Peasant Woman Gleaning, Van Gogh

FROM a 1960 pastoral letter by Cardinal Giuseppe Siri on the psychological and cultural effects of women wearing pants:

In fact, as relations between the two sexes unfold with time’s passing, an instinct of mutual attraction becomes predominant. The essential base of this attraction is a difference between the two sexes that is made possible only by the fact that one complements the other. If, then, this difference becomes less marked because one of its major external signs is eliminated, and because the normal psychological structure is weakened, then a fundamental factor in the relation changes.

The problem goes even further. Chronologically, the mutual attraction between the sexes is naturally preceded by that sense of shame that restrains the rising of the primary instincts, imposes respect for one another, and tends to elevate the mutual esteem and a salutary fear to a higher level regarding those instincts, which otherwise would push forward to uncontrolled acts. To change the clothing – which by its difference reveals and maintains the limits of nature and its natural defenses – levels such distinctions and helps to diminish the vital defenses of the sense of shame. Read More »

1170 Miniatures of the Life of Christ French (Corbie), 1170-1180

For my loins are filled with illusions: and there is no soundness in my flesh. I am afflicted and humbled exceedingly: I have roared for the groaning of my heart.  Ps. 37

FROM How to Root Out Hidden Faults by Fr. James F. McElhone (1952):

“It is obvious that, unless we know our faults, we cannot detest them and consequently cannot correct them. A study of self very often reveals that self-love has clouded our view, hiding in deceit those faults which are so apparent to those about us and so open to God. No doubt our spiritual director has helped us to see ourselves as we really are; our superior more than likely has come to our assistance; sermons and conferences and spiritual readings have shed new light on the actual state of our souls. But if such knowledge is to be truly useful as a means of improvement, we should be on the alert not to fall into new faults while we are fighting the old ones.” Read More »

Boy with a Basket, Giacomo Ceruti; 1745

“[W]HAT happens when this nutritional lifeline is severed? What happens when the poorest among us—those who rely on eggs as a cheap, accessible source of sustenance—are suddenly priced out of the market? The answer is as stark as it is devastating: malnutrition, weakened immune systems, and a deepening cycle of poverty, wherein these people turn to processed unhealthy foods.

“The poorest populations are always the hardest hit by food shortages and price hikes. For families living on the edge of survival, eggs are often the difference between a meal and hunger, between health and illness. When the price of eggs triples or quadruples overnight, these families are forced to make impossible choices. Do they spend their limited income on eggs, or do they sacrifice nutrition to pay for rent, medicine, or school fees? The result is a reduction in access to essential nutrients, leading to a cascade of health problems that disproportionately affect children, the elderly, and the vulnerable. To replace eggs, one may turn to other sources of food, such as meat. Yet, meat, while beneficial on its own terms, cannot replace the egg.

“By disrupting the availability of eggs, those in power are not just raising prices—they are eroding the health and resilience of the poorest populations. This is not an accident; it is a calculated move. When you control the food supply, you control the people. And when you remove access to affordable, nutrient-dense foods like eggs, you create a population that is weaker, more dependent, and easier to manipulate. With this in mind, it become readily apparent: the supposed plan of RFK Jr. to make raw milk legally available is a pipe dream that will NEVER happen in the USA. Are you kidding me?”

— Jefff Green, “There Is no Bird Flu Outbreak”

Link

THE decline is largely due to demographics. These cities are increasingly non-white.

ALOIS Karl Hudal (1885-1963) was a German Catholic theologian and bishop in his prime during the rise of National Socialism in Germany.

American Reform at Substack has posted about Hudal’s important observations on the subject of race:

Hudal was an advocate of German nationalism and believed in the need for a reconciliation between Christianity and certain aspects of National Socialism. In 1937, he published Die Grundlagen des Nationalsozialismus (The Foundations of National Socialism), in which he sought to create a bridge between the Catholic Church and the German Reich. Years earlier, in defense of the Church, he played an instrumental role in securing a reproval of several anti-Christian National Socialist ideologues, notably Alfred Rosenberg and Ernst Bergmann. Their works, The Myth of the Twentieth Century and The German National Church, respectively, were condemned by the Holy Office, based on his analysis. His book on National Socialism, making a key distinction between Christian and unchristian strains in the movement, was delivered to Adolf Hitler, bearing the handwritten note of dedication, praising him as “the new Siegfried of German greatness”. This same work would receive an imprimatur from Cardinal Innitzer, an Austrian prelate, in 1937.

AR includes an excerpt from the book and it is highly relevant. Bishop Hudal wrote:

A solid racial science, a prudent racial care and therefore a racial protection within certain limits is something that is entirely desirable and necessary. But racial research must never become a playground for dilettantism. It would be regrettable if we Germans were to use racial research, which can provide valuable suggestions and observations of natural processes, to build ourselves a cultural, intellectual and religious Germanic ghetto. Let us therefore be careful not to see the question of race as the key to the whole of world history. Race is not everything and does not explain everything. I am in good company with this rejection, because one of the intellectual pioneers of National Socialism, Moeller van den Bruck, was perhaps the first to brilliantly recognize the weaknesses of radicalism in this young science.

