Epistle: 1 Peter 2:21-25 Gospel: John 10:11-16 O God, Who, by the humility of Thy Son didst lift up a fallen world, grant unending happiness to Thy faithful: that those whom Thou hast snatched from the perils of endless death, Thou mayest cause to rejoice in everlasting joys. – From the Collect for Second Sunday…
The rising unemployment numbers in the United States, which are the natural consequence of an economic shutdown, brought the American middle class to its knees. Ten million (and growing) Americans were laid off in a short span of just two weeks. Individuals applying for unemployment insurance were told that it would take weeks to receive…
The Old Covenant is not abolished. All our male children are circumcised on the eighth day (Lev. 12:3). We make sure to do no work on the seventh day, and we put to death whoever does any work (Ex. 35:2). We offer all our firstfruits to the Lord (Deut. 26:1–2). We keep all the feasts…
I wanted to learn how to chant. Those inky little square notes zigzagging across the four-line staff were as exciting to me as the markings on a pirate treasure map. My first attempts were in large scholas in which experienced chanters guided the whole group the same way foreign guides shepherd timid tourists: they know…
We have heard it all before. “The Second Vatican Council was not the problem; the problem was the ‘Spirit of Vatican II.’ The documents themselves are not that bad. Modernists hijacked the confusion after the Council, Traditionalists who bash Vatican II probably don’t even know anything about the documents. Archbishop Lefebvre even signed most of…
Twitter is stupid. Change my mind…in 280 characters or fewer. To that I add Instagram; Netflix; Snapchat; and, hypocritically, Facebook as being more or less worthless. Present a meme to convince me otherwise [i]. Our reliance on social media has been amplified to beyond epic proportions since the worldwide COVID-19 lockdown began. This is a…
Epistle: 1 John 5:4-10 Gospel: John 20:19-31 Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that we who have completed the Easter holy days, may, through Thy imparting, retain these effects in our ways and our life. – From the Collect for Low Sunday This Sunday could be called the Sunday of Many Names. Along with Low…
As the COVID-19, Chinese communist, Wuhan coronavirus pandemic (pick your modifier) crisis continues, faithful Catholics from all sides have divided on the issue. The spectrum of opinions ranges from those faithful Catholics taking the virus very seriously and advocating for great caution to those other faithful Catholics dismissing the whole thing as an overblown and…
How often the saints pass by each year on the Church’s calendar, and we think: “Hmm, that saint — I wish I knew more about him,” and that’s it. In a better year than this one, we might be fortunate to assist at Mass that day and hear a set of orations asking for the…
One among the many irrefutable proofs of the resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ that even serious non-Christians are forced to contend with is the testimony of Flavius Josephus, first-century Jewish historian and eyewitness to the remarkable fulfilment of Our Savior’s prophesies regarding the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. Bp. Eusebius praises Josephus for…
Epistle: 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 Gospel: Mark 16:1-7 O God, who on this day, through Thine only-begotten Son, hast conquered death, and thrown open to us the gate of everlasting life, give effect by Thine aid to our desires, which Thou dost anticipate and inspire. – From the Collect for Easter Sunday The long wait is…
