A Treasure To Be Shared

When challenged to prove a point, people often resort to ad hominem attacks and point fingers elsewhere simply because they feel threatened. The are unable to respond rationally, so they stomp their feet and whine and complain. Foolishness is indeed the sister of wickedness. Sophocles Courts have been weaponized to attack those who expose problematic behaviours. The news is full of harassment lawsuits, and when those claims turn out to be false, countersuits often follow in an attempt to clear the accused’s name and effect justice. People who face false accusations can be left dealing with serious anxiety, and in many cases, they struggle to return to work or recover financially. Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it. Henry David Thoreau Even the faithful can get swept up by societal pressures that push people to fight fire with fire. Until we address the current trend of childish adults using their flaws as weapons, the innocent will keep getting caught in the games play...

The Church recently celebrated Good Shepherd Sunday. How many were paying attention to Christ's teaching? Addressing the Jewish teachers, Jesus told aspiring leaders, or shepherds, that they had forfeited their position. John 10:25-30 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness to me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” Those are some sobering words for clergy. Obedience in Catholic teaching is not merely “doing what you’re told.” It is a faithful, loving alignment of your will with God’s will, expressed concretely through lawful authority, especially in the forms God has establi...

O merciful God, fill our hearts, we pray Thee, with the graces of Thy Holy Spirit, with love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Teach us to love those who hate us, to pray for those who despitefully use us, that we may be the children of Thee our Father, who makest Thy sun to shine on the evil and on the good, and sendest rain on the just and on the unjust. In adversity grant us grace to be patient; in prosperity keep us humble; may we guard the door of our lips; may we lightly esteem the pleasures of this world, and thirst after heavenly things; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Saint Anselm Recent events remind us to live more meaningfully for God and for the good of others. Take the NDP leadership convention in Canada, for instance. Aside from being farcical to the Nth degree, the convention revealed people obsessed with gaining and wielding power, showing little regard for decency or the common good, and ultimately steering themselves...

James Tissot | Jesus Stilling The Tempest O ETERNAL and everliving God, Who doth cherish them that tread the path of humility and steadfast charity, we beseech Thee, grant unto us, who seek to serve Thee in the concord of Thy company, a measure of Thy saving wisdom, that we may be sustained in the true Faith; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee, Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Are you thirsty for solid Catholic content? Do you seek to raise your children in a vibrant Catholic culture that helps them become faithful adults? Are your hungry for truth, goodness and beauty? Are you tired of parish programs that waste resources and do little to feed the soul? Are you seeking to learn how you can help build up the Body of Christ? Introducing Brian Holdsworth. If you haven't watched this articulate, insightful and faithful fellow share a thoroughly Catholic understanding of the Faith, then you are invited to start by watching one of his videos. Visit Mr. Holdsworth's main site at:  https://www.brianholdsworth.ca/ Brian Holdsworth, a Catholic convert, resides in Edmonton, Alberta, with his wife and seven children. His videos are rich with genuine Catholic content, revealing a deep faith. Far from being just another "influencer" or social media personality, he is a true man of God, passionately advocating for truth, goodness, and beauty within the C...

A wise old Irish Catholic gentleman and fellow parishioner that this blogger once knew, three decades ago or thereabouts, said that three things lie at the heart of all people's satisfaction or unease. He spoke in shorthand. God, i.e., issues of faith and belief. Money, i.e., issues of employment and debt. Sex, i.e., a relationship or the end of a relationship. To put it another way, man finds meaning or is wounded by what he believes in or by what he has lost faith in. what he does, by how he sustains himself, or by a loss of livelihood. who he loves and trusts or by who has betrayed his trust, or whose trust he has betrayed. That Catholic gentleman provided a litmus test in aid of helping a wounded person identify himself, his needs versus his wants, his virtues and vices, to provide him with wisdom when he is in most need of a true perspective, understanding, and mercy. Can we be honest with God and others if we are not willing to be honest with ourselves?   Can we expect to fin...

Obstacles There are contemporary popular approaches to education and socialization born of a false compassion that reinforces self-deception. The results are, as we are seeing multiplied tens of thousands of times, a torrent of victims. Duped into false promises, young people are indulging offers of body-altering hormones and surgeries that exacerbate depression, anxiety, and suicidal tendencies . Those maimed or near-maimed who call out for help, for relief from the terror of advocates determined to win the war to destroy original sexuality, are too often ridiculed by their peers who are captured by various societal fictions. 2 Timothy 3:1-9 | But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of stress.  For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, fierce, haters of good,  treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure r...

people spoke their minds in a civil manner, and those who were rude or crude were politely put in their place? people said what they meant and meant what they said? cussing was shameful? people were not afraid to greet one another by shaking hands? children were required to do daily chores? parents disciplined their children because they loved them and weren't afraid of being arrested for common sense actions like taking away the privileges of a child because of his or her disrespectful behaviour? children respected their elders by not talking back and by contributing to the support of the household by willingly doing their chores? grandchildren sat with their grandparents and learned from their stories? boys carried a pocketknife for no other purpose than for whittling a stick or carving his name in a log, or for sharpening a pencil, or for slicing up an apple for lunch? a tomboy was just an energetic and perhaps outdoorsy kind of girl that could hold her own with the boys? famili...