Race is real and important to human identity, but not the most important thing in the scale of human values. Hudal warned against an excessive racial consciousness that appeared in some of the works of the National Socialists:

Many farming families in our Alpine countries, who have lived on their ancestral farms for hundreds of years, with 10 to 15 children who are Christian and nationally minded, do not give the impression that they have been racially degenerated in terms of their ideology. They show through their large offspring that they are racially much healthier than the many representatives of this racial science, who often barely have two children, although they could write very beautifully about the importance of race for our German people. [emphasis added]

Wow! Familiar, isn’t it?

Are the racial ideologues of today capable of inspiring their followers to have large families? And if they can’t do this, in what sense are they promoting the true good of the white race?

I highly recommend the excerpt in its entirety.

“IRE may be understood in two ways.

“In one way, as a simple movement of the will that inflicts punishment not through passion, but by virtue of a judgment of the reason: and in this case, without a doubt, lack of ire is a sin. This is how Chrysostom understands ire when he says: ‘Ire, when it has a cause, is not ire but judgment. For properly speaking, ire is a movement of passion. And when a man is irate with just cause, his ire does not derive from passion. Rather, it is an act of judgment, not of ire.”

“In another way, ire can be understood as a movement of the sensitive appetite agitated by passion with bodily excitation. This movement is a necessary sequel in man to the previous movement of his will, since the lower appetite naturally follows the movement of the higher appetite unless some obstacle prevents it. Hence the movement of ire in the sensitive appetite cannot be lacking altogether, unless the movement of the will is altogether lacking or weak. Consequently, the lack of the passion of ire is also a vice, as it is the lack of movement in the will to punish according to the judgment of reason.”

— St. Thomas Aquinas

Christ Crowned with Thorns, Sandro Boticelli; 1500

“Go forth and see king Solomon, that is, Christ, in His diadem, that is to say, the crown of thorns with which His mother the Synagogue has crowned Him; in the day of His espousals, the day when He joined to Himself the Church; and in the day of the joy of His heart, the day in which He rejoiced that by His Passion He was delivering the world from the power of the devil. Go forth, therefore, and leave behind the darkness of unbelief, and see, understand with your minds that He who suffers as man is really God.”

— St. Thomas Aquinas, Meditations for Each Day of Lent

BE ye not like unto horse and mule, who have no understanding. With bit and bridle bind fast the jaws of those who come not nigh unto Thee. Many are the scourges of the sinner, but mercy shall compass him that hopeth in the Lord. Be glad, O ye just, and rejoice in the Lord; and glory all ye that are right of heart.

— Psalm 31

“HAVE mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy. And according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies: blot out my iniquity. Wash me more yet from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my iniquity, and my sin is always before me. Against Thee only have I sinned, and done evil in Thy sight: that Thou mayst be justified in Thy words, and mayst overcome when Thou art judged. For behold, I was conceived in iniquities: and in sins did my mother conceive me. For behold, Thou hast loved truth: the uncertain and hidden things of Thy wisdom Thou hast made manifest unto me.” Psalm 50

Praying the seven Penitential Psalms each day in Lent has a long tradition.

THE goal of the Trump administration is to discredit American conservatism once and for all.

This is what Communists do — sabotage economies to weaken all resistance so they can take control. (Video source)

I knew he was not to be trusted.

Read here and here. Read More »

“TRUMP’S actions towards Ukraine are catalyzing the European Union to organize into a cohesive, socialist government with a standing army. Russia and China are becoming closer and are emboldened to unite along with the central Asian countries and become a third geopolitical Communist big space. Thus, under Trump we are seeing three of the socialist multipolarity powers rise with the others soon to emerge. These transnational socialist governments will and are completely divorced from their ethnos and only serve as a stepping stone towards unified world Communist government.

“Trump is rabidly pro-immigration. Deportations are down; the last statics show that deportations have been halved since he took office. Trump’s shadow-consiglieri, Musk, is on record as saying he will die for H1B1 visas. Many in Trump’s presidential clique are Indian, including the director of the FBI, Czar of AI, Vivek Ramaswamy, and his Vice President James Downsyndrome Vance. Trump is on record saying he will sell off American citizenship. These are not the actions of a fascist, but rather the actions of a Communist who is rebelling against the races and peoples diversely created by God. It is a rebellion which seeks to de-legitimize the natural authority a people should have over themselves through their government and replace it with very smelly mercenaries. It is the Communist who seeks to miscegenate his own people to evolve them into something lower than what God has created them to be.”

Read more here.

 

“[A]LL kinds of satisfaction are reducible to three heads: prayer, fasting and almsdeeds, which correspond to three kinds of goods which we have received from God, those of the soul, those of the body and what are called external goods.”

