Clothed in Virtue

On the morning of Monday, July 26th, the members of the Satanic Temple of Idaho gathered on the front steps of the Idaho State Capitol building to deliver what they called “ Idaho's first Satanic Prayer at the Idaho Statehouse.” Quick Facts: The Satanic Temple (TST) of Idaho became an official chapter in August 2020. Among their holiday observances, they celebrate their Chapter anniversary on August 17th. All public reservations at the Capitol Building are public knowledge and can be viewed up to 6 months in advance online. Somebody noticed the TST reservation scheduled for 10:30A.M. and the word began to spread.  A Traditional Catholic group called " Tradition, Family, Property"  organized a public rosary in response to the satanic prayer event, which they scheduled for 6:00pm of the same evening.  Some Catholics felt that it was important to be at the Capitol building offering prayers of reparation at the same time that the TST was conducting their prayers. S...

  The Lord guided the just in right paths. And showed him the kingdom of God. Lawrence was born on July 22, 1559, and died exactly 60 years later on his birthday in 1619.  His parents, William and Elizabeth Russo, were merchants and named him Julius Caesar. His parents died early and so he was educated by his uncle at the College of St. Mark in Venice. When he was 16, he entered the Capuchin Franciscan Order in Venice, receiving the name of Brother Lawrence. He completed his studies of philosophy and theology at the University of Padua and was ordained a priest at 23. Grace is poured into thy lips.  Therefore God hath blessed thee for ever. Lawrence was an accomplished linguist. In addition to his native Italian, Lawrence could fluently read and speak Latin, Hebrew, Greek, German, Bohemian, Spanish, and French.  With this facility for languages, Lawrence was able to study the Bible in its original texts.  Pope Clement VIII sent him preaching to the Jews in Italy...

“He hath distributed, he hath given to the poor:  his justice remaineth for ever and ever:  his horn shall be exalted in glory.” - Psalm 111:19 Jerome Emiliani was born in Venice in  1481 to a noble family.  At the age of 15 he became a soldier. He was appointed as the governor of a fortress in the mountains of Treviso. While defending his post, he was made prisoner by the enemy.  In the misery of the dungeon, he invoked the Mother of God for help. If she would come to his assistance, he promised to lead a new and better life. He credits his escape to the help of Our Lady, and so at Treviso, he hung up his chains at her altar, dedicated himself to her service, and on reaching home in Venice devoted himself to a life of active charity. Back in Venice he supervised the education of his nephews and devoted his spare time to studying theology and doing works of charity. “Deal thy bread to the hungry, and bring the needy and the harbourless into thy house: when thou ...

“God admonishes all of us to use our earthly goods to make friends for ourselves among the poor. They, in turn, becoming the friends of their benefactors, will be the cause of their admission to heaven.”  - St. Augustine Vincent de Paul was born to peasant farmers in 1581, in a village in the Kingdom of France. He was the third of six children. Early on he showed talent for literacy and herding his family’s livestock. At 15, his father paid to send him to the seminary by selling the family’s oxen. He studied Theology at the University of Toulouse.  The atmosphere at the university not conducive to a life of piety or spiritual contemplation, but Vincent managed to continue his studies despite the turbulent and quarrelsome atmosphere. He helped pay for his education by tutoring others. In 1600, at the age of 19, he was ordained. At the time, there was a required minimum age of 24 for ordination (established by the Council of Trent), so when he was appointed to a parish, there wa...

  What shall I do because my lord taketh away from me my stewardship? To dig I am not able, to beg I am ashamed. I know what I will do, that when I shall be removed from the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.... Eighth Sunday after Pentecost “For the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light.” We read this in the Gospel, and it’s very striking to read these words of Our Lord. These words were addressed to His disciples and apostles, but they are addressed to all of us as well. Is this really true? That the children of this world are wiser than the children of light?  It’s not that the people of the world will save their souls by this wisdom that they have, but that the people of this world have goals and then seek after those goals. A business man, a scientists, an athlete, whoever it may be, they set their goals and do what it takes to achieve those goals. The children of God do far less. So often they seek after only nat...

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” - John 15 St. Camillus was born in Naples in 1550. His mother died when he was very young and his father barely acknowledged his existence. He grew up with an excessive love for gambling.   At age 17, he contracted a disease in his leg that left him with an incurable sore. He  suffered from it for the rest of his life. He went to Rome to be both a patient and servant at the “Hospital for Incurables.” After nine months, he was dismissed for being too quarrelsome. He joined the army and served as a Venetian soldier. He gambled and fought against the Turks until his regiment was disbanded in 1574. Now he was 24, unemployed, and penniless, having gambled away everything he had.  He accepted work at a Capuchin friary. There, a moving sermon began him on his path to conversion. From that point on, Camillus never strayed from his penitential path. He entered the Capuchins as a novitiate but was unable ...

The annual Magdalene Retreat that took place on July 17th, 2021, began with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offered by the Chapter's Religious Assistant, a Dominican priest.

  Mount Carmel is a biblical place where the prophet Elijah dwelt.  It rises 1,742 feet above sea level, towering above Israel's Mediterranean coastline. Here, Elijah prayed to God for the salvation of Israel which was suffering a terrible drought.  He prayed and sent his servant up the mountain several times to look for rain.  On the 7th try, Elijah's servant returned with good news.    And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees, And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times. And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand. - 1 Kings 18:42-44   Elijah saw the cloud as a symbol of the Virgin mentioned in the prophecies of Isaiah: Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive a...

"Henry the Exuberant" Henry was born in 972, the oldest of a family of four children. His father was Henry the Quarrelsome, Duke of Bavaria.  His mother was Gisella, daughter of Conrad, King of Burgundy. Henry's father had rebelled against two previous emperors and spent a lot of time in exile, so as a child Henry was educated in the Christian faith by St. Wolfgang, the Bishop of Regensburg.  Later he was educated at the Hildesheim Cathedral.  Henry was an intelligent and devout student and for a period of time, he was considered for the priesthood. He became well acquainted with ecclesiastical interests at an early age. St. Wolfgang's lessons in piety and charity left a lasting mark on Henry's soul, but it was ultimately in the political realm, not the Church, that he would exercise these virtues.  When his father died in 995, Henry succeeded him as Duke of Bavaria. Seven years later, his cousin Otto III, the Holy Roman Emperor, died in Rome.  Despite stro...

 07-11-21 7th Sunday After Pentecost Moses and the Ten Commandments Our Lord, Jesus Christ, today reminds us that it’s not sufficient to give lip service. We must make an effort with all of our heart to do the will of His Father in Heaven. It’s not enough to claim to be Catholic or to be a discipline of Jesus Christ, if we do not strive to obey Him. Jesus asks the Pharisees: which of the two brothers does the will of his father? The one that says “I go,” but then does not go; or the one who says “I will not go” but later repents and goes to do the work? It’s important to DO the will of God. How then can I know the will of God? There are instances where it is not immediately apparent, and we are in a bind going between two things. It’s important to reflect here: what is the will of God? In general, the will of God for us is what St. Paul tells us: the will of God is your sanctification. God’s only purpose in creating a human soul, the only reason any of us exist at all, is to become...