I have found a book containing some of what Pope Benedict XIV said about Heroic Virtue. Here I link to the first volume.

I am going to conclude this blog today. I am rather tired of it, and I tend only to update it out of a sense of duty. I do not feel that this is necessary any more. I think this has reached its end.

I should perhaps write something more extended than usual on this occasion. It is traditional to write something poignant at the end of such things, and I suppose there is a certain poignancy in the finality of it anyway. Every moment of my time is precious; and I do not think writing very little for very few people has proved the best way of spending it.

I hope that those of you who have followed this blog have found it of some use or benefit: and I leave you with my blessing.

May Almighty God bless you, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

And may the souls of the Faithful Departed, through the Mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

Et in perpetuum, fratres, ave atque vale.

I am very tired. I must sleep, since I have an appointment on the morrow. I have emoted this evening. Bonam noctem.

I am 22 today!

I would like at some point to write a commentary on the theologically bad film "The Nativity Story." But not on my birthday.

I am blessed to have received a Rosary today, blessed by Ven. Pope John Paul II!

:D

I have had a very nice day.

We went out for a meal in the evening (en famille); I watched the 25th anniversary concert of Les Misérables on Blu-Ray in the afternoon.

My brother also bought me a Benedetto XVI Calendario 2011.

Huzzah!

If we wish to become saints, we should have some sort of Rule of Life. We should, ideally, go to Mass every day, meditate for at least 15 minutes each day, and say at least 5 decades of the Rosary each day. We should say grace before and after meals; we should say some familiar prayers when we rise and when we go to bed; and we should say the Angelus (or Regina Caeli during the Easter season) thrice a day. We should go to Confession at least monthly, preferably more often.

It is generally best, I think, to receive Communion daily. But certainly we should receive it at least weekly. St Alphonsus recommends receiving the Sacraments weekly (he does not say we should not receive them more); and going to Mass daily. He urges everyone to do a half-hour's mental prayer each day, and recommends 15 minutes of spiritual reading.

The Divine Office is a very powerful prayer, of course, since it is the prayer of the Church.

Good night.

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Jesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.

I am writing this to clarify whether it is a sin or not to use foul language.

It depends, not on the words themselves in se, but on the intention, whether that is a good intention or a bad one.

It is a mortal sin to use such language in the presence of those who are so weak-spirited that they will suffer scandal, and especially in front of children. It will be a mortal sin to use foul language when there is danger of spiritual ruin to oneself or another.

To use immodest words ex vano solatio, vel joco, is a venial sin.

If the words are very lascivious, I think one should act conscious of the much higher likelihood that hearers will suffer scandal.

It is worth remembering that those who habitually use impure words are likely inadvertently to use them in front of children, who, as a result of hearing such words, will commit a thousand sins.

I have taken this mostly from St Alphonsus.

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Jesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.

The 17th of December, and the beginning of the great O Antiphons... The Church's liturgy heightens in energy, if I may so express it, in anticipation of our Lord's coming at Bethlehem.

O SAPIENTIA, QUAE EX ORE ALTISSIMI PRODIISTI,
ATTINGENS A FINE USQUE AD FINEM,
FORTITER SUAVITERQUE DISPONENS OMNIA:
VENI AD DOCENDUM NOS VIAM PRUDENTIAE.

I shall not translate that for you; you can look up a translation yourself, or, better, translate it yourself. Or you may not need to translate it; you may be able to read Latin without carrying the words across (trans-lating) into another language.

Once again I urge my Reader to say the Rosary every day, at least 5 decades. It is well to conclude it with the Litany of the Blessed Virgin.

The naïve, at whom I never know whether to laugh or cry or tremble, would profit from reading this:

The Books were a Front for the Porn

Gentle Reader,

Tomorrow morning I shall be off home. I hope that I shall be able to recuperate my energies to some degree over the break. I also hope that I shall get some things sorted out with regard to the future.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

David

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

GENTLE READER, I counsel you, again, to go to Mass every single day, as far as possible. If that means getting up earlier, get up earlier. If getting up earlier means you must go to bed earlier, then go to bed earlier.

