I started reading your website for the financial information and became intrigued by the topics on the Catholic Mass and history. I was raised a Roman Catholic but have not attended Mass since college (other than for family weddings or funerals.) I am now 58. I learned so much about the meaning of certain rules (e.g. head cover for women, why only men can be priests, etc.) which I hadn’t known even though I went to a Catholic grade school. I recently moved and discovered there is an Apostolate of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter about 20 minutes from where I live. They also have a live Latin Mass online Sundays @ 10:30 AM. For several Sundays, I watched the Mass online and I was surprised at how much I liked it. I decided to go to Mass at a local parish (walking distance) which celebrates the Novus Ordo Mass. Attending this Mass, I realized why I stopped going all those years ago. After watching the Latin Mass (online) and attending the Novus Ordo Mass, I was amazed at the difference. I think your post comparing the Mass to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Ceremony was spot on! So finally after 30+ years, I went to confession, attended the Traditional Latin Mass and received Holy Communion. I have even talked my husband (who is not Catholic) into attending the upcoming Christmas High Mass.
Thank you for all you do. Keep up of the good fight.
God Bless You,
M
——-***——-
Letters like that make it all worth it. Y’all are worth it.
Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.
PATER NOSTER, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen.
I love Bouguereau’s depiction of the Virgin above, as she is positively radiating what I refer to as “ferocious love”. So beautiful, so feminine, and yet and so admirable and potent that men can look up to her and model themselves in their masculinity off of her without the slightest tension or difficulty.
So I was looking at my website statistics interface on Wednesday evening, and thinking of St. Francis Xavier whose feast it was on the 3rd, as he was a great traveler, having been to both India and Japan, and dying en route to China. Can you imagine the effort, strength and courage required to make such journeys in the 16th century? And the risk?
So I pulled up my stats for the previous thirty days. Here are the countries that have visited this website just in the last 30 days. I realize that some down toward the bottom of the list might be bots, but the full stats indicate actual usage pretty darn far down the list. I *suspect* the “not set” category at position 21 is military installations and ships at sea. And subs. Definitely subs. Yeah.
Kinda gives one a kick in the pants to maybe post more and start doing podcasts again, because, “Go ye into the whole world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.”
Whole world. Aye, Sir.
1. United States
2. Canada
3. United Kingdom
4. Australia
5. India
6. Ireland
7. Germany
8. New Zealand
9. Italy
10. Netherlands
11. South Africa
12. France
13. Brazil
14. Denmark
15. Israel
16. Philippines
17. Switzerland
18. Japan
19. Spain
20. Poland
21. (not set)
22. Hong Kong
23. Mexico
24. Thailand
25. Sweden
26. Finland
27. South Korea
28. Belgium
29. Czech Republic
30. Portugal
31. Singapore
32. Austria
33. Barbados
34. Romania
35. United Arab Emirates
36. Saudi Arabia
37. Venezuela
38. Argentina
39. Russia
40. Panama
41. Puerto Rico
42. Myanmar (Burma)
43. Malaysia
44. Norway
45. China
46. Kuwait
47. Costa Rica
48. Honduras
49. Colombia
50. Croatia
51. Bahrain
52. Bulgaria
53. Taiwan
54. Hungary
55. Malta
56. Dominican Republic
57. Uruguay
58. Guam
59. Qatar
60. Chile
61. Turkey
62. Slovakia
63. Greece
64. Indonesia
65. Luxembourg
66. Bermuda
67. Ecuador
68. Guatemala
69. Uganda
70. Pakistan
71. Haiti
72. Trinidad and Tobago
73. Jamaica
74. Cambodia
75. Nigeria
76. Ukraine
77. Bahamas
78. El Salvador
79. Egypt
80. Slovenia
81. Iran
82. Peru
83. Algeria
84. Iceland
85. Lebanon
86. Serbia
87. Bangladesh
88. Iraq
89. Morocco
90. Afghanistan
91. Estonia
92. Ghana
93. Jordan
94. Kenya
95. Madagascar
96. Oman
97. Angola
98. Botswana
99. Ethiopia
100. Sri Lanka
101. Latvia
102. Montenegro
103. Macau
104. Paraguay
105. Sudan
106. Tanzania
107. U.S. Virgin Islands
108. Vietnam
109. Kosovo
110. Andorra
111. Albania
112. Burkina Faso
113. Belarus
114. Belize
115. Côte d’Ivoire
116. Cameroon
117. Curaçao
118. Gibraltar
119. Jersey
120. Kyrgyzstan
121. Cayman Islands
122. Kazakhstan
123. Moldova
124. Macedonia (FYROM)
125. Namibia
126. Papua New Guinea
127. Senegal
128. Sint Maarten
129. Tunisia
130. British Virgin Islands
131. Samoa
132. Zambia
Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.
