By Thomas Merton. ONE of the most disturbing facts that came out in the Eichmann trial was that a psychiatrist examined him and pronounced him perfectly sane. I do not doubt it at all, and that is precisely why I find it disturbing. If all the Nazis had been psychotics, as some of their leaders… Read More A Devout Meditation in Memory of Adolf Eichmann
It was a dream. Needless to say, it was not a vision. If I ever had a vision I would likely run for the psychiatric couch, not to a pope. I cannot remember whether it was a day or a night dream. The city hung heavy over us all. I was lifting a lantern before… Read More The City and the Cross
by Stephen Hand In Evelyn Waugh’s stunning classic, Brideshead Revisited, there is a scene which presses on my mind these days as I ponder so many forces gathering against a Church weakened greatly by the sins of her own children, both clerical and lay. All of us. It is the time when Sebastian, Lord Alex… Read More Lord Marchmain’s Long Hate
Apropos of everything: Because Martin Heidegger forsook his early roots in Thomistic [objective] Christian philosophy, the unapologetic Nazi who enjoyed philosophy was forced to create a new and eccentric philosophical superstructure [undecipherable and irrelevant to most human beings] to dodge the consequent existential void. It was necessary because his system toppled the Holy Trinity in… Read More Being and Bunk.
“Our peace in this life is found in humbly enduring suffering rather than in being free from it. He who knows best how to suffer will enjoy the greater peace, because he is the conqueror of himself, the master of the world, a friend of Christ, and an heir of heaven.”— Thomas a Kempis, Imitation… Read More The Cross of Jesus Christ and Suffering Love.
The value of sufferings in Christ By Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D. O Jesus Crucified, teach me the science of the Cross. 1. The Passion of Jesus teaches us in a concrete way that in the Christian life we must be able to accept suffering for the love of God. This is a… Read More Personal knowledge of the Cross
Galatians 2:20. “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalene, who died… Read More Reparation
“And fate made everybody equal Outside the limits of the law. Son of a kulak or Red commander, Son of a priest or commissar . . . Here classes were all equalized, All men were brothers, camp mates all, Branded as traitors every one . . . —Alexander Tvardovsky, “By Right of Memory” It all… Read More Lenin’s Pure “Equality”. Three Weeks Before the October Revolution.
This is no ordinary talk / book (perfectly narrated here). It is extraordinary even by Fulton J. Sheen’s standard. Lay persons and clergy both need to hear its message in our troublesome time. A time which assaults our very souls: “Day after day, Christians struggle to do good, to avoid evil, and to take up… Read More Spiritual Warfare: Victory Over Vice by Archbishop Fulton J Sheen
In one of Saint Therese of Lisieux’s favorite books, End of the Present World and the Mysteries of the Future Life, the author, Fr. Charles Arminjon (1824-1885) writes among many important things on the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. And he draws a most important moral Gospel lesson: “There are circumstances when even… Read More Even the Wicked Are Rewarded In This Life.
Why Catholic Critique? To confess the Faith to any who wish to hear or see. “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom. 10:9)…” “If you continue in my word, then you are my disciples…” (Jn. 8:31) This website is a small,… Read More Catholic Critique
Never more timely. Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen (1895-1979). A formidable scholar, prolific author, and Catholic University professor for 23 years, Archbishop Sheen was also a pioneer of the new evangelization. A charismatic radio and television personality and a zealous preacher of the Gospel, his whole-hearted embrace of modern means of communication gave him access… Read More Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen on False Compassion
Rom. 8:22 For we know that every creature groans and travails in pain, even till now. 23 And not only it, but ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption of the sons of God, the redemption of our body. 24 For we are saved by hope.… Read More The Whole Creation Groans
Benedict / Ratzinger Essays on Theology and History below. Benedict XVI — Priest, Prefect, Pope, Rest in Peace. With the pope emeritus’ death, the Catholic Church lost one of the greatest minds in its 2,000-year history. … Read here. — Benedict XVI’s Secretary’s New Book. — Joseph Pearce: Benedict XVI. Defender of the Faith —… Read More Benedict XVI: 1927-2022.
“Concerning the value of the Mass, Padre Pio said: “If men only appreciated the value of a holy Mass they would need traffic officers at church doors every day to keep the crowds in order.” Padre Pio was asked what his Mass meant to him. He responded: “It is a sacred participation in the passion of Jesus.… Read More St. Padre Pio and the Mass.
“The Committee for Life, the Laity, and the Family of the Argentine Bishops’ Conference expressed its opposition to four bills introduced in Congress to legalize euthanasia. “The committee said the country is facing “a new manifestation of the culture of death and the throwaway culture.”…. Continue It is easier and less expensive in the short… Read More Catholic Church in Argentina opposes legalization of euthanasia
Day after day a million confused emotions ebbed and flowed and sometimes clashed within him. After a time, when he had come to feel particularly ill, and knew that he would soon be placing himself into Hospice, he wondered what he should do at last. It is said that there are two kinds of people:… Read More Seeing The First time
And closer to home… — U.S. cities with highest STDs
Paul Kingsnorth. “Do not be conformed to this world“— St. Paul Welcome to the Abbey. ‘Instead of thought there is a vast, inhuman void, full of words, formulas, slogans, declarations, echoes, ideologies … If we do not think, we cannot act freely; we are at the mercy of forces which we never understand, forces that… Read More The Abbey of Misrule
Prayer For Peace by Pope John Paul II. O God, Creator of the universe, who extends your paternal concernover every creature and guides the events of history to the goal of salvation, we acknowledge your fatherly love when you break the resistance of mankind and, in a world torn by strife and discord, you make… Read More Saint John Paul II Prayer for Peace
“Straights and Anguish of Dying Christians Who Have Been Negligent During Life About the Duties of Religion“. The “narrow gate”. 2 Cor. 7:10: “For the sorrow that is according to God worketh penance, steadfast unto salvation; but the sorrow of the world worketh death.” By Saint Alphonsus Liguori,Doctor of the Church. “Render, therefore, to Cæsar the… Read More St. Alphonsus Liguori on Presumption in the Face of Death
A Personal Account Ross Gregory Douthat (born 1979) is an American political analyst, blogger, author and New York Times columnist. He was a senior editor of The Atlantic. He has written on a variety of topics, including the state of Christianity in America and “sustainable decadence” in contemporary society. Ross Douthat and Matt Lewis
“Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet. My Mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of angel, will be able to fathom it throughout all eternity. (…) Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the fount of My Mercy.… Read More The Divine Mercy and Loneliness
The fire of Suffering in Christ through His Cross. Hebrews 12 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. 4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you forgotten the exhortation which addresses you as… Read More Purgatory: God’s Hospital.
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