Pope Leo XIII and the St. Michael Prayer

From Unveiling the Apocalypse:

I would like to recommend an excellent book by Kevin Symonds, titled Pope Leo XIII and the Prayer to St. Michael.  This recently published book, which examines the history behind the composition of the Prayer to St. Michael, presents a wealth of scholarly evidence which attests to the authenticity of the vision of Pope Leo XIII.  The author has obviously undertaken a painstaking amount of research for this book, and has translated several key documents which were previously unavailable in English.  A fresh batch of information is brought to light here, including additional material emanating from the eyewitness testimony provided by Fr. Pechenino, and a homily on Pope Leo's vision attributed to Cardinal Pedro Segura y Saenz. Among these new findings we find the surprising fact that the earliest accounts of this vision records that Satan had actually requested a period of 50-60 years in which to destroy the Church, rather than 75-100 years. 

While these documents which Symonds has unearthed are undoubtedly the earliest of their kind, and therefore possess the strongest claim to the full truth on this matter, we cannot fail to notice that this contradicts the common perception that Pope Leo's prophetic vision comprised the entirety of the 20th century, rather than just the first half of it.  On the surface, this discovery appears to indicate that the period of Satan's greater power ended around the middle of the 20th century, at the close of the Second World War. Once again, such a scenario appears to contradict the actual sequence of historical events, and it is plainly evident that the true grip of Satan's greater power only seemed to really take hold in the latter half of the 20th century, after the events of the Second World War, when the Sexual Revolution which took place in the 1960's coincided with a massive decline in the Church - paving the way for current apostasy we are still enduring today. (Read more.)

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An Ancient Soul in a Modern World

From Seton Magazine:

 As some of you already know, Father Constantine Belisarius, the chaplain of Seton Home Study School, was very sick lately. Without going into his medical history, suffice it to say that we weren’t sure whether Father was going to make it. But with the help of many prayers and penances of friends and family, he is, by God’s grace, on the road to recovery. The word “miraculous” has been used by medical personnel, but if you know something about God and you know something about Father Constantine, this series of medically remarkable events was perhaps foreseeable, if not outright predictable. Our Faith teaches us that God always brings something good out of something bad. Speaking for myself and perhaps many others, part of the “something good” was our chance for reflection and thanksgiving for Father.

In life’s dramatic dramas, we seem to lack the time to center on things that matter. But as I sat in the waiting room, waiting for a miracle, I had the chance to reflect a bit. And if you readers will indulge me, I want to express a few thoughts about Father Constantine. That should be easy to do. It isn’t. You see, Father Constantine Belisarius is more unique than his name. He is a priest, confessor, theologian, counselor, confidant, scholar, teacher, and spiritual warrior. And yet, when I think about Father Constantine, one quality pervades: he is my friend. And that is no mere footnote.

As C. S. Lewis wrote, “Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art…. It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.” Father Constantine gives life to those words. When you are Catholic, a friend is one who reminds you of the beauty of the True Faith; Father does that in a majestically Byzantine way. Obviously, I never knew a Father of the Church—I missed out on that privilege by about sixteen hundred years. (Read more.)

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Opera and Vatican II

From Crisis:

Opera is a pretty strange experience to begin with, but what I saw in those Austrian productions many years ago didn’t “fit”—that is, a “minimalist” version of Verdi (and Mozart) made no sense in Graz’s resplendent opera house.

I have often thought that this is the “problem” with the Novus Ordo liturgy when it is celebrated in a pre-Vatican II church: the fit is all wrong. Sure, it is valid and licit (as certainly as I can say, “I saw Verdi and Mozart performed in Austria!”) and no doubt fulfills our “Sunday duty”—but whenever I’m in a magnificent church, I find myself hungering for either a full-blown choir chanting with the pipe organ or, at Low Mass, the unbroken quiet of the numinous experience of the unbloody reenactment of the Sacrifice on Calvary while surrounded on all sides by stained glass that recounts our collective salvific history and statuary that actually resembles the saints.

