A tall, gray building stands against a gray sky, smoke and spire alike reaching towards Heaven. Thousands of ornate details confess a Gothic ancestry, this sacred place a child of stone born by the toil of generations. The face of …
Category: Spiritual Warfare
Living the Benedict Option in the Middle of Civilization
Since its publication in 2017, many of my Catholic friends have criticized Rod Dreher’s Benedict Option: “It’s too pessimistic. Christians shouldn’t run for the hills. Besides, the culture isn’t in decline. We just elected a pro-life president.” These were some …
A Brave New Liturgical World is Coming…Again
From a recent Mass titled 2020 Pentecost Mass for all Cultures — what could possibly go wrong with a Mass of that title? — a video was produced of a woman preparing the altar for the consecration, while Bishop Robert …
With Sober Insanity, Stand Up for the Catholic Faith
In the past year, I’ve made some surprising decisions. My wife and I decided to have our daughter born at home. More recently, I have been reorganizing my life around the carnivore diet, eating only animal products. Each of these …
Don’t Give Up the Ship! Spiritual Warfare with Navy Discipline
On a frigid December evening in 2012, thirty-five of us lowly officer candidates at Navy Officer Candidate School (OCS) line up outside the base’s dining hall in Newport, Rhode Island. After another grueling day of military drill practice, academic classes, …
A Not So Silent Pandemic Attacking Our Wills
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 …
Finding the Jewel in a Mountain of Gray
Publisher’s note: I’ve maintained a consistent public editorial line over the past month that the most prudent course of action in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic is to follow the recommendations on social distancing, even to the point of being …
Blueprint for Obtaining Last Rites in the Hospital for COVID-19 Patients
This article comes from an anonymous Catholic. 1P5 publishes it in the hopes that it will help any of our readers struggling with a similar situation to the author’s. Following the direction of my pastor, I am documenting our family’s …
Holy Water in the Time of Coronavirus: Old and New Compared
Holy water is an important part of our family’s life. It is rare that someone goes to bed at night or starts his day in our house without holy water on his forehead. So this past summer, I had a …
Fight the Real Enemy This Lent
During Lent, it is easy to focus a great deal on fulfilling your resolutions, but what is the purpose of these resolutions? If we lose sight of their proper end, we risk wasting our time and effort in the spiritual …