Image source

Altichiero da Zevio, Crucifixion (detail) 1376-79

“IT IS NOT in the power of man gladly to bear the Cross, to chastise the body and make it submissive to the will of the spirit, to flee honors gladly, to sustain reproofs, to despise himself and to desire to be despised, patiently to suffer adversities with all the displeasures that accompany them, and not to desire any manner of profit in this world. If you trust in yourself, you will never bring this about. But if you trust in God, he will bring you strength from heaven, and the world and the flesh will be made subject to you.”

—- The Imitation of Christ, Thomas à Kempis

“The concept of ‘racism’ posits that preference for those closest to you genetically is immoral.”

“The fact that anti-racists oppose family is …. the concept of racism taken to its logical conclusion.”

@Mark_Taylor Read More »

St. Joseph, Guido Reni

BELOW is a collection of thoughts on St. Joseph, whom we honor on his feast day today. Known as “Mirror of Patience” and “Terror of Demons,” Joseph has played a miraculous, inestimable role in history. Meditating on his humility, courage and strength has enriched untold lives and roused the indifferent. St. Joseph is famous for his intercessions for the dying.

O Joseph, heavenly hosts thy worthiness proclaim,
And Christendom conspires to celebrate thy fame,
Thou who in purest bonds wert to the Virgin Bound;
How glorious is thy name renowned.

Thou, when thou didst behold thy Spouse about the bear,
Wert sore oppressed with doubt, wert filled with wondering care;
At length the Angel’s word thy anxious heart relieved:
She by the Spirit hath conceived. (Source)

Bust of St. Joseph, Engraving by Claude Mellan (1598–1688 Paris)

From Daily Meditations in March on St. Joseph by Rev. R.F. Clarke, S.J.:

St. Joseph had a privilege on earth which for all other saints is reserved for the eternal Paradise, of being in the continual company of his God, of gazing on the Sacred Humanity of the Incarnate Word, of hearing from Him words of love and gratitude, of drinking in delicious draughts of heavenly delight from the words and looks of the Incarnate God. His life must have been one long ecstasy. If those who touched the hem of Jesus’ garment received an inflow of heavenly virtue, what must he have received who nursed Him in infancy, and bore Him the closest company in youth and manhood!

Pierre Chaignon wrote in 1907 (Source):

From the moment that the angel had revealed to him the mystery of the Incarnation accomplished in his august spouse, his life was a continual contemplation. What did he contemplate, if not the love of God for us, impersonated in the Word made flesh?  “God has so loved the world.”

Dom Prosper Guéranger in the nineteenth century wrote in his Liturgical Year: Read More »

Three Temptations of Christ (detail), Sandro Botticelli; 1481-82

“WE find in the Passion of Christ a remedy against all the evils that we incur through sin. Now these evils are five in number. (i) We ourselves become unclean. When a man commits any sin he soils his soul, for just as virtue is the beauty of the soul, so sin is a stain upon it. How happeneth it, O Israel, that thou art in thy enemies land? Thou art grown old in a strange country, thou art defiled with the dead (Baruch iii. 10, 11).

— From Meditations for Each Day in Lent, by St. Thomas Aquinas

John George Brown, St Patrick’s Day for Boy with Shoeshine Kit

IF YOU are nauseated by the binge-drinking festival known as St. Patrick’s Day, now a week-long binge-drinking festival in some parts of America, you may find this 1985 interview with an Irish-American housewife who valued simple, homemade food and conversation to be refreshing and charming in comparison.

A KITCHEN WITH ROOTS IN IRELAND

Mar 10, 1985

By Marilynn Marter, Philadelphia Inquirer Food Writer

“And this is my little bit of Irish heaven,” says Agnes Patricia Songster McCafferty, introducing visitors to her domestic domain in Upper Darby, a kitchen with a decor that gives one the illusion of being, at once, both in and outside a cozy country cottage.