PATER NOSTER, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen.
December 6th! The feast of St. Nicholas! The story of St. Nicholas can never be repeated too often:
Today is the Feast of St. Nicholas, who died on December 6, ARSH 343. Saint Nicholas is well-known by his Dutch moniker, ”Santa Claus”. Don’t be fooled by the crass, commercialized image. Saint Nicholas was a stone-cold butt-kicker for Christ and His Church.
Early in the Fourth Century, there was a terrible heresy in the Church put forth by a very persuasive man named Arius. Arius contended that Christ was not fully divine, but a creature, created by the Father. This heresy was threatening to schism the Church. (Back then everyone understood the truth that any schism whatsoever was totally and completely evil and thus unacceptable – the Church is ONE. Christ has ONE Bride, not a harem. There is ONE Truth. Not multiple “”truths””. As soon as you start saying that there are ”multiple truths”, what you have done is denied Truth Itself, of which there is only ONE.)
So, the First Council of Nicea was called in ARSH 325 to hash this out and put the Arian heresy down once and for all. Arius was at the Council, of course, and was called upon to defend his position on the inferiority of Christ. Being a bishop, Nikolaos of Myra (in present-day Turkey) was naturally in attendance. Arius’ nonsensical, destructive and insulting lying contentions about Our Lord became too much for Bishop Nikolaos, who stood up and proceeded to haul off and go all Manny Pacquiao on Arius with a left jab directly to Arius’ piehole. (See image above.)
Everyone was alarmed by Bishop Nikolaos’ righteous beatdown of Arius, and he was immediately summarily stripped of his episcopacy. In those days, the two things that designated a man a Christian bishop were a personal copy of the Gospels and a pallium, which is like a stole. Now you may taken aback by the “personal copy of the Gospels” thing. Well, of course! How could a bishop NOT have the Gospels? But you must remember that the printing press wasn’t invented until ARSH 1439. Before that, if you wanted a book, it had to be written out BY HAND. And what were you going to write on? Try vellum. Every piece of vellum had to be harvested from an animal and made. So you see, for a man to have a personal copy of any written text was a HUGE, and frankly EXPENSIVE, deal. So, poor Nikolaos was stripped of his Gospel and his pallium AND thrown in the hoosegow.
Now here is where it gets really good.
While Nikolaos was in the clink, he received a visit from both Our Lord and the Virgin Mary. Our Lord asked Nikolaos, “”Why are you here?”” And Nikolaos replied, “”Because I love You, my Lord and my God.”” At this, Jesus then presented Nikolaos with his copy of the Gospels, and Mary put his pallium back on him, thus restoring his rank as a bishop. When Nikolaos was discovered sitting calmly in his cell, still under guard, with his Gospel and his pallium, which the other bishops had locked away themselves far from Niklaos’ prison cell, Nikolaos was released, welcomed back by his brother bishops, and rejoined the Council. The heresy of Arianism was struck down once and for all, and the Nicene Creed (which we still recite at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass today) was authored.
