p/c St. Mary's of Pine Bluff, WI. There's an English gentleman named Tom Holland (who I don't think considers himself a Christian) who recently wrote a book called Dominion about what is unique about Christianity.  He wrote about how Christianity conquered the West not through violence but through the enduring of the cross.  One reason he did this is because he saw with his own eyes crucifixions done by ISIS several years ago.  Holland realized the inverted power-structures that we still value in even the post-Christian West essentially come from early Christianity.  Holland compared Medieval Christian monarchs to pre-Christian Roman monarchs in the introduction to his book: "That the Son [...]

Matins for the Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle in the old Rite Roman Breviary includes this reading today: For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we [...]