This disconnect may account for why post-Vatican II churches look the way they do—that is, a sort of cross between something Lutheran and Low Anglican: they were never intended for a Solemn High Mass sung in Latin—they were meant as a sort of ecumenical meeting-hall. The “event” of the Mass had been lowered from the rococo style to the post-abstract-expressionism of the 1960s. (Read more.)

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Prepare for Persecution

From Monsignor Pope:

Scripture says, Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle (Psalm 144:1). Preparing people for war — a moral and spiritual war, not a shooting war — should include a clear setting forth of the errors of our time, and a clear and loving application of the truth to error and light to darkness.

But there is little such training evident in Catholic circles today where, in the average parish, there exists a sort of shy and quiet atmosphere — a fear of addressing “controversial” issues lest someone be offended, or the parish be perceived as “unwelcoming.”

But, if there ever was a time to wear soft garments, it is not now.

The Church of the 1970s-1990s was surely well described as the era of “beige Catholicism” (a term coined by Bishop Robert Barron, and not by way of flattery either). Those of us who lived through that era, especially in the 1970s, remember it as a time when many parish signs beckoned people to “come and experience our welcoming and warm Catholic community.” Our most evident desire was to fit in and be thought of as “normal.” Yes, Catholics were just like everyone else; and we had been working very hard to do that, at least since the early 1960s when John F. Kennedy was elected. Catholics had finally “made it” into the mainstream; we had been accepted by the culture.

Church architecture and interiors became minimalist and non-descript. Music and language in the liturgy became folksy. Marian processions, Corpus Christi processions, many things of distinctive and colorful Catholicism all but disappeared. Even our crucifixes disappeared, to be replaced by floating “resurrection Jesus” images. The emphasis was on blending in, speaking to things that made people feel comfortable, and affirming rather than challenging. If there was to be any challenge at all it would be on “safe” exhortations such as not abusing the environment or polluting, not judging or being intolerant, and so forth.

Again, if there ever was a time to wear soft garments, it is not now. It is zero-dark-thirty in our post-Christian culture. And while we may wish to blame any number of factors for the collapse, we cannot exclude ourselves. We who are supposed to be the light of the world, with Christ shining in us, have preferred to hide our light under a basket and lay low. The ruins of our families and culture are testimony to the triumph of error and the suppression of the truth. (Read more.)

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Where are the Shepherds?

From The Christian Review:

In earlier columns, I’ve expressed concerns about the moral leadership of the Catholic Church during this presidential campaign. I received a response from the communications director of one bishop, which I published with his permission.  The flurry of comments both here and on my Facebook page led me to think more about just what Catholics should expect from our bishops, priests, and other religious.

In the Catechism of the Catholic Church we read, “The Lord made Simon alone, whom he named Peter, the “rock” of his Church. . . . This pastoral office of Peter and the other apostles belongs to the Church’s very foundation and is continued by the bishops under the primacy of the Pope” (881). Their first task, along with priests “as co-workers,” is “‘to preach the Gospel of God to all men,’ in keeping with the Lord’s command” (CCC 818, emphasis added).

If teaching is their first “task,” what is the reasonable explanation of what should be publicly taught during this, and any other, election campaign? The Ten Commandments are at the core of the Church’s moral teaching and the 5th Commandment, “You shall not kill,” is at the heart of that teaching. Why? Because as the Catechism puts it:

Human life is sacred because from its beginning it involves the creative action of God and it remains for ever in a special relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end. God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning until its end: no one can under any circumstance claim for himself the right directly to destroy an innocent human being (CCC 2258).

 Human life is sacred and not “under any circumstances” can a person directly “destroy any human being.” Yet, we have the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party loudly advocating precisely that. Hillary Clinton has long been a champion of not just abortion but federally funded abortion-on-demand. Her Republican opponent, Donald Trump, rejects her pro-abortion advocacy and promises to sign a bill defunding Planned Parenthood, the largest U.S. abortion provider, when it passes the Congress. Those who don’t trust Trump’s promises should note that Hillary Clinton certainly does — in fact, she has pledged to “go further” than President Obama in providing federal funding for abortion.

