Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates. (Proverbs 31:30-31)
Year: 2020
Mission Sunday, Gospel, Church and Anti-Church
‘Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s’ (Mt. 22: 21). ⧾ Today is World Mission Sunday and Catholics throughout the whole world are invited to pray and sacrifice in support of the Church’s missionary efforts. Today, even the poorest parishes around the world give from[…]
The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him (G.K. Chesterton)
What is Caesar’s, When All is God’s?
A clever writer[1] once observed that Jesus never made the mistake of qualifying any of his statements: “Sell you possessions, and give the money to the poor, . . .” “If your eye offend you, tear it out, . . .” “Take up your cross and follow me.” One might add the closing line from[…]
Go courageously to God, along the way He has traced out for you, steadfastly embracing the means He offers you. (Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, +1690)
The Great Barrington Declaration
Had you heard of the Great Barrington Declaration? Neither had I, until I came across a brief mention that searches for it have been submerged by Google – down the memory hole and it’s scarcely two weeks old – promulgated on October 4th, 2020. I would urge readers to peruse the text – it’s not[…]
When the mass of families in a State are without property, then those who were once citizens become virtually slaves. The more the State steps in to enforce conditions of security and sufficiency; the more it regulates wages, provides compulsory insurance, doctoring, education, and in general takes over the lives of the wage-earners, for the[…]
Trump, Celebrating Down’s and Go Barrett
October, as I just learned, has been decreed Down’s Syndrome Awareness Month, a worthy endeavour to celebrate the joyful, solid fact that every life is worth living, to fullness of its potential. Yet fewer and fewer children with Trisomy-21 – a genetic disorder discovered by Dr. Jerome Lejeune, whose own life was celebrated in these[…]
You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing and grace before I dip the pen in the ink (G.K. Chesterton)
Giving Thanks
A blessed and joyful Thanksgiving to all of our readers, and we may include our American neighbours, who, of course, hold their own day of thanks later in November, for various historical and cultural reasons (but who do honour Christopher Columbus on this day, resonant with its own cultural overtones, now, alas, controversial, even dangerous[…]