Vatican II's Lumen Gentium's chapter five is titled "Universal Call to Holiness" and it includes this sentence:  "Therefore in the Church, everyone whether belonging to the hierarchy, or being cared for by it, is called to holiness." By "cared for by it," it simply means lay people. In other words, lay folks are also called to holiness. Obviously, there is nothing wrong with that sentence. But it's also super obvious, so something else is behind it. What is it? I don't know, but there's an old Protestant myth that Catholic priests and nuns told lay people they're not called to holiness.  Have modernists run with this in Vatican II?  We [...]

My post-Mass meditation usually comes from a 19th century book of Jesuit Meditations.  It's a phenomenal book.   The meditation following Sunday's Mass was about enduring persecutions in light of the Sermon on the Mount.  Before we get to the topic at hand, How To Pray for the Enemies of Holy Mother Church, I want to highlight a few other parts of Sunday's meditation on enduring persecutions. One of the most astonishing insights the anonymous Jesuit author made is that false-accusations make us already like Christ on earth.  It reads:  "And besides, is not the glory of being thus made like to the Son of God on earth before we [...]

Fr. Walter J. Ciszek S.J. wrote: Though our situation may have been somewhat unique, the temptation [to give up] was not. It is the same temptation faced by everyone who has followed a call and found that the realities of life were nothing like the expectations he had in the first flush of his vision and his enthusiasm. It is the temptation that comes to anyone, for example, who has entered religious life with a burning desire to serve God and him alone, only to find that the day-to-day life in religion is humdrum and pedestrian, equally as filled with moments of human misunderstanding, daily routines, and distractions. It is [...]

And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on His right and one on His left.  And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide His garments. And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at Him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!”—Lk 23:33-35. We often [rightly] associate Christ's forgiveness of His enemies with the above chapter from St. Luke.  As Christ is undergoing the most exquisite torture of the Roman Empire, He maintains [...]

A couple from another state texted me: "Hi Father, Thank you for the awesome Epiphany homily. I have some 'boots on the ground' thoughts for you. Seeing as how our parish is the fastest growing [trad. cong.] parish in North America (per Fr A.), I’d say the trends here are worth considering as we look at the end times prophecies.  The vast majority of solid families who made the Exodus to [our state in NW] are very young. They are simple, solid and unwavering. Most adults are converts or reverts. The oldest of whom have oldest children entering teen years. It is becoming clear that each large family will produce [...]

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 [...]