The Adoration of the Magi, Quentin Massys; 1526

“WHAT right had ingots of ruddy gold to be gleaming in the Cave of Bethlehem? Arabian perfumes were meeter for Herod’s halls than for the cattle-shed scooped in the gloomy rock. The myrrh truly was in its place, however costly it might be; for it prophesied in pathetic silence of that bitter-sweet quintessence of love, which should be extracted for men from the Sacred Humanity of the Babe in the press of Calvary. Yet myrrh was a strange omen for a Babe who was the splendor of heaven and the joy of earth. How unmeet were all these things, and yet in their deep significance how meet! The strange secrecy too, with which this kingly oriental progress, with picturesque costumes, and jewelled turbans, and the dark-faced slaves, and the stately stepping camels, passed over many regions, makes it seem still more like a visionary splendor, a many-colored apparition, and not a sober mystery of the humble Incarnate Word. It is a bright vision of old heathen faith, of the first heathen faith that worshipped Mary’s Son, and it is beautiful enough to give us faith in its own divinity. Yet it almost makes Bethlehem too beautiful. It dazzles us with its outward show, and makes the Cave look dark, when its oriental witchery has passed away. They, who dwell much in the world of the Sacred Infancy, know how oftentimes meditation on the Kings is too stirring and exciting for the austere tranquillity of contemplation, too manifold in the objects it brings before us, too various in the images it leaves behind. Truly it is beautiful beyond words! a household mystery to those eagles of prayer, to whom beauty brings tranquillity, because they live in the upper voiceless sunshine! With most of us it is not so. They who feed on beauty must feed quietly, or it will not nurture the beautiful within them.”

— Fr. Frederick Faber, Bethlehem (Tan Books, 187-88)

JOHN M. sends a donation and writes:

It’s that time of year when I need to catch up on blogger appreciation. You put a lot of work and care into your writing. And I believe you affect people in a positive way, probably more than you realize. Please keep doing it. Faith, sanity, personal integrity, memory, strong families, and the ability to discern truth from lies are all needed now more than ever. Read More »

ALAN writes:

My first Christmas was in 1949.  I can’t remember anything about it because I was mostly unconscious.

Fifty years later, my mother and I sat in the comfort of her apartment and watched the 1934 motion picture “March of the Wooden Soldiers.” The story takes place in Toyland. Victor Herbert’s song “Toyland” was, for me, an acute reminder of my boyhood years and the fact—which I could not have imagined in those years—that the end of life was now coming into view.

Not a Christmas went by in the 1950s without toys under our tree:  Coloring books, board games, jigsaw puzzles, water guns, cap guns, a paddle ball, Little Golden Books, a “Learn to Draw with Jon Gnagy” kit, and a plastic map of the United States in which 48 pieces represented the States, a map that I disassembled and assembled so many times that it taught me the proper location of all the States.

Of course I took it all for granted.  Read More »

EVEN amid the beauty of Christmas, the doom-and-gloomers were busy spreading their cult of fear and dread.

They cannot stop thinking of death. They cannot let a day pass untouched by medical anxiety. We are experiencing an ongoing mass psychological breakdown disguised by the technical wizardry of pseudo-scientific tests.

Let me ask: If “variants” are everywhere and constantly emerging, how did human beings survive for these thousands of years? And without forced medication or years of social isolation?

Hundreds of thousands of viruses exist and they are constantly changing to meet the environmental assaults we encounter. They even change to meet the individual body. As the writer Jeff Green points out, viruses are enzymes that cleanse our bodies of the often cyclical build-up of toxins. They are not our enemies. Unlike bacteria, which are living organisms, viruses are not alive. They are not devouring predators. They are our friends — and one variant cannot dominate a whole society for weeks and months because viruses are too specific to their immediate environment.

Our bodies are intelligently designed to withstand many assaults. Our greatest enemies are ourselves and foolish ignorance. If people are unusually sick (and people are always sick), something else is going on. Some toxin has been introduced.

So much joy and peace have been lost. Anxiety is self-perpetuating. Once a person is habituated to it, he just won’t let go. The human race will never be wiped out by a virus. But it may be wiped out by fear.

MODERN democracy resembles not at all the beautiful myths of freedom and individual rights children are taught in schools.

No, in order to be a really successful politician today you have to be — please excuse my language —  a hired, treasonous scumbag, whatever party you follow. And if you are not a scumbag, you will be enticed and blackmailed into being one.

