Lust, Esto Vir and Franco

Of all the sins, Saint Thomas says (II-II.153.5) that lust perverts the reason the most, its intensity – meant to bond together a man and a woman in holy matrimony, so they will persevere through the purgatory that is raising children and putting up with each other’s faults – when misused leads to grave disorders, jealousies, tensions, loneliness, lack of fulfilment, self-absorption and quite literally, in-sanity and some degree of dis-integration. Please do peruse Paula Adamick’s recent take on this topic, prompted by an old documentary, which seems well worth perusing itself.

And, as providence would have it, just recently Hugh Hefner’s memorabilia went up for sale. This sad old man – who died in 2017, spending his last pathetic days in even worse personal degradation than he did his first – is an image of what human beings should not do with the time they have and the gifts they have been given. We know not his personal fate – and we may hope that he somehow repented at the end – but that stuff, at least the pornographic relics, should just be burned, along with all the evil and degradation he brought into the world.

We should strive, rather to be men, like Saint Andrew, whose name in Greek, Andreas, means man, or virile, all that ‘masculine’ entails, including the capacity to control one’s sexual impulses, and treat women with the dignity they deserve, seeing them with as much purity as our fallen nature, healed and elevated by grace, may allow. Esto vir, as Monsignor Escriva wrote. Be a man, echoing the exhortation given to Joshua by God. Yes, there is concupiscence, all those disordered movements of our passions contrary to reason, but there is also that echo of original justice, that primordial inner harmony by which we might see ‘woman’ with the same awe and wonder and innocence that Adam did, before the Fall.

Our very society depends upon such. For as John Paul II warned, as the family goes, so goes society.

And a final note on a comment made by a reader on the apparent ‘hagiography’ published here of Francesco Franco. I don’t think Paula Adamick’s article made him out to be a saint, but he was a faithful Catholic, and not a war criminal. A civil war is a brutal war, and Spain’s particularly so, with thousands of Catholic laity, priests and nuns violated, tortured and murdered; it quite literally was a fight to the death, and if Franco had to use brutal methods, well, desperate times… I would not condone intrinsic evil, and hope he avoided that, but the thin red line is fine indeed in war.

Imagine if he had lost, the outcome of the subsequent world war may have been quite different, and not in a good way; as bad as Yalta was, we should be thankful that Communism did not gain a grip on Western Europe as well as Eastern. There are many small and large mercies in God’s good providence, even if at first they do not seem to be so.

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→

Remembering Father Alphonse de Valk

(Today marks the sixth anniversary of the death of Father Alphonse de Valk, C.S.B., a faithful, courageous and indefatigable Basilian priest, pro-life-and-family apostle, and the founder of Catholic Insight magazine. Here is what we wrote those on his entering into eternity five years ago, as we continue to remember him in our prayers and thoughts)[…]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→

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→

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→

Weronika Krawczyk and Injustice in Poland

Catholic Action in Poland has issued a formal statement appealing to the President of the Republic of Poland to pardon Weronika Krawczyk—convicted for warning other women against an abortion-performing gynaecologist. Catholic Action (AK) emphasizes that no apology is owed to a doctor who has performed numerous abortions and proposed others; furthermore, the organization considers the[…]Continue reading→

Three Easter Musical Gems: Bach, Palestrina and Byrd

A very blessed and glorious Easter! Christus surrexit vere, alleluia! As we begin this Easter Octave with the great Solemnity of Easter, music to lift the soul would be one of Bach’s Easter cantatas, composed during his time at Leipzig in the early 1700’s, for the six Sundays of this festive season, leading up to[…]Continue reading→

Saint Isidore of Seville, the Internet and Industriousness

Today, April 4th, muted this year by Holy Saturday, is the commemoration of Saint Isidore of Seville (560-636) a bishop and doctor of the Church during a tumultuous age, when civilization was crumbling, coming apart at its very seams, which may sound sort of au courant. Then again, the form of this world has always[…]Continue reading→

An Ancient Homily for Holy Saturday

The time between Good Friday and Easter Sunday is one of waiting, in silence, as the world wonders – anticipates – what will happen, after the death of Christ. We re-live this time each year in the anamnesis of our liturgy, and in turn look forward to the glorious re-creation of all things at the[…]Continue reading→