Pray for Pope Leo XIV to walk in the footsteps of Pope Leo IX.

I've been reading about Pope Saint Leo IX, born in 1002 shortly after the new millennium began. What a great saint! He ruled with wisdom and zeal at a difficult time for the Church. 

I'm reading a book he wrote on the vices and virtues. The introduction gives this picture of the saintly pope:

Bruno [his baptismal name] was ordained to the priesthood. His ministry was characterized by diligence and devotion, which was well supported by his prudence, wisdom, and erudition. Soon, he was consecrated as bishop of the important diocese of Toul, which he governed effectively and fruitfully for over two decades.

At this point in history, the governance of the Church in Rome was highly unstable and tainted by corruption.

Sound familiar?  The "Church of Rome" was "tainted by corruption." All of the sheep out there who think nothing evil can never happen in the "holy" city need to read Church history. Let's continue:

Pope Leo XIII On Jesus Christ Our Redeemer

I just finished Pope Leo XIII's encyclical, On Jesus Christ Our Redeemer. It was promulgated in 1900 on All Saints Day in the 23rd year of his pontificate. The 78th of 88 encyclicals, it is easy reading and constitutes only fourteen paragraphs. A mature sixth grader could understand it! I don't think I can say that about any encyclicals written by our modern popes, many of which are book length and filled with ambiguous language that confuses rather than illuminates. Does anyone read them? I've slogged through a number, but it was like taking a hike in a river of jello.

Let me offer some take-aways from Pope Leo's beautiful testimony on Christ. He wrote a number of short encyclicals that are an easy summary of the faith and accessible to the average Catholic in the pew. I'll frame this in question and answer format with the answers directly from the words of the encyclical.

Reflecting on anger and how one should respond

 I've been reflecting on anger this week during my morning prayer time. It's one of the seven  deadly sins. But anger is also a virtue and St. Thomas Aquinas rebukes the soul who remains passive against injustice and never becomes angry. Righteous anger is a virtue that calls us to redress injustice. Righteoous anger moved me to spend most of my adult life defending the unborn and innocent individuals like Terri Schiavo and Hugh Finn considered vegetables by family members who put them to death by dehydration. There is much going on today that should arouse our righteous anger. The question we should all ask ourselves is how does God call us to respond?

The two images that came to me this week seemed to offer me the answer. The first image showed me Mary at the foot of the cross. What could be more unjust than the crucifixion of Christ, the creature committing deicide against the Savior of the world? He gave us everything! His love for us compelled Him to come as a helpless infant. He didn't come into the world a full grown man in the robes of a king. As St. Alphonsus tells us, that might inspire fear. No, He came as an innocent, helpless little baby born in poverty. His first cross was the wood of the manger on a cold winter's night.

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: 

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.

Will the Real Protestants Please Stand Up! (Hint: It's NOT the SSPX.)

What's coming down the pike in the Church? New crises! The Prayerful Posse looked at several serious issues related to the synodal process that will protestantize the Church. In some of the situations there is a profound lack of truth, particularly the spin on illegal immigration about "welcoming immigrants" without distinguishing between those who come in lawfully and those who enter as invaders.

Where is Your Line in the Sand? Do You Believe in Catholic Doctrine?

Yesterday I posted on the insane asylum that Rome has become. The video above by Michael Matt is absolutely on target and illustrates exactly what I described. I haven't always agreed with Matt, but I applaud his message here and add some other points he brings up to my evidence for the insanity at the Vatican.

The Church As Asylum...Insane Asylum?

As I wrote the title of this post I wished I were talking about the Church being an asylum in a world gone mad: a haven of peace in the storm, an oasis of truth in a world of lies. Sad to say, while the Church continues to be those things for those who embrace Sacred Tradition and keep the faith of the apostles, Holy Mother Church is looking more and more like an insane asylum under recent popes. Of course, the Church is indefectible but that doesn't mean she can't be in the grips of hirelings and false shepherds.

