A Treasure To Be Shared

John the third Bruce is again on the loose his train of thought is missing a wheel; with thumb upon nose and head up caboose, ol' J.B. is playing the heel. O dear Mr. Bruce, or O dear! Mr. Bruce, won't you relent and give us a break? Must ye insist on being so doggedly miffed about matters of which thou hast spake? The reason for this tome, is that God calls all home and ye are subject to that same final call. And if heaven is desired, then charity's required, lest you find yourself burning with  Baal . Lastly, it must be shared that if you really cared you wouldn't be vomiting hate; rather than flinging said dung, you'd be mild of tongue and engaged in a kinder debate.

Fred Schilling/Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States If there's one thing that the Senate confirmation hearings in the USA have reminded us, it is that being Catholic is never easy. Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few. -  Matthew 7:13-14 Bigotry is not difficult to find among the senators who voted against now Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett. The vote in the Senate revealed that the Democratic Party, true to its foundations , is very much the party of an ignorant illiberal elite that defines everyone and everything in a manner that preserves the comfort of the same elitists, a comfort or hedonism of monstrous proportions that has provoked and continues to condone the annihilation of tens of millions of pre-born human lives deemed an inconvenience. That an innocent pre-born hum...

Wikipedia How do you solve a problem like Pope Francis? How do you catch a cloud and pin it down? How do you find a word that means Pope Francis? A flibbertijibbet? A will-o'-the wisp? A clown? Many a thing you know you'd like to tell him; Many a thing he ought to understand. But how do you make him stay And listen to all you say? How do you keep a wave upon the sand? Points of clarification: the above image is meant to highlight the confusion developing in the wake of the Holy Father's recent comments; and apologies to Rodgers and Hammerstein. This not a hit piece on the Holy Father. No disrespect is intended toward his person. There is no call for his removal. Rather, this post is a lighthearted commentary on the fact that, at times, this most recent time being among them, his mouth too often runneth over. More precisely, the Holy Father should know well by now that his words are prone to extraction, conversion (for ill or for good) and amplification, and he should be wel...

Ms. Wolk acknowledges what many people cannot understand because they imagine reality to be fashioned in the image of their own fantasies. Amy Coney Barrett is an exceptionally gifted legal mind and an outstanding witness to the Catholic Faith. The former quality makes her a threat to anarchists; the latter quality makes her a threat to bigots. Amy Coney Barrett is a contradiction to those who trap themselves and others in a prison of false expectations concerning the nature and potential of human beings. How can someone who is so intelligent also be religious? Faith and reason are complements, but not to those whose willingness to have their assumptions challenged ends at the end of their upturned noses. So-called enlightened people stop short of authentic open-mindedness by failing to challenge their own assumptions about how human beings can and should think and act. In segment after segment of the confirmation hearings, Judge Coney Barrett dismantled spurious questions, false assum...

Detail from The Garden of Earthly Delights by Heironymous Bosch   We in the Ordinariate are blessed with a wealth of great music - hymns, polyphony, chant - from both the pre-Reformation Catholic patrimony and the sacred music that continued to be developed and celebrated in the venerable Anglican patrimony. The wealth of the Anglican patrimony, its awe inspiring treasure trove of sacred music, is a treasure ready to be shared throughout the entire Catholic Church. One wonders why, when so many glorious compositions are available, people retain an almost addictive attachment to compositions that are to great works of art as junk food is to cuisine? A diet of spiritual junk food has a serious effect on the well being of a person. A diet of spiritual junk food robs the soul of "nutrients", the art through which God - the True, the Good and the Beautiful - offers the worshipper who reaches out to God for life, love, hope, mercy and forgiveness. Sure, God can and does reach peop...

Fence-All Repeating The Obvious I was out with a friend a couple of weeks ago at a popular local bar and grill. We arrived late, after a long work day, to have dinner around 930pm. Staff members were wearing masks. We were seated at a small table approximately three metres from two other tables of five patrons at each table, near the entrance to the restrooms. They, all, were very drunk, pawing each other, roving between tables, sharing appetizers and glasses. Not a lot of physical distancing being observed there. Washroom rules - one person in the washroom at a time - posted on the doors, were ignored. Two and three patrons often entered restrooms at the same time. There were several other groups present in a twenty-five by ten foot space, drinking heavily and shouting. Even in the dim light, it was easy to see the showers of spit spraying from people's mouths. Meanwhile, Mass-goers keep neatly distanced and abide by health and hygiene practices. Churches are limited to a small pe...

Biden says: “Number one, we don’t know exactly what [Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett] will do, although the expectation is that she may very well move to overrule Roe, and what the only thing--the only responsible response to that would be to pass legislation making Roe the law of the land,” said Biden. “That’s what I would do.” - National Catholic Register The Lord says: “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live” - Deuteronomy 30:19

Wikipedia The Holy Father's latest letter has hit the stands. The pundits are out, quills at the ready. After a quick read, the following stood out, a convincing assessment of the shenanigans which evacuate brains, permit evil to fill the voids left behind, and which lead to alienation and despair. The end of historical consciousness 13. As a result, there is a growing loss of the sense of history, which leads to even further breakup. A kind of “deconstructionism”, whereby human freedom claims to create everything starting from zero, is making headway in today’s culture. The one thing it leaves in its wake is the drive to limitless consumption and expressions of empty individualism. Concern about this led me to offer the young some advice. “If someone tells young people to ignore their history, to reject the experiences of their elders, to look down on the past and to look forward to a future that he himself holds out, doesn’t it then become easy to draw them along so that they onl...

Lord, Lord, how this world is given to lying! - William Shakespeare, King Henry IV Part I, Act V, Scene IV (Falstaff) A man is never more truthful than when he acknowledges himself a liar. - Mark Twain A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on. - Winston Churchill Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. - Holy Gospel according to St. John 8:44 No one knows the truth better than a liar. Then the liars and swearers are fools, for there are liars and swearers enough to beat the honest men and hang up them . - William Shakespeare, Macbeth Where are the noble people, the noble politicians, people of honour we so desperately need? Societies seem practically barren, unable to produce men and women of civil manner and rational th...

Photo: R. Turner | Unsplash What do Catholics need these days? One could answer - 'Well, it depends where you live.' Catholics in Canada have a different situation, generally speaking, than do Catholics in the PRC. The answer is really quite obvious. Catholics need what Jesus Christ has to offer - salvation. The Baltimore Catechism 138. Why did Jesus Christ found the Church? Jesus Christ founded the Church to bring all men to eternal salvation. (a) The Church instituted by Christ is the only way to eternal salvation. Christ gave the Church the means whereby man can be sanctified and saved.  139. How is the Church enabled to lead men to salvation? The Church is enabled to lead men to salvation by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, who gives it life. (a) Although the work of salvation is the result of the operation of all three Persons of the Blessed Trinity, it is especially the result of the Redemption by Christ, and because this work is one of divine love it is attributed to ...