Sunday Meditation: Roadmap for a Happy Life

It seems to me that we all make life too darn complicated. In many ways we get lost in the weeds. And yet, the prescription for a happy life is really very simple. The Baltimore Catechism set it down in question #6:

6. Q. Why did God make you?
A. God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in heaven.

The Canonization of Clergy Sex Abuse and Other Atrocities from the Synodal Church

Are canonizations infallible? If you ever had any doubts, the Vatican's scandalous action of naming a missionary bishop, Msgr. Alejandro Labaka, Venerable, proves that they are not. Being named Venerable is the first step toward canonization. To canonize a missionary nudist who engaged in sexual play with his flock is scandalous beyond belief!

Are Francis and Leo the "Two Worm Ridden Popes"

The other day when I was doing bee hive inspections I was disturbed to pull out a frame filled with small white worms. They looked like wax moth larvae. That's no joke in a beehive. Wax moth can turn a hive into a horror movie scene pretty quickly. Only once have we had a serious infestation and we had to burn everything in that hive except the box which we treated with bleach. So when I hear the term "two worm-ridden popes" it's no joke!

If You've Never Watched The Catholics, Now is the Time!

In 1972 Brian Moore wrote a short novel titled Catholics about a remote abbey on an island off the coast of Ireland. [online here] It's the year 2000 and the monks continue to offer the Latin Mass after Vatican II and even after Vatican IV. The Protestants have long been acclimated to the new Church and the new faith. The move now is to incorporate the Buddhists and a conference is scheduled in which the head of the order is participating. 

The monks have become an embarrassment and stumbling block to the new church. Ever since a television crew televised the Mass thousands of Catholics from all over the world flock to the liturgy offered on the mainland. The crisis comes when the head of the order in Rome sends a young priest to examine the abbey and order the monks to immediately adopt the new mass. There are no more private confessions. No one is required to believe that the bread and wine really become the Body and Blood of Christ at the consecration. No clergy are allowed to resist. They are ordered to conform.

Do You Worship Christ or His Vicar on Earth?

I can't get over the number of foolish Catholics who practice papolatry. What is that, you ask? The word is so infrequently used that it's not even in some dictionaries. But here's the meaning:

Papolatry refers to the excessive reverence or worship of the pope. It is derived from the combination of "papa," meaning pope, and "latry," which denotes worship or adoration.

Really! Yes, some Catholics put the pope right up there with Jesus Christ, the head of the Church. After all, since the pope is the "visible" head of the Church, he must be a saint who never gets anything wrong. Right?

The Argument for the SSPX from Supplied Jurisdiction

If the Society and priests who minister to me are about to be declared schismatic and excommunicated, I want to know the rationale and justification for their consecrating bishops without a papal mandate. Canon law 1387 from the 1983 revised code of 1917 says this about those consecrations:

Can. 1387 Both the Bishop who, without a pontifical mandate, consecrates a person a Bishop, and the one who receives the consecration from him, incur a latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See. [For anyone who wants to read the law, the entire 1983 code is online here.]

The Schism is Coming! The Schism is Coming!

I hate what my first thought was when I read Vatican journalist Diane Montagna's article about the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and their plans to excommunicate the SSPX bishops if the consecrations go forward on July 1st. There is talk that the entire Society will be excommunicated, every single member, which includes all the clergy and I presume the seminarians, brothers, and nuns. 

The laity are not members of the Society so if rumors turn out to be true, I presume we will be told we cannot fulfill our Sunday obligation by going to Mass at SSPX chapels and that they do not have the authority to forgive sins so sacramental confessions will be invalid. And, of course, so will the sacrament of Confirmation and Matrimony. Whew! The sword of Damocles will be over our heads wielded by Cardinal Fernandez of kissing and porno book fame. Really, it boggles the mind. So while Pope Leo embraces and dialogues with Patriarch Bartholomew of the schismatic Easter Orthodox Church, he refuses to meet with the SSPX.

What a father, eh?

What We Can Learn from the Bees.

Bees have been the subject of countless meditations from the saints over the generations. They are mentioned so often I believe they must have a special place in God's kingdom. And what a privilege to serve as a beekeeper for these tiny creatures of God. They teach me so much.

Yesterday my husband and I inspected our hives to make sure they all have enough room to expand. This time of year we try to prevent swarming.

 Three hives had so many bees and the boxes were so full of nectar and pollen we added a new box to each one. It made me think of the posts I've seen lately about how many people have come into the Church this year. Praise God for all the newbies (and newbees)! 

Of Hope, Sacred Tradition, and the Mass of the Ages Trilogy

 "Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire."  Gustav Mahler

Things that impressed me from this this third film in the Mass of the Ages trilogy:

The pilgrimage by the French mothers (and grandmothers) of priests. They walked 800 miles to beg the pope for the continuation of the Traditional Latin Mass for the sake of their sons. His answer? The crushing and uncharitable Traditionis Custodes.

The Pope and Pachamama: Idolatry is a Grievous Sin against the First Commandment

 Read more at LifeSiteNews. Fr. Charles Murr speaks with true love and concern for the Church. We would be prudent to listen to him. Pray for Holy Mother Church and pray that the pope will address this very serious scandal. Is it any wonder that Francis welcomed the goddess Pachamama to the Vatican? Francis and Leo are spiritual twins. God save the Church.

Guest Post: THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME: THE GOOD NEWS AND THE BAD NEWS

 by James M. Thunder  

published in The Narthex, blog of New Oxford Review, in four parts Feb. 24, March 8, 11 and 13
Part 1: Notre Dame: The Good News & the Bad News | New Oxford Review

Folks, the good news out of Notre Dame is shockingly good. The bad news out of Notre Dame is shockingly bad. I’ll start with the bad.

