“Thus, a good man, though a slave, is free; but a wicked man, though a king, is a slave. For he serves, not one man alone, but what is worse, as many masters as he has vices.” —Saint Augustine of Hippo, City of God Two years ago, I was a prisoner. Sometimes, I looked up at…
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 priest bless water using the old rite formula for “The Blessing of Water.” To be…
Epistle: Ephesians 5:1-9 Gospel: Luke 11:14-28 Humbling ourselves before Thee, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, favorably to regard the desires of our heart: and in our defense to stretch forth the right hand of Thy Majesty. – From the Collect for the Third Sunday in Lent Lent is a time of battle. On the First…
Dr. Peter Kwasniewski argued in a recently republished article at 1P5 that it is not appropriate for women to be lectors at Mass because putting them in that position disrupts and contradicts the symbolism of the liturgy. While I agree with Dr. Kwasniewski’s argument, I would like to add some precisions regarding the biblical basis…
It wasn’t long after I became a Catholic at the age of eighteen, during my freshman year of college, that I began to discern religious life. I figured that if I was going “in,” I was going all in, and the monastic ideals of stability, fidelity, and obedience appealed to the desire for “something more”…
Children will learn many things from the traditional Latin Mass that they are not likely ever to learn from the modern Mass of Paul VI. 1. The Mass is a mystery of faith, a holy sacrifice. The ancient rite enshrines and expresses in the most perfect way that the Mass is the re-presentation of the…
This week, as I watch the issue of the COVID-19 coronavirus dominate the online conversation, sparking arguments left and right about what should be done, whether we should be concerned or totally unfazed, and so on, I find myself thinking about an anecdote from popular author and speaker Simon Sinek (whom I’ve referenced here before):…
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 life. This article will discuss the aim we must have for the Great Fast of…
The words of Satan, “Did God really say…?,” to Eve are perfectly tempting. They do not directly challenge the commands of God or appear to contain any malice. These innocent-sounding words, however, contain an obvious counter to the wisdom of God. Rather than challenge God directly, which Satan knows to be foolish, the words undermine…
“The Luminous Mysteries are my favorite.” “I cannot hear the priest at the Latin Mass.” “I might attend the Latin Mass, but I do not want to go against Vatican II.” I was with a group of people recently who had gathered to discuss the book Christus Vincit by Bishop Athanasius Schneider. These were some…
It has become arguably the most contentious topic among orthodoxy-loving Catholics in the Church today – did Benedict XVI truly resign the papacy, and, consequently, was Pope Francis legitimately elected, and is he a true pope? There are quite a number of theories surrounding this interlinked pair of questions. Theories drawn from canon law, from…
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