Edward Pentin. National Catholic Register. Traditional Latin Mass communities are flourishing around the world with rising vocations and strong Mass attendance but their existence was ignored in the Synod on Synodality’s October assembly and final report. VATICAN CITY — One of the persistent criticisms of the final assembly of the Synod on Synodality has been… Read More Why Was the Synod So Silent on the Traditional Latin Mass?
“… don’t think that I am a fool to talk like this. But even if you do, listen to me, as you would to a foolish person, while I also boast a little. I have been put in prison more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again. 24 Five different times the… Read More St. Paul’s Cross
“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” – Psalm 147:3 “Heal me, LORD, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise.” – Jeremiah 17:14 A most beautiful offering for the sick of body, soul or mind. Robert Reed today is an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of… Read More Rosary for the Sick. Sorrowful Mysteries.
Bad and evil ideas have been far more virulent in history than silver, gold, or geopolitical schemes. Our modern errors arose out of the weeds of bad Christian soil, fueled by concupiscence and backed by diverse and mighty powers. King Henry VIII’s ecclesial revolution in England, born in lust and ending in the vast dissolution of the… Read More Philosophers of the New Light
“In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”—Jn.16:33. Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.Mary as “blessed among women”. Pope John Paul II 1. The liturgy today commemorates theNativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.This feast, very important to popular piety, leads us to admire in Mary the… Read More Praying for the Children
We who are alive today have lived in extraordinary times. Never in history were so many ordinary people lured off the narrow way by so many lying signs, technological wonders and temptations. Few of us have walked through it unwounded. There is little romanticism in not being a hero. Many of us men and women… Read More Our Saving Wounds
I wish all those responsible would just go back to the Church, confess, and get their sins forgiven by Christ. Then we can all do quiet penance to make the world better, begin anew, knowing that God is more desirous to forgive us all than we ourselves could ever conceive. Cf. Matthew 12:31: “And so I… Read More Iraq and Sleepless nights
This morning I heard some politicians in the UK bemoaning the bewildering numbers of suicides, especially among men, in the West. It was difficult to hear their reports and stories. Mental health. It is not enough to throw more and more money at the problem. If at bottom our deepest unattended personal problems are fundamentally… Read More Politics cannot heal what ails us
National Catholic Register. With a saintly long-ranging spiritual vision, Ven. Fulton J. Sheen saw the roots of today’s crisis firmly planted and growing in 1974, but he gave us an antidote. Joseph Pronechen July 29, 2018 “First of all, we are at the end of Christendom,” Archbishop Fulton Sheen solemnly said during a television show in… Read More Archbishop Sheen’s Warning of a Crisis in Christendom. 1974.
CCC 2784: “The free gift of adoption requires on our part continual conversion and new life.“ Philippians 1: 6 I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5: 24 The one who calls you is… Read More Continual Conversion in and towards Christ Daily
“With Romano Guardini, Fr. Pius Parsch is another key player from across the Rhine in the Liturgical Movement. Like Guardini, he was both a theorist and a liturgical “experimenter,” seeking to embody his ideas in new ceremonies. Johann Bruno Parsch was born on May 18, 1884 in Neustift, in Moravia, which was then under the… Read More 50 Years of the New Mass: Pius Parsch
On overcoming. St. Augustine teaches, “When the unlawful pleasure of concupiscence tempts you, fight, resist, do not consent; and the saying is fulfilled, Go not after thy desires.” Still further, he says elsewhere that of two persons who have the same temptation to impurity, it sometimes happens that one consents to it and the other… Read More Predominant Sin of Our Times
Romans 8: 18 I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God; 20 for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of… Read More Holding On, Pressing On
Traditionally called St. Patrick’s Breastplate. I arise today Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,Through belief in the Threeness,Through confession of the Onenessof the Creator of creation. I arise todayThrough the strength of Christ’s birth with His baptism,Through the strength of His crucifixion with His burial,Through the strength of His resurrection with His ascension,Through… Read More Courage and Strength Through the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Nicolas Abouchedid writes, “In introducing the Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen to his Firing Line television audience, Willian F. Buckley Jr. once noted that “he [Sheen] is considered by almost everybody a great enigma.” He continues: Those who like to disparage his evangelism have a difficult time accounting for his extraordinary academic record. Those who claim him as a conservative are… Read More William F. Buckley Jr, Archbishop Sheen, Vietnam and Notre Dame
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
Another aspect of the Marian life is the imitation of Mary. Jesus alone is the “Way” that leads to the Father, He is the only model; but who is more like Jesus than Mary? Of whom more than of Mary can it be said that she has the same thoughts as Christ? “O Lady,” exclaims… Read More The Marian Life
“Today, there is a great silence. The Savior has died. He rests in the tomb. Many hearts were filled with uncontrollable grief and confusion. Was He really gone? Had all their hopes been shattered? These and many other thoughts of despair filled the minds and hearts of so many who loved and followed Jesus. It is… Read More Holy Saturday. Silence of the Tomb.
Why did our Lord thirst? It Is Finished. “28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” 29 Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. 30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He… Read More The Lord Said ‘I Thirst’
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
Strive for peace with all men, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. — Hebrews 12:14. I hope. I hope holiness means the striving for holiness. I’ve wanted it, holiness, ever since I was an aimless teenager. Today I am in my seventh decade and I know I am not… Read More How I Hope for Us All.