This should not be surprising, since Clinton has made it clear: “the unborn person does not have constitutional rights.”

No one expects the bishops and other clergy to use their teaching function to endorse one candidate over another.  No one expects them to tell Catholics who to vote for. But Catholics can reasonably expect for them to loudly proclaim the Church’s teaching, “human life is sacred,” when the outcome of the coming election may put Hillary Clinton in the White House. Catholics should expect its “shepherds” to address the major issues facing Catholic voters as they determine how they will cast their ballots.

What are those major issues? Would anyone disagree that in addition to immigration, poverty, health care, and religious liberty that abortion is one of those major issues?  The myriad of pro-abortion speakers at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia certainly considered it as such. The Democratic Party platform was changed to call for the elimination of the Hyde Amendment which forbids federal funding for abortion — TIME called the platform “more extreme” than ever.

Have the bishops and clergy done what could be reasonably expected in response to the Clinton candidacy, the Democratic National Convention, and the Democrats platform revisions? The sad answer is “no.” Yes, there are some bishops and priests reminding Catholics to consider the abortion issue in casting their ballots, but the number is pitifully small, resulting in virtual silence from the Church. (Read more.)

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The Grid of Grace

From Catholic Man:

So much is spoken, in our times, of an epidemic of illiteracy when it comes to our faith. We place blame on poor catechesis – and that may be part of the problem – but one rarely hears about the lack of “hunger for the truth.” Yes, we must educate, but where is the “hunger” to “be” educated? That comes from someone who is filled with grace!

Not only that, but where is the “real talk” of spiritual warfare? You see? I believe evil is running unabated in our times because, as the passage from Matthew states, there is a spiritual emptiness that evil has come to fill.

An image I often use to describe this is, “Power Grid of Grace.” There was a time, only 50 years ago, when we saw …

• Monasteries sprinkled across the country
• Brimming Catholic Schools everywhere
• Convents flourishing
• Homes filled with prayer and devotions
• Churches open all day as many made “chapel visits”
• Parish devotions, such as Holy Hours
• Amazingly reverent Masses everyday

The image used in the post (above) is one that shows the many cell towers throughout the United States. It’s not hard to imagine that, at one time, a similar map to this would indicate all of those powerhouses of grace mentioned above … a kind of “Power Grid of Grace.” Friends … the “Grid of Grace” is down – a kind of supernatural force field – and the darkness of evil is penetrating our land at an alarming rate.

We keep trying all of our manmade remedies to “evangelize,” and we continue to come up empty.

Looking at them, Jesus said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God, because all things are possible with God.” Mark 10:27

Program after program, book after book, DVD after DVD, and the same diminishing amount of folks are drawn to these. All the while we persist with our cheesy, effeminate, horizontal, man-centered liturgies that do little, if anything, to assist souls to “participate” in the grace offered in the Source and Summit of our faith … it is like sprinkling water upon a rock. Uninspired, these souls remain empty and vulnerable to the infiltration of the darkness of evil. (Read more.)

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A New Saint Shines in Heaven

From First Things:

What has just happened at Saint-Étienne du Rouvray can only arouse horror and even anger at a hatred which is as cruelly cowardly as it is stupidly suicidal. After the terrorist attacks in France and in Germany, it is permissible to observe that this time these lunatics have not killed at random. Until now (and with the exception of one attempt, fortunately thwarted, against a church in Ivry), the fanatics had attacked aspects of the flattering self-image that we “citizens” have of ourselves: the iconoclastic insolence of Charlie Hebdo, the pagan cult of sport at the French National Stadium, the carefree pleasure of the Bataclan and the boho outdoor cafés of the Eleventh Arrondissement in Paris, the 14th of July fireworks in Nice celebrating a Revolution that has promoted great ideals but also the guillotine …

This, today, was something else altogether. The target of this revenge was not the West in general, nor its complacent and egotistical prosperity, which can seem insulting to the penniless inhabitants of the world beyond. The target of this revenge was the root of the West, the West’s living source, even when it is unremembered—namely Christianity, in the time and the place where, tacitly but invincibly, it becomes most explicitly and intensely real: the celebration of the Mass. (Read more.)

