Avoiding Decisions in Desolation, Part 2: Specifics
p/c Daily Wire. In early 2023, Jordan Peterson (above left) interviewed Chloe Cole (above right) with probably well over 10 million listens across all forums. Chloe is an 18 year old woman who suffered gender-dysphoria and began to chemically "transition" at the age of 12. At the age of 15, she had a double-mastectomy that she described on this interview as "barbaric." She is now suing her surgeons and Kaiser Permanente of California as they proceeded into mutilating surgeries when she was not able to give informed-consent. Obviously, she could not give informed-consent to a mutilating reproductive surgery firstly because it was a mutilating sexual surgery and secondly due to her age and psychological desolation at the time. The first half of the two-hour interview was brilliant. However, I am not going to link the interview because in the second hour, [...]
Avoiding Decisions in Desolation, Part 1: Generalities
Five years ago, Sensus Fidelium produced a talk I gave called Making Decisions Without Fear based on the teaching of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Today we're going to delve much deeper into that oft-quoted parable of St. Ignatius "Don't make decisions in desolation." That is correct. But the original version from the saint goes like this: In time of desolation, we should never make any change, but remain firm and constant in the resolution and decision which guided us the day before the desolation, or in the decision to which we adhered in the preceding consolation. For just as in consolation the good spirit guides and counsels us, so in desolation the evil spirit guides and counsels. Following his [the evil spirit's] counsels, we can never find the way to a right decision.—Spiritual Exercises Rule I.5. Let's unpack this. First, [...]
The Resurrection, Truth and Compromise
In Christ's Passion, we see what we ought to suffer for the truth, and in His resurrection, what we ought to hope for in eternity.—St. Thomas Aquinas. Jesus Christ died for love of every man and woman and child who would ever live, and this was done on occasion of our many sins throughout time. But if you look at the above quote from St. Thomas Aquinas, you see that the more immediate and historical cause of Christ's death was His defense of "the truth." That is, Christ would not compromise on the truth of His Father's religion or liturgy. The Sanhedrein had been targeting Christ for at least two years, but we learn in the Gospels, especially those of Passiontide, that the Pharisees' hatred was greatly fed by Christ's raising of Lazarus and His cleansing of the Temple. Again, [...]
Funeral Sermon for my Mom
My last podcast was what I preached at a Requiem TLM in Holy Week. This podcast is the funeral sermon I preached at my parents' parish at a Mass in English (which I did not offer, but rather sat in choir.) I thank from the bottom of my heart our auxiliary bishop and the twenty priests of my Archdiocese who attended either the Vigil or the funeral Mass for my mother.
O Crux Ave, Spes Unica!
With the death of my mother, and amidst praising God for what seemed like a very good death graced to her, I have done a lot of thinking about the Cross and the Resurrection. While it is true that many saints indicate that those closest to Jesus seem to suffer the most on earth, we also must remember that everyone (regardless of religion) will face much pain and suffering and death on this planet. If everyone suffers, then why is Christianity so unique? It is unique because it is the only world-religion that allows us to praise God in the fiery-furnace, in the storm, even from the cross. That might seem sentimental or remind you of an evangelical praise song, but I have been doing a lot of thinking about world-religions' answer to suffering. Buddhism comes closest to having an [...]
Sermon At My Mother’s Requiem Mass
My mother, Claire Nix, fell asleep in the Lord on the third of April 2023. I was there with my whole family. This is the sermon I gave two days later. Please say an Our Father for my mother.
Commandments and Traditions
The Gospel found in the Traditional Latin Mass for the Wednesday of the third week of Lent includes this excoriation from Our Lord Jesus Christ to the Pharisees: Then came to Him from Jerusalem scribes and Pharisees, saying: "Why do Thy disciples transgress the tradition of the ancients? For they wash not their hands when they eat bread." But He answering, said to them: "Why do you also transgress the commandment of God for your tradition? For God said: 'Honour thy father and mother: And: He that shall curse father or mother, let him die the death.' But you say: 'Whosoever shall say to father or mother, The gift whatsoever proceedeth from me, shall profit thee.' And he shall not honour his father or his mother: and you have made void the commandment of God for your tradition (mandatum Dei propter traditionem [...]
Pachamama and the Plagues of Egypt
Have we already forgotten the men who put a Pachamama idol in the Vatican? Have we forgotten the bishops and Cardinals who were complicit in this First Commandment violation through their resounding silence? As we will see, there are Biblical patterns that make sense of the fact that the people currently promoting pagan worship in the Catholic Church are the same ones overturning traditional worship. First of all, consider the fact that the word "Paschal" (Easter) has the same roots as "Passover." The Oxford Dictionary explains that "Paschal" was originally Middle English from the Old French taken from the ecclesiastical Latin paschalis. This word came from the similar Greek and Aramaic word which originally came from the Hebrew Pesaḥ meaning ‘Passover.' And what was the first Passover in Exodus all about? It was about the Hebrews escaping the death of [...]
Regaining Purpose After Lockdowns
The Journal of the American Medical Association has an article titled "Addressing the Long-term Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Children and FamiliesA Report From the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine." Regarding this article, the Richmond Times-Dispatch ran the stats from this on "Deaths among children and teens." Notice the upsurge of suicides and other poisonings (intentional or unintentional, often unknown to even the medical examiner) during lockdowns: The Richmond Times-Dispatch then comments on the above stats of children and teens: "Deaths of American children and teens spiked between 2019 and 2021, the result of increased car wrecks, shootings and drug overdoses, according to a Virginia Commonwealth University survey of federal data published Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association." This is why I was warning my readers and listeners at the beginning of the lockdowns that [...]
Good Catholics Need to Tackle the Hard Topics More
Here's seven reasons why we conservative and traditional Catholics must be more "political," not less, for "political" issues are more connected to evangelization than most people realize: 1. The Social Reign of Christ the King. Traditional Catholicism is built on the notion of no separation of Church and State. (Yes, you read that correctly.) That doesn't mean that we want a Catholic version of an Islamic Theocracy. Nor has the Catholic Church ever believe in forced-conversions (not even in the days of the Inquisition.) But just as nature abhors a vacuum, so do politics. Absent a group of leaders remaining under the Standard of Christ, we will be under the Trans-Rainbow Flag (the new religion of this country.) We will follow a religion, whether we like it or not. 2. Life and Death Issues. The difference between Republicans and Democrats [...]