The Devil Made Me Do It
How does the Devil enter a soul? Obviously through grave sin, but many commit such sins and don’t seem to be overtly possessed, or commit heinous crimes, like the tragedy on Ash Wednesday. I wonder what went on in the soul of the shooter in the Florida massacre, whose fame I will not increase by writing out his name, nor the one in Vegas, nor back in Colombine, or any number of these mass slaughters that seem to have arisen only in cultural twilight of the twentieth and the dawn of the twenty-first century.
Mark Steyn lists a number of converging causes, lack of fatherhood, the internet, lost identity, lack of religion and purpose in life, and, not least the almost complete dysfunction of education itself, filled with perpetual and aimless students who learn little and do even less, coming out unprepared for life and reality. No wonder people are lost and depressed.
The shooter, one of these aimless souls, apparently heard ‘voices in his head’. A good legal defense, but one wonders. He supposedly tried to run away in the midst of his former classmates, before sitting down for a drink at a fast-food joint. I suppose once the Evil One is done with one of his minions he just lets him go.
Was he insane? He looks it, but so did Hitler. What is the line between certain forms of ‘insanity’ and diabolical possession? Curiously, this five year old post after the Newtown slaughter of grade-schoolers evinces that most of these killers were on some kind of medically-prescribed psychotropic drugs to cure a ‘mental illness’ that may well have had, rather, a spiritual etiology. What produces a pathetic individual like the one we have seen on the front page of the news cannot just be physiological and cultural.
Alas, and fie.
Then again, we are all capable of grave evil, if we but let go of the charity and grace of God. As Saint Therese was once reported to have quipped, it is not what souls in mortal sin do that surprises her, but what they don’t do.
And what they don’t do is so far limited, by and large, by the thin, and getting thinner, veneer of ‘civilization’ and ‘culture’. As that breaks down, we are likely to see more Floridas and Vegases and Newtons.
Pray for the killer, pray for his victims, and may God have mercy upon all.
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 Closed, Unsustainable, Descending Loop
As a follow-up to my thoughts on Payette’s payout, here be a stark image of where are here in Canada. As the graph shows in, well, graphic terms, since 2025, the public sector has contributed to 95.5% of economic growth. The private sector – which funds the public sector, or is supposed to – has[…]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→
Presidential Pardon of Weronika Krawczyk
As a good news, follow-up to our story from Poland, of the persecution of Weronika Krawczyk for her pro-life views, we heard that she has been granted a presidential pardon. One might still wonder why one needs a presidential pardon for simply holding the long-held belief that the child within the womb is a child,[…]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→
Pope Leo and a Rosary for Peace
Pope Leo XIV has asked Catholics across the world to join him in a Rosary for peace today, at 18:00 Rome time (6 pm), which would be noon from where I write (EST). If you are able, whether at that time or another, and in whatever way you pray, to join in intercession with the[…]Continue reading→
Payette’s Payout
I was glancing through some headlines, and noticed a mention of Julie Payette – engineer and astronaut and sometime the Queen’s representative in Canada – which brought back vague memories. She was appointed Governor-General by Justin Trudeau in 2017. Ms. Payette resigned in 2021, amidst claims that she created a ‘toxic work environment’, with allegations[…]Continue reading→