The Duty of the Moment

From Catholic Exchange:

Heroic sanctity is all about fulfilling the will of God, especially when it is difficult and contrary to our nature. And honestly, ordinary life can be hard. It can be boring, tedious, and frustrating—most especially when we’d rather be doing something big or extraordinary or fun. But it is exactly this banality that God often asks of us, and if we don’t embrace it with all the zeal of a saint, our Lord will never entrust us with anything greater or more significant....God may exalt you in due time and fulfill your grand schemes. Then again, he may not. His glory, not yours, is the object, and he knows best how to put you to use. But remember this: If you never do anything in life but embrace the will of God as revealed in the small and hidden duty of the moment, you can still be a saint, and a very great saint. (Read more.)

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The Ring of St. Joan

From The Daily Mail:

The ring matches a description, revealed in transcripts, given by Joan of Arc herself during the trial which resulted in her death. She said it has the inscription 'Jhesus Maria' as well as three crosses, and was made from either gold or brass. She claimed it was on her hand when she touched St Catherine, who appeared before her in a vision. Brett Hammond, chief executive of Timeline Auctions, which will be selling the lot, told MailOnline: 'In my mind there is little doubt it's her ring.' (Read more.)

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The Media's Trump Reckoning

From Politico:

Indeed, the knowing skepticism about Trump’s chances that Remnick expressed last summer was quite common throughout the journalism industry, from the most serious magazine journalists, writing with the voice of history, to most street-savvy, ear-to-the-ground bloggers: Trump had a polling ceiling; the Republican establishment would coalesce to bring him down; he didn’t have a sufficient ground game; one giant gaffe would inevitably bring him down; and on and on.

But barring an unprecedented convention floor fight, all signs point to the unimaginable. Trump most likely will be the Republican nominee for president. Some columnists are still holding out the belief that Trump won’t actually win the nomination — while acknowledging that their sweeping dismissals of the possibility were off the mark. And yet, others say we’re witnessing a sea change moment in this nation’s politics.

Months later, Fallows acknowledges he shouldn’t have been so categorical — as he told Newsweek in December — but warned in an email this week that Trump is an idiosyncratic phenomenon. “Everyone (including me) has had to learn that one or another line-crossings and rule-breakings that would have stopped any previous candidates allow Trump to keep rolling on through,” he wrote. “I think an underappreciated factor here is the combination of Trump’s distinctive skill, and a changed nature of this cycle’s primary. Trump’s distinctive skill is not so much as a business executive, where his record is mixed, but as a TV performer. There’s a particular set of skills that go with reality-TV competitions, and Trump is great at them!” (Read more.)

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The Favras Plot

From Geri Walton:

There were numerous plots afoot to save the royal family after the French Revolution began. One well-known plot involved Louis-Alexandre de Launay, Comte d’Antraigues, who was a French pamphleteer, spy, and political adventurer. D’Antraigues had been elected to the Estates-General in 1789 and initially supported the French Revolution. However, after Versailles was stormed and the royal family was taken to the Palais des Tuileries (essentially as prisoners), he switched sides and became a staunch defender of the monarchy.

As a counter revolutionary, d’Antraigues soon found himself aligned with the audacious Thomas de Mahy, marquis de Favras. Favras came from an impoverished but aristocratic family. At seventeen he became captain of the dragoons and later served as a first lieutenant in the Swiss Guard for Louis XVI’s younger brother, Comte de Provence (future Louis XVIII). It was because of Favras’s relationship with the Comte de Provence that Favras became drawn into a plot to save the royal family, restore the French monarchy, and end the French Revolution. (Read more.)

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The Vatican and the Poor

From The Catholic World Report:

This is not the first initiative on Vatican grounds to be directed at offering concrete aid. Since early 2015, the Vatican has provided persons in need access to showers, and even a barbershop run by volunteers. Many barbers have volunteered with enthusiasm, including two barbers from the national Italian organization that transports the sick to Lourdes, and other international shrines.

“It seemed right to also provide free medical visits,” Archbishop Krajewski added, saying it is “an indispensable service to the health of the poor who live among us.”

And in October 2015, Pope Francis and his fellow Jesuits converted an old travel agency into a dormitory for the homeless.

Residents in the new “Gift of Mercy” house are welcome to stay for up to 30 consecutive days, and a schedule is set by the Missionary of Charity sisters who help keep things running smoothly. (Read more.)