To keep your balance these days, you need to rewind past the lunacy and read the encyclicals and listen to the saintly popes of the past who taught unchanging doctrinal truth. The Judases treat the Church like a wild roller coaster ride and make everyone so dizzy they can't tell up from down, but no one is forced to get on board. "By their fruits [and nuts] you shall know them." And once you know them, their errors are easier to avoid.

Look to Mary Who Will Give You a "Deeper Understanding" of Jesus and the Holy Trinity

We celebrate the Blessed Mother's birthday today, nine months after the feast of her Immaculate Conception on December 8th. Let us all give her a gift today by praying the joyful mysteries of the rosary. 

Mary's great desire was to give Jesus to the world, the Word made flesh. What a great day to take a rosary walk with her entrusting your prayers into her hands with all the graces to be dispensed as she wishes. You can be sure that they will be used in a way most beneficial to you and your family.

When I was praying this morning a line of music kept running through my mind: "Queen of the angels, queen of the saints." It reminded me of all the Marian processions of my childhood, dressed in Sunday best, often wearing a crown of flowers. I once made crowns for all my sisters from dogwood blossoms. 

To Restore All Things in Christ

I finished reading Pope Pius X's first encyclical, E Supremi Apostolatus, this morning. What a wonderful pope! The document could have been written yesterday and what a clarion call for today's Catholics. Please read it. I'll give you just a few bits of its brilliance:

• Who can fail to see that at the present time society is suffering more than in any past age from a terrible and radical malady which, while developing every day and gnawing into its very being, is dragging it to destruction? You understand, Venerable Brethren, this disease is apostasy from God.

Think about it. That statement was made in 1903. What would the saint say about the situation today when the attack on reason has led to people justifying the insane proposition that man can choose his own sex, mothers can kill and be celebrated for murdering not only their unborn babies in the womb but their born children. How would that saintly pope respond in order "to restore all things in Christ." Do you think he would be telling the world that all religions (including paganism) are pathways to God? Would Pachamama be celebrated in the Vatican garden? Would he invite representatives of other Christian denominations, Buddhists, Muslims, etc. to come to Assisi and worship together? Read his words and answer for yourself:

St. Pius X, Pray for us!

Yesterday was the feast of St. Pope Pius X, so today is good day to read about his life and examine some of his writings. Here's a list of his encyclicals, 17 in all. His motto was "To restore all things in Christ" which was the subject of his first encylical published on October 4, 1903. 

"If the Shoe Fits, Wear It!"

My mom used to have a full stock of sayings appropriate to various occasions. "If the shoe fits, wear it!" was one that seems especially relevant to modern culture with a shift in meaning. Lots of folks today stick their feet into other people's shoes presuming to know everything about them. They judge people they only know as "friends" on Facebook. They jump to conclusions about things and make rash judgments about others in the comment section of every website. After all, they know everything about them because they slip on their shoes just long enough to tell the world all about them: their beliefs, their opinions, the state of their souls. Their knowledge about others (Trump supporters especially) would fill a multi-volume encyclopedia.

Sunday Meditation: Never Forget: The True Shepherds Celebrated Mass in the Meadow

This photo shows Fr. Reuter celebrating Mass at the fairgrounds during COVID. He was our first SSPX pastor when the chapel was established several years ago. We first met him when he came from the seminary to celebrate Mass at the fairgrounds while all the churches were closed. The diocesan bishops all bent the knee to Caesar. A few priests around the country celebrated Mass in their parking lots. One rented a U-Haul and drove around his diocese with his portable sanctuary. But for most Catholics in the country, their shepherds locked the churches and delivered a stone instead of bread to the faithful. They could have appealed the government lockdowns which left abortion businesses and liquor stores open. They did not. Their actions said, "We have no king but Caesar." I'm still waiting for an apology! They save that for other folks, like those angry over Pachamama being thrown in the Tiber.

Is the USCCB Even Catholic Any More?