In fact, if I had only one piece of advice to give you, it would be to go to Mass every day. Because you need the grace. Why would anybody not desire to go to Mass every day? I can understand difficulty but how can a Catholic lack the desire?

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

This is extremely beautiful and brought tears to my eyes. Lines 2-5 of the first Tieh are by Wang Wei (699-759 A.D.)


First Tieh

1 Bright and joyous spring,

2 The early morning rain at Wei-ch’eng moistens the light dust.

3 The Willow tree next to the inn shines in fresh greeness.

4 Please, bottoms-up once more, for now you are leaving to the West;

5 Outside the Yang-kuan gate there is no old friend.

6 Walk fast, walk fast on that faraway road.

7 One will pass gates and cross rivers

8 With endless hardship, with endless hardship

9 During this ever endless hardship,

10 Please take care of yourself, take care of yourself

Second Tieh

(Repeat lines 2 through 5 of First Tieh)

To long for and worry about you, parting unwillingly,

The falling tears stain my handkerchief.

After bidding farewell, how lonely it will be,

How lonely it will be.

I shall miss you day by day, night by night.

With whom can I share my thoughts? With whom can I share my thoughts?

My melancholy heart shall follow you day by day,

Follow you day by day.

Third Tieh

(Repeat lines 2 through 5 of First Tieh)

Oh, the delicate wine! Oh, the delicate wine!

I have drunk it all, for my heart is already intoxicated.

Soon you will begin your journey on a grey horse to the far distance.

You will ride away on a grey horse to the far distance.

When will I be able to hear your returning carriage sound?

Today, in this brief moment how many cups of wine can we drink together?

Even after a thousand cups of wine there will always be an end.

Within my heart you will not be forgotten.

Alas, here is the everlasting sadness!

We shall write to each other our loving thoughts, our frequent messages

As if we are still together, as if we are still together.

IN PRAISE OF MARY (IV)

This is my fourth Facebook note of this kind.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee. Blessed art Thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.



Ah, Lady, how can I ever begin to thank Thee for the graces Thou hast gained from Thy Son for me? Grant that I may get a Priest of Thy Son to say a Votive Mass in Thine honour. Every grace I have received from God I have received through Thee; and Thou hast lifted me up from the quagmire of sin, not once but many times. Without Thee who knows where I would be? I think I would be a wretch with such a weak and flabby will that I would not be able to resist the least temptation. I would be an unspeakable monster of vice and sin. It is true that I have sinned exceedingly greatly in my life, such that the very thought of my sins makes me tremble; but it is thanks to Thee, my Mother, that I have not died in them, as in strict justice I deserve. But God's Justice, while remaining perfectly infinite, is tempered by His Mercy, which is also perfectly infinite.

I had intended, my dearest Mother, to write, this Wednesday past, of Thine Immaculate Conception. I began to do so, but never brought the task to completion. Forgive me. I shall write of it here.




Alone of all the daughters of our first mother, Thou alone wast conceived without original sin. All her other daughters, and all her sons excepting only One, were conceived in sin: for terrible is God's Justice. Under the New Law, original sin is purged from the soul by the Sacrament of Baptism. There were some theologians who held the false view, which dishonoureth Thee, that Thou wast conceived in sin, but purified immediately, in the second instant of time, that moment immediately after the moment wherein Thou wast conceived. No! No! A thousand, ten thousand, ten thousand times ten thousand times no! Never, never, O never, was there the least hint, the least penumbra, the least simulacrum, the least shadow of a shadow of a stain of sin in Thy beautiful soul! Let nobody, nobody, say otherwise! "Tota pulchra es, Virgo Maria, et macula originalis non est in te." Non est in te, my dearest Mother, nec umquam in te fuit! Numquam! Numquam![1] Never! Never! God, in becoming man, could have chosen a Mother worthy of Himself, or a Mother unworthy of Himself. He could create a Mother who was free from original sin in the first moment of Her conception, or He could have done otherwise. Which redounds the greater to His glory? Which is more perfect? God could choose a Mother worthy of Himself; He could do it, and He has done it!




