Clothed in Virtue

  "And behold all generations shall me blessed."      Today we celebrate the beautiful feast of the Assumption. The Assumption is the culmination of Mary's earthly life, which began at her Immaculate Conception and finished here, at the Assumption. She continues to be an advocate in Heaven, showering graces upon us.      What does this feast mean? What are we celebrating? Let’s pause today and see what it is that we truly celebrate and what it means for us.      The Immaculate Conception is when we celebrate Mary’s conception in her mother’s womb, the womb of Ann, conceived without sin.  Today, we  celebrate Our Lady being taken up, body and soul, into heaven, being assumed by God into heaven. This is different from the Ascension of Jesus Christ where Jesus used his own divine power to ascend into heaven. He raised Himself at the Ascension, whereas the Assumption is God bringing Mary into heaven. It wasn’t by her own power, it ...

“I have handed on that which I also have received.”   What does it mean to be a "Traditional Catholic?" Is this truly what we are? Should we call ourselves Traditional Catholics? To be Catholic means to stand apart from the rest of men and from the rest of the world.  Being Catholic means that we strive to put God in his proper place by giving the honor and glory that is due to Him, at least to the degree that it is humanly possible. Today we live in a world that has rejected God. In the supposed "Age of Enlightenment," man turned away from God and turned to himself, and the world became man-centered rather than God-centered. With the battle cry of “liberty” and “freedom," man made himself the center of the universe, the most important thing that exists. Liberty logically follows from this assertion, as liberty allows men to do whatever they want.  Nowadays people have, by and large, rejected the moral law.  It's an "anything goes" society, as lon...

August 1st, 2021 Tenth Sunday after Pentecost Today’s gospel gives us a good look into the spiritual life by comparing the difference between the Publican and the Pharisee. According to society, the Pharisees were the "ideal.” They studied the law and knew the most about the Jewish religion. They served in the temple, made important decisions, and did many acts of public mortification.  The  Publicans were despised by the Jews because they worked with the Romans to collect taxes. They were tax collectors, which was bad enough, but they also worked with the Romans. They were hated for these two reasons. Our Lord uses these two people as an example for us.  Jesus was speaking to those  "who trusted in themselves as just, and despised others...”  He spoke to enlighten these people about themselves, but the same applies to us. This gospel was written for us. Is the spiritual life about externals? Your first answer is probably no -- it’s not about externals. That’s t...

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...