The anti-Arian part is this:
”. . . Et in unum Dominum Iesum Christum, (And [I believe] in one Lord Jesus Christ)
Filium Dei Unigenitum, (the only begotten Son of God)
Et ex Patre natum ante omnia saecula. (And born of the Father, before all ages.)
Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine, (God of God: Light of Light)
Deum verum de Deo vero, (true God of true God)
Genitum, non factum, consubstantialem Patri (Begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father)
Per quem omnia facta sunt.” (by Whom all things were made.)
I post this because it speaks directly to our question of love and defense of Truth and defense of those we love. Arius was attacking Christ and His Church with his heresy just as viciously as if he had been leading an army – and Nikolaos stepped into the breach to defend his Beloved. PHYSICALLY. The reason Nikolaos stepped in was because Arius was attacking CHRIST, and His Bride, the Church, which is made up of Nikolaos’ fellow human beings – whose immortal souls were being put at risk by Arius. We are in no way taught by Christ to stand by and watch as our loved ones are attacked, either their bodies or their souls. The miracle in Nikolaos’ cell is proof of this. Nikolaos did the right thing by going all Pacquiao on Arius and dropping him on his heretical keister before God and everyone.
Proactive steps are being taken. And yes, the mailing address on the Contact page is still good for the time being. Ironically, FRNs are best at the moment. In the mean time, I think this just about sums it up:
The IRS seized my PayPal account a couple of hours ago. We’re taking the widget down as we speak. Luckily, I just did a drawdown, so they didn’t get much. But the tool is no longer available.
If anyone has any suggestions for an alternative, please email.
Only 16:00. Obviously, it isn’t a joy-filled canticle. But, just more in the “leaving a record that not everyone was a teevee addicted oblivioid” in all of this. Thanks again to Elijah for the great work, as always.
On a tangential aside, I mention the dinner party I had in “the van” on Saturday night. That was actually Thanksgiving dinner, and it was delicious! I have finally started building my “Ann’s Recipe Box” above on the top menu, inspired to do so by several of the recipes I was able to make on Saturday. I’ll try to get more recipes populated onto that over the next several days.
1. First, a belated Happy Thanksgiving to one and all. Gobble gobble. The second November benefactor/supporter Mass was offered while all of you were still in your turkey comas on Friday. But remember, God is the actor at the Holy Sacrifice and so even passed out on a sofa, bloated and drooling on your blankie, completely oblivious to the fact that somewhere a Mass was being said for you, the Holy Sacrifice was offered, and all of the Angels and all of the Saints were there as Our Lord offered up Himself for you. I’ll let you know when the December Masses are scheduled.
2. I say this a lot, but it bears repeating:
The opposite of love or charity is not hate. The opposite of love is indifference.
3. While we’re on repeating memes, this can never be said too often either:
Meekness is not weakness. Meekness is power under control. Big, big difference.
4. Here’s a wonderfully humiliating thought: Human beings are the lowest grade of intellectual beings possible. Between the smartest human being and the dumbest human being, the angels see little difference.
Ouch. The truth hurts.
5. Here is a beautiful quote from St. Aelred of Rievaulx:
“Brothers, however cast down we may be by harassment or heartache, the consolations of Scripture will lift us up again. . . . I tell you, brothers, no misfortune can touch us, no situation so galling or distressing can arise that does not, as soon as Holy Writ seizes hold of us, either fade into nothingness or become bearable. This is the field where Isaac walked in the evening meditating, and where Rebecca came hurrying towards him and soothed with her gentle charm the grief that had befallen him. How often, good Jesus, does day incline to evening, how often does the daylight of some slight consolation fade before the black night of an intolerable grief? Everything turns to ashes in my mouth; wherever I look, I see a load of cares. If someone speaks to me, I barely hear; if someone knocks, I scarcely notice; my heart is turned to stone, my tongue sticks fast, my tear-ducts are dry. What then? Into the field I go to meditate. I reread the holy book; I note down my thoughts; and suddenly Rebecca comes running towards me and with her light, which is your grace, good Jesus, dispels the gloom, puts melancholy to flight, disintegrates my hardness. Soon sighs give way to tears, accompanied in their turn by heavenly joy. Unhappy are those who, when oppressed in spirit, do not walk into this field and find that joy.”