 From Dr. Taylor Marshall:

It is helpful to remember that from AD 60 till AD 313, receiving sacramental baptism meant that you were enrolled for martyrdom. Every parish and every diocese on the planet during those years could name martyrs from their midst. Every Christian community possessed martyrs: Jerusalem, Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, Carthage, Lyons, etc.

Martyrdom was so common that Christianity underwent a crisis of identity after Constantine legalized Christianity: Can Christians truly be Christian without the reality of impending martyrdom? The monastic revolution of the 4th and 5th centuries was a response to this identity crisis – the monastics sought to regain the danger and asceticism of carrying the cross.

For me personally, this is a moment of personal crisis. I wrote books about Christ. I record podcasts and videos about Christ. I talk about Christ frequently. But am I ready for this to happen to me:

…two Islamic State knifemen who cut the priest’s throat after bursting into a French church and taking nuns and worshippers hostage before being shot dead by police.

(Read more.)

For Christians in the Middle East, such horrors are a part of daily life. From the Catholic Herald:

An 85-year-old priest has had his throat cut by an Islamic fanatic while saying Mass in a church in Normandy. For people in the West, this is a scene of almost unimaginable horror. Catholics in particular will be revolted and profoundly disturbed by a bloody killing perpetrated during the act of holy sacrifice around which our faith is built.

Catholics in the West, that is. For Catholics and other Christians in the Middle East, the atrocity at Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray is far from unimaginable. They have been living with this sort of terror for years, while Western politicians and the liberal commentator looked away.

If I were to mention the Baghdad church massacre of October 31, 2010, how many of them would know what I was talking about? Come to that, how many Catholics are familiar with the details? On that Sunday evening, Mass in the Syrian Catholic church of Our Lady of Salvation was cut short by Islamist gunmen who took the congregation hostage, screaming: “All of you are infidels… we will go to paradise if we kill you and you will go to hell.”

One priest, Fr Thaer Abdal, was shot dead at the altar. In total, 58 innocent people were murdered. Their killers were members of an Iraqi faction of Al-Qaeda that had declared war on churches, “dirty dens of idolatry”, and in particular “the hallucinating tyrant of the Vatican”.

The Baghdad massacre was one of countless atrocities that have reduced ancient Christian communities in the Middle East to shriveled and terrified ghettos or underground churches. (Read more.)

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On Forgiveness

I think many people are confused about the meaning of forgiveness. Forgiveness means the victim is able to let go of revenge and wish the offender well. It does not mean a person is bound to tolerate evil, immoral or abusive behavior. How many children have suffered in abusive situations because of a distorted understanding of forgiveness? When someone has injured us, common sense dictates that, even when we have forgiven, we do not have to let the person back into our circle so that they can hurt us again. We are within our rights to stay away from the person. I think it is hardest to forgive someone who is not sorry for what they did. In that case, all we can do is say with Jesus: "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do." Our feelings may or may not follow, but what matters is the will to forgive.

Please listen to Mercy Unwrapped, HERE. More HERE. And HERE, a powerful testimony.

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On the Number of Sins

From St. Alphonsus Liguori:

The sinner who abandons himself to sin without striving to resist temptations, or without at least asking God's help to conquer them, and hopes that the Lord will one day draw him from the precipice, tempts God to work miracles, or rather to show to him an extraordinary mercy not extended to the generality of Christians. God, as the Apostle says, "will have all men to be saved" (1 Tim. ii. 4); but He also wishes us all to labor for our own salvation, at least by adopting the means of overcoming our enemies, and of obeying Him when he calls us to repentance. Sinners hear the calls of God, but they forget them, and continue to offend him. But God does not forget them. He numbers the graces which He dispenses, as well as the sins which we commit. Hence, when the time which He has fixed arrives, God deprives us of His graces, and begins to inflict chastisement. I intend to show, in this discourse, that, when sins reach a certain number, God pardons no more. Be attentive. (Read more.)