The USCCB seems to have lost the faith decades ago, not to mention their minds! I offer the letter below as exhibit A. Why would any right-minded bishop continue to belong to this Good Old Boys Club of Nonsense? In the name of ecumenism we are told that all faiths are paths to God including paganism. And now we have a Jewish woman, Amy-Jill Levine elected as head of the "Catholic" Biblical Association who wants to rewrite the Bible because the pharisees were misunderstood. It reminds me of the song Officer Krupke from West Side Story. 

Of Agatha Christie and Hercule Poirot

I'm a big fan of Agatha Christie and love the series with David Suchet as Hercule Poirot. I've seen the role played with Peter Ustinov and Kenneth Branagh. Neither of them could hold a candle to David Suchet who played Poirot in every story Christie wrote about him. Over 25 years and thirteen seasons, David Suchet became the little Belgian detective with the moustaches. 

My husband and I just finished watching all of the seasons for about the fourth time. And then we watched the extras. Suchet answers a series of questions about what is essentially the role of his life. He described how he studied all the stories and kept a voluminous file about how Poirot dressed, ate, walked, spoke, etc. -- all that allowed David Suchet to disappear into the persona of Hercule Poirot, not an actor playing a character, but becoming one. 

Let Thanks Be Always on Our Lips!

Sometimes I get a tremendous surprise when I open a book. Tucked inside will be a letter from the past from a family member or friend. This week, I looked in my calendar book to see whose birthdays and anniversaries are coming up in the month of September. But what I found in the front was a little treasure from one of my granddaughters -- a letter she wrote on January 11, 2019 when she was still in high school. It captured a moment from the past to thrill a grandparent's heart.

Sunday Meditation: Do We Govern Our Greatest Passion?

The homily at Mass this morning offered a serious challenge. Father described our greatest passion as the desire to speak. When I think of "passion" I have rarely thought about speaking with the tongue. We speak in other ways with our body, hence the term body language, but how many equate passion with speech? I daresay few.

The Decline of Gravitas in a Culture of Whiny Child Adults

This morning at Mass, our pastor read a letter from Fr. Davide Pagliarani to the lay faithful about the current situation between the SSPX and the Vatican. It offered consolation and encouragement, something the laity certainly haven't received from our father in Rome sad to say. It also manifested a virtue that one seldom hears about today -- gravitas, a seriousness and dignity, not to mention respect and concern for the laity. It was inspiring to listen to it. It's not published online yet, but no doubt will be by the time I return from my retreat. I'll post it then.

Open Letter to Bishop Michael Burbidge with Cover Letter to Apostolic Nuncio: We are are not excommunicated schismatics!

OPEN LETTER TO MOST REVEREND MICHAEL BURBIDGE, 

BISHOP OF THE DIOCESE OF ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA

July 13, 2026

Your Excellency,

How grateful I am for your vocation to the priesthood and the privilege of calling you my spiritual Father. We met only once several years ago after Fr. Clarence Trinkle's funeral at St. John the Baptist. I left by the front door thinking to slip away quietly, but you were standing alone next to the hearse only a few feet away. I stopped, genuflected and kissed your ring, introduced myself, and thanked you. I considered our brief exchange providential and was delighted to receive a personal blessing. I recall that meeting today as I write in grief over the recent decree of excommunication of the SSPX bishops. Since my purpose is not to defend the Society consecrations, I will not address that topic.

The Rome of Cognitive Dissonance and Doublethink

There's a psychological term that applies in spades to our age of confusion and chaos. It's called "cognitive dissonance" in the language of mental health and "doublethink" in the language of dystopian literature. Both terms mean the same thing: the act of trying to believe two contradictory things at the same time. 

Sadly, modernist Rome has become the icon of cognitive dissonance and doublethink. The Vatican pays lip service to the unchanging Catholic faith taught for two millennia, while, at the same time, undermining it with modernist claptrap. One bishop says contraception and abortion are wrong. Another says there are circumstances when they're not. Moral relativism takes center stage in the synodal church where sexual deviance is love.