YESTERDAY was the third anniversary of the death of the writer Lawrence Auster, who died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 64. A few of his close friends gathered at Sts. Peter and Paul Cemetery in Springfield, Pennsylvania on this blustery spring day to remember and pray for him at his grave under an oak tree. A soloist sang a few hymns, including this version of the traditional Irish hymn “Be Thou My Vision.”

Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that thou art;
Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.

Be thou my Wisdom, and thou my true Word;
I ever with thee and thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, and I thy true son,
Thou in me dwelling, and I with thee one.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise;
Thou mine inheritance, now and always;
Thou and thou only, first in my heart,
High King of heaven, my treasure thou art.

High King of heaven, my victory won,
May I reach heaven’s joys, O bright heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

Eternal rest grant unto Lawrence Auster, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace, Amen. Read More »

Novus Ordo Watch looks at three theological honchos in the Vatican II Church who subtly reject belief in the physical resurrection of Christ.

 It must be remembered at the outset that one of the characteristics of Modernism is the use of high-sounding and ambiguous words and confusing language in order to camouflage error and make it sound acceptable. In addition, what is denied in one place is sometimes affirmed in another, so that the Modernist can inject his poisonous error more craftily, for thus he seems confused rather than pertinacious, he prevents others from pinpointing his heresies exactly, and he always leaves a loophole for plausible deniability should he ever be challenged or found out. This is part and parcel of Modernism, and we need to keep this in mind as we review the evidence…

Walter Kasper, Gerhard Müller, Joseph Ratzinger

FROM REUTERS:

The College Board, the not-for-profit organization that owns the SAT, has acknowledged widespread problems with test security in Asia in recent years. Since October 2014, the New York-based organization has delayed issuing scores in Asia six times and canceled an exam sitting in two locations there – steps the College Board takes when it has evidence that test material has been exposed to the public.

But the breakdown in security is more pervasive than the College Board has publicly disclosed, Reuters has found. In addition to the security-related incidents the College Board has announced, the news agency identified eight occasions since late 2013 in which test material was circulating online before the SAT was administered overseas. (See table for details.)

The Tunic on display in Argenteuil

SEBASTIÉN writes:

The Paris region is fortunate to have two relics directly related to the Passion of Our Lord. The Crown of Thorns, exposed every Friday during Lent at Notre Dame is known the world over, but the lesser known Tunic of Christ, said to be woven by the Holy Virgin and worn by Jesus on his bloodied body as he walked along the Via Dolorosa to Golgotha, when the Roman soldiers removed it before the Crucifixion, can also be seen at the Basilica of St. Denys in Argenteuil in a highly Islamicized northern suburb.

The seamless tunic is usually kept rolled up in a reliquary, but is occasionally exposed for short periods. The current exposition will last two weeks and began on Good Friday. It was last exposed in 1984. The day before yesterday, Easter Monday, we waited two hours along with hundreds of other pilgrims who made the trip to Argenteuil for this occasion. Judging by the crowds, Jorge Bergolio still has a long way to go before completely destroying the faith of Novus Ordo Catholics who made up the majority of the pilgrims. Read More »

Christ Appearing to His Disciples after the Resurrection, William Blake

HAVING been mostly away from the computer for several days, I belatedly wish the readers of this site a happy Easter season. May you never be estranged from the wonder and promises of the Resurrection.

LIVE-STREAMING of Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Traditional Catholic Masses and devotions from St. Gertrude the Great in Ohio and St. Jude’s in Stafford, Texas can be found here and here.

A description of the great metaphysical drama remembered and re-enacted this week from the St. Andrew’s Missal:

The drama of the Passion is universal and in one sense will end only with the world itself, for all men, by their sins, have taken a share in the death of Christ. Jesus was bound to triumph through those very atoning sufferings by which He became the Victim of every passion which shall agitate the human race until the end of the world. For He has atoned for the pride of those who share the hatred of truth which turned the Jews into murderers; the avarice of those who are possessed by the demon of greed which drove Judas to sell his master; the lust of all who indulge in sensual delights like Herod, who mocked Jesus and sent him back to Pilate; the cruelty of those who love to cause suffering like the soldiers, who struck our Lord and insulted Him; and the cowardice of all who leave the path of duty like the Apostles, who forsook Him to whom they owed everything.