The story of the international sexual blackmail ring run by possibly-still-living Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, who was just convicted in New York on serious charges other than treason and blackmail, is a glimpse into not just the crimes of two monsters and their cunning cruelty and narcissism — all of it larger than life — but into just how depraved (and linked to the international Octopus), democracy has become. Yeah, it’s “for the people.” It’s about as much for the people as Epstein’s Lolita Express, which was strictly for hired scumbags such as Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Alan Dershowitz. Prince Andrew and more. Read More »

CONSIDER ending 2021 with a modest contribution to this small, independent website that takes no advertising and recklessly panders to no one (not even to you, dear reader!!) Perhaps a year’s worth of reading here is worth the cost of a few takeout coffees, a sandwich at a decent café or a single book from Amazon?

This site does not make a profit and has not made a profit for years. I seek to cover some of the costs (e.g., security and back-up features, books, secure email account, space to work, post office box) and must make something to claim business expenses on my home office.

Thank you to the generous readers who have given! I am filled with gratitude for the encouragement you give despite my inadequate and flawed efforts. This has been a tough year for everyone. The fight must go on. Please know that I have great optimism at this time and the energy to do more.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

Quelle est cette odeur agréable
Traditional French Noel (Lorrain)
Translator: K. W. Simpson

1. What is this fragrance softly stealing?
Shepherds! It sets my heart a-stir!
Never was sweetness so appealing
Never were flowers of spring so fair!
What is this fragrance softly stealing?
Shepherds! It sets my heart a-stir! Read More »

Mystical Nativity (detail), Sandro Botticelli

WAS it the silence always around them?

Was it the stars, their nightly companions?

Was it the lambs and the darkened canyons?

Why of all men was it only them?

If we could, would we hear the music?

Would we bend to earth? Would we fall in wonder?

If we could, would we have the courage?

To see what was not for better men?

****

IT IS not possible to say that there has been a specific disease called Covid-19 (or any variant of that disease) because there is no — and never has been — an accurate test for such a disease. The clinical symptoms mimic other flus, pneumonias and respiratory conditions. Environmental factors such as the cyclical build-up of airborne pollutants, pre-existing health problems and unusual medical treatments, especially the use of mechanical ventilators and extreme social isolation and panic, have not been scientifically ruled out as causes of  deaths and respiratory conditions in certain geographic areas.

I say all this not based on personal feeling or speculation, but on basic study. I am not a scientist but I am able to read the work of scientific journalists and it is my obligation to do this basic study (not that it matters to anyone). I do not need to be an expert to conclude that the science behind Covid-19 is very poor.

PCR tests are scientifically meaningless. The Nobel Prize-winning scientist who invented the test said they should never be used for the purpose for which they are currently being used.

This is not to say people are not sick nor is it to deny anyone who is sick great sympathy and the best of care. But you should not say, “I had Covid-19” or “I think I have Covid-19.” There is no scientific basis for you or any doctor making such a statement. Read More »

VIDEO link.

IT IS a sign of just how material-minded our society is that it is in the grip of a relentless, paranoid fear of physical death and phantom contagion while sustaining indifference to spiritual death. The first death happens once. The second, forever.

Some relevant thoughts on Delay of Conversion: Read More »

ALAN writes:

To a little boy growing up in that decade, it seemed that Christmas was the high point of each year.  The sights and sounds and texture of those Christmases are kept in the deepest and darkest vault of my memories.  It never was the toys or gifts I received that lingered years afterward in memory.  It was something apart from those:  The spirit of those days around Christmas, a palpable spirit of good cheer, confidence, and expectation; the extended family and friends who came to visit; their company and conversation, punctuated every so often by laughter or the silence of remembering Christmases years before; and how the home in which I was fortunate to grow up became illuminated every Christmas by such people and the sound of their voices, the lights and colors of Christmas, and the soothing, inspirational sounds of Christmas Carols and music.

Such days and those people are alive to me again whenever I review the dozens of color slides that my mother took on such occasions.  Here are a few of them: Read More »

These short excerpts are from Dr. William Trebing’s 2006 book Goodbye Germ Theory. Read More »

Emotionally-charged imagery from Waukesha. It proves nothing.

