Part One: Respect of Egos was about St. Thomas Aquinas' warnings against "respect of persons" which I consider to be an avoidance of "Respect of Egos." This leads into today's article on having fortitude of character. Many of you are probably familiar with the Milgram experiment in 1961 where normal Americans involved in a psychological experiment were pressured into delivering lethal doses of electricity to other Americans involved in that experiment.  At least, they believed these were lethal doses of electricity... but they were not.  The experiment (linked above) was rather a test on the would-be electrocuters to determine how many people would deliver a lethal dose of 250 volts [...]

This is a two part series on the "Respect of Egos." It is easy to misunderstand St. Thomas Aquinas' condemnation of "respect of persons." The notion we are to avoid "respect of persons" obviously does not mean we should disrespect anyone.  Nor does it mean that we are supposed to treat everyone the exact same.  Rather, in his section on Respect of Persons, St. Thomas Aquinas essentially teaches that the true Christian is to honor his neighbor in proportion to his level of virtuous living, not his social status. In the above link, St. Thomas Aquinas writes about how we are indeed permitted to prefer one person over another.  The [...]

Although I have written and podcasted many times about St. Ignatius’ rules of discernment, I have never listed all of his rules without commentary. They are quite digestible as you can see from the length of this short article. Thousands of books have been written on his rules. But taken alone, the following list is just the "raw-materials" of all discernment.  (Discernment is simply the telling of good from bad, and making decisions in life.)  Although dry at first glance, these bullet points have become the most pure “raw materials” of the interior life. Notwithstanding what the modernist Jesuits have done with them, keep in mind that the old-school Popes [...]

Update: The Catholic CEO mentioned below dropped the pro-abort from his audio line-up shortly after the production of this article. Divinations and omens and dreams are folly, and like a woman with labor pains the mind has fancies. Unless they are sent from the Most High as a visitation, do not give your mind to them. For dreams have deceived many, and those who put their hope in them have failed.—Sir 34:5-7. Recently I saw some news: A large Catholic company hired a rabid pro-abort to do some voice-overs.  When the Catholic CEO was challenged on this decision by mainstream Catholic media, the CEO said publicly, “It’s something we have [...]

One who trusts others too quickly is lightminded, and one who sins does wrong to himself. One who rejoices in wickedness will be condemned, and for one who hates gossip evil is lessened. Never repeat a conversation, and you will lose nothing at all. With friend or foe do not report it, and unless it would be a sin for you, do not disclose it; for some one has heard you and watched you, and when the time comes he will hate you.—Sir 19:4-9. Let's consider a few lines passage from the Sirach 19 (a book found on in the Catholic and Orthodox Bibles, not Protestant ones) and see what [...]

Many good Catholics today are striving for an increase in purity by both prayer and mortification.  This is extremely commendable.  But did you know the virtue of purity is directly connected to supernatural hope?  And the virtue of supernatural hope is directly connected to gratitude?  I found this while studying Scripture: Gratitude increases hope: The hope of an ungrateful man will melt like wintry frost and flow away like waste water.—Wis 16:29. ... and hope increases purity: And everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies Himself as He is pure.—1 John 3:3. Therefore, real gratitude increases both supernatural hope and purity.  Purity of heart is not only something in regards [...]

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.—Jesus crucified in St. Luke 23:34. And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.—St. Stephen, Protomartyr in Acts 7:60. On Dr. Taylor Marshall's show, he and I discussed Narcissism in 2023.  On that episode, we discussed the importance of saying "I'm sorry" and "I forgive you."  After that show, I heard an excellent talk by an exorcist where he explained that small offenses should be forgiven without formal reconciliation.   For medium offenses, the victim should still forgive the offender [...]

St. Teresa of Ávila (top left) had much to say on holy speech, but it was summarized by an anonymous Jesuit (a loyal son of St. Ignatius of Loyola, top right) in a book now called Practical Meditations.  I know this is a short article for the second half of this week, but I found every sentence extremely convicting, so, I hope you do, too.  He summarizes her as writing: Speak little, especially when you are with many people.  Never praise yourself, your knowledge, your good actions, or your birth, unless you have reason to hope that it may be of use, and then do it humbly, remembering that these [...]

For God will not except any man's person, neither will He stand in awe of any man's greatness. For He made the little and the great, and He hath equally care of all.—Wis 6:8. Last week, I was in a desert in Africa.   That desert is majestic and unforgiving, as seen in the picture I snapped above.  In the desert, one realizes how insignificant he be before God. For example, if I wandered off into the desert and died, I would be the talk of Catholic Twitter for a day. Friends would say how great I was. Enemies would say how terrible I was. But within a week, only [...]