Our Lord’s Passion is the whole of humanity, hurling itself upon its divine healer and yet cured by Him ….

THIS photo of a supposed victim of the attack in the Brussels metro is so fake, it’s laughable. Two people are hugging next to the injured man with no concern for him at all. They can’t even cover his bare skin with a jacket or respond to his plea for help. They appear completely unconcerned. Another woman is doing what? Looking for the can of red pigment dye?

In this age of cellphones, there should be dozens of images of bloody carnage. Instead, there are these posed photos.

Lamentation, Rogier Van der Weyden; 1441

FROM Fr. Frederick William Faber’s At the Foot of the Cross:

NOWHERE in the Old Testament do we seem to come so near to God as in the book of Job. Nowhere is He more awfully enshrouded in mystery, or more terrible in His counsels regarding the children of men; and yet nowhere is He more plainly or more tenderly our Father. It is because the mystery of suffering is depicted therein. Because it is all so human, it seems to lead us so far into the Divine. Because it is the uttermost trial of the creature, he lies the more completely in the Creator’s arms. The calamities of Job are to the Old Testament what the Passion of our Lord is to the New, and the one was an intentional foreshadowing of the other. When we come to speak of our Lady’s dolors, we remember the touching picture of Job’s friends, when they heard of his afflictions and came to visit him. “When they had lifted up their eyes afar off, they knew him not, and crying out they wept, and rending their garments, they sprinkled dust upon their heads toward Heaven. And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no man spoke to him a word; for they saw that his grief was very great.” They knew that silence was the best consolation. Read More »

Crucifixion, Andrea Da Firenze, 1370-77

HERE IS ANOTHER profound insight from St. Thomas Aquinas:

The Mode of the Passion. So must the Son of Man be lifted up.

This refers to His being raised upon the cross. He willed to die lifted up, (i) To purify the air: already He had purified the earth by the holiness of His living there, it still remained for Him to purify, by His dying there, the air; (ii) To triumph over the devils, who in the air, make their preparations to war on us; (iii) To draw our hearts to His heart,  I, if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all things to myself (John xii. 32). Since in the death of the cross He was exalted, and since it was there that He overcame His enemies, we say that He was exalted rather than that He died. He shall drink of the torrent by the way side; therefore shall Hie lift up His head (Ps. cix. 7).

Christ on the Cross, Albrecht Altodorfer; c. 1520

CHRIST in his Passion suffered more than any human being has ever suffered. The more elevated a being, the greater its potential for suffering. Given his divine nature, Christ was capable of a level of sensitivity, both physical and mental, which dwarfs that of any normal human being.

Thomas Aquinas wrote of Christ’s Passion:

The Passion of Christ is by itself sufficient to form us in every virtue. For whoever wishes to live perfectly, need do no more than scorn what Christ scorned on the cross, and desire what He there desired. There is no virtue of which, from the cross, Christ does not give us an example.

If you seek an example of charity, Greater love than this no man hath, than that a man lay down His life for his friends (John xv. 13), and this Christ did on the cross. And since it was for us that He gave his life, it should not be burdensome to bear for Him whatever evils come our way. What shall I render to the Lord, for all the things that He hath rendered to me (Ps. cxv. 12).  Read More »

CLIPS from Mel Gibson’s movie, The Passion of the Christ

FROM Bernie Suarez:

 As we saw in the Paris attacks, once again we’re seeing a “global” component to the “reaction” phase of the usual problem-reaction-solution dialectic employed by the controllers. Look for it. Problem at point A, subsequent “reaction” to the problem at point B, all the way on the other side of the world. This then leads to a “solution” that applies to both point A and B. This also serves to endorse the illusion that the bogeymen, in this case ISIS of course, involved in the Brussels attack are somehow everywhere at once. Read More »

