Supernatural Priorities

‘Tis not easy at a time like this to think rationally – for the world is entering a rather uncertain phase of history, to put it uncertainly, with God truly seeming to write straight with crooked lines.

But here are some thoughts and suggestions, for what they are worth, which may help with your own discernment.

For reading, while isolating at home, delve into Pope Saint John Paul II’ s Evangelium Vitae, whose introductory section reminds us that this life is but a ‘penultimate reality’, echoing Leo XIII’s statement in his Rerum Novarum that “only in the next life will be really begin to live”.  We should keep that in mind, as this temporal existence exposes its inherent fragility in this crisis.

You may also want to peruse Pope Benedict XVI’s Spe Salvi, in whose opening salvo Benedict clarifies that our hope is not in anything in this transient life – all the riches, goods, income, mortgages, even friendships – but, rather, we hope in the goods of our Faith, in that supernatural hope which only Christ offers. Everything else, as Saint Paul says, is ultimately dross.

Although we must take what precautionary measures are prudent – and the more extreme the threat, the more extreme the measures – we should be cautious in focusing too much on these. For we also need the sacraments, in some way, shape or form. At the very least, Viaticum, Confession, and some reception, one hopes, of the Eucharist, even if attendance at Mass must be attenuated. Also, people have a right to get married and have their children baptized.

We should recall that the Church’s primary mission is not to save or prolong our Earthly life, but to get us to heaven, through the spiritually nourishing and healing sacraments, along with her supernatural and infallible teaching. She is mater et magistra, Mother and Teacher – not a U.N. agency or NGO.

Just so, our own primary goal should not be to save our own bodies, but to save our souls. Part of that may soon likely mean helping others worse off than we are, those who may become truly sick, the old and infirm, exposing ourselves to some level of harm, as our front-line health care workers are already doing, regardless of how ‘safe’ we have kept those same bodies. Medicine is quickly becoming the vocational endeavour it is meant to be. We must have – or pray for and cultivate – the courage of the saints, that parrhesia of which Saint Paul speaks, and not the pusillanimity of the bureaucrat and the legalist. Ponder Pier Giorgio, dying of polio in the prime of his life, contracted helping the poor – and any number of other examples may be adduced.

Don’t get me wrong: We should obey the authorities, insofar as we are able, and do what is necessary to avoid a disastrous outbreak. At the same time, it seems this crisis – whatever the ultimate danger posed by this strange virus, news of which seems to mirror its own chameleon-esque nature – is exposing certain weaknesses and questionable priorities in the Church, perhaps not fully explicit, a tendency to a vague secular and materialist mindset, present in our own souls, let us be honest, which we are called to examine, face and overcome.

After all, life in one sense is all about risk, and the very act of being alive is to advance towards death, with the memento mori a necessary reminder. For our whole lives may be reduced, in one sense, to a preparation for that final meeting with Christ, in which we will be judged, not on our safety, our procedures, our management of risk, or our lockstep obedience to Caesar – all necessary in their own way. Rather, we will be judged on love, which means having our priorities straight, to love God above all things, and being willing to sacrifice for the other, even to lay down our own lives.

After all, if we do thus, no greater reward will we have, in that life where we truly begin to live.

So have hope, dear reader, whatever the weeks and months may hold. Take what precautions you must, but at the same time, trust in God and praise Him still, our Saviour and our God.

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→