6. Here is a letter from the mailbag from a Vietnam vet with regards to St. Bibiana:
Ann,
I confess that had not heard of St. Bibiana, but I know of a Roman Catholic who walked that walk.
In the Mekong Delta in 1970, the VC would kidnap villagers to use them as porters or prostitutes. One girl who was kidnapped would not cooperate with the VC. She fought them, bit, scratched, kicked, screamed and made a general nuisance of herself. You see, she was a Roman Catholic. She would not cooperate with them in any way. The VC finally brought her back to her village and hung her on the barbed wire perimeter. It was the dry season. The VC disembowled her near an ant hill. She cried out. Every time a villager went out to rescue her he was shot at or shot. A soldier finally put her out of her misery from within the compound. I wish I knew that girl’s name, but I know the exact spot where she died because the village erected a memorial to her.
R
7. I came across this comment at Market-Ticker.org on the topic of raising the minimum wage and the disastrous consequences that follow – namely mass layoffs, forced automation, and businesses failing. I think this chap, “Debtisbadmmkay”, has hit on exactly what the dynamic is:
A lot of you guys are not thinking about what the real agenda is. There are two types of people that push this crap. The 1st type is the socialist pig leader who understands that push this crap and the 2nd type are the ignorant masses that can’t think through first level consequences let alone second level consequences.
The 1st group doesn’t care if the entire middle class quits taking this slightly lower paying job with a lot less stress. That is actually the goal. They want 98% of the people to make the exact same amount of money with themselves in the top 2%. They do not care if the overall prosperity of the nation is lower. What they care about is the delta between themselves and everyone else.
If they had to choose between them having a quality of life of 100 but everyone else is at a quality of life of 1 or them having a quality of life of 150 with everyone else at 100 they would choose the 100 and 1. All they care about is being better than everyone else and since they arent capable of building themselves up they would rather tear everyone else down. That is the goal.
The second larger group is just stupid.
I think this observation is spot-on. It relates back to what I have been talking about with regards to the “Cool Kids Club” dynamic. There are a lot of people running around whose main driving objective is to establish themselves as part of that “2%” that the commenter mentions – and that oligarchical stratification isn’t merely a function of wealth, it is also a function of morality. This is typically rooted in massive insecurity and deep-seated self-loathing, but also among a certain percentage of them is a function of sociopathy. There is a desperate need to feel “above”, “separate”, “special”, “elite” and ultimately this manifests as a denial of the Rule of Law, even the Laws of Mathematics, and certainly the Laws of God, aka objective morality. For this “2%” faux-class, the Rules simply do not apply. And if you want to be in their “good graces”, you had better be cool with that.
8. Which reminds me, here is a repost of the signs and traits of sociopathy/psychopathy. The more people there are who are aware of these pathologies, the less power they will have in society. Remember, just because a person demonstrates a few of these traits does not mean they are a sociopath. However, if a person fits, say 12 out of these 14 traits, well, prudence clearly dictates extreme caution.
Signs of Sociopathy and Psychopathy:
-They have glibness and superficial charm.
-They are manipulative and cunning. Under their feigned charm, they are covertly hostile and domineering.
-They have a grandiose sense of self.
-They are pathological, convincing, effortless liars. -They have no remorse, shame or guilt.
-They have shallow emotions.
-They have incapacity for love.
-They are not concerned about how many lives they wreck.
-They usually have promiscuous sexual behavior.
-They have poor work ethic but are masters of exploiting others.
-They have versatility; they will change their image or affiliations quickly to avoid prosecution.
