A Treasure To Be Shared

CNS | Clarion Herald/Frank J. Methe To politicians we say 'Let us pray!' It may have taken some time to get the ball rolling, but at least it's now rolling. For awhile there it seemed like bishops had simply rolled over and were playing dead. At least a few bishops haven't forgotten how to play hard ball with the state. https://www.ncregister.com/news/supreme-court-overturns-ny-church-restrictions-as-brooklyn-bishop-says-religion-essential-during-pandemic WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court said Wednesday night that NY state restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic are a violation of the First Amendment’s protection of free religious exercise. After the ruling the Bishop of Brooklyn, whose diocese was a plaintiff in the suit, said that religious worship should be considered an essential during the coronavirus pandemic. “It is time — past time — to make plain that, while the pandemic poses many grave challenges, there is no world in which the Constitution tolerates color-...

Remnant That so-called faithful Catholic public officials shamelessly act against everything we are supposed to believe in and still present themselves to receive Holy Communion is nothing less than scandalous. Have they no fear of hell? Have they no gratitude for the gift they have been given by Christ, Who suffered and died for us, that we might be saved from sin and death? A blurb from the National Catholic Register. https://www.ncregister.com/news/new-catholic-elected-officials-hope-to-lead-with-faith We're beginning to see a younger generation shed the sophistry of the Kennedy-era limp Catholicism that put power before true piety. The following Catholics are heroes living the Faith. State Sen.-elect Coleman said that her Catholic faith informs her policy views “the same way it informs every decision I make.” In Arizona, State Rep.-elect Nguyen says something similar.  “I love Jesus, and he’s always going to be a part of my decisions,” he said. Integrating public service with ...

Britannica Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn observed: Modern society is hypnotized by socialism. It is prevented by socialism from seeing the mortal danger it is in. And one of the greatest dangers of all is that you have lost all sense of danger, you cannot even see where it's coming from as it moves swiftly towards you. and this: I hope that no one present will suspect me of offering my personal criticism of the Western system to present socialism as an alternative. Having experienced applied socialism in a country where the alternative has been realized, I certainly will not speak for it. The well-known Soviet mathematician Shafarevich, a member of the Soviet Academy of Science, has written a brilliant book under the title Socialism; it is a profound analysis showing that socialism of any type and shade leads to a total destruction of the human spirit and to a leveling of mankind into death . - A World Split Apart, delivered 8 June 1978, Harvard University and, having survived that diab...

Ivan Aivazovsky (baptized as Hovhannes Aivazian) | Jesus Walks On The Water (1888) If we think in terms that limit our understanding of present calamities to mere human battles involving bad actors inside and outside government, corporate internet media and print or broadcast media whose actions are the epitome of anti-Christian bias, then we should count ourselves among the faithless. Given the precise wisdom of the intelligence reports provided us by the four Evangelists and the writers of the various epistles, how can we fail to grasp the bigger picture? That is, how can we miss the fact that there are forces are at work with and against us, glorious angels (on our side) and vile demons (and their human collaborators on the other) locked in a struggle for souls? Those same intelligence reports remind us that God is far more powerful than any malicious adversary, any pestilence or malignant policy. St Matthew 8:26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? ...

Solemn Requiem | Saint John Henry Newman Victoria | Remembrance Sunday Sister Theresa Aletheia Noble, F.S.P (O)ur assurance is not in the stability of our country’s government; it’s not in our nation’s privileged status in the world, and it’s not in any political candidate. The only rock and refuge in our lives is God himself. Meditation on death can root us in the stability and firmness of the love of God and this helps us to navigate the troubles of this life. The practice of memento mori or meditating on one’s death is a practice that puts life in perspective. St. Elizabeth of the Trinity wrote, “We see the true value of things by the light of eternity. Oh, how empty all is that has not been done for God and with God! I beg you to mark all your doings with the seal of love; it is the only thing that lasts! . . . What a serious thing life is!” https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2020/11/16/death-is-pregnant-with-life-and-with-love-because-of-what-christ-has-done-for-us/ Epictetus. En...

