubenville Friendship Room fun Gabriel gardening gospel hair-splitting Heaven hell heresy Hillary Clinton history Holly the Witch Holy Spirit holy war Homeschooling homosexuality horror human dignity humor Icon idol immigrants infection inter-religious dialogue Interpretation of Scripture Islam Jesus Jihad Joseph joy laity and lay vocations lamb dinner laundry lent lgbtq literature love manners Mary Medicine and Science Meditation mercy mess milk misogyny Missouri monasticism monster motherhood mourn with those mourn movies movis music mystery nature neurodiversity New Pro-Life Movement news nonsense nostalgia O antiphons obituary objectification Ohio Valley Ordinary Time ordination Ordo Amoris parable paradox Passover peanut butter personal beliefs pets philosophy Planet Charismatic poetry politics polls poop Pope Francis Pope Leo power in the Church prayer prayer request prayers preferential option for non-violence president presidential election priest primary private revelation pro-life prophecy Public face of Catholicism Pure Flix Q and A race racism random rape rape. sexuality reader's request Reckoners refugee religious trauma ressurrection Right to life Saints saints and celebrations same-sex same-sex marriage satire scandal secular feasts seder Seven Joys Seven Last Words sex sexual ethics sexuality silencing six months skid row slavery social justice Speculative fiction spiritual abuse spoon stain story suffering suffrage suffragette Sunday Gospel temple Tenebrae Responsories Terror the exorcist The Friendship Room The New Pro-Life Movement Things I Learned on the Internet tin cup traffic true story tv review Uncategorized USCCB vice and temptation violence Virtue virtue and vice war Way of the Cross whimsy whole life women's ordination work of mercy Year A

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Why were the plagues significant against Egyptian beliefs?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Each plague targeted an Egyptian god They were meant to test Pharaoh’s patience Pharaoh had offended the Hebrew people They were random acts of nature