The morning sun seems to stream through the dimity-curtained windows, despite a cloudy sky. To push aside the curtains, a visitor feels certain, could reveal only the lush green lowlands and rolling hills of the Emerald Isle itself.

We’ve come in advance of St. Patrick’s Day to sample Irish dishes, particularly the McCafferty specialty – scone (pronounced scahn), one of the best known of the traditional Irish foods. While here, we will glean a few recipes from this fine Irish cook. Read More »

IS THE current war in Israel a hoax to drain the West of resources, flood it with immigrants and turn the world against the United States?

I am not at all endorsing all the content of this site, but it provides compelling evidence of fakery in Gaza.

ON this Patrick’s Day, when the Irish wear green hats, drink cups of green beer and drown the memory of a holy saint in hedonism and nauseating sentimentality, it’s a good time to bear in mind that the Irish fully deserve the chastisement they are currently experiencing. I say this as someone with 100 percent Irish heritage.

The Irish as a distinct people face one of the gravest threats in their entire history, under the heel of “globalist” forces and the planned, lavishly-funded invasion of foreigners.

And they deserve it. They are a decadent and hard-hearted people. I include myself in this description. I too have been decadent and hard-hearted. I am not proud to be Irish today.

The Lord brought his strong anger upon us, and scattered us among many nations even to the ends of the earth. It was among foreigners that it was seen how little I was.

St. Patrick spoke these words in the fifth century. He was not Irish, but his statements easily apply to the land he helped convert, after arriving as a Roman-British slave.

We deserved this, because we had gone away from God, and did not keep his commandments. We would not listen to our priests, who advised us about how we could be saved. Read More »

St. Patrick’s Confessio

“MY NAME IS PATRICK. I am a sinner, a simple country person, and the least of all believers. I am looked down upon by many. My father was Calpornius. He was a deacon; his father was Potitus, a priest, who lived at Bannavem Taburniae. His home was near there, and that is where I was taken prisoner. I was about sixteen at the time. At that time, I did not know the true God. I was taken into captivity in Ireland, along with thousands of others. We deserved this, because we had gone away from God, and did not keep his commandments. We would not listen to our priests, who advised us about how we could be saved. The Lord brought his strong anger upon us, and scattered us among many nations even to the ends of the earth. It was among foreigners that it was seen how little I was.

“It was there that the Lord opened up my awareness of my lack of faith. Even though it came about late, I recognised my failings. So I turned with all my heart to the Lord my God, and he looked down on my lowliness and had mercy on my youthful ignorance. He guarded me before I knew him, and before I came to wisdom and could distinguish between good and evil. He protected me and consoled me as a father does for his son.

“That is why I cannot be silent – nor would it be good to do so – about such great blessings and such a gift that the Lord so kindly bestowed in the land of my captivity. This is how we can repay such blessings, when our lives change and we come to know God, to praise and bear witness to his great wonders before every nation under heaven. Read More »

[Originally posted, March 17, 2015]

JOE LONG from South Carolina writes:

Top o’ the morning to you. A bit of doggerel for your dialogue. I generated it last year, in response to the New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade quarrel. Those familiar with “The Wearing of the Green” might consider singing it with the proper mix of melancholy and defiance.

Oh, I met with Napper Tandy, and he took my by the hand –
“Well, tell me what I’d see, if I were on New York’s grandstand!”
“It’s the most distress-ed Patty’s Day march you have ever seen –
“For they’re dressin’ men like women, for the Queerin’ o’ the Green!”

“When you’ve cut through the blarney, it’s a sorry tale to tell –
“The road may rise to meet you, but it’s headed straight to hell –
“And all that once was innocent, makes way for the obscene –
“They’ve bade us stand aside and watch, the Queerin’ O’ the Green.”

“No more the Leprechaun may say, the rainbow leads to gold;
“Its varied hues now celebrating buggery so bold;
“Nor need we wonder where the serpents fled, from St. Patrick
“They crossed the sea and slithered into New York politics.