EVERY SINGLE massacre in the news should be considered — if considered at all — with detachment and skepticism, especially highly-charged events that tug at the heartstrings and are relentlessly publicized. There is too much evidence of past staging to take anything for granted. To that end, Winter Watch recently examined the alleged SUV attack which killed six people in Waukesha, Wisconsin last month. This time there may not have even been crisis actors. It may have involved just computer-generated imagery. (See the video discussion.) Read More »

[Reposted]

CHRISTMAS, they say, is about the Incarnation of God — the mysterious, improbable and incomprehensible birth of God Himself as a human baby in a single moment of history.

But if you think about it for a minute or two, if you just think about it, you realize that if this is true then, well, Christmas must be about everything.

Christmas couldn’t just be about Christmas.

It couldn’t be just about a holiday with decorated trees and lights and carols and gifts. It couldn’t be just about Christmas prayers, as sublime and essential as they may be in their highest and most exalted manifestation, the ancient Christ Mass. It couldn’t possibly be just about these things.

No, Christmas must be, if it is what they say it is and if it was what they say it was, it must be about everything. Every single thing. Every single person. Every single moment. Every single place. Every single thought. Every single event.

Haven’t you sensed that already?

Haven’t you sensed on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day that something deeply personal was happening — something that was strangely and mysteriously about you? 

Well, even if you haven’t sensed that, it was. It had to be about you. And everyone who has ever lived.

It couldn’t just be this one divine Baby — it must be about every baby. It must be about people who have long since ceased to resemble the babies they once were.

It couldn’t just be about Bethlehem. It must be about San Francisco. It must be about Hong Kong and Moscow and — what’s that city in Saudi Arabia — Riyadh. It must be about Tulsa and Marseilles.

It couldn’t just be about the donkey Mary rode along those dirt roads. It must be about all donkeys and also all modes of transportation, including planes lifting off right this minute from teeming airports, freight trucks roaring down superhighways and baby strollers with their unpredictable passengers, adorable to be sure but not as holy as Jesus. Read More »

ZENO writes:

I am here right now in a very unfree country, with “vaccine passports” required to go almost everywhere, closed cultural spaces, canceled Christmas events, the threat of a new lockdown, and the debate about mandating experimental drugs on everyone including children. Read More »

ALAN writes:

If you walked up the grand staircase and into the beautiful St. Louis Public Library in downtown St. Louis in December 1966, you perhaps would have seen well-attired library patrons enjoying the library Christmas tree and a concert of Christmas carols, as depicted above.

If you walk into that building today, you will search long and hard for any indication that Christmas is approaching, and you will not find a trace.

Instead, what you will see are hideous mannequins throughout the building outfitted in the most preposterous “garments” you could imagine. It is an “exhibit” called “Rockin’ the Runway,” billed as “avant garde garments” created with “unconventional architectural materials.”

It is, in fact, a festival of absurdities. It has nothing to do with apparel or architecture. It has to do with mockery. Its purpose is to mock beauty, restraint, and tradition—and to mock those things at the same time of year when, in previous decades, precisely those qualities were celebrated and honored in that building in the national and religious holiday of Christmas.

St. Louis was once home to a thriving garment industry. A group of companies operating under the name “St. Louis Fashion Creators” produced beautiful apparel for women. Several women in my extended family worked in that industry. But it will never be the subject of a library display because those companies were run mostly by white men and they employed thousands of non-feminist White women. SLPL will never say anything favorable about white men or non-feminist White women.

As late as 1984, library staff members assembled on the grand  staircase in front of the building and sang Christmas carols for passers-by.

Today you will hear no Christmas carols or Christmas music at all in a Library that is militantly opposed to such things.

These are additional proofs (following dozens before them) that American libraries are now run not by men like those who ran them when I was a boy, and indeed not by men at all; but by a free-floating coalition of socialists, Communists, Fabian change agents, and feminist airheads. American libraries are now way stations on the path of the Permanent Leftist Revolution. The only thing they have not done is take down the American flag in front of the building and replace it with the hammer and sickle.

Christendom and its attendant beauty are thus buried from view and replaced by Progressivism and its attendant ugliness.

There was a time not that many years when I imagined that most Americans would oppose that trend. But I was wrong. They didn’t and they don’t. Most of them remain silent, indicating their approval or acquiescence.

I once knew a man who spent many happy hours in that library looking up information in old books about sports and acting. He and his family had come to the USA in 1957 to escape from living under the tyranny of Communists in Hungary.  My father also spent many happy hours in that library looking up information about his ancestors. If they were here today, I am confident both men would be appalled by what that library has become.