What of the fact that many theologians, of great virtue and intelligence, did not believe in what is now a defined article of the Catholic Faith? Is it possible for a large number of intelligent theologians...to be wrong?! Is it possible for theologians, even a St Thomas Aquinas, to be wrong? Yes! This is precisely why we have an infallible Church! How could an infallible Christ institute a fallible Church? Deny the infallibility of the Church that Christ instituted, you deny the infallibility of Christ. It is one thing to deny the infallibility of Christ; it is another thing to deny it and claim to be Christian.

Eve was created immaculate! God could create an Eve immaculate, and you say He could not create Mary immaculate? Shall God's own Mother be less than the mother of mankind?

Although some theologians have denied the Immaculate Conception, there has never been a time when the Church, as a whole, did not believe in it. The development of the doctrine is outlined by Bl. Pope Pius IX in the document wherein he promulgated the dogma as an article of the Faith, to be believed on pain of heresy, entitled Deus ineffabilis: a magnificent document; I recommend that it be read every year on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.

Mary, Thou wast not, like us sinners, conceived in sin: nor didst Thou ever commit the slightest sin: Thou wast preserved from both original sin and actual sin: and, concerning actual sin, Thou wast preserved both from mortal and from venial sin; from venial sin, both deliberate and semi-deliberate. And not only didst Thou never sin: Thou wast utterly faithful to God's grace every moment of Thy life: Thou wast free from every imperfection. Excluding the human Nature of Christ (for, let us remember, Christ Himself, the Second Person of the Trinity, is not a creature but the very Creator of Heaven and Earth - for He is God), Thou art the most perfect of all the creatures of God.


Shall we not then venerate Thee; shall we not give Thee that respect which is Thy due? Thee, Who art the Mother of God, Perpetual Virgin, ante partum, in partu, et post partum;[2] Thee, Who art the perfectest of women?



No, we do not honour Thee exceedingly. How could we possibly honour Thee exceedingly? By giving that worship to Thee which is due to God alone. We struggle to give Thee that honour which is Thy due: how can we call our praise of Thee excessive?


I once heard a woman say, and how true it is, that a person's orthodoxy can be told by his attitude to Mary. Why is this? Perhaps because "Thou alone hast destroyed all the heresies in the universal world." How right St Louis de Montfort was when he said, in his masterpiece, True Devotion to Mary, "Heretics learn and say the Our Father, but not the Hail Mary...they would rather wear a serpent round their neck than a rosary." As for those who have nothing but contempt for Our Lady, and for Our Lady's Psalter, let us pray for them; I fear for their salvation.



Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee. Blessed art Thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.



Saturday, 11th December, 2010



[1] The Latin reads: Thou art all beautiful, O Virgin Mary, and the original stain is not in thee. Is not in thee...nor ever was in thee! Never! Never!

[2] Before giving birth, in giving birth, and after giving birth.

Because you need the grace!

We must pray as we have never prayed before.

GO TO MASS EVERY DAY. You need the grace. And pray for me, that I get to Mass every day. I need the grace too. RECEIVE COMMUNION EVERY DAY (unless you are in a bad state, in which case GO TO CONFESSION!).

SAY THE ROSARY EVERY DAY. I know one of my readers does this (she made a vow to say 20 decades every day until the end of this year; I would advise her to continue saying 20 decades a day next year). Say at least 5 decades, in the Name of God! You need the grace.

MENTAL PRAYER EVERY DAY. At least 15 minutes. I am trying to do half an hour at the moment. I repeat, we need to pray as we have never prayed before. It is better to make one's meditation in the morning, when possible.