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Remembering God's Mercy: Redeem the Past and Free Yourself from Painful Memories

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,
my memory, my understanding,
and my entire will,
All I have and call my own.
You have given all to me.
To you, Lord, I return it.
Everything is yours; do with it what you will.
Give me only your love and your grace,
that is enough for me.  ―St. Ignatius Loyola

 It took me forever to read Dawn Eden's latest book simply because it is the kind of book you do not just read. It is a book that you pray. On almost every page I had to stop and ponder the truths presented, so that I was pulled into a state of lectio divina whether I had planned on it or not. As far as I am concerned, Remembering God's Mercy should be ranked among the spiritual classics; it will certainly take its place on my bookshelf among the books I go to for consolation of soul and holy thoughts. In it are explored the most basic truths of our Faith: Jesus Christ the Son of God died and rose to open the gates of heaven for us. In His Mercy He brings healing of soul to those who seek His grace through repentance and transformation of life. The book is based both on the Suscipe of St. Ignatius of Loyola and on episodes from the life of his Jesuit son, Pope Francis. The emphasis is on the mercy of God which leads the sinner to repentance and the purgative process of healing. With the infused virtue of hope comes the healing of memories and the genuine peace which the world cannot give. Dawn shares the fruits of her readings and meditations on the Gospels and encounters with the Savior in the sacraments of the Church. Dawn's skills as a talented writer combine with the insights acquired during her own often painful psychological and spiritual journey to make Remembering God's Mercy a most compelling read. I find the book a helpful companion on my own rocky path.

 Please visit Dawn on her blog, HERE. And on her Amazon page, HERE. I recommend all of her books!

(NOTE: This book was sent to me by the author in exchange for my honest opinion.)


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Blaming the Christians

From Seton Magazine:

Of course, as one can imagine, many of the show trials that preceded these sentences would have made Josef Stalin blush (if a trial took place at all). In imperial Rome, due process was the sign of the cross.

The goal was to crush Christianity, and the law was the most expedient means of accomplishment. The great apologist Tertullian notes that if a non-Christian were brought before a court for a suspected crime, he was tortured with the goal of getting him to admit he was actually a Christian.
Ironically, if a professed Christian were brought before a court for a suspected crime, he was tortured with the goal of getting him to renounce Christianity.

It would be a terrible understatement to say that Christians received a lion’s share of the blame for Roman society’s ills. Much more than that, Christianity essentially received all the blame; indeed, that was an institutional part of the societal framework.

Tertullian noted that Christians were being blamed not only for every class of crime (including, of course Christianity itself, which was a capital crime) but for every particular crime. Everything was seen as the fault of a Christian: agricultural misfortune, environmental changes, unlucky rolls of dice.

Everything.

Writing to the Roman leaders of his day, Tertullian railed: “If the Tiber has overflowed its banks, if the Nile has remained in its bed…your cry immediately is, ‘This is the fault of the Christians!’”
Imagine that.

Imagine a scenario in which Christians are blamed for environmental problems like droughts and rising tides. Imagine a scenario in which any and all societal ills (both real and imagined) like poverty are attributed to Christians and Christianity. Imagine a scenario in which a non-Christian commits a crime and the elites blame Christianity.

Sadly, we don’t have to imagine—just spend a few minutes on the internet. Christians are accused of everything from

• depression
• to global warming
•  to Nazism
• to desiring the denial of basic healthcare
•  to an array of women’s health problems
• to stock market corrections
• to poverty
• to emotional problems
  to the tragedy in Orlando
• to everything

When we see in the news that Christians are blamed by some elites for everything, it might be important to realize that this is not a new development. Our response should be what it has always been: practice our Faith with love and hope, increase our knowledge so that we may intellectually defend our beliefs, and speak up for those Christians who are being particularly attacked. (Read more.)