Socialization makes the individual want to do what he has to do; the family is the agency to which society entrusts this complex and delicate task. - Christopher Lasch He who created us without our help will not save us without our consent. - Saint Augustine A 2016 international survey of university counselling centres revealed 50 per cent of university students sought help for feelings of anxiety and 41 per cent for depression. Suicide rates are also increasing. The number of teenage girls in the U.S. who died by suicide nearly doubled between 2000 and 2015. The mental health statistics for Canadian youth are similarly grim. In 2003, 24 per cent of Canadians aged 15-30 self-reported that their mental health was either fair or poor (compared to very good or excellent). By 2019, that number had risen to 40 per cent.” The COVID-19 pandemic worsened the mental health of Canadian youths. In 2020, 58 per cent of Canadians aged 15-24 reported fair or poor mental health and nearly one in fou...

The Council Fathers had voted for greater use of sacred Scripture, homilies rather than sermons, removal of liturgical duplications, the prayers of the faithful, training the faithful to say and sign all the Mass parts in Latin, and, under certain circumstances, openness to concelebration and Communion under both species.  They did not call for changing the direction of the altar, removing tabernacles from sanctuaries, Communion in the hands, the iconoclastic “wreckovation” of churches, jackhammering high altars and Communion rails, whitewashing of sanctuaries, the substitution of sacred music with saccharine and occasionally heretical hymns, hideous banners, “clown” Masses and liturgical free-for-alls, all seemingly justified by the undefined spirit of the Council. - Father Roger Landry, appointed by the U.S. bishops a National Eucharistic Preacher - - - Sanctifying the world — “Christifying” the world, if you will — was thus John XXIII’s original intention for Vatican II. Th...

Nearest Neighbor Model | Albrecht The image above, a visual representation of the interconnectedness of the galaxies according to spatial relation, affirms what is still for explorers an exciting mystery to observe and search into. The stars, the galaxies, are not detached elements in an ever expanding universe, some believe . The apparent interconnectedness of these powerful entities in such a vast cosmic array elicits wonder that Catholics can readily acknowledge as the hand of God manifesting His elegant design. One might be forgiven for seeing in such a web a semantic network, a network of meaning. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all men generously and without reproaching, and it will be given him. - St. James 1:5 What are the workings of wisdom? Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church 54. How did God create the universe? 295-301 317-320 God created the universe freely with wisdom and love . The world is not the result of any necessity, nor of ...

Dulle Griet (1563 | Bruegel H/T Fr. Z If— by Rudyard Kipling (‘Brother Square-Toes’—Rewards and Fairies) If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, Or being hated, don’t give way to hating, And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise: If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools: If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breathe a ...

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...

Liturgy is the perichoresis of the holy Trinity kenotically extended to invite our synergistic ascent into deification. - Dr. David Fagerberg (T)here’s the lay responsibility for all this: How many Catholic laity have urged fellow-Catholic Members of Congress to stop surrendering to the mantra of “choice,” which always avoids the crucial question — choose what? The issue here, after all, is not something on which reasonable people can conscientiously differ, like tax policy, environmental policy, or immigration policy. It’s the sanctity of life and its protection in law. Lay leadership in confronting wayward politicians is every bit as important as episcopal spine. - George Weigel Moral principles do not depend on a majority vote. Wrong is wrong, even if everybody is wrong. Right is right, even if nobody is right. - The Venerable Fulton J. Sheen First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do. - Epictetus The keenest sorrow is to recognize ourselves as the sole...

There should be no unity with iniquity. ... Yes, we should strive for unity, but our unity should be based on the truths of our faith as found in Sacred Scripture and the constant Tradition of the Church. No one should want to be united on the path to perdition. - Bishop Thomas Paprocki (T)o consent to the conception of a new being, through one’s own actions, is to make oneself responsible for an undertaking of nurturing and educating that child, which reaches at least 20 years into the future.  Since we cannot know the future, such an undertaking is reasonable only if it is regarded as a joint undertaking with someone who does know that future, that is, if we regard it as done with the approval and blessing of God in his providence. That is to say, for a father to conceive a child in openness to life, is for him to place himself under God: he recognizes himself as a subsidiary source of life and, therefore, since he has become a subsidiary agent, he enjoys a subsidiary author...

Triumph of the Virtues (1502) | Minerve chassant les Vices du jardin des Vertus | Mantegna Bullying sounds like it belongs in the schoolyard. But in the life of the Church it represents a scandalous inversion of everything the incarnation of Jesus stood for. His self-emptying and vulnerable humility is the far flung opposite of the psychological brutalising and manipulation. - Gavin Ashenden In some causes silence is dangerous. - Saint Ambrose of Milan I would rather be a little nobody, then to be a evil somebody. - Abraham Lincoln No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. - Eleanor Roosevelt Every night before going to sleep, we must ask ourselves: what weakness did I overcome today? What virtue did I acquire? - Lucius Annaeus Seneca Courage is fire, and bullying is smoke. - Benjamin Disraeli How long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself? - Epictetus No one heals himself by wounding another. - Saint Ambrose He that is kind is free, though he ...

  As Abraham Maslow wrote in 1966 in  The Psychology of Science , "I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail." If the only lens through which you view the world is clouded by fear, then everything you see through it is likely to be viewed as a threat. It seems clear that the current situation is dominated by individuals, politicians and institutions, notably secular media organizations, that are preoccupied not with a rational concern for the facts but are dominated and dominating others because they are paralyzed by irrational fear. Face it folks - the secular media, on a good day, has difficulty representing accurately the facts, whether it is a fact of law, of medicine, of religion, of art. The media are woefully lacking expert journalists who can represent the facts dispassionately in an organized and compelling manner. The secular media own a huge share of the burden for creating an alarmist environment ...