Posts
The Transfiguration shows that Baptism changes us? Why were Moses and Elijah there? (they fasted)
When Moses returned from the mountain with the tablets of the commandments, we are told that his face shone (the Douay Rheims reports that his face was horned). Moses did not even see the Lord face to face, but yet his body was changed, literally. Today, on the feast of the Transfiguration, we read the Peter,…
From Under the Rubble…Hit The Kill Switch
“I’ve been a fan of military history most of my life, and I’ve never seen a weapon developed that wasn’t eventually used. So if I were you, and there was something I really wanted to do with my life, I wouldn’t put it off for long.” With that memorable observation, Professor Bernard Norling wound up…
No Holiness In Dissension From the Pope
Recent days have seen much media attention focused upon the words and person of the Holy Father, Pope Francis. Not a little bit of this commentary has been disconcerting, not only from those who would twist his words to fit a secular agenda, but also from those who are supposedly faithful but seem to want…
Janet Smith on Humanae Vitae at 45
A refreshing look from premier defender of life, founder of the Women’s Care Center and Professor who holds the Father Michael J. McGivney Chair of Life Ethics at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit. Be sure to see the letter written by Padre Pio to Pope Paul VI two months after the promulgation of the…
Bomb-Throwing Jesuits
The tomb of St. Ignatius Loyola is situated at a brilliant side altar in the Society of Jesus’s Mother church in Rome, the Church of the Gesu. One of the most striking features of the tomb of St. Ignatius is the sculpture to the right of the altar entitled “Religion Overthrowing Heresy and Hatred” by…
Suffering the Ignorant Orthopraxis of Our Day
One of the things I really like about how God ordered this world is precisely how unassuming some of the greatest things He has worked really are to the passer by. If you didn’t look, you wouldn’t notice. It’s so easy to take them for granted until you look with the eyes of faith that…
From Under the Rubble…Soma for the Sexually Comatose
Folks don’t normally talk about contraception in polite company, they just quietly use it. But during the 2012 election campaign, a sleazy but brilliantly conceived dog-and-pony show made contraceptives a sudden centerpiece of the liberal campaign agenda. The message was simple: “Contraception is good (you’re using it, aren’t you?), but some nasty old rich men…
Gay Marriage is ‘A Sign of Apocalypse’: Russian Patriarch Kiril Speaks His Mind
In America, we are all too familiar with the scene where one person speaks their mind and states an opinion contrary to what others perceive to be the “correct” thing to say. Immediately, that person will be jumped on verbally and accused of being any various number of things, “arrogant,” “intolerant,” or worse, sometimes they…
Contraception and the Sovereignty of God (or, Why Acceptance of Humanae Vitae Should Be a Litmus Test for Church Personnel)
Recently, a priest friend of mine was recounting to me his experience of an appreciation dinner for “liturgical ministers” in the parish where he is an associate. I must confess, the first image that came to my mind when he said this was the bar scene at Mos Eisley Space Port from the original Star…
From Under the Rubble…The Charitable Burden of Truth
“The best way of treating people with dignity is to tell them the truth.” Now there’s a revolutionary idea. In fact, it’s a Catholic idea, and these days, in a world where reality has been turned upside down, the Catholic devotion to truth – to the Way, the Truth, and the Life – might well be revolutionary….