WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

I doubt not then but innocence shall make false accusation blush, and tyranny tremble at patience.

Quotes for a Wednesday

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Laughing Fool ca. 1500 | possibly by Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen 

Yes, weak men have done their best to destroy the Church since Judas. When Napoleon warned Pope Pius VII's Secretary of State that he had the power to destroy the Church, Cardinal Ercole Consalvi responded with pluck, “Your majesty, we, the Catholic clergy, have done our best to destroy the Church for the last 1,800 years. We have not succeeded, and neither will you.” The Holy Spirit is in charge. There is no other explanation for the Church's continued existence. But we can do our part to pray for healing, grace, clarity, and true leadership from all our shepherds.

2 Things To Do When Shepherds Don't Shepherd
by Theology of Home on November 29, 2020

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It will be very difficult pastorally to reform the “open house” inclusive approach, because many regard the reception of Communion as being like accepting a biscuit and a cup of tea. . . .In an age of religious indifference and ignorance, the indiscriminate reception of Holy Communion is against the tradition and bad for the spiritual health of the Church.

Wouldn’t you think it was time and then some for everyone – popes, bishops, priests – to do something about that?

Biden and Communion
by Russell Shaw (citing George Cardinal Pell)

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The problem isn't that Johnny can't read. The problem isn't even that Johnny can't think. The problem is that Johnny doesn't know what thinking is; he confuses it with feeling.

Thomas Sowell

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Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm-- but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves. 

T. S. Eliot, The Cocktail Party, (London: Faber and Faber, 1974), p. 111. 

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If you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards, that would have gotten you labeled a radical 60 years ago, a liberal 30 years ago and a racist today.

Thomas Sowell

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2 TIMOTHY 1:7

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self-control.

POPE LEO XIV Magnifica Humanitas

Even in the darkest nights, the Lord raises up men and women who refuse to give up, who persevere in doing good, who protect the vulnerable and open pathways to reconciliation. The memory of the saints, righteous people and the oft-forgotten peacemakers, show us that grace does not magically eliminate conflict, but instead it inspires active resistance to evil and an astonishing creativity in doing good” (paragraph 211).

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It is bad enough that so many people believe things without any evidence. What is worse is that some people have no conception of evidence and regard facts as just someone else's opinion.

WORDS TO THE WHYS

Forsooth, when ignorance doth wear so bold a face, and folly struts with such unblushing pride, methinks the time hath come to cast off patience, and with a tongue that brooks no further slight, to bid these dolts depart, and find some other ear to plague with their unlettered prate! - Fidesius Justus

JASPER AARON MCWILLIAMS

On certain days, one must needs speak the naked truth and cry, 'Ye base and knavish scoundrels! How dare ye defile a righteous man? Raise your fists and fight with honor.' Then, deliver unto them such a drubbing as they shall crave mercy.