CHAOS FRANK banishes the sacred from Holy Thursday. The anti-pope takes the annual foot-washing ceremony to a whole new level of apostasy by washing the feet of Muslims and other non-Catholics. The Ding Dong School of Apostasy has no shame. It despises the profundity and truths of the Catholic Church. Novus Ordo Watch reports:

Francis is a demagogue of the most cunning sort. He conveniently fails to distinguish genuine refugees from mere “migrants” and thus exploits people’s good will and naiveté. His moralizing appeals to people to “welcome migrants” and “open hearts” consist of one-sided, dangerous half-truths that are not derived from Catholic principles but are simply an expression of pseudo-spiritual sentimentality. His bogus Naturalism is ultimately founded on a denial of original sin, that is, on a denial of the fact that our human nature is fallen. This is something he has in common with Benedict XVI.

By the way, there is nothing good or holy or worthy of compassion in being a migrant per se. The word “migrant” simply denotes someone who moves from one place to another. In and of itself, this is neither good nor bad; it is morally indifferent. Just because someone wants to move from one country to another doesn’t mean the desire is justified, prudent, or holy, and the destination country certainly has no moral obligation to grant entry to the migrant. On the contrary: A country which allows entry to anyone who asks, merely because he asks, is in grave danger of destroying itself. A nation without borders is not a nation, and a country’s first obligation is towards its own citizens, not towards everyone else.

This really isn’t complex philosophy, this is basic common sense.

The Last Supper, Christ and the apostles at table, 15th century; Alexander Master; The Hague 

FROM Dom Prosper Gueranger’s Liturgical Year:

This is the first day of the Azymes, or Feast of the Unleavened Bread. At sunset, the Jews must eat the Pasch in Jerusalem. Jesus is still in Bethania; but He will return to the City before the hour for the Paschal supper. The Law commands this; and, until He has abrogated the Law by the shedding of His Blood, He wishes to observe its ordinances. He therefore sends two of His Disciples to get everything ready for the Pasch, without, however, telling them the great Mystery, wherewith it is to terminate. We who know it, and that it was at this Last Supper that was instituted the Sacrament of the Eucharist, we can understand why He sends Peter and John, in preference to any of the other Disciples, to prepare what is needed (St. Luke, xxii. 8.). Peter, who was the first to confess the Divinity of Jesus, represents Faith: and John, who leaned upon the breast of the Man-God, represents Love. The mystery, which is to be instituted at tonight’s Supper, is revealed to Love by Faith. It is this that Jesus would have us learn from His choice of the two Apostles; but they themselves see not the intention of their Master. Read More »

TONY writes:

I have just mailed you a small donation. While I enjoy reading all of your posts, I just want to relate how one recent post was so important to me.

It was the message from the woman whose husband is a non-believer. She related how he belittled her and treated her quite badly for her beliefs. You wrote in reply,”Rejoice in your rejection.” That truly struck a chord with me. I have struggled for over 25 years with a regret related to a girl I loved. She chose another at that time. Read More »

PAUL C. writes:

Democrats, Republicans, and the Supreme Court are tearing a six-year-old away from her family of five years.  Indians (Native Americans), as part of the establishment axis, have turned most Americans into a kind of cuckhold, an American culture that would watch an Indian culture tear Lexi from her American culture. Lexi, you see, is 1.5% Indian, and by legislative action and Court approval, she must be returned to her distant Indian in-laws. According to the minds of many Indians, her white family can be punished for the supposed sins of their ancestors, unlike Indian ancestors.  And they ignore that they punish Lexi also.  Many Indians, apparently, don’t care that Lexi has cultural attachments far more influential than her non-existent Indian cultural attachment.  They pretend minority discrimination as their reason. Read More »

PHILLIP MERICLE reviews an Adam S. Miller book on the Civil War:

As such the expression ”Civil War” is a misnomer, as the control of the Northern government was never contested. Miller offers a few alternative titles, such as “The War for Southern Independence,” “The War of Federal Aggression” or “The War against Southern Secession” as more accurate options. Read More »

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