A Treasure To Be Shared

Illustration by Cleon Peterson | The New Yorker | Screenshot Making Prayer a Political Problem Once Again Dr. Christopher Shannon, September 23, 2021 | CWR The conventional, modern Catholic gloss on this problem has been to assert that Catholic values guide the use of technology. Thus, in our own time, it is not unusual for parish priests to devote a few homilies a year to the dangers of the internet, warning the faithful to stay away from “bad” sites, usually a euphemism for pornography. Daniélou’s great reversal, his emphasis on the social and cultural conditions of faith, would flip the emphasis from content to form. Were Daniélou alive today, I suspect that he would argue that the problem with the internet (not to mention “smart” phones) is less the way we use it than how it uses us: a restructuring of our life, not just our work life but our leisure and social life as well, to conform to the demands of the technology. Thus, disembodied “social” media increasingly becomes the norm ...

Christ With Martha and Maria, by Henryk Siemiradzki, 1886 Rather than add another lamentation to the vast porridge of complaints bubbling messily against misguided clergy and laity (whose actions certainly merit condemnation), let's draw attention to the irresistible movement that is reclaiming the celebration of the transcendentals and offering a way into a future of hope and goodness. Moving The Personal Ordinariates offer a way forward for English speaking Catholics and for all lovers of truth, goodness and beauty. The Ordinariates established by the apostolic constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus are gathering up people into a mission to please God, a mission that remembers and enacts a vital cooperation with God for the salvation of souls. That cooperation is oriented and elevated in and through that glorious arena of living ecumenism and, because of God's grace offered freely to souls who humbly seek Him, divinization or deification offered in and through the sacred Liturgy...

Eager to Please The Canadian Archdiocese of Moncton has expanded a policy requiring that all Catholics aged over 12 show proof they have received two doses of a coronavirus vaccine in order to enter a  church - even while the provincial government has not required houses of worship to effect those policies. - The Pillar "Even while the provincial government has not required houses of worship to effect those policies...". And, for Saint John... . “No person will be turned away from Mass, nor any other Sacrament,” Natasha Mazerolle, communications director for the Diocese of Saint John, told CNA Sept. 22. New provincial rules requiring proof of vaccination will, however, apply to other indoor events at diocesan churches, like conferences, workshops and fundraisers, she said. “The Diocese of Saint John continues to do its utmost to protect both the physical and spiritual needs of its faithful,” said Mazerolle. “It takes the directives of public health seriously and understands t...

Wine Tasting by Eduard von Grutzner Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare (1607) Let Rome in Tiber melt, and the wide arch Of the ranged empire fall! Jordan Peterson and the Search for a Meaningful Life from an article by Christopher Kaczor In the Summa contra Gentiles , Aquinas provided reasons to believe that God’s mind and God’s reality not only correspond to each other but are actually identical. The Divine Mind is God’s Essence, and God’s Essence is the Divine Mind. Moreover, God is the First Truth because God is the First Cause of all physical and psychological realities that we know when we understand the truth. If the antidote to suffering is truth, goodness, and beauty, then God is the antidote to suffering. The "New Pentecost" of Vatican II at Nick Donnelly's Twitter page Collapse of belief in Real Presence Collapse in devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary Collapse in Mass attendance Collapse in Confession Collapse in catechesis Collapse in vocations to prie...

Absurd belief #201: the Second Vatican Council did away with all that Tridentine nonsense and compelled the Church to move beyond her ancient ways and revered customs. An article at Corpus Christi Watershed describes the fantasy well enough: https://www.ccwatershed.org/2013/06/13/what-vatican-ii-said-and-didnt-say-about-liturgy/ The Council never said that Mass should cease to be in Latin and should only be in the vernacular. The Constitution reaffirmed that the fixed parts of the Mass would continue to be in Latin, the very language of the Roman Rite, but gave permission to vernacularize some parts, such as the readings and the general intercessions (par. 36; cf. par. 101). After stating that the people’s language may be used for some parts, the Council added: “Steps should be taken so that the faithful may also be able to say or to sing together in Latin those parts of the Ordinary of the Mass which pertain to them” (par. 54). Latin remains, to this day, the official language of the...

