Asking the Intercession of Pope Leo XIII for Pope Leo XIV

Pope Leo is in the hospital receiving treatment for a lesion on his lungs. After surgery the doctors reported that they removed a portion of his lung and the tumor which was cancerous. Every faithful Catholic should be praying for him: for his physical healing and for his spiritual healing. As Fr. John Hardon, S.J. always said, the spiritual miracles are most important and, frankly, more miraculous than the physical ones. And wouldn't it be a miracle if Leo had a Damascus moment while he's recovering and decided to become a zealous defender of the faith like his predecessor, Leo XIII. 

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!

For spiritual reading today, on this anniversary of Our Lady giving the miracle of the sun to the world, I recommend Chris Jackson's post at Hiraeth in Exile.

Can Livestreaming Violence Reduce Violence?

The decision of the Department of Defense to livestream the execution by firing squad of the Fort Hood mass murderer, Army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan, is in the news. To be completely transparent, I support capital punishment in rare cases. How can you protect guards and other prisoners if a murderer with a life-in-prison sentence has nothing else to fear? Is a life of solitary confinement a guarantee against an escape attempt? And what about murderers who are paroled? Think about rape, robbery, and home invasion victims? Is there a deterrent effect knowing that capital punishment is the mandatory sentence for a murder committed during those crimes?

St. Francis Borgia and his Warning on Human Respect!

I love reading about the saints. Most days I spend part of my morning prayer time reading from Butler's Lives of the Saints. How many friends we have in heaven! And I always read the names of all the saints of day and ask for their intercession. Don't we all need as many prayer warriors as we can get?

My Butler's is about fifty years old so I don't have any of the updates, but with four thick volumes I have plenty of friends to consult even if more modern saints like Mother Teresa and Padre Pio are missing. Since I read my Benedictus prayer book every day, I catch them on their feast days.

St. Bridget's Vision about a Bad Pope Is Relevant for Our Day and Age

It's good to remember that times in the Church have always been challenging, even when they seemed like the "best" of times. And often, it's been the "worst" of times. Don't we see that daily with the synodal shenanigans? The modernist attack on Holy Mother Church disfigures her more than every other heretical attack in Church history. Even the Arians couldn't inflict the damage we're living through today.

Dickens had it right when he opened The Tale of Two Cites with his declaration that: 

In this Jubilee year of St. Francis, Let Us Pray for All Those Trying to Save Our Crumbling Church

I've said it before. God has a sense of humor. While the porn-writing head of the DDF apparently expected hordes of SSPX priests to head for the exit door, the opposite is happening. Priests are heading for the open door to the SSPX and affiliating with the Society. LifeSiteNews has this:

Leo XIV’s excommunication backfires:   SSPX lists multiple priests who just joined them

What's Wrong with the Novus Ordo?

I'm reading an article on substack titled Deficiencies of the New Mass, describing a talk given in 2014 by Fr. Daniel Themann, SSPX at the Angelus Press Conference titled, “What is Our Objection to the New Mass.” It raised numerous points that are still relevant today. 

The first point is this:

The New Mass – Novus Ordo Missae – is ecumenical in its construction and Protestant in its orientation. It is the most tangible expression of the Vatican II revolution, affecting every Catholic directly and deleteriously.

Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces and Mother of All People

At our SSPX chapel, we recently had a catechism class by a Dominican, Fr. Albert, who sometimes helps out. He spoke about Mary as Mediatrix of All Graces. While the Vatican rejects that title the Church has taught it for over 1500 years. Father began by talking about Jacinta, the little mystic of Fatima. As she was dying she begged her cousin Lucia not to "go and hide," but to tell the world about Mary. God's will, Father told us, is to ask Mary for graces. Mark Miravalle, professor of Theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville, has promoted the "fifth Marian dogma" of Mediatrix of all graces for decades.

Nick Freitas Discusses Family Estrangement

I'm a big fan of Nick Freitas. His videos are often so on target I just nod my head. He's a military vet, a Green Beret, who served two tours in Iraq.  He also spent ten years in the Virginia House of Delegates. I love listening to him because he is masculine in the best way possible. He's a husband, a dad, a Christian and had a 100% pro-life voting record in the General Assembly. And, to top it off, he's often funny. 

Thought for the Day: Embrace a Leper!

I have something challenging coming up and was praying about it this morning. Providentially, my spiritual reading addressed it. Catching up on my Benedictus meditations, I read this from October 5th: "The soldier of Christ must begin by victory over himself."