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Earth-scorched, he heads for greener pastures? It seems that the Trainman has left the station. Folded shop... hit the trail... sort of. Mr. Bruise has begun a new project.  Same old same old. Readers of this blog are well aware of Mr. Bruise's questionable behaviour, a blogger who, until recently, operateth a cumbersome blog, a blog that suffereth exceedingly from explosive verbal diarrhea. Unsurprisingly, at his departure he fired a few parting shots. A mild threat accompanied his farewell discourse. Namely, that he might post on Ordinariate themes at his new blog. Continue to pray for Mr. Bruce.

CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz | edited by ATTBS The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare Act 1 Scene 3 ANTONIO: Mark you this, Bassanio, The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose. An evil soul producing holy witness Is like a villain with a smiling cheek, A goodly apple rotten at the heart. Oh, what a goodly outside falsehood hath! John 8:44 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. George Weigel at First Things writes: Theodore McCarrick was not only a sexual predator; he was an accomplished, pathological liar. And pathological liars fool people. McCarrick fooled the media for decades. He fooled his brother priests and bishops. He fooled the wealthy Catholics who funded much of his globe-trotting. He fooled a lot of people on the Catholic left who long regarded ...

The Holy Trinity and Saints in Glory | Sebastiano Conca Perhaps a few readers will find the following notes a compass by which to construct a personal rule. All summaries are inadequate. Read above and between the lines. Trust in God; keep the commandments of Christ (Saint John 14:15-17). Grace is the help God gives us to respond to our vocation of becoming his adopted sons. It introduces us into the intimacy of the Trinitarian life (CCC 2021). Commit to spiritual direction.   The Holy Spirit gives to certain of the faithful the gifts of wisdom, faith and discernment for the sake of this common good which is prayer (spiritual direction). Men and women so endowed are true servants of the living tradition of prayer. According to St. John of the Cross, the person wishing to advance toward perfection should "take care into whose hands he entrusts himself, for as the master is, so will the disciple be, and as the father is so will be the son." And further: "In addition to ...

Too many people went wildly loopy when the secular media, fueled by a devious filmmaker's shabby production, seized an opportunity to sow confusion. On Oct. 21, the documentary film Francesco by Evgeny Afineevsky was released. Afineevsky had not been allowed to interview the Holy Father on camera, but had been given access to Vatican film archives. From the 2019 Televisa interview, he took about 20 seconds from five separate elements of that interview to create a false impression, namely that the Holy Father was open to formal recognition of same-sex unions, perhaps even including the right to adopt children. Afineevsky left out what Pope Francis had said about the “incongruity” of same-sex unions with marriage. (De Souza) Afineevsky's work brings to mind the 1963 play  The Deputy by Rolf Hochhuth. A lot of people fell for that baseless pile of bull excrement, too. For decades, Jehovah's Witnesses have used Hochhuth's fiction to intimidate Catholics. That a group would...

Arzoo Raja / Aid To The Church In Need UK photo  The constant threat to public safety caused by the adherents of a particular religious ideology is barely mentioned in the secular media. https://nasarean.org/index.php Abductions of young Christian girls are widespread. Deadly attacks on Christians throughout the Middle East and Africa are frequent, committed not by a mere few lost souls but by a hoard of perpetrators that appears to be multiplying every week ( World Watch List 2020 ). 2983 Christians were killed for faith-related reasons. On average, that's 8 Christians killed every day for their faith. (World Watch List 2020) Given that the abductors, rapists and murderers mentioned in the articles below explicitly and undeniably self declare their associations with a particular religious ideology, e.g., by the declaration of the Takbir, and given reputedly learned courts guided by a particular religious jurisprudence condone such behavior, one could be forgiven a charge of bias ...