Saints

8 07, 2021

How Can I Close the House of God?—Fr. Ganni

By Father David Nix|2021-07-07T21:46:52+00:00July 8th, 2021|Theology|

About four years ago, I said on the phone to my Navy SEAL friend (with whom I did this podcast and this podcast this year) that I feared the rise of militant Islam would persecute Christians in the West again. What he said surprised me, namely that he feared more the rise of secularism in the West as a bigger threat to Catholics. We'll come back to this suggestion halfway through this blog. On the 3rd of June 2007, Trinity Sunday after Pentecost, a 35 year-old Chaldean Catholic priest named Fr. Ragheed Ganni was shot and killed in his home country of Iraq by Muslims for not converting to Islam [...]

8 07, 2021

QuickPod: Inculturation with SS Cyril and Methodius

By Father David Nix|2021-07-08T02:51:15+00:00July 8th, 2021|Podcasts, Sermons, Talks|

What is the difference between true inculturation found in the traditional missionaries who made thousands of converts to Catholicism and the modernist idea of "meeting people where they are at" that only makes temporary converts?

6 07, 2021

Discerning “The Great Reset” vs. “The Empire of Love”
Discerning “The Great Reset” vs. “The Empire of Love”

Discerning “The Great Reset” vs. “The Empire of Love”

By Father David Nix|2021-07-04T02:14:14+00:00July 6th, 2021|Theology|

Michael Matt recently made the point that the Great Reset is not an attack on man as much as an attack on God. As Mr. Matt mentioned here, "even Adolph Hitler paid lip-service to God." Indeed, the architects of the Great Reset like Klaus Schwab want to direct all of humanity in place of God without mention of God. The Great Reset is not only a project of genocide, but also an attempted attack on God Himself. I believe the most common phrase in the entire Bible is "Be Not Afraid." It is in the Bible over 365 times. So, if Christ's message is: "Be Not Afraid" then we must [...]

11 05, 2021

Was St. John the Baptist Justified in the Womb of St. Elizabeth by the Voice of St. Mary?
Was St. John the Baptist Justified in the Womb of St. Elizabeth by the Voice of St. Mary?

Was St. John the Baptist Justified in the Womb of St. Elizabeth by the Voice of St. Mary?

By Father David Nix|2021-05-10T16:24:03+00:00May 11th, 2021|Theology|

In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!"—Lk 1:39-42 (ESV) Many Church Fathers teach that St. John the Baptist was justified (cleansed of original sin) as soon as he heard the voice of Mary when he was in the womb of his mother Elizabeth. (This is one reason [...]

6 05, 2021

The Near-Martyrdom of St. John the Apostle
The Near-Martyrdom of St. John the Apostle

The Near-Martyrdom of St. John the Apostle

By Father David Nix|2021-05-05T00:22:23+00:00May 6th, 2021|Theology|

As most of you know, the only apostle not martyred was St. John the Beloved (also called St. John the Theologian.) But as seen in the FSSP Ordo today (the 6th of May) there is an optional 4th class feast of St. John's near-martyrdom in boiling oil at the Latin Gate that is even celebrated in red (R) by the priest (if he can find it at the back of his '62 Missal!) Here's the Roman Calendar as produced by the FSSP: As the definitive and ancient Roman Martyrology reads on the 6th of May, "In Rome, the feast of St. John before the Latin Gate. Being bound and brought [...]

26 01, 2021

How Our Age of Church History Is Different From All Others in the Past
How Our Age of Church History Is Different From All Others in the Past

How Our Age of Church History Is Different From All Others in the Past

By Father David Nix|2021-01-26T01:08:16+00:00January 26th, 2021|Theology|

As I finished up Vespers tonight for the Conversion of St. Paul and got my ribbons ready for tomorrow on my old-school Divine Office for the third-class feast of St. Polycarp, I realized something tonight: Whereas St. Paul probably prayed all 150 Psalms by memory in Hebrew every day or every week, and whereas St. Paul probably asked for intercession for the people he killed before his own conversion and perhaps even asked intercession for all those he names in his letter to the Hebrews (ch. 11-13) there is something St. Paul and St. Polycarp did not have: 2000 years of saints and martyrs in the Catholic calendar and roll-call [...]