On January 8, 2026, Notre Dame issued a press release announcing that a professor, Susan Ostermann, was being appointed, effective July 1, as director of the Liu Institute. Because of her public and persistent pro-abortion views, this appointment has been met with objections by:

The Church is Awake Thanks to the SSPX. So What's Next?

"The current situation regarding the episcopal consecrations in the Priestly Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) has suddenly awakened the entire Church."  [Source]                                                         Bishop Athanasius Schneider

Being awake is a good thing as St. Peter reminds us:  

"Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour." [1 Peter 5:8]

In the Old Testament God told Gideon to dismiss any soldiers who knelt and drank directly from the stream. Those who stayed alert, awake so to speak to any advancing enemy by using their hands to bring water to their mouths, became the conquering army. [Judges 7] 

Revelation has a particularly apt point:

"Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is on the point of death, for I have not found your works perfect in the sight of my God." [Revelation 3:2]

"The Heresy of Modernism Turns Minds into Oatmeal." Padre Peregrino Explains it all for You.

It's a sad reality today that many in both secular and religious society are "weaponizing language." We see it in the Democrats who call anyone supporting particular policies of Donald Trump Nazis, homophobes, misogynists, gestapo, etc., etc. But in the Church this weaponized language is used primarily against only one group -- those who support Sacred Tradition and embrace the Traditional Latin Mass and the traditional sacraments and rites of Holy Mother Church. We are rigid, schismatic, insane, trapped in the past, etc. You know the drill. And while the pope will meet with material heretics, pagans, pro-aborts, clowns, etc., those who defend Sacred Tradition are treated like lepers. Give us bells to ring to warn all the contracepting, aborting Catholics they need to run for the hills to prevent contamination.

But here's the secret. All these charges are bogus.

John Henry Westen Challenges Cardinal Sarah on the SSPX Consecrations.

I was seriously disappointed by Cardinal Sarah's article criticizing the SSPX plan to consecrate bishops in July. The cardinal has been a beautiful voice of truth. His book, The Power of Silence, was a wonderful companion to me on one of my five-day, silent, Ignatian retreats. My great respect for Cardinal Sarah magnified my grief over his article. I simply had to shake my head as I read it, because so many points conflict with the reality of Rome's actions. You can read the complete letter, translated from the French, here. I will quote some excerpts that troubled me.

In the first and second paragraph we read this:

Need a Good Read for Lent? Credo Will Build Your Faith!

I decided to read Credo: Compendium of the Catholic Faith by Bishop Athanasius Schneider for Lent. If you want to love God, you first have to know Him. And what better way to know Him than to study the faith using a solid Catholic catechism. 

Unfortunately, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, like so many things coming in these modernist-infected times, has been corrupted.  Studying a catechism like the Catechism of the Council of Trent or the Baltimore Catechism or, in fact, Credo is more likely to build up the faith without introducing novelties that twist the truth.

Traditionally most Catholic catechisms begin with the creed. I'm on Chapter 16 "I believe in the Holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints." With all the chaos in the Church at present, this chapter offers clear teaching on the nature of the Church, the papacy, and our obligations as Catholics. I'll quote several questions: 

Bishop Schneider Warned Pope Leo about Five "Wounds" in the Church that Need Healing.

Pope Francis often described the Church as a "field hospital" for sick people. Thinking along those lines, I see Bishop Athanasius Schneider as a doctor who correctly diagnoses the plague invading the Church when so many "doctors" claim the patient is healthy. He brought up five wounds in his December 18th meeting with Pope Leo and described what he sees as the prescription for healing. One of those wounds dealt with the Traditional Latin Mass and the situation with the SSPX.

Good for Michael Matt, Chris Jackson, and Others: The "Best revenge" of the SSPX!

Today my focus is on the recent meeting between Fr. Davide Pagliarani and Cardinal Victor Fernandez, head of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), about the upcoming SSPX consecration of new bishops scheduled for July 1st. Many of us recognize the ploy for what it is, a last ditch effort to gain control over the Society. They (the modernists at the Vatican) want to control the Society because the SSPX is the main roadblock to what they want, complete annihilation of Sacred Tradition: not only the Traditional Latin Mass, but all the sacraments, the rites (e.g., exorcism), etc. All that reeks of that old fashioned Church. must be purged to make way for the new, ever-evolving Church. Watch the movie, The Catholics, with Martin Sheen to see the end game. The book and film were truly prophetic.

Be Careful Who You Trust! Not Everyone in a Roman Collar Is Reliable!

I recently read several articles on substack defending the Novus Ordo by Msgr. Arthur Holquin, a retired priest of the Diocese of Orange in California. I don't subscribe to his account and won't. Once I realize someone isn't trustworthy, I shake the dust off my feet and move on. I left one comment and that's it. Someone else can argue with him. He writes a dissertation responding to anyone who disagrees with him and mentions over and over how educated he is. 

The Games Have Begun! How Long Can the Vatican Stall the Consecrations with their Fake Dialogue?

BREAKING: Cdl. Fernandez urges SSPX to drop plan to consecrate bishops

OR ELSE!

Another Confusing Head Scratcher: Pope Leo Tells Material Heretics "We are One! We Already are!"

If anyone wondered whether Pope Leo XIV is Francis II, he only had to listen to the pope's address to the band of material heretics joining him for the week of Christian unity. Don't get me wrong. I love my Protestant friends, but I would never (and neither would they) agree that we are "already one". But that's what the pope said: