"O wondrous power of the Cross! O ineffable glory of the Passion, in which is contained the Lord's tribunal, the world's judgment, and the power of the Crucified! For you drew all things unto You, Lord and when You had stretched out Your hands all the day, long to an unbelieving people that gainsaid You … Continue reading Words of the Saints: St. Leo on the Passion
Faith
Friday Flotsam: Oscars Slap at the Everyman, Core Values, and More
1. My latest post went up on The Everyman earlier this week, this one talking about the Oscars slap. I take it as another sign that the social framework is breaking down: For my own part, I think the incident raises some interesting points. First, let’s have no illusions about Will Smith’s personal life, which … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Oscars Slap at the Everyman, Core Values, and More
Words of the Saints: Saint Francis de Sales on Anxiety
Book IV, Chapter II of Introduction to the Devout Life (emph. mine): "Anxiety of mind is not so much an abstract temptation, as the source whence various temptations arise. Sadness, when defined, is the mental grief we feel because of our involuntary ailments;—whether the evil be exterior, such as poverty, sickness or contempt; or interior, … Continue reading Words of the Saints: Saint Francis de Sales on Anxiety
Friday Flotsam: The Annunciation, Profundity, and Rama
1. Today, of course, is the Solemnity of the Annunciation; the very day of Our Lord’s Incarnation, bringing with it a ‘weight of glory’ almost too great to bear. Certainly we tend to forget about it as often as may be, and I rather think many of us prefer it that way. Not only living … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: The Annunciation, Profundity, and Rama
Words of the Saints: St. Patrick
From his Confessio: "So be amazed, all you people great and small who fear God! You well-educated people in authority, listen and examine this carefully. Who was it who called one as foolish as I am from the middle of those who are seen to be wise and experienced in law and powerful in speech … Continue reading Words of the Saints: St. Patrick
Reflections on St. Joseph’s Day
Today is the Feast of St. Joseph; the man who taught God to be a man. Wading into the theology and imagery here would be intense work, so I’m going to limit myself to one subject (well, kind of). More and more it seems to me that God works in fractals: patterns repeated all the … Continue reading Reflections on St. Joseph’s Day
St. Patrick’s Breastplate
The Taming of St. Patrick
Wise tyrants don’t forbid: they tame. An oppressor with a surfeit of honesty or a deficit of cunning will proclaim that the celebration of St. Patrick’s Day is to be forbidden under pain of law in the hopes that the name of Patrick and the fruits of his labor shall eventually be forgotten and the … Continue reading The Taming of St. Patrick
Words of the Saints: St. John Henry Newman on Modernism
From one of future-Cardinal Newman's Tracts for the Times (written while he was still an Anglican) “Surely, there is at this day a confederacy of evil, marshaling its hosts from all parts of the world, organizing itself, taking its measures, enclosing the Church of Christ as in a net, and preparing the way for a … Continue reading Words of the Saints: St. John Henry Newman on Modernism
Words of the Saints – St. Alphonsus Liguori on Death
All confess that they must die, and die but once; and that there is nothing of greater consequence than this; for our eternal happiness or our eternal unhappiness depends upon the moment of death. We all know a happy or an unhappy death depends upon the life we have led. And yet, how is it … Continue reading Words of the Saints – St. Alphonsus Liguori on Death
Serpent's Den 