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Trump and the Christians

From The Christian Review:

It was supposed to be a meeting of 300, but over the course of a few weeks it burgeoned to over 1000 attendees. The setting was hardly intimate, but given the circumstances, the Evangelical organizers did a good job of making it worth our while. Donald Trump showed another side of himself during the hour-plus question and answer session: the usual bravura was replaced by self-deprecating humor, a deeper seriousness, and a forthright affirmation of the Christian faith.

Two of those taking the stage before Trump, Franklin Graham and Jerry Falwell, Jr., took advantage of their time slots, setting the tone for an occasion to ponder the future of our nation if Hillary Clinton is elected president, with her 2 to 5 picks for the Supreme Court, her pro-abortion agenda, and her evident scorn for traditional Christians.

Trump himself picked up that thread in answer to one of the first of the questions posed by Gov. Mike Huckabee, calling religious liberty the “number one issue of the campaign.” He mentioned several times the list of 11 possible SCOTUS nominees already released, with the help of vetting from The Federalist Society and The Heritage Foundation, and promised the release of at least four more in the near future. Trump was emphatic when he said all his nominees would be “pro-life” and “similar to Justice Scalia.” Needless to say, the room frequently interrupted these comments with loud clapping and “Amens.”

There were some Catholics in evidence: Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the SBA List, introduced Cong. Marsha Blackburn, who spoke about her House Planned Parenthood investigation, and author/speaker Eric Metaxas capped the event with a speech on the “new vision” for America. Other than those two, I counted dozen or more around the room, such as Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League; Lila Rose, president of Live Action; John Klink, former Vatican diplomat to the UN; Austin Ruse, president of C-FAM; Marjorie Murphy Campbell, blogger at www.newfeminism.com; Mary Beth Bonacci, president of Real Love, Inc.; Deacon Keith Fournier, blogger at www.thestream.org; and Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote. (Read more.)

From LifeNews:

 Since he’s become the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, pro-life voters are starting to move in Donald Trump’s direction — especially knowing the alternative is abortion activist Hillary Clinton. But many pro-life voters and some pro-life leaders remain skeptical about supporting Trump given some of his misstatements and past support for abortion.

To gain a better understanding and insight on his abortion views and to potentially be able to endorse his candidacy, a group of top pro-life leaders met with Trump today at a summit in New York.

“We are going to appoint great Supreme Court justices… These will be justices of great intellect… And they will be pro-life,” he said.

During the meeting, Trump told them he would promote religious liberty and appoint pro-life judges:

Donald Trump won a standing ovation from hundreds of Christian conservatives who came to New York City Tuesday with a skeptical but willing attitude toward a man who has divided their group with comments on women, immigrants and Islam. In his comments the presumptive GOP nominee vowed to end the decades-old ban on tax-exempt groups’ – including churches — politicking, said religious liberty is “the #1 question,” and said he’d appoint anti-abortion Supreme Court justices. “I believe that he came across very well as a messenger for everybody in the room, not just as a beneficiary of evangelical votes but as a fellow traveler. That’s not necessarily an easy distance for him to have traveled because people didn’t see him like that before,” said Marjorie Danenfelser of Susan B. Anthony’s List, which works to oppose abortion. “He made no missteps. There were no explosions.” She said she couldn’t recall a candidate explicitly stating they would pursue “pro-life” justices. “They usually couch it in other words, like ‘constitutional,’” she said. As president, he said, he’d work on things including: “freeing up your religion, freeing up your thoughts. You talk about religious liberty and religious freedom, you don’t have any religious freedom if you think about it,” he told the group, which broke in many times with applause.

(Read more.)

