Of Death and Baptism
Another day, yet another terrorist attack, this time in Israel, where a Palestinian, an ‘ISIS sympathizer’, drove a truck through a squad of Israeli soldiers, backing over his victims, before being shot to death by Israeli soldiers and a ‘tour guide’. Hmm. Even the tour guides are armed in lsrael, which is always on edge. But how does one guard against an enemy within one’s midst, where every vehicle is a weapon of mass destruction? Ideological and cultural borders will be the wave of the future, as they were the past. But our ancestors knew what they were about, as our modern generation does not. People generally act upon their beliefs, and if they believe in jihad, that the ‘infidel’ have no rights, in dhimmitude and forced conversion, well…
And speaking of conversion, today is the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which normally falls on a Sunday, being the first Sunday in Ordinary Time. This year, with Advent being as long as it could be, the feast was on a Monday. It would be good, as we proceed into the ferial days which will eventually bring us into Lent, on the effects and purpose of our own Baptism, what it means for us. The common profession of faith is what binds us together as Catholics, a store of beliefs that guides and shapes our conduct, our thoughts, our culture and civilization. We should have great gratitude that we are given the truth, gratis, freely, as an inheritance of our birth into a Catholic family, a truth that we are bound to share with others, when and how we can.
So onward Christian soldier, in the true ‘warfare’ for all that is true, good and beautiful, not with guns and bombs, but with humility, charity and goodwill, along with a healthy and supernatural dose of courage, humour and resolve, willing to die for our faith, rejoicing our way into heaven. In that light, to paraphrase Saint Paul, all our travails, struggles and sufferings will seem as naught.
Carney’s Amoral Majority
After five defections – euphemistically described as ‘crossing the floor’ – and three by-elections, Mark Carney and his Liberals how have their coveted majority. One wonders what bowls of pottage were offered in back-room deals. In the archaic monarchical system that is the Dominion of Canada, this majority allows the newly-minted Prime Minister to rule[…]Continue reading→
Saint Kateri , Canada’s Protectress
This was the title given to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, by Pope Benedict XVI, when he canonized her on October 28th, 2012, along with six others, in Saint Peter’ Square (she had been beatified by Pope John Paul II back in 1980). With Saint Joseph as our protector, along with the Canadian martyrs, we seem to[…]Continue reading→
A Tale of Two Benedicts
A grace-filled Holy Week to all our readers! As we await and prepare for the Resurrection about to dawn upon us, we might keep in mind two Benedicts: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, requiescat in pace, elected on this day in 2005; and today’s commemoration of the mystic pilgrim, Benedict Joseph Labre, who died on this[…]Continue reading→
My Name is Bernadette
April 16th is a propitious day, for besides the anniversary of Father de Valk’s death, who founded Catholic Insight in its print form decades ago, and the commemoration of the ‘two Benedicts’, mentioned in accompanying posts, today we also recall Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the young visionary to whom the Virgin Mary appeared numerous times at[…]Continue reading→
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam and Suffering Joyfully
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam (1380 – 1433) was one of the countless and glorious ‘victim souls’ in the history of the Church, those whose lives are filled with suffering, often of an unimaginable intensity, but who suffer joyfully. She was a fifteen-year old Dutch girl, out skating one day, when she fell and broke one[…]Continue reading→
The Glorious Martyrdoms of Martin and Maximus
As we enter into Eastertide, we recall on this 13th of April Pope Saint Martin I (+655), one of the noblest, if most tragic, of the successors of Saint Peter. Born in Umbria, Italy, he was of noble lineage, with great intelligence combined with charity and love of the poor and the Church. While still[…]Continue reading→
Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów
We celebrate Saint Stanislaus today (+ April 11, 1079), in light of this Easter Octave, a bishop and martyr who accepted the episcopacy only at the direct order of Pope Alexander II. He proved a wise and courageous leader of his flock, put to death by his own king, Boleslaus, for rebuking the monarch’s ‘immoral[…]Continue reading→
Saint Gemma Galgani
On this April 11th, in 1903 – the same year that the Italian Guiseppe Sarto was elected Pope later that summer as Pius X – a lovely, young Italian woman died, by the name of Gemma Galgani. She lived a brief life of 24 years, as did a number of other young saints, including Pier[…]Continue reading→
An Ideological and Improper Translation
I noticed something odd with the psalm reading at Mass the other day. Our bishops’ conference here in Canada has decreed that the Mass in English – Novus Ordo – use the ‘NRSV’, the ‘New Revised Standard Version’, an ‘updated’ translation of the original RSV, first published in 1952. This ‘new translation’ has the tendency[…]Continue reading→
Saint Jean-Baptiste de la Salle: A Teacher for Teachers
Jean-Baptiste de la Salle (1651 – 1719), a French nobleman, ordained a priest, founded the first order in the Church’s history entirely without priests, and this came about almost by accident. I say ‘almost’, for, of course, there are no accidents with God. Destined for ordination from an early age, Jean-Baptiste never looked back, even[…]Continue reading→