The Screaming Toddler Tyrants are Pulling Up their Pampers!

The anti-ice events truly deserve the word "insurrection." The liberal maniacs are breaking laws with impunity. They dox ice agents, send them death threats, destroy property. They even attack people for driving cars that are the same model as ice vehicles. And now...  church invasions. Hey, it's freedom of speech for them. No freedom of assembly for you!

The Tragedy of Atheism: To Never Know the Love of God!

The fool hath said in his heart: There is no God, They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways: there is none that doth good, no not one. [Psalm 14:1]

Why I'm thinking about atheism this morning is a puzzle. I don't know anyone who proclaims belief in atheism, although I met a pro-life atheist when I was in prison during the 1992 Spring of Life in Buffalo. They held us for 24 days so the 100+ women got to know each other pretty well. I wonder if she's still an atheist almost 25 years later. I think I'll pray for her today and for all atheists. They don't really believe in no god. Their god's name is Chance or Evolution or Accident. They look at the complexity of the universe and reduce its order to the throw of the dice. Calling it foolish seems to me to be an understatement.

The Chickens Were Nervous This Morning!

The week has started off on an anxious note. The chickens were nervous this morning. A hawk lurking in the yard landed on the pool umbrella stand about 100 feet from the coop and stayed there for some time. No doubt he's hungry and thought breakfast chicken would be a good start to the day. Larry was opening up the coop when he saw him. 

We don't let the chicks out to free range until late afternoon because of predators. They roam the screened chicken yard during the day. Apparently their nerves upset them enough this morning that they ignored the treat Larry brought and hunkered down under the coop. 

The last time they were in the yard and a hawk came, I was looking out the window and immediately went out and chased him away. That day the chickens hid in the bushes not willing to risk being out in the open. I had a hard time coaxing them out and back into the coop even as Twilight descended. Fear of the hawk is the beginning of wisdom for a chicken.

Sunday Meditation: Whom Can You Trust? Start with the Holy Spirit!

The first gift of the Holy Spirit it wisdom. We all need it and the six others that accompany it: understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. It's prudent to begin every venture with a prayer to the Holy Spirit for wisdom and guidance. And I offer this post today in that spirit -- seeking truth and praying for wisdom.

I shared this article by therapist Joshua Coleman today on my substack page. 

What Happens When Childhood Becomes the Explanation for Everything?

Coleman raises some questions that I think need to be asked about psychotherapy and its direction. I'm not saying there is no use for psychotherapy. A good holy practitioner can certainly be a help and support. I respected Dr. Ed Sheridan who died in 2022 who was a Catholic and daily communicant. Our pro-life community met with him on several occasions to discuss our approach to counseling moms in crisis. He was a wise and kind man. He was also a blessing to my own family during a challenging family crisis. 

When the Road Less Traveled Leads to the Abyss

I wrote the other day about re-reading People of the Lie by M. Scott Peck. I'm over halfway through the book now and I have to kind of shake my head to clear it. When I read it some 40 years ago I was still a bit naive and enthralled by men in white lab coats, although my pro-life activism had already dispelled the childish notion that all doctors were Albert Schweitzer.

Today, I'm reading the book with a more critical eye and, while I still find it useful, interesting, and thought-provoking; I'm much more aware of the flaws and my serious disagreements with Peck's philosophy and opinions. So here goes with a few:

• Peck was obviously Freudian in his approach to psychotherapy. Like Freud, most of his client examples go back to childhood assuming that almost all psychological problems are the result of parental abuse, neglect, and, as this book makes the case, actual parental evil. Freud believed that anything wrong with a person was the fault of upbringing, particularly problems with the mother. Many of Peck's cases exemplify this Freudian theory. Mom is a villain, in one case a spider. In several cases both parents are villains and I don't disagree, especially the case of the parents who gave their son a rifle for Christmas that his brother used to kill himself. That appears diabolical!

The Stripping Begins: From Christmas to Ordinary Time and Looking Forward to Lent

I always decorate the house for Christmas over weeks, not days. The stripping as the season nears the end also takes time. My first action this week was to gather up all the displayed Christmas cards, put a few of my favorites in a card album, and add the rest to my craft bin.

 Today I'm returning the dining room table to ordinary time. I love my Christmas placemats, but the twelve days they depict ended with Epiphany, so they are washed off and ready to go back in the Christmas drawer until next year. The fancy Christmas balls never go on the tree because of all the pins that tend to fall out. They add to the beauty of the table, but it's time to collect all the pins and bangles they've dropped, put them back on, and gently wrap and return them to their home in the tin until next year. The rich looking table cloth will come off next. I made it from a bolt of material a friend gave me after she had a chair reupholstered. I will spot clean it unless it needs a trip to the dry cleaners. And then the plain wood of the table will once again be relatively bare. All of this takes on a metaphorical meaning for me. The return to relative bareness reminds me that we should strip and bare our souls every time we enter the confessional.

