“IF we demanded it of you for your perfection exquisite and extraordinary things, elevations and lofty contemplations, you might excuse yourself, saying that you could not venture so high. If we demanded of you daily disciplines to blood, or fasting on bread and water, or going barefoot with a perpetual hairshirt, you might say that you did not feel strong enough for that. But that is not what we demand of you, nor in that does your perfection lie, but in doing the very thing that you are doing, taking care that it be well done. With the same works that you are doing, if you like, you can be perfect: the cost is already paid, you need not add more works. Who will not be animated hereby to be perfect, when perfection comes so ready to his hand, and lies in a thing so familiar and so feasible?

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“[T]he more light and appreciation a man has of the goodness and majesty of God, the deeper becomes his knowledge of his own misery and nothingness. Abyss cries to abyss (Ps. 41), the great abyss of the knowledge of God, and of His goodness and infinite majesty, discovers to us the depths of our own misery; and by the beams of this divine light we come to see the specks and motes of our imperfections, and how much we still want of being perfect.”

— Alphonsus Rodriguez, S.J., Practice of Perfection and Christian Virtues (1609)

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“THERE were but a few to flatter themselves with the hope of finding an answer to their questions, repose to their spirit and their conscience, and full relief of their necessities, in a system of philosophy. As the product of the human mind left to its own resources, philosophy had travelled through, and exhausted, every conceivable system, at an astonishing outlay of acuteness and speculative power; and still there was no appearance any where of a site upon which to found, or a creative spirit and fertile imagination with which to construct, the new edifice. Individual schools had run through and consumed their patrimony ; none had been able to maintain themselves, all were approaching dissolution. Men became more and more conscious of their own deepening aspirations after a God who was absolutely elevated above every thing earthly and mundane. A God they must have and they coveted, whom they could in all sincerity address in prayer, who, as all-ruling lord and judge, would be the object of dread and fear, and, as all holy and merciful, the cynosure of homage and love, satisfying every want of the troubled and longing heart. But the Stoics, though still the highest in repute among philosophers, had nothing to tender to men in this need of God, but their nature-power, bound up in matter, and only manifesting itself in the development of the universe, much as they laboured to attribute intelligence and bliss to this world’s soul of theirs, that contained every vital principle in it self, this god of the ether, ruling in the world with the arm of necessity. (more…)

“WERE any man created with a heart as large and capacious as the hearts of all men together, and if he were enabled by an extraordinary light to apprehend one of the divine attributes, his joy and delight would be such that, unless supported by special assistance from God, he could not endure them.”

— St. Augustine

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CATHOLIC polemics against Jews are not racial, but theological. The Catholic Church has always condemned racial hatred of Jews.

The problem with Judaism is not the biology of Jews, but rather their doctrines and their actions based on these beliefs. This video does an excellent job of explaining the distinctions.

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FROM Americanism and the Anti-Christian Conspiracy (1899) by Msgr. Henri Delassus (translated by Patrick Odou; pp 47-48):

After 18 centuries of unyielding obstinacy in its religious beliefs and practices, Israel is shaking. We see many Jews becoming philosophers and free-thinkers, no longer having any other bonds with the Jews of the Talmud than those of race and blood.

They are called liberals in opposition to the traditionalists. They qualify themselves as “reformers.” Those who are called “reformers,” says the Israelite Archives, “want to be immediately rid of all the chains and reject the Talmud.” (XII, p. 242 ff., 1867)

The liberal reformers are recruited especially from those who live in the West, those who have drunk from the cup of our civilization.

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“BY acting in Venezuela and aiding the Iranian opposition, Donald Trump might have prevented an imminent invasion of Taiwan. Beijing needs oil that is not subject to US pressure. That means Russia, Venezuela and Iran.

“China has been buying 60-90% of Venezuelan and 85-90% of Iranian crude. That’s 30-35% of  China’s present oil importation. Another ~35% of China’s oil comes from Arab suppliers subject to US guidance or pressure.

“With new governments in Venezuela and Iran, the US will be able to regulate up to 70% of the CCP’s present-day oil needs. CCP war planners cannot execute against Taiwan under those conditions. This takes pressure off the US in the Indo-Pacific for a while, to the net benefit of American NATO commitments in Europe.”

— Michael Waller, Senior Analyst for Strategy, Center for Security Policy

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“AS an increase in virtue is the effect and reward of virtue, so likewise an increase in sin is the effect and punishment of sin. Indeed, it is one of the greatest chastisements that can be inflicted on us, when we are permitted, through blindness and passion, to rush headlong down the broad road of vice, adding sin to sin every day and hour of our lives. This is but just; for when man once mortally sins he loses all right to any help from God. It is owing solely to the divine mercy when he is converted. Look, therefore, over the world, and behold the greatness of its iniquity. Think of the millions who are living in infidelity and heresy. Think how many calling themselves Christians are daily betraying their name by their scandalous lives.

“Why is this sad condition permitted? Ah, it is owing to man’s crimes. God is disobeyed, insulted, and mocked by the majority of men, and His long-suffering justice, being wearied by their wickedness, permits them to go on in their mad career. St. Augustine is an illustrious example of this. ‘I was plunged,’ he says, ‘in iniquity, and Thy anger was aroused against me, but I knew it not. I was deaf to the noise which the chains of my sins made; But this ignorance, this deafness, were the punishments of my pride.’

“Reflect on this. Men act freely when they sin, for no man is forced to do Wrong. But when they have fallen they cannot rise without the divine assistance.”

— The Sinner’s Guide, Venerable Luis de Granada (1504-1588)

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DARKNESS compasseth me about, and the walls cover me, and no man seeth me: whom do I fear? The most High will not remember my sins.