ANGELUS THREE TIMES A DAY.

MORNING AND NIGHT PRAYERS.

GRACE BEFORE AND BLESSING AFTER MEALS (at least in your head if you cannot say it aloud.)

AVOID UNNECESSARY OCCASIONS OF SIN.

FREQUENT THE SACRAMENTS (Confession should be at least once a month. Communion, I say, every day.)

THE MOST IMPORTANT OF THESE IS DAILY MASS.

At some point I should like to write something more extended on this blog than a couple of sentences. At present the blog tends to be something that happens at the end of the day; I do not tend to regard it as generally of particular importance, and when I come to write things in it I am usually quite tired. Tomorrow, perhaps, I shall write at more length.

I wish the Modernists would stop pretending to be Catholic. I wish they would either convert to Catholicism or leave us alone and stop poisoning our minds with their quasi-Catholic Agnosticism. It is not so much that their ideas are insane, or that they are wrong - it is not that alone, but it is the infliction of these ideas under the title of Catholic that should drive us up the wall, or rather it should drive us to lie flat on our faces begging God for mercy, and praying as we have never prayed before, and it should drive us to study the Faith and learn it and know it as we have never needed to know it before. When a Catholic says "I think the Church should change its teaching," I hear heresy bells a-ringing, and I think something like "mindset! mindset!" I FIND IT VERY DISTURBING TO HEAR CATHOLICS TALK LIKE PROTESTANTS. When the Real Presence is explained in a wriggling manner, and no mention is made of the belief of Catholics that the consecrated Host is the Body of Jesus Christ, and a sort of apology is made for the doctrine of transsubstantiation, I find myself quite shaken. Was my Faith shaken? I don't think so; but I know that I was severely shaken.

I sincerely believe that it would be better for Catholics to be taught nothing than to be brainwashed with intellectual poison masquerading as Catholic truth.

We must know the Faith to a degree we have never needed to know it before.
We must pray as we have never prayed before.

I wish you all a happy Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception tomorrow. Hip, hip, hurrah!

A Facebook note on this dogma may be on its way tomorrow (Wednesday, the feast day itself.)

An Answer to Tim Minchin's Last Question In His Somewhat Irritating Song Entitled "If You Open Your Mind Too Much, Your Brain Will Fall Out"

St Thomas Aquinas.

Catholics are not to believe that capital punishment is intrinsically evil. It cannot be equated with abortion and euthanasia by one who submits to the authority of the Church. It is part of the traditional teaching of the Church that this severest of penalties is only to be used when certain conditions are fulfilled; one has to have the authority to execute this punishment. Punishment has four ends - retribution, deterrence, rehabilitation, and the peace of society.

"To judge justly, one must
1 have the right intention
2 have authority over the one judged
3 know the truth." - St Thomas Aquinas

I have had an excellent evening; I am pressed for time, so I shall not write very much now. I shall perhaps write at greater length tomorrow. Incidentally, some people are very silly. Others are terrifyingly naïve. The naïveté of many very good people terrifies me.

I particularly dislike Julian the Apostate, who apparently caused the martyrdom of St Bibiana.

Tomorrow is the Feast of St Francis Xavier.

I am tired.

I have written a draft editorial for a new issue of The Mitchell Mail - though I am starting to think I should give this a new title since it is not really the same thing as The Mitchell Mail.