-They are deeply contemptuous of anyone who understands them, or is “on to them”.
-They think only of their own immediate gratification.
-They are found in all political parties.
9. A reader introduced me to something wonderful after I posted the Allegretto from Beethoven’s 7th. Did you know that Franz Liszt transcribed all of Beethoven’s symphonies into solo piano arrangements? It’s incredible, and is like meeting old friends again for the first time. Here is the Allegretto transcription. Enjoy!
Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.
PATER NOSTER, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen.
The scourging to death of St. Bibiana in ARSH 363.
St. Bibiana was a young woman of Roman nobility in the Fourth Century. The wicked Roman emperor, Julian the Apostate, executed her parents and sister for being Christians, and then turned Bibiana over to a wicked woman and owner of a brothel named Rufina. Rufina, a pagan, was very skilled in recruiting and tricking girls into the sex trade, but Bibiana never, ever wavered or faltered. Bibiana, you see, was a CHRISTIAN FUNDAMENTALIST. When it became clear to Rufina, and then Julian, that they would get nowhere with Bibiana and that she would never, ever compromise on the FUNDAMENTALS OF CHRISTIANITY by either acknowledging in even the smallest way the pagan “gods”, or in matters of sexual purity, Julian had Bibiana tied to a column and scourged to death with a flagellum with lead beads attached to the tips of the leather straps, designed to tear away large chunks of her flesh with every stroke.
St. Bibiana, CHRISTIAN FUNDAMENTALIST, pray for us!
-*-
I was especially struck yesterday at Mass for the Feast of St. Bibiana by the strength of the variable parts of the Mass for a Virgin Martyr, especially the Introit and the Communion, both from, once again, Psalm 118, King David’s love song to the Law.
Introit: The wicked have waited for me to destroy me: but I have understood Thy testimonies, O Lord: I have seen an end of all perfection; Thy commandment is exceeding broad. Blessed are the undefiled in the way: who walk in the Law of the Lord. (Psalm 118: 95-96)
The phrase “Thy commandment is exceeding broad” is a bit easy to glaze over given its somewhat antiquated construction. What does “exceeding broad” mean? It means that God’s Law applies to all men in all places and in ALL TIMES. God’s Law does not have “edges”, and it will never be inapplicable or obsolete, it will never expire or change; it will never mislead or forsake those who follow it. Mankind has not, can not and will never “move beyond” God’s Law, no matter what anyone, and I mean ANYONE, tells you in order to try to win your favor.
Communion: I have done judgment and justice, O Lord, give me not up to them that slander me: I was directed to all Thy commandments, I have hated all wicked ways. (Psalm 118: 121, 122, 128)
Wow. Judging and hating wicked ways. Not encountering, dialoguing, valuing, accompanying and tenderly caressing. JUDGING AND HATING.
I have been asked to comment repeatedly on Pope Francis Bergoglio’s recent trip to Turkey, his facing Mecca and saying to the Mufti beside him, “We must adore God” before “praying” for several minutes, and his remark that the koran is a book of peace.
Sure. I can comment. It is extremely unpleasant, but I guess these things have to be said.
First, we have to go back to the core premise and sick reality that most people in today’s post-modern western world give every possible appearance of “not actually believing any of that bullshit“. And by “bullshit”, I mean Christianity. It is a badge of honor, sign of self-regarded elite enlightenment and intelligence (yeah, that’s a laugh-out-loud line), and a prerequisite for membership in the “Cool Kids Club” to deny Truth, and self-loathe the very house you live in.
Given this, most people, including it would appear Pope Francis, are incapable of processing how it is that musloids could possibly take islam and the koran seriously, because they have made quite clear that they do not take Christianity, the Bible including the words of Our Blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and the teaching of His Body and Bride, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, the least bit seriously, and are embarrassed and enraged by those who do.
And so, he tells musloid leaders to get islamic “fundamentalists” under control.
And there’s the key word: fundamentalists.
