Epistle: James 1:22-27 Gospel: John 16:23-30 O God, from Whom all good things do come, grant unto us, Thy suppliant people, that by Thine inspiration, we may think what is right, and under Thy guidance perform the same. – From the Collect for Fifth Sunday after Easter In the Traditional Latin Mass, the Epistle often…
Would you like to listen to this article instead? You can do so here: My wife and I went to the bank recently on a business-related errand. Unlike a number of other states, in Arizona, our banks are still open. (The irony of people walking into bank lobbies wearing face masks without everyone assuming they’re…
This is the first of two related articles on whether doctrine can change. In the first, we examine doctrine from the strict point of view, side by side with dogma. What does the Church really teach? Since Pope John Paul II, media and laity alike have been interested in and sometimes confused by the pope’s…
The prospect of using aborted fetal tissue in the massively funded project to develop a COVID-19 vaccine — a particularly gruesome sign of the techno-barbarism of our age — makes when human life begins (and with it, human personhood), and how much we can know about it for sure, once again a pressing scientific and…
I have been fortunate, during this COVID-19 lockdown, in that my pastor has continued to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass per our regular schedule. Ten people have been allowed in the church. The rest of us who attend sit in our cars and watch the Mass on our cell phones. The pastor or…
As I write this, I have two boys outside pretending to repair a tree. For those who do not know boy-speak, to repair a tree is simply an excuse to hook a rope on a branch and pully the younger boy upward as high as can be attained. The older son informs me all is…
When introducing the instrumental works of a composer to a musically untrained audience, a bit of trepidation naturally sets in. Tastes in music are often entrenched and become even more so where instrumental music is concerned. People are naturally more responsive to the sound of the human voice in music, while the modern era of…
It’s sad to think of Chinese-Americans feeling stigmatized as a result of the coronavirus. One survey shows a majority of Americans have lost respect and trust for China in recent months. Of course Chinese Americans had nothing to do with the virus or its spread, and no one finds fault with individual Chinese people living…
Epistle: 1 Peter 2:11-19 Gospel: John 16:16-22 O God, Who makest the faithful to be of one mind and will: grant to Thy people to love that which Thou dost command and to desire that which Thou dost promise, that amid the changes of the world,our hearts may there be fixed where true joys are…
In the writings of the Second Vatican Council, and those of the post-conciliar popes, it’s hard not to detect a certain drift toward an increasing obscurity of language. When one goes back and reads older enyclicals, or papal bulls from prior councils, what is striking by contrast is the clarity and precision of the texts.…
A late romantic, restless, and sentimental Russian composer, was born 180 years ago, on May 7, 1840, at Votkinsk, a town in Russia’s Ural Mountains: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893). He studied composition, we read in the biography, at the St. Petersburg Conservatory with Anton Rubinstein, pianist and composer attached to German Romanticism. After earning his…
