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.

Thought for the day: The challenge of imitating the saints.

Love isn't easy, certainly not as easy as hate. Someone injures us and we want justice; someone slanders us and we want revenge; someone lies about us and we want to take them down. Isn't that true? 

Don't we want to give back the blows we get from others and add a kick as well? Forgiving those who don't ask for forgiveness or even acknowledge the wrong they did is especially hard. When I read about a mother who forgives the person who murdered her child, I'm amazed, more than amazed, shocked. How do you do that? The martyrs did it, of course, but it's easier to pay lip service to our Christian beliefs than to act on them.

The Attraction of Courage!

There is something about the virtue of courage that calls to my heart in a way that many other virtues do not. Why is that I wonder? Is it because our modern world overflows with cowardice, that so few are willing to defend the truth? Fr. John Hardon often urged parents to raise their children to be martyrs. "You do not remain faithful to the Savior without paying for it," he once said. 

Sunday Meditation: A Most Necessary Virtue in Times of Tribulation and Chaos

When the world seems to be falling into chaos and tribulation, that is exactly when we need to embrace the virtue of hope! When everything seems to be out of kilter and the earth under our feet seems more like quicksand, that is exactly when we need to turn up the volume on hope!

Justice Denied! When Courts Are Corrupted

Jesus before Caiphas: the Illegal Trial and Sentence

Let's present a hypothetical trial situation. You're selected for a jury and seated. In your lap is your notebook and pen because you are determined to be a responsible citizen who listens carefully and judges fairly. (Yes, you are called to judge the facts and conclude whether the defendant is guilty or innocent.)

"Let all contention cease." Let us defend the faith like Our Lady and St. Francis de Sales!

I subscribe to Benedictus, the monthly prayer companion for traditional Catholics. Every issue offers a virtue of the month. May's virtue is meekness, certainly appropriate during the month of Mary who "pondered all things in her heart." Can you imagine Mary engaging in the tsunami of rude and contentious behavior so common on the internet hiding behind a mask of anonymity? I don't mean to imply that those who engage in rude and contentious behavior under their own name behave legitimately. "Love is patient; love is kind. Love is not rude," as St. Paul tells us. 

Thought for the Day: Govern Yourself!

 Most days I read the saints of the day from Butler's Lives. Today is the feast of St. Henry the Emperor who died in the early 1022 and was one of the rulers of the Holy Roman Empire. A line from his description really hit me. While he had the responsibility of governing his nation, he had the prudence to recognize that, "the government of himself was his first obligation."

That invites serious introspection. How well do I govern myself? Do I reflect on my chief faults and work diligently to master them? Do I "govern" them by a prudent use of my intellect and will? A serious examination shows me exactly how often my faults govern me rather than me governing them. Thank God for the sacrament of Confession and the help of my guardian in mastering myself, a lifelong project.

Reading the lives of the saints always invites serious reflection on our faults and failings, but also our successes. At the end of the day, it's good to examine both. How well did I do in my actions? Did I omit something I should have done?

I am the queen of my own little nation. How well am I governing?

"Have Courage and Be Kind!"

"Where there is kindness there is goodness and where there is goodness there is magic!" And this film is filled with goodness and magic. 

Christmas week is a time to focus on all things good and kind, bright and beautiful. I've been wanting to watch Cinderella again for a long time - not the animated version or the weird 2021 abomination. (I've only seen the trailer and that was more than enough!) No, I'm talking about the absolutely breathtaking and beautiful 2015 Cinderella directed by Kenneth Branagh who proved himself as more than an actor.

Meditation for Sunday: How's Your Zeal?

One of my readers left a comment on a post with a link to a terrific article on zeal based on the Rule of St. Benedict. (Thanks, Preston!) I recommend it to everyone who is fighting for the faith at any level, which, of course, should be all of us. We should be "zealous" for the faith, first of all in our families, and then in our parishes, our communities, our states, our country, and our world. But, as the author points out, we need to have a holy zeal and not the "zeal of bitterness." Here's an excerpt, but I recommend the entire article:

I'm Shocked!

At the hearing held last week in Congress there was, as far as I am concerned, only one bright spot.  It shocks me that it is this same brief moment out of the whole day that the media is fixed on saying was the “low point.”

Meditation on the Feast of the Holy Family

The Holy Family by Esteban Murillo

I love Friday morning Mass because it's the day the pastor of our little mission church comes to preach and his homilies are always insightful.  This morning, being the Feast of the Holy Family, he preached on personal and family virtues.  His homily began with a hat tip to Thomas Aquinas who in his Summa, after speaking about creation, wrote, not about sin, but about virtue.

Father said most of us work on eliminating sin in our lives which is good, but too often we focus so much on sin that we forget about virtue. And if we do, we are like the man in the parable whose house is swept clean, but then the devil returns with seven more who are worse than himself.

Lenten Meditation on Anger: Is it a Virtue or a Vice?

Lent is a good time to work on developing our virtues and squelching our vices. So let's consider one of the seven deadly sins, anger. What is it and can anger ever be a good thing?

   In view of the fact that God often expressed anger toward the evil behavior of the Israelites and Christ expressed anger toward the money changers in the temple and the hypocrisy of the pharisees, anger cannot be a universal evil. Fr. James Schall has an interesting article on the Catholic Thing discussing anger. You may be surprised at some of what he says:

Sunday Meditation: The Most Sublime Charity

I'm reading a short booklet titled The Spirituality of the Little Shepherds Francisco and Jacinta Marto by Fr. Louis Kondor SVD. This morning I read this powerful passage:

Besides the charity which goes out to meet the bodily necessities, there is that which seeks to repair the life of the soul. It is relatively easy to be moved by the necessities o the body. Even without faith, simply through philanthropic motives, well-doing can be pursued. 

But if we are moved by the lot of those who live in sin, of those who are in danger of losing their souls forever, that is the most sublime charity, the fruit of the gift of Understanding that penetrates into the mystery of sin. 

The light of God shone into the souls of these little children of Fatima, the gift of Understanding made them understand the danger of sin, and led them to embrace a heroic life of mortification, to deliver the sinners from falling into Hell.