— Catechism of the Council of Trent

“LAY not up to yourselves treasures on earth: where the rust and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through and steal. For where thy treasure is, there thy heart is also.

—- Matthew, 6:19-21

LENT is often mistaken for a grim season.

The truth is that, when observed well, it can be not only the happiest time of year, but the path to a generally happier life.

Behold, thou art made whole, sin no more. John 5:14

Many people practice Buddhist-style meditation or “mindfulness” today, seeking to empty themselves and draw closer to an ambient, mindless force.

Lenten meditation and repentance, by contrast, involve filling oneself up with the divine existence of God. He is mindfulness itself. Happiness consists in meaning. Happiness is loving the truth, even the truth of our own depravity.

“Man can be made happy, not by things, but by life,” Fr. Edward Leen wrote in Why the Cross?, “Mere existence cannot give him beatitude. He becomes happy when existence is transformed into veritable life by being brought into contact with Life itself. Without the Saviour man would exist, but would not live. Hence Jesus states that the purpose of His coming is that man might have life and have it in ever increasing measure. Life expresses itself in appropriate activity.”

“Lent” is from an Old English word “lencten” meaning spring.

As this French Lenten hymn reminds us, Lent partakes of gladness:

To bow the head
In sackcloth and in ashes,
Or rend the soul,
Such grief is not Lent’s goal;
But to be led
To where God’s glory flashes,
His beauty to come nigh,
To fly, to fly,
To fly where truth and light do lie.

The sorrows of Lent — and true contrition must produce sorrow — are medicinal. What is better than, having experienced this sorrow, to heal the depravity of our own souls?

[F]or as ulcers are lanced with a knife in order to allow the escape of poisonous matter accumulated within, so the heart, as it were, is pierced with the lance of contrition, to enable it to emit the deadly poison of sin. (Catechism of the Council of Trent)

Here is a medicine that returns us to life.

The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping. Ps. vi, 7-9

And finally some relevant thoughts from Dom Prosper Gueranger’s The Liturgical Year:

“Our Redeemer would not have us receive the announcement of the great feast as one of sadness and melancholy. The Christian who understands what a dangerous thing it is to be behindhand with divine justice welcomes the season of Lent with joy; it consoles him. He knows that if he be faithful in observing what the Church prescribes, his debt will be less heavy upon him. These penances, these satisfactions (which the indulgence of the Church has rendered so easy), being offered to God unitedly with those of our Savior Himself, and being rendered fruitful by that holy fellowship which blends into one common propitiatory sacrifice the good works of all the members of the Church militant, will purify our souls, and make them worthy to partake in the grand Easter joy. Let us not, then, be sad because we are to fast; let us be sad only because we have sinned and made fasting a necessity. In this same Gospel, our Redeemer gives us a second counsel, which the Church will often bring before us during the whole course of Lent: it is that of joining almsdeeds with our fasting. He bids us to lay up treasures in heaven. For this, we need intercessors; let us seek them amidst the poor.” [bold added]

O GOD, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, give me the grace to detest my sins as Thou dost detest them. Make me see that my sins and imperfections offend Thee, that they keep me from striving for perfection, that they are the cause of unhappiness to myself and to others. Fill my heart with sorrow for sin, so that I may never sin again.

O Holy Spirit, soften my heart, that I may detest my sins as I will on judgment day, which is so terrible even for the innocent soul.

O Mary, Mother of God, and my mother pray for a poor sinner who places all his confidence in thee. St. Joseph, listen to my prayer. All ye Saints of Paradise, help me to detest my sins and imperfections.

(Source)

SUPPORTERS of Vatican II, when faced with its shocking fruits in the West, sometimes point to growth and success in Africa as a hopeful contrast to disastrous decline. The numbers are up by many millions in Africa, they say. Some even argue the “reform” was all necessary because the Church needed to be de-Westernized. Africans and Asians being incapable — so they say — of appreciating the solemn and ancient liturgies, only the great watering down and “evolution” of Vatican II could have accomplished that de-Europeanization.

The writer George Neumayr visited Africa in 2022 and 2023, hoping to write a book on this very subject. What he found was contrary to this idea of a “vibrant” Africa.

Writing in American Spectator, he described his visits to Côte d’Ivoire, the former French colony where the faith was robust and growing in the first half of the 20th century. His observations are collected in a new book published by Os Justi Press, Is African Catholicism a “Vatican II Success Story?”  with co-authors Peter Kwasniewski, Claudio Slavucci and an “African seminarian.” While I cannot recommend these authors on the general meaning of Vatican II, this book is a perceptive glance at Africa since the robber council.

Neumayr wrote:

But all that momentum is now gone and the Church in Côte d’Ivoire is a shadow of its former self. Today’s Catholic priests offer not unvarnished Catholicism but its pitiful “social justice” variant, a blend of socialist politics, modernist theology, and ecumenical babble. Read More »