Clothed in Virtue

October 31st, 2021 The Feast of Christ the King Read Quas Primas.  More than  ever we need to hear these words. Quas Primas: Reminds bishops of the evils in the world and their cause: they have thrust Jesus Christ and His laws out of their lives. This is still manifest today. Christ is meant to be king here on earth, firstly because he is God —he has a right to rule creation Christ is not only king by nature, but by conquest. He conquered sin. My kingdom is not of this world — He did not come to establish an earthly kingdom like all the others. Enter the kingdom by faith and baptism: opposed to the kingdom of Satan. To belong to Christs kingdom is to carry the cross because it is the mode of salvation. We must imitate Christ Purchased the Church with his own blood. Christ is king as priest and victim; the one who offers the sacrifice as well as the one who is offered as sacrifice. To be part of his kingdom we must offer ourselves too Reverence Christ as king of kings All autho...

A successful life is one that achieves its purpose. Happiness is not pleasure. Pleasure is on the level of the senses — something that feels good when the senses are appeased. Pleasure is when our appetites are satisfied. It’s in the emotion. It’s not permanent, it does not last.  Happiness is in the will — it is a good that we achieve. It’s something that is lasting and cannot be taken away. This is why we can be happy amidst our suffering because when we do God’s will, we are achieving our end (our purpose). “Happiness” that the word pushes upon us is really just pleasure — seeking instant gratification and calling that happiness. But that’s not real happiness. Happiness comes from virtue, not through pleasure-seeking. A majority of millionaires in the world are not truly happy. They seek more and more because they are never satisfied You can be happy without having your senses appeased. Many of the saints had nothing and yet were still happy. Often times the poor are more dispos...

September 26th, 2021 *FL      In this Gospel, we witness Our Lord being approached by a few men, one of whom is sick with paralysis. Our Lord, seeing their faith, contents Himself to say that this man’s sins are forgiven.      What is notably absent is that he does not immediately heal this man of his physical problem. It appears that the only reason He healed him physically was because of the scribes accusing him in their thoughts of blaspheming. It is notable that the man was not disappointed by not being physically healed. Was he complaining? No, he seems content to hear that his sins are forgive. This indicates that this is what he wanted, to be made right with God through Jesus, more than he wanted to be able to walk.       The lesson for us is that if we are right with God, in the state of grace, then we truly have all that our heart can desire. It is nothing more than to be a friend of Almighty God, to be a companion with Our Lord...

"Restore all things in Christ."        Today we celebrate the feast of Saint Pius X, our patron.       It is good to look back and see the first of St. Pius' encyclicals. This encyclical letter which began his pontificate gave the bishops his mission and goal which can be summed up in this short sentence: to restore all things in Christ.      It’s an interesting letter that we can profit from. At the beginning, he expresses his doubts — he says he sees the pontificate as a difficult burden that he can’t bear alone. He then says but I have accepted because I know it is from God, and God will help me to bear this burden and get through this difficulty. He didn’t jump into the pontificate thinking it would be a breeze but that it would be very difficult. We are often faced with difficult tasks — what is our response? Do we ask for divine help or do we just give up?      Why did he choose the name Pius? — he says “as I ...

  "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...