Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. (John 12:24)
Year: 2023
Mary’s Magnificat(s)
In honour of Mary’s Fiat on this Solemnity of the Annunciation, it is fitting we present Mary’s song of praise in two settings: The first by one of the greatest of Church musicians, Giovanni Pierluigi de Palestrina, a master of counterpoint polyphony, of the ars perfecta, the most perfect art of music. Palestrina was contemporaneous[…]
Et Verbo carum factum est, et habitavit in nobis (John 1:14)
Mary’s Fiat
A blessed solemnity of the Annunciation, to all our readers! This feast commemorates the conception of the Son of God in the womb of the Blessed Virgin, freely chosen by the young Hebrew maiden Mary, who was given a choice to make: Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum, May it be done to me according to[…]
The Trudeau-Biden Trouble With Truth
“What is truth?” The famous question posed by Pontius Pilate to Jesus is operative in a unique way during Lent. It carries obvious relevance insofar as it’s drawn from the passage of the Gospel of John which anchors the Passion narrative on Good Friday. Moreover, at the outset of Lent, the faithful are reminded of[…]
A pastor of souls must be careful to animate all his exterior actions and labours in the service of his neighbour with the interior spirit of compunction, humility, zeal, charity, and tender devotion. Without this he loses the fruit of all the pains he takes, and by them will often deserve only chastisements in the[…]
Distinguishing Equalities
The third person of the unholy triad of the new religion is siamese and it is worth distinguishing between these twins since it may appear, considering that they are conjoined, that they are interchangeable or identical. Equity and equality will be treated generally although the arguments presented will apply similarly in the special case of[…]
Dumbed Down and Drugged Up
Intelligence is a difficult thing to define, never mind measure. But we can gain some idea of what ‘intelligence’ implies – knowledge of fundamental principles; problem solving; analogical reasoning; a smattering of history, geography, numerology, maths, physics, chemistry, literature. But it’s not so much about knowing facts – although that factors in – but how[…]
Jane Austen’s Sensible Conscience
It’s hard to contain my pleasure or my surprise at the continuing interest in Jane Austen. The more-or-less successful adaptations[1] of her books for film and television as well as a library of offshoot novels indicate that many people who would seem to disagree on every other topic join in admiring her. The agreement, however,[…]
A True Fairy Tale
We have heard that “God moves in mysterious ways his wonders to perform,”[1] a phrase that occurred to me as I listened to the account of David’s being anointed as king. Surprisingly, according to the first book of Samuel, he was chosen in part because he was good looking: “he was ruddy, and had beautiful[…]