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A Sense of the Sacred

From Roman Catholic Man:

Therefore, if we are truly serious about evangelization, our attention must be placed on restoring what the Catholic Church once, so beautifully possessed: sacred art, sacred architecture, sacred music and special attention to the sacred offering of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Everything else is just “spinning our wheels,” until we give this the primary attention it requires.

Pope Benedict XVI famously stated, “I am convinced that the crisis in the Church that we are experiencing today is, to a large extent, due to the disintegration of the liturgy.” Building on this, Fr. John Zuhlsdorf speaks often about, “Save the Liturgy, Save the World.” Nothing could be more true, when we consider the fact that the world needs saints, ignited by supernatural grace. And, that it is reverent and sacred Masses that assist the faithful in receiving this first and essential “trigger gift” of the Holy Spirit: The Gift of Awe and Wonder.

Therefore, we must discern, together, how to “save the liturgy.” What does that look like? While I have my own opinions about this restoration, I do not pretend to be among the experts. I will leave those decisions to them. All I know is that I believe something drastic must be done to restore the Catholic Church’s once great aptitude for bringing souls to that first Gift of Awe and Wonder. (Read more.)

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Trump and the Supreme Court

From Life News:

When it comes to abortion, for pro-life voters there is no more important issue in the presidential election than who will control the appointment process for one or more Supreme Court judges who will determine the fate of abortion for decades. And on that point, Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, told Bill O’Reilly he would name pro-life judges to the highest court. Asked what he would do to protect the “sanctity of human life,” Trump said it starts with the Supreme Court.

“I will protect it and the biggest way to protect it is through the Supreme Court and putting people in the court — and actually the biggest way to protect is electing me as president,” he said. Trump went on to say that he favored overturning Roe v. Wade and that, “I will appoint Supreme Court judges who will be pro-life.” His comments, along with hiring a pro-life advocate as his domestic policy director, will go along way to assuring pro-life voters they can consider him in November. (Read more.)

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Amoris Laetitia

Our Holy Father has given us beautiful reflections on married love and family life. From the Vatican website:

The Bible is full of families, births, love stories and family crises. This is true from its very first page, with the appearance of Adam and Eve’s family with all its burden of violence but also its enduring strength (cf. Gen 4) to its very last page, where we behold the wedding feast of the Bride and the Lamb ( Rev 21:2, 9). Jesus’ description of the two houses, one built on rock and the other on sand (cf. Mt 7:24-27), symbolizes any number of family situations shaped by the exercise of their members’ freedom, for, as the poet says, “every home is a lampstand”. (Read more.)

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Spiritual Works of Mercy in a Digital World

From St. Josemaria Institute:

The Gospel of John tells us that ‘the truth will make you free’ (Jn 8:32). The truth is ultimately Christ himself, whose gentle mercy is the yardstick for measuring the way we proclaim the truth and condemn injustice. Our primary task is to uphold the truth with love (cf. Eph 4:15). Only words spoken with love and accompanied by meekness and mercy can touch our sinful hearts. Harsh and moralistic words and actions risk further alienating those whom we wish to lead to conversion and freedom, reinforcing their sense of rejection and defensiveness. (Read more.)

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Towards an Organic Christian Society

From Return to Order:

An organic socio-economic order takes into consideration life’s spontaneity, unpredictability and creativity. Return to Order presents and celebrates organic society and its corresponding economy as a refreshing contrast to modern economy. Organic society is full of vitality and moods; nuance and meaning; poetry and passion. At the same time, an organic economy is full of dynamism and capable of great production. In fact, such a social order is so important that we do not hesitate to call it the heart and soul of an economy.

To the adjective organic, we add the august adjective Christian. An organic order cannot be reduced to a natural manner of organizing society. It must be founded upon Christian virtue if it is to promote fully the common good. When virtues—especially the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance—are practiced in an organic society, everything enters into a proper balance and rhythm because each acts in accordance with his nature. This is the foundation for true order and also the true progress and prosperity that is so needed today. (Read more.)

