JESUS returned from the Jordan full of the Holy Spirit, and by the Spirit he was led on into the wilderness, where he remained forty days, tempted by the devil. During those days he ate nothing, and when they were over, he was hungry. Then the devil said to him, If thou art the Son of God, bid this stone turn into a loaf of bread. Jesus answered him, It is written, Man cannot live by bread only; there is life for him in all the words that come from God. And the devil led him up on to a high mountain, and shewed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time; I will give thee command, the devil said to him, over all these, and the glory that belongs to them; they have been made over to me, and I may give them to whomsoever I please; come then, all shall be thine, if thou wilt fall down before me and worship. Jesus answered him, It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God; to him only shalt thou do service. Luke 4:1-8 (Knox Bible)  

FROM a 2011 post:

Melanie Thernstrom, the daughter of neoconservative authors Abigail and Stephan Thernstrom, has written of her experience hiring an egg donor and two different surrogates to provide her and her husband with an instant family of two children. This real-life version of Margaret Atwood’s reproductive dystopia in The Handmaid’s Tale is told with a confusing blend of self-awareness and self-deceit. The absence of any blatant coercion in the many contractual arrangements Thernstrom and her husband, Michael Callahan, made with others, including with the woman who supplied breast milk, is chillingly representative of technocratic liberalism.

Liberal society blandly draws people in with a system of material rewards and the appearance of mutual necessity. Thernstrom met with the donor and surrogates in coffee shops, where they held friendly chats and cheerily deliberated. Everyone had something to gain but all self-interest could be couched in altruistic terms. The donors only wanted to help. They weren’t looking for money. Thernstrom only wanted to do something utterly natural – have a family – and do the best for her marriage. She wasn’t shopping for children in the way one might shop for a car. (more…)

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. (more…)

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.” (more…)

"[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…

 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…

"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  

"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  

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. (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…

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. (more…)