Anyhow, here it is:

AS we enter a new liturgical year, so we also embark upon a new series of this long-neglected paper. It is the hope of the Editor that the new series will be fuller and more informative than those which preceded it. We are aware that there has been a lapse of several years since our last issue; and for this we beg the pardon of the Gentle Reader, who is requested to bear in mind the pressures of time and other things we have been under with regard to a University degree and other matters. We have decided to begin this new series at no. 1.
We are some way into the academic year, but we have only just begun the liturgical year. We are in year A, and so we shall be hearing the Gospel of St Matthew read at Mass. We were privileged to begin this liturgical year in the Cathedral Church of St Mary, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, at the Vigil of Prayer for Nascent Life—requested for all the dioceses of the Universal Church throughout the world by the present Holy Father. We were privileged to hear our Bishop, Seamus Cunningham, preach eloquently and, we respectfully submit, loudly, while we were there. The Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary were each introduced by various people—a pair of Catholic doctors, a pair of elderly Catholics, and so on. We wondered how the world would react to this vigil of prayer; interestingly, we have not seen any of the virulent reaction we might have expected, though we recall reading a comment on the Internet to the effect that the writer did not mind our praying, so long as we did not vote. There was a reading from St Matthew’s Gospel—that concerning men going about their business right up until the day when Noah went into the ark.
We intend, as in former numbers, to provide the Gentle Reader with information in the real and full sense of that word—which is from the verb to inform. We intend also to provide the reader with information regarding events in which he might have an interest; and we intend to provide reviews of concerts, books, and such things. We shall publish news that relates particularly to the University of Durham, the parish of St Cuthbert in that city, to the city itself, and to St Theresa’s parish in Lexden, Colchester; but we shall not restrict ourselves to these matters. We shall provide reflections and meditations for the spiritual benefit of the reader. In fact if our writings do not benefit the reader spiritually, we consider that we have failed in our efforts.
We make no apology for the fact that this paper will be, and is, intended to be Catholic in manner, tone, style, and spirit. We do not apologize for the truth of the Catholic Faith, still less do we in any sense retract or withdraw it. We shall include some pieces on Catholic devotional life—for it is the spiritual life that matters—but we shall not restrict ourselves, in religious matters, to spirituality: and we certainly shall not follow the absurd mantra of those who desire to “keep religion out of politics.” No: on the contrary, for as long as politics concerns itself with moral matters or any matters pertaining to Divine Revelation, so long is it the duty of the Church, and consequently our duty as members of that Mystical Body, to concern ourselves with political matters. And it does not seem probable to us that politics will keep itself out of these matters for a very long time to come.
We should like to publish some portion at least of such correspondence as we may in future receive. We hope that this paper will never be used for commercial advertising, though we shall, if we may be permitted to use the expression, personally advertise for such events, &c., as we deem may be of interest to the Reader.
We are determined that this journal shall be of unimpeachable Catholic orthodoxy. We live in times of theological crisis, in which bad theology has been popularized in Catholic circles, so that the Catholic Church is divided, in the words of Michael Voris, into “the faithful, the unfaithful, and the confused.” We have no intention whatever of increasing the number of the two latter. We have every intention of augmenting the number of the former, until Christ reigns in the heart of every man, woman, and child, on God’s earth; and we are at no pains to conceal the fact. For what other reason than this did Christ establish His Church? We repeat, we are determined that this journal shall always be solidly orthodox; and may God forbid that anything not in perfect conformity with the holy Catholic Faith should ever be stated in these pages. There is a cynical spirit that falls short of unorthodoxy, but it sneers at the authority of the Church and it utterly reeks with pride. We intend to publish no articles of that kind. We intend to put a stop—a screeching, grinding halt—as far as the same is within our power—to the confusion within the Church; and while this paper is but one very small step, and unlikely to do much in that way on its own, we hope that the combined efforts of many, together with the grace of God, will combine to achieve the desired end.
We consider also that by publishing the real teaching of the Church, and not the ersatz Modernist-cum-Socialist emetic that many Catholics have been force-fed, particularly among many who attended schools called Catholic schools, we may perhaps give a better idea of the Church to those outside Her communion than some of them may have formed from sources of so-called Catholics who have despised their own Mother.
We shall always exhort our Catholic readership to stand up for what they know to be true. It has been said before that “God will have no cowards in his service.” Yet so many Catholics are cowards. How many cowards are there