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The Holy Father and Social Media

From Terry Mattingly:

Pope Francis has promoted the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy in many symbolic ways, from spectacular liturgical rites to quiet gestures of forgiveness offered to sinners who have sought his help. Now, the social-media star @Pontifex is saying that acts of grace, kindness and mercy should even be attempted by believers whose work and private affairs take them into one of modern life's harshest environments: cyberspace.

"Emails, text messages, social networks and chats can also be fully human forms of communication. It is not technology which determines whether or not communication is authentic, but rather the human heart," argued Francis in a statement marking the 50th World Communications Day. It was released at the same time as a private meeting between the pope and Apple CEO Tim Cook.

"Social networks," wrote the pope, "can facilitate relationships and promote the good of society, but they can also lead to further polarization and division. ... The digital world is a public square, a meeting place where we can either encourage or demean one another, engage in a meaningful discussion or unfair attacks. ... Access to digital networks entails a responsibility for our neighbor whom we do not see, but who is nonetheless real and has a dignity which must be respected."

Believers can stand firm in defending the faith, he said, but "even in those cases where they must firmly condemn evil," it's essential that they not resort to using words and arguments that "try to rupture relationships." (Read more.)

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How to Bring Back Latin

From Philip Kosloski:

As a reminder, Latin is the liturgical language of the “Roman Rite” within the Catholic Church. The Church has four major groupings of Rites: the Roman, the Antiochian (Syria) and the Alexandrian (Egypt) and Byzantine. From these groups have developed 20 liturgical Rites, each with their own liturgical traditions! This means that the liturgical language for each is not necessarily the same. The Church really is quite beautiful in its diversity of rites and I encourage you all to explore them when you have the chance.

For example, the Maronite rite (within the Antiochian family) has “Aramaic” as its liturgical language. It is quite a site to be seen, as the words of institution that the priest uses are in that language, the common language that Jesus would have used on an everyday basis. So when the priest says “this is my Body” in Aramaic, you are able to get a glimpse into the Last Supper. If you are interested in learning about the liturgical language for each rite, check out this list on EWTN. I won’t comment on their particular Rites as I am within the Roman Rite and am only vaguely familiar with their liturgical traditions or language.

When it comes to the Roman Rite, the Church has maintained that Latin should not be abolished. The documents of Vatican II state the following:

Particular law remaining in force, the use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin rites (Sacrosanctum Concilium, §36).

So, Vatican II did not abolish Latin and instead mandated that it be preserved. But to what extent? (Read more.)

Read also: "The Case for Latin" Share

Increase in Ordinations

Holy Mother Church always rises from the ashes. From The Catholic World Report:

Although last year’s Pew Research Center's study “America's Changing Religious Landscape” was used by some pundits as evidence for a steady decline in Catholicism, the evidence points to differing trends. As I noted last May, “the Northeast losses for the Catholic Church are attenuated by gains in the southern part of the country where Catholics have increased from 25% of those living in the South in 2007 to 27% of the population today, and in the West where the percentage of Catholics has increased from 23% in 2007 to 26% in 2014.”

Even more significantly, in 2015 there was a 25% increase in ordinations to the priesthood as 595 men were ordained last year, up from 477 the previous year. According to Mary Gautier and Thomas Gaunt, authors of The Class of 2015: Survey of Ordinands to the Priesthood, commissioned by the Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the average age of those ordained in 2015 to the priesthood is 34—continuing a pattern of younger men entering the priesthood earlier than in previous decades.

More than half (60%) of those ordained in 2015 have completed college before entering the seminar, and one in seven (15%) entered the seminary with a graduate degree. One in three entered the seminary while in college. Most respondents to the USCCB survey reported that there were about 17 years old when they first considered a vocation to the priesthood and were encouraged to consider their vocation by an average of four people. Seven in 10 of them said they were encouraged by a parish priest, while 46% were encouraged by friends, 45% were encouraged by parishioners, and 40% were encouraged by their mothers. (Read more.)

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