And he understandeth not that his eye seeth all things, for such a man’s fear driveth from him the fear of God, and the eyes of men fearing him:

And he knoweth not that the eyes of the Lord are far brighter than the sun, beholding round about all the ways of men, and the bottom of the deep, and looking into the hearts of men, into the most hidden parts.

For all things were known to the Lord God, before they were created: so also after they were perfected he beholdeth all things.

Ecclesiasticus 23:26-29

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SHAME on white “Christians” for rejecting God’s command to “increase and multiply.” He has punished them with the invasion of hostile minorities.

Shame on Orthodox Jews for relying on tax dollars to fulfill this command and for believing, by the clear precepts of their holy book, the Talmud, that they are superior to everyone else and that it’s okay to employ deceit, defamation and racketeering to solidify their demographic boom. (more…)

“THE devil is a clever fellow. He does not in the first instance assail God’s servants in great matters, he is much too acute for that; but, little by little, imperceptibly in small and minute things, he does his work better than if he tempted his man in great things. If he started with mortal sins, he would easily be perceived and packed off; but entering by small and minute things he is neither perceived nor packed off, but admitted.

“Therefore does St. Gregory say that in some ways there is more danger in small faults than in great ones, because great ones are more clearly known and the evil of them accordingly is more in evidence, moving us to avoid them, and to feel more alarm when we fall into them; but small faults are less known, less easily avoided, and made less account of; and as they are made nothing of, so they are repeated and continued, and men settle down to them and never make up their minds manfully to throw them off; and on the heels of small faults there come great ones. (more…)

“THE best crosses are the heaviest, and the heaviest are those which arouse our greatest repugnance, those which we do not choose, the crosses we find in the streets, and better still those we find at home. These are to be preferred to hair-shirts, disciplines, fasts, and all other practices of austerity. There is always something of overnicety in the crosses we choose; because there is something of self in them, they are less crucifying. Humble yourself, therefore, and accept those which are imposed upon you against your will.”

— St. Francis de Sales

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CLIPS from Russian state TV from 2016 through 2026 show how the conflict with Ukraine was portrayed by the government.

The most aggressive commentator, Vladimir Solovyov, this week stated that a loss in Ukraine would result in Russia destroying the world:

“This is a holy war, and we must win. If we don’t, there will be no world, because why do we need a world without Russia in it?”

“The term ‘holy war’ was used for the ‘Great Patriotic War’, after the Nazis attacked USSR. Now, Russia is trying to present its war of aggression as a ‘holy war’ for its population.

“Russia doesn’t want peace.” [Source]

On a another occasion, Solovyov said on TV:

“Comrade Trump is doing everything very correctly. Comrade Trump will unleash civil war. He will destroy America’s trade with its partners. He will drive everyone to destruction.”

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ALAN writes:

You Bet Your Life was a weekly half-hour quiz program on network television in the 1950s. I remember watching it when I was a boy. Its host was Groucho Marx. In the episode shown on NBC Television on January 5, 1956 (but filmed in late 1955), two contestants selected the category “Dictionary Quiz”.

Groucho asked them this question: “What is a holocaust?” They did not know. One of them remained silent. The other, a young lawyer, guessed it was a synonym for catastrophe. No, Groucho said; a holocaust is “a large, destructive fire”. And that was all he said.

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ABIDE not in the works of sinners:
but trust in God, and stay in thy place.
For it is easy in the eyes of God on a sudden to make the poor man rich.
The blessing of God maketh haste to reward the just:
and in a swift hour his blessing beareth fruit.

Eccl. 11:22-24

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“SINCE of all the evils that we can possibly incur, either here or hereafter, there is none comparable to the evil we bring upon ourselves by mortal sin; so, if all men upon earth, and all the devils in hell should conspire together, with a general license from God, to do all the mischief, and to inflict upon us all the torments they could invent, they would never do us half so much hurt as we do ourselves by one mortal sin. Because all that they can do, as long as we do not consent to sin, cannot hurt the soul; whereas we ourselves, by consenting to any one mortal sin, bring upon our own souls a dreadful death, both for time and eternity. Good God! never suffer us to be so wretchedly blind, as to become thus the wilful murderers of our own souls.”

— Richard Challoner, 1807

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“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.”

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

Envy is the experience of sadness which we experience in contemplating the prosperity of others, in so far as we regard this prosperity to be our own loss. There is no question that we do have temptations to envy. We are somewhat inclined to rejoice at the failures of others and to be sad at their success. Others achieve riches, honors, dignities, renown, reputation, praise, applause, success; we see what they have accomplished and we are tempted to envy. Others have qualities of mind and through their use become more or less successful, and we are tempted to envy. Others have qualities of soul and reach certain or higher degrees of holiness, and we are tempted to envy. It should be remembered that what those others have, we regard as our own loss. It is hard for us to rejoice whole-heartedly at the success of others; it is easy for us to feel glad at their failures.

Envy will try to show itself in some of the following ways: (more…)

“WHEN a man has gone so far as to regard religion as a mere matter of opinion, and consequently as a matter of choice, he is not likely to choose a difficult one, when an easy one will suit his purpose quite as well. Naturally, men are averse to having their intellect bound down to definite doctrines, and to having their will burthened by difficult obligations. There are few, if any, who will think of embracing a creed which imposes many restraints, while they feel, or at least try to feel, they can go to heaven equally safely by one that imposes hardly any restraint at all. Why should I be asked to waste time in considering the claims of a Church which makes marriage a contract which can never, under any circumstances, be dissolved; (more…)