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Early Christianity in India

From Smithsonian:

The state of Kerala is India’s Down Under, a narrow strip of land overlooking the southern tip of the subcontinent that is monsoon driven; sun drenched; humid; lush green; full of rivers, streams, lakes, backwaters, coconut trees; and teeming with people. The Arabian Sea’s white beaches fringe Kerala to the west, while the Western Ghats, with their impenetrable tropical forests and eternities of grasslands, define its eastern boundary. The distance from the sea east across the state’s midsection—a water world of backwaters merging into the rubber tree-filled farms—to the tea and cardamom plantations of the hills, averages only between 20 and 75 miles. Few areas in the world boast more ideal growing conditions for spices. Long before Jesus’ time Jews, Arabs and other ancient maritime traders settled in Kerala to buy, trade and store spices.

Modern Syrian Christians of Kerala (the majority Christian population here) believe that the Apostle Thomas—the one who so famously questioned Jesus—visited here in a.d. 52 and baptized their forefathers. Historians surmise that the diverse, rich trading center of Kerala may well have drawn this Palestinian Jew of the Roman Empire who wished to preach the Gospel. Thousands of churches today bear his name, their rituals and theology derived from Eastern Orthodox traditions in the liturgical language Syriac, a formation of Aramaic, the dialect Jesus—and Thomas—spoke. For decades now, the liturgical language of Kerala Christians has been Malayalam, the language of Kerala. Thomas’s name remains ubiquitous in Kerala, appearing on everything from baptism registers and the neon signs of jewelry stores and bakeries to the nameplates of dental surgeons and real estate developers’ ads. During the negotiations surrounding arranged marriages, it’s common for both families to make discreet inquiries as to whether the other’s ancestries reach back to the Apostle. A “yes” can prove a big plus—apart from the quantum of dowry, of course. (Read more.)

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Bl. Julia Rodzińska, OP, Martyr

From Catholic Saints Guy:

Sister and some others had to go live with some local Vincentian Sisters (their order was founded by St. Vincent de Paul). Furthermore she was now effectively unemployed. She sought out odd jobs with local Polish families, but this coincided with the Nazi occupation, and many of these homes were destitute.

Making matters worse, the Nazis largely forced the Church underground. Gaining access to the sacraments became increasingly difficult. Monks, bishops, priests, and Sisters were arrested. Many were either executed outright or sent to a slow death in concentration camps. Retired priests found their pension from the local diocese cut off.

Furthermore, after conquering Poland, the Nazis had made teaching Polish culture illegal, so the community’s traditions and foundation were in jeopardy.

Thus it was with great courage and using the skills she had learned over the years, Sister went around secretly teaching children and youth the Polish language, history, and religion. She also conducted humanitarian activities by getting food for destitute retired priests and arranging for lay families to take in these men.

In July 1943, however, on charges of political activities and aiding Polish partisans, the Gestapo arrested and imprisoned her in Lukiškės Prison in central Vilnius, the site of many mass executions of Poles during WWII. There she was placed in solitary confinement in what amounted to a pitch black, cold, damp, cement closet. The air supply was insufficient, and she got cramps because she had no room to fully stretch her limbs. This went on for a year, and she received much harsher treatment than others in her cell block. (Read more.)

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Trump and Conversative Christians

From Chronicles:

Christians say they want to combat abortion, to promote “traditional marriage,” and hold communities and families together, but the donor-class oligarchs’ plan is to de-industrialize the country, driving the working class into the underclass. It’s already happened and is continuing to happen, made evident by increased mortality rates among working-class whites.

As the working class becomes a true proletariat complete with underclass behavioral norms, crime, what used to be called “broken homes,” and, yes, abortions, will be or already are the “new normal” for them. If we as Christians defend our working people, their jobs, and their wages, they can at least have a chance to form stable families and I would venture to guess there would likely be fewer abortions. Trump is speaking up for them, pointing to a practical way to directly attack the cultural and social rot that is destroying them and us. Cruz and Rubio have positioned themselves as defenders of “family values,” yet have supported trade deals that have undermined the economic base for family formation.

Finally, Trump is absolutely correct to say that if he had not brought immigration control front and center as a major issue in this campaign, the usual GOP suspects would have buried it. As the country is transformed by immigration, including by non-Christians, a significant number of them hostile to our faith, the corporate globalizers not only have their pool of cheap labor to finish off the American working class, the Left has its political foot soldiers—foot soldiers who are interested first of all in the ethnic spoils system, not in “family values.”

Trump may be a deeply flawed vessel, but flawed leaders have done good before, something that Christians, I think, should understand most of all. (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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