This is the definition of “fundamental”:
Adjective form: forming a necessary base or core; of central importance; affecting or relating to the essential nature of something or the crucial point about an issue; so basic as to be hard to alter, resolve, or overcome.
Noun form: a central or primary rule or principle on which something is based.
The root is the Latin “fundare”, meaning “to found”.
Now just sit in stillness with that for a moment.
Pope Francis hates “fundamentalist” Catholics and rails against them, that is Catholics who ACTUALLY BELIEVE in the most basic fundaments of Christianity. In fact, he has already destroyed a very successful and thriving order called the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate. What was their crime? Rampant sodomy? No. Teaching heresy? No. Escorting women into human abattoirs so they could slaughter their infant children? No. Their crime was that they believed in the Church and Her teachings, and preferred the Traditional Form of the Holy and August Sacrifice of the Mass. They celebrated both forms, but preferred the Traditional Mass. And they were growing exponentially. Until last year, when Pope Francis destroyed them. What is worse, he is refusing to let the Friars be released to go elsewhere, for example back to their home dioceses, where their bishops want them and could use them. Again, their crime? They ACTUALLY BELIEVE IN CATHOLICISM. They are FUNDAMENTALISTS.
So when Pope Francis goes before musloid leaders and tells them to “clamp down on fundamentalists”, he has street cred, because he has already destroyed one “fundamentalist” order, which has put terror in the hearts of every other genuinely, authentically Catholic order and fraternity out there. There is a palpable “lay low” mentality out there that simply did not exist two years ago today.
Terror, rape, murder, theft, looting, pillaging, lawlessness, aggression and the establishment of a decadent, jackbooted micro-oligarchy are FUNDAMENTALS of the islamic political system. The koran is an explicit manifesto of this. The faux-religious facade – the promise of sex in the afterlife, the submission to a capricious, evil faux-deity – is just that, a facade, taken seriously by only by those of below-average intelligence (due largely to centuries of inbreeding) and by those who are demonically oppressed or possessed, of which there are likely tens if not hundreds of millions worldwide today.
The difference here is the one thing that we are not allowed to speak about or even think in the rotting carcass of post-modern western civilization. There is ONE TRUTH. And what’s more, that ONE TRUTH resides in the Body and Bride of Christ – the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. One. There is ONE TRUTH. There is ONE TRUE RELIGION. One. The entire notion of “multiple truths” is self-contradictory, abject drooling nonsense.
This statement is today the crime of crimes. Sodomy? Who am I to judge? Abortion? Quit obsessing. Marxism? If you’re against it you must hate the poor. The Sixth Commandment? You’ve GOT to be kidding.
There is One Truth and only One True Religion? EVIL!! IMMODERATE!! SHAME ON YOU!! HOW DARE YOU SPEW YOUR HATE!! GET OUT!!
Since the post-modernists believe that there is no truth, or that there are multiple truths, which is at its core the same position as believing that there is no truth at all, they view Christianity and islam as being two variants on the same socio-political theme. And since all of the “Cool Kids” in the Catholic Church don’t actually believe any of that “Catholic bullshit”, they are mystified that there are actually musloids who actually believe any of their bullshit, and thus the admonition to get the “islamic fundamentalists” under control.
In short, these people believe that a Utopia can be brought about by purging the human race of anyone who actually believes anything, first among them being people who believe in the Truth, namely orthodox, practicing Catholics. Because, let’s face it, that is the stumbling block, the wrench in the monkey works. And then, sure, there can be musloids, just as long as they don’t actually believe in the fundamentals of the islamic political system, and there can be Hindus and Buddhists, just as long as they don’t actually believe any of their crap, and there can be Mormons and animists, and heck even wiccans and satanists, just as long as they don’t actually believe or take seriously any of their crap either. In fact, humanity will be “enriched” by the “diverse tapestry” of religions, just as soon as nobody actually believes or takes seriously any of that bullshit.
