Taigi, Technology and Temperance
We should be cautious of private revelations, and hence, in all the remarkable charisms given to Blessed Anna Maria Taigi (+ June 9th, 1837), it is the sanctity of her life that should stand out, her desire to suffer with Christ for souls. She was also given, almost unique in the annals of the saints, the gift of prophecy, of healing, of reading minds and hearts, including a mysterious, hovering ‘globe’ – sort of a mini-Sun, surrounded by a crown of thorns – in which she could see events across space and time, the travails, plots of men and societies.
One thing that I recall from a talk I heard on Bd. Taigi years ago was that it was revealed to her that a ‘mysterious black box’ would in the future be placed in every living room, through which Satan could enter and wreak insidious havoc in souls. Back then, what came to mind was, of course television, corruptive in its own way. Now, with the Internet, soon the inescapable ubiquity of the 5-G variety, we have the capacity, the temptation, of quite depraved iniquity entering into the most intimate aspects of our interior and exterior castles, for we now carry such ‘black boxes’ around everywhere we go.
That said, all technology, all media, may be turned to the good, even if some, such as ‘smart’ phones, incline all too many to some sort of evil, even if it be that of whittling away too much precious and irrevocable time. We must be sure that we control the technology, and it does not control us, which requires in today’s saturated culture more than a little tad of discipline.
It is with this in mind that we may reflect on this anniversary of the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous, when Dr. Bob Smith, a physician who had struggled for years with progressive addiction to alcohol, took his last drink on this day in 1935. One might ponder that it was a beer he downed to steady his hands – he was suffering from delirium tremens – so he could complete a delicate operation (he was a colo-rectal surgeon). Dr. Smith was sober until his death on November 16th, 1950, ironically from colon cancer.
I will not delve into the debate here on the various methods to ‘cure’ alcoholism – whether it can be cured is itself up for grabs, nor what sort of illness, disease or disorder it is, nor its complex aetiology. Most people are able, at least in theory, to control their use of alcohol by the virtue of temperance, which is not the same as the movement named after the cardinal virtue.
Yet Alcoholics Anonymous is rather firm on the principle that for those whom alcohol has consumed – to flip the tables on what should be the proper order – the only way out of the bottle is total abstinence, via reliance upon a ‘higher power’ and a strong support group, a method, a way of life really, that has worked for untold thousands of people, whose lives otherwise were and would have been train wrecks of varying degrees of tragedy.
But, like anything that may be turned to the good, and whatever other religions may say, there is nothing wrong with alcohol in itself, a gift from God ‘to cheer men’s hearts’, as Psalm 104 has it, but sometimes these gifts must be offered back to God in sacrifice, hopefully with a joy that transcends the natural order, a prelude of that happiness that never ends.
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→