... a Supreme Pontiff is a consummate theologian whose grace-filled words of truth, faithful to the received Tradition of the Church, empower believers to remain steadfast in the Faith. ... a bishop is more concerned about the salvation of souls than politics and economics. ... a priest is courageous, speaks the truth in love, and stands up boldly for his flock with charity and grace while celebrating the Mass with due reverence. ... fellow parishioners believe in the Real Presence of Jesus, worship God in the beauty of holiness, and defend life from conception to natural death. Conversely, when the going gets tough and a pope or bishop or priest becomes, how shall we say, intellectually and verbally cumbersome, and demonstrates odd or uncharitable behaviour, faithful Catholics fervently pray for their spiritual fathers. And when... . ... a bishop gets distracted by power and/or material concerns, or becomes decadent and bound to worldly preoccupations, we offer him charitable fraterna...

Photo by Anastasiya Romanova Heavenly Father, in Thy tender mercy: grant us the grace to be vessels of peace bearing Thy consolation to our brothers and sisters who struggle with mental illness; and, we beg of Thee, to those faithful servants who are called to accompany the afflicted in their sufferings, especially those caring souls who bear a similar cross, provide continual hope and the company of good friends to sustain them in Thy service; grant this, we humbly beseech Thee, loving Father, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God world without end. Amen.

Oratio S. Thomae Aquinatis ante studium St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), who would often recite the following prayer before he began his studies, writing, or preaching. CREATOR ineffabilis, qui de thesauris sapientiae tuae tres Angelorum hierarchias designasti et eas super caelum empyreum miro ordine collocasti atque universi partes elegantissime distribuisti: Tu, inquam, qui verus fons luminis et sapientiae diceris ac supereminens principium, infundere digneris super intellectus mei tenebras tuae radium claritatis, duplices, in quibus natus sum, a me removens tenebras, peccatum scilicet et ignorantiam. Tu, qui linguas infantium facis disertas, linguam meam erudias atque in labiis meis gratiam tuae benedictionis infundas. Da mihi intelligendi acumen, retinendi capacitatem, addiscendi modum et facilitatem, interpretandi subtilitatem, loquendi gratiam copiosam. Ingressum instruas, progressum dirigas, egressum compleas. Tu, qui es verus Deus et homo, qui vivis et regnas in saecula saeculor...

Plague Cross featuring the Sacred Heart of our Lord and Five Holy Wounds PROTECTION AGAINST THE PLAGUE: A cross approved in 1575 by the fathers of the Council of Trent as protection against the plague; originally developed by St. Zacharias, Patriarch of Jerusalem in the early seventh century. The text refers to the prayer that should accompany its appropriate use. It can be placed over a threshold or a door, or possibly used in other contexts. O Cross of Christ, save me. Z. May zeal for your house free me. + The Cross conquers; the Cross reigns; the Cross rules; by the sign of the Cross free me, O Lord, from this plague. The Cross of Christ will expel the plague from this place and from my body. B. It is good to wait for the help of God in silence, that he may drive away this plague from me. I. I will incline my heart to performing your just deeds, and I will not be confounded, for I have called upon you. Z. I had zeal on occasion of the wicked; seeing the peace of sinners, I have hope...

For Teachers in Schools (BCP) GRANT, we beseech thee, O heavenly Father, to all who teach in our schools, the spirit of wisdom and grace, that they may lead their pupils to reverence truth, desire goodness, and rejoice in beauty; so that all may come to know and worship thee, the giver of all that is good; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  

Tra le Sollecitudini Instruction on Sacred Music Pope Pius X Motu Proprio promulgated on November 22, 1903 5. The Church has always recognized and favoured the progress of the arts, admitting to the service of religion everything good and beautiful discovered by genius in the course of ages always, however, with due regard to the liturgical laws . Consequently modern music is also admitted to the Church, since it, too, furnishes compositions of such excellence, sobriety and gravity, that they are in no way unworthy of the liturgical functions. Still, since modern music has risen mainly to serve profane uses, greater care must be taken with regard to it, in order that the musical compositions of modern style which are admitted in the Church may contain nothing profane, be free from reminiscences of motifs adopted in the theatres, and be not fashioned even in their external forms after the manner of profane pieces . Among the different kinds of modern music, that which appears less suita...