“But where are the shillelaghs, now, and have the heroes gone?
“Where are the Fightin’ Irish, as their coats are trod upon?
“We’ll see whether cheap green beer now is all St. Patrick means –
“And whether they’ll meekly permit, the Queerin’ O’ the Green.”

THE FOLLOWING is a formal complaint written by James H., a reader and medical doctor whose 23-year-old daughter committed suicide last year after an overbearing and manipulative relative who worked as a certified psychotherapist convinced his daughter, with no evidence, that her parents had sexually abused her as a child. The daughter later admitted the accusations were untrue in writing, but was overcome by remorse and by a general breakdown.

The father is attempting to have the relative barred permanently from the psychology profession and the complaint is addressed to the relevant state licensing authorities.

The complaint reads:

Our daughter, Lizzy Marie, committed suicide on January 4, 2023. I hold Ms. Larington responsible for Lizzy Marie’s suicide.

In summary, Ms. Larington:

*Irresponsibly and recklessly intervened at S— University hospital to deny Lizzy Marie the help she so desperately needed by lying, purposely misdirecting the staff and by claiming expertise as a professional counselor formerly licensed in the state of M— even AFTER Lizzy Marie accused Ms. Larington herself of abuse.

*Recklessly cultivated and promoted false memories of sexual abuse by me, her father, alienating Lizzy Marie from her mom, sisters and me for FOUR years, destroying the only support Lizzy Marie had ever known and leaving her completely isolated. Ms. Larington then abandoned Lizzy Marie in the face of overwhelming evidence of her worsening delusions even ignoring Lizzy’s accusations against Ms. Larington herself.

* Failed to exercise ordinary precautions and standards of care required of her profession. Read More »

KATHY G. writes:

Henri Ryssen deserves much credit for compiling this large sampling of subversive films and TV shows. Another one from the Wachowskis (I believe both now wear “womanface”) is V for Vendetta. I was anxious to see this movie, as it was supposedly based on resistance to totalitarianism. Like The Matrix, the message is twisted, and there is a sub-plot of homosexual persecution. The totalitarian state is, of course, religious in nature and there is the obligatory pedo-perv bishop. I seem to recall crosses colored red prominently displayed when the dictator spoke. The hero wears a Guy Fawkes mask, which would indicate some understanding of who he was, yet there is no mention in the movie that he was a Catholic dissident. Maybe this was an attempt to recast Fawkes as a libertarian? I don’t know.

If we actually had schools, a class on understanding the propaganda nature of “the media” would be required in every grade.

Canticle of the Three Children (Daniel 3)

All ye works of the Lord, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. 
O ye angels of the Lord, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O ye heavens, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O all ye waters that are above the heavens, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all for ever.

O all ye powers of the Lord, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O ye sun and moon, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O ye stars of heaven, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O every shower and dew, bless ye the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O all ye spirits of God, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.

O ye fire and heat, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O ye cold and heat, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O ye dews and hoar frosts, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O ye frost and cold, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O ye ice and snow, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. Read More »

D. writes:

Is it just me being overly suspicious, or do these public boxes of books for children seem like potential threats to their innocence? If our children were walking home from school and passed one of these I would tell them they could not participate in this, and check to be sure they hadn’t.

I don’t know where the idea started but if it came from the national government libraries then for sure they are suspect as being part of the woke agenda that is targeting children; innocent enough to begin with but an absolute resource for wrong materials being spread around.

Every time I see one I feel troubled. Read More »

ALAN writes:

The assault on the girl in Hazelwood in St. Louis County last week prompted me to remember the following passage written in 1963 by St. Louis attorney Lee Meriwether.  (The girl in Hazelwood did not die. What little information St. Louis “news reporters” have seen fit to disclose claims that she is still in hospital recovering from the vicious assault.)

Mr. Meriwether: Read More »

“AND I if I shall be lifted up from the earth, shall draw all things to myself.”

— St. John xii, 32