Looking in the Window of the Church

If I weren't born a Catholic who learned the faith from the cradle thanks to my Catholic parents, I wonder what would have happened to me. Would I have come to the faith or would I still be wandering in the wilderness? I have many convert friends and each has a different story about what attracted them and led to their entry into the fullness of the faith. Many belonged to Christian denominations. Some left the Church and reverted later. What would my story be? If I were not born in the faith, raised in the faith, learned the faith in Catholic schools, married in the faith, raised our children in the faith...would I be a Catholic today? 

Imagining myself as an outsider looking in the window, I think what would have led to my conversion would be the sacrament of Confession. Of course, Jesus and the Eucharist are at the center, but think of the power of forgiveness. 

The Nature of Evil: A Social Disease or the Result of Original Sin?

Yesterday at coffee after Mass I was talking to someone about a difficult situation and asked if she was familiar with the book, People of the Lie by M. Scott Peck published in 1983. I read it years ago and decided to reread it which I've started. The first chapter, about a man who made a pact with the devil, got me thinking about the nature of evil. Christians have no difficulty recognizing the source of evil. While the secular world often wants to reduce it to environmental issues, bad parenting, trauma, psychological factors, etc. Christians go back to the source in the Garden of Evil when Adam and Eve freely chose to rebel against God and say "Yes!" to the devil. 

Have You Been Erased? Do You Erase Others?

I came across an article on substack by a divorced dad who described himself as "being erased" by his spouse. Actually, several divorced men I know have experienced that situation with their children turned against them by their bitter ex wives. Of course, I'm getting a one-sided picture of the situation, but, knowing these men, it's hard to believe they deserved the total annihilation of their role as dads. 

The Cardinals Blew Out the TLM Hope Candle!

The cardinals took discussion of the liturgy off the table as soon as the consistory opened. One of the most important issues facing the Church got deep-sixed in favor of, can you guess, SYNODALITY. AGAIN! AD INFINITEM AD NAUSEUM.

How many times, how many meetings, how many plane trips, how much money, how many cardinals dancing on the head of a pin does it take before we can send that dead synodal horse to the glue factory? And why am I not surprised that, like the Phoenix, it's risen again? 

The Invitation: A Picture Worth a Thousand Words

A reader in the UK who requires 24-hour care sent me this delightful little picture drawn by one of her care givers. Catherine shared with me that she has a condition that makes it very painful to look up, so she gets the constant view of people's feet. Imagine not being able to look up at the sky, not to see the sunrise or sunset or a rainbow. What a gift a colorful garden would be to someone forced always to look at the ground. 

Most of us complain about the most trivial things. But suppose Christ invited us to share in Catherine's condition or the sufferings of St. Margaret of Costello, the little blind, humpbacked beggar abandoned by her highborn parents who kept her hidden away for years before they threw her away.

I often imagine myself at the foot of the cross with my arms wrapped around it to anchor me. Then I kiss the feet of Jesus and beg for His help. What is Christ's invitation to us this morning on eighth day of this new year? Come, Lord Jesus.

As the Consistory Begins, Let Us Pray!

Things aren't looking good these days for the poor, battered bride of Christ. But history shows how often praying the rosary defeats the enemies of Christ and changes the course of history. So let us never grow weary in praying for our shepherds no matter how often they betray us!

About the Extraordinary Consistory of Cardinals

Feast of the Epiphany in the Traditional Calendar! Wise Men Still Seek Him.

Sometimes Truth Comes to Us Via Poetry, Art, and Music

I love this painting by Luc-Olivier Merson, (1879). If I ever get to Boston I'll make a point of going to see it at the Museum of Fine Arts. Great art inspires not only the mind but the heart, revealing important truths. Sometimes truth doesn't come through argument or profound reasoning, but through poetry, art, and music.

Sunday Meditation: Make the Rosary Your Go To Devotion to Grow in Holiness

After the Mass, there is no greater devotion than the holy rosary. If you aren't praying it every day, you are depriving yourself of one of the greatest aids to lead us to heaven.

Where's Your House? What Land Do You Live In?

Did you ever dream about being in a house? In many cases dreaming about houses relates to a person's identity. Think about the expression, "That really hits me where I live." What does that mean? Doesn't it indicate those things that are most important to you, in fact, those things at the very center of your being, where you live? Knowing ourselves is foundational to the spiritual life. Self-delusion is no virtue and, in order to know ourselves, we need to see ourselves in relation to God and His will for us. If you want to know yourself, get to know God!

Was the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima a Warning for the End Times?

On October 13, 1917, Our Lady made her final visit to the Cova de Iria in Fatima, Portugal. She produced the promised miracle. Not only did the sun dance, but it appeared to plunge toward the earth. Many of the terrified witnesses dropped to their knees and began to confess their sins and make a fervent act of contrition. The sun did not hit the earth that day, it returned to its place in the sky. But was that solar event a warning that a future chastisement would come through the activity of the sun?

"Fire is not put out by fire!" New year's wisdom from two great saints.

Happy New Year! Welcome to the start of another journey on the road to heaven. Want a good start? Use a good roadmap and find wise guides. You can't go wrong with St. Francis de Sales and St. Alphonsus Ligouri. I love them both!