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 [...]

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 [...]