12 01, 2021

“When You Say It, Don’t Hide”—Bl. Jacinta Marto
“When You Say It, Don’t Hide”—Bl. Jacinta Marto

“When You Say It, Don’t Hide”—Bl. Jacinta Marto

By Father David Nix|2021-01-12T15:54:46+00:00January 12th, 2021|Theology|

Usually when I bring the beginnings of repentance for my sins to prayer, I sense a deeper call to repentance. (In other words, when I begin to repent in prayer, I find I'm not repenting nearly enough.) Lately, I have been trying to bring to prayer the shame I have that I come to such radically different conclusions than almost all other priests online on the issues of 2021. Going to prayer, I expect to feel more shame for these differences of opinion I have with most of the hierarchy. But amazingly (and I realize what we sense in prayer is by no means infallible and probably shouldn't even go [...]

13 10, 2020

Myth Busting: St. Francis of Assisi and Private Property
Myth Busting: St. Francis of Assisi and Private Property

Myth Busting: St. Francis of Assisi and Private Property

By Father David Nix|2020-10-13T13:37:10+00:00October 13th, 2020|Theology|

St. Francis of Assisi (one of my favorite saints) is again being twisted into a communist and a pacifist. To dispel this, you can read the gold-standard biography by St. Bonaventure called The Life of St. Francis of Assisi. In the 20th century, GK Chesterton wrote St. Francis of Assisi. He recounts this unusual interaction: "The good Bishop of Assisi expressed a sort of horror at the hard life which the Little Brothers lived at the Portiuncula, without comforts, without possessions, eating anything they could get and sleeping anyhow on the ground. St. Francis answered him with that curious and almost stunning shrewdness which the unworldly can sometimes wield like a club [...]

7 09, 2020

The French Revolution and the American-Catholic Today
The French Revolution and the American-Catholic Today

The French Revolution and the American-Catholic Today

By Father David Nix|2020-09-07T19:13:55+00:00September 7th, 2020|Theology|

Art by Gloria Thomas. I'm 98% sure my history text book in Catholic grade school portrayed the French Revolution as a good thing. We learned the aristocrats were against “fraternity, equality and liberty" and that is apparently all we needed to know as 7th graders in a Catholic grade school in Denver. But the reality is that the French Revolution was a mass martyrdom of Catholics. Though done in the name of dis-empowering aristocrats (only 30 of the 1400 executed in the initial “Terror” in Paris were aristocrats) this bloody revolution was nothing short of a revolt against God and an overturning of all social order. There is a Catholic [...]

11 07, 2020

Why Mother Cabrini Would Not Want Herself to Replace Columbus on the Colorado Calendar
Why Mother Cabrini Would Not Want Herself to Replace Columbus on the Colorado Calendar

Why Mother Cabrini Would Not Want Herself to Replace Columbus on the Colorado Calendar

By Father David Nix|2020-07-11T02:59:45+00:00July 11th, 2020|Theology|

CNN recently reported, “Colorado passed legislation Tuesday to replace Columbus Day with Cabrini Day because bill sponsors say it doesn't represent their community members. The first Monday of October will now honor Frances Xavier Cabrini, who according to the bill, is the woman responsible for creating 67 schools, hospitals, and orphanages in the United States and South and Central America throughout her lifetime. Sen. Chris Hansen, one of the bill's sponsors, told CNN that Cabrini is a local Colorado hero because of the work that she did. Chicago and New York join Colorado in honoring Cabrini with a shrine dedicated to her, Rep. Adrienne Benavidez, another one of the bill's [...]