What Are You Reading for Lent?

I always pick out a book for Lent to be my primary reading material. Since I read St. Francis de Sales Sermons for Advent, I decided to read his Sermons for Lent. He is, of course, addressing his sermons to religious, but they nevertheless are fruitful for the laity.

Since we arrived back from our Florida trip on Ash Wednesday and I had several days of catch up, I didn't read his Ash Wednesday sermon until this morning at adoration which is on fasting and how to do it properly and well. He firsts wants the reader to recognize how beneficial fasting is, so he describes four fruits of fasting well:

• fasting fortifies the spirit, mortifying the flesh and its sensuality
• it raises the spirit to God
• it fights cocupiscence and gives power to conquer and deaden its passions
• it disposes the heart to seek to please only God with great purity of heart

Islam is the Casual Evil That Poisons Everyone Who Calls Themselves Muslim

https://ex-muslim.tv/

American ex-Muslim Bosch Fawstin was raised in the Bronx by Albanian Muslim parents around the poisons of misogyny and Jew hatred. In Islam there is a casual admiration for Hitler, Islam's favorite infidel because Hitler killed more Jews than anyone. Every Islamic woman Bosch knew had been beaten by their husbands and his mother mourned the birth of her own granddaughters because of misogyny in Islam. Lesson: admiration for Hitler and Jew hatred is considered white supremacist thinking and is a cultural sin, but when Muslims hold the same admiration for Hitler because of their supremacist Islamic thinking, it becomes a cultural sin to speak out against Islam's hatred for Jews. 

Of Shakespeare and Radical Agendas

My Shakespeare book club met yesterday to discuss The Merchant of Venice. After talking about the play and its topical allusions to events of the day, i.e., executions of the Jesuit martyr Robert Southwell for being a Catholic priest and Elizabeth's Jewish physician for allegedly plotting her murder, etc. we watched the film version of the play with Al Pacino as Shylock and Jeremy Irons as Antonio (2004).

Appalling is too tame a word to describe what the director, Michael Radford, did to Shakespeare's script although many modern critics celebrated the film which made Shylock the hero and the Christians the villains. It as an anti-Christian, pro-homosexual rant that twisted Shakespeare in every which way to meet Radford's own perverse, modern agenda which was apparently to turn Shylock into a tragic hero and cast the Christians as the devilish demons and Jew persecutors.

I Told My Devout Family I Am Taking Off My Veil

https://ex-muslim.tv

Her brother brutally beat her and her mother fears the wrath of God for Esraa's sin of not wearing a veil. Lesson: in Islam it's considered a sin to take off the veil, but in Islam it isn't considered a sin to viciously beat your sister.

May the Wind of Freedom Blow Away the Last Hijab Ever Forced on a Woman's Hair

https://www.ex-muslim.tv/

While "Islamophobia" is made a crime punishable by fines and prison time, ex-Muslims are speaking out trying to find a media voice for their side of the coin, none of which the mainstream media will publish since being an ex-Muslim goes against their agenda and that of the Left, the European Union, United Nations and the 57 member nations of the Organization of Islamic Countries.

Ex-Muslim.tv is a group of courageous ex-Muslims featuring a series of short two minute videos of ex-Muslims explaining why they left Islam.

Each day during Lent I will post videos from ex-Muslim.tv. These beautiful young ex-Muslim men were all killed by Islam. Lesson: in Islam apostasy is a sin, but it isn't a sin in Islam to brutally murder an apostate.

Sunday Meditation: Isolation is the Devil's Workshop!

 Family life is an antidote to isolation!

I was reading the Lectio Divina (commentary on the Gospel) in my Magnificat before Mass this morning and stopped abruptly to reflect a bit when I reached this passage from St. John Chrysostom:

"The Spirit drags Jesus into the desert, since he wanted to draw the devil there; and Jesus gave occasion to him not only on account of his hunger but also on account of the place: for then most especially does the devil attack, when he sees people isolated and by themselves."

Jesus was attacked and tempted in His isolation. When, I asked myself, have I been most tempted to discouragement and despair? Isn't it when I feel alone, abandoned by those around me? I remember one Christmas years ago when many challenges robbed me of joy. Surrounded by family, I nevertheless felt alone, my spirit locked in darkness. I felt isolated and unhappy, but resisted the temptation to rob joy from those around me. So I smiled and prepared the feast although my heart felt like a stone. By the end of the day, serving others had lifted my spirits considerably. Which I think is a serious lesson. When we stop looking at ourselves in our misery and look outward to others (and especially to the face of Jesus), we cannot remain stuck in the slough of despond.

Guest Post: Young Eastern Europeans Study Free Market Ways with Project Arizona

"It's the North Star of my life to look to God."

Dexter Duggan has a fascinating article at The Wanderer describing a project in Arizona that brings Eastern European interns to the United States to learn free-market philosophy to take home to their countries. These young adults know the reality of Communism and state very clearly that those who advocate for socialism have little understanding of what it really entails. We live in times when many who spout off about everything, know almost nothing. Check out Dexter's article. Here's the beginning:

Of Lent and Computer Crashes

It's been an interesting week. My computer crashed last Saturday while we were vacationing in Florida. One minute it was working fine and the next all I could get after the welcome message was a black screen.

You never realize how dependent you are on technology until it fails you. It seems the poor computer was dying. Fortunately, my techie son-in-law could retrieve the data from the hard drive and I now have an Apple (installed tonight) that I need to learn how to use. Oh goodie! He assures me it is more secure than my old laptop and besides four of my children have switched to Apple and think they're great. Who am I to argue with all my smart, tech-savvy kids?

Having Washed Off the Ashes, Now What?

Yesterday those who went to mass were told by the priest or deacon as he marked their foreheads with ashes, “for dust you are and unto dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:19)  Anyone who is not Catholic might consider this a terrible pronouncement of the uselessness of this life.

Is RCIA the best the Church Can Offer Those Seeking to Enter the Bark of Peter?

My grandson, Aidan Thomas, will be receiving his First Communion this spring and our whole family is revving up with excitement. He has a great yearning, obvious to us, to receive the Body of Christ on his tongue and be one with the rest of his family in the practice of our faith.