Conversion to Truth, while totally fulfilling, is never a light matter (Jn. 14:6; Mt. 11:28-39), because the Truth is the Cross, and the Cross is no picnic. “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” — Jn. 16:33 Jn. 15:20,21 “Remember the word that I said to you,… Read More Converts who take root learn fast that the Church and the Cross are one.
Brother Gabriel of St Mary Magalene, 1953, writes, “There are many who desire to make progress in the spiritual way and constantly entreat God to draw them and let them advance to this state of perfection [the state of union], but when it pleases God to begin to bring them through the first trials and… Read More The Temptation to Escape The Cross
C. S. Lewis once said that reading literature from the past is like a clean sea breeze blowing through our musty minds. Interview by Greg Peters. This article is from the November 2023 issue. Christianity Today. In recent decades, evangelicals studying faith in the Middle Ages have done much to recover its variety and richness. Yet… Read More Mystics, Monastics, and the Moderns Who Need Them
… in Liberalism. And why I can never see the Crucifixion of Our Lord in the same way after Holland’s momentous book Dominion. SH “Crucifixion, the Romans believed, was the worst fate imaginable, a punishment reserved for slaves. How astonishing it was, then, that people should have come to believe that one particular victim of… Read More Historian Tom Holland on Losing His Faith
What did the first Christians believe about the Eucharist? How did they follow Jesus’ command, “Do this in remembrance of me”? How did they celebrate the Lord’s Day? What would they recognize in today’s Mass? The answers may surprise you. In The Mass of the Early Christians, respected author, scholar, and television host Mike Aquilina reveals… Read More The Mass of the Early Christians. Mike Aquilina.
A most beautiful and critically important rosary (below). For our own sins and for the sins of the whole world. What sins are not covered in this particular formulation of the blessed timeless prayer? “Acknowledge that you have sinned. Everyone does this every day. We sin in ways we are aware of, but also in… Read More Repentance Rosary
In Proclamation, Word, Deed … against all infiltrations, apostasy and persecutions. 2 Cor 4:5-7 – 5 “For we preach not ourselves, but Jesus Christ our Lord; and ourselves your servants through Jesus. 6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of… Read More As Francis Decreases We Pray Jesus Christ Increases
O Jesus. Meek and humble of heart, Hear me.From the desire of being esteemed,Deliver me, Jesus.***From the desire of being loved…From the desire of being extolledFrom the desire of being honored…From the desire of being praisedFrom the desire of being preferred to others…From the desire of being consultedFrom the desire of being approvedFrom the fear… Read More Litany of Humility
St. Joseph the Worker Shrine, Lowell, Massachusetts. Jesus calms the storm. This Week’s Messagefrom Fr. AmesseApril 23, 2023 In a month, we will celebrate the “40 Hours Devotion.” The Holy Eucharist will be exposed on the altar for approximately 40 hours. St. John Neumann made the 40 Hours Devotion popular as Bishop of Philadelphia (1852-1860). … Read More He Is Here. And He is Not Silent.
By Father Gabriel of St Mary Magdalene, O.C.D. Even without the presence of other causes, it is possible to pass from a state of sensible spiritual fervor to one of absolute aridity. This happens by the direct work of God which makes it impossible for the soul to pray with the help of the mind… Read More Aridity and Spiritual Progress
“There would be tares as well as wheat in the harvest, good as well as bad fish in the catch, foolish virgins as well as wise virgins; there would be scandals, false sheep, jealousy, seeking first places at table, craving to lord it over others—until the final reckoning, when He would come in the clouds… Read More The Mystical Body of Christ by Fulton J. Sheen
Francis X. Maier writes. , “… We live in unsettled times. Elites in the developed world have been shedding Christianity like dead skin for decades. Their grip on our popular entertainment, news content, and emerging technologies has dragged many millions of otherwise good people along with them. Big corporations wield inordinate political power. Unelected government… Read More Not Comfortable but Free
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
How To Cope Practically, Emotionally, and Spiritually When Your Loved One Is Seriously Ill “If you’ve picked up this book, chances are good that someone you love is seriously ill – and you have been thrust into the role of a caregiver. Like most caregivers, you probably feel scared, anxious, and maybe even a little… Read More Walking the Way of the Cross for Caregivers
…Last Sermon on the Immaculate Conception by Pope John Paul II Wednesday, 8 December 2004 1. “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!” (Lk 1: 28). We address the Virgin Mary several times a day with these words of the Archangel Gabriel. Let us repeat them with fervent joy today, on the Solemnity… Read More “By One and the Same Decree.”
“Master, do you not care that we perish?” — Mark iv. 38. “… we bear in mind what was promised about the holy church and him who said that the gates of hell will not prevail against it (by these we understand the death-dealing tongues of heretics); we also bear in mind what was prophesied… Read More The Gates of Hell — (Formal Heresies within and without) — Do Not Prevail
“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.” —Isaiah 49:15-16″ All the wrong turns in the past, the… Read More Can A Mother Forget?
“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
Quoting St. Thomas Aquinas, John Paul wrote: “When through sin, the soul commits a disorder that reaches the point of turning away from its ultimate end God to which it is bound by charity, then the sin is mortal; on the other hand, whenever the disorder does not reach the point of a turning away… Read More Pope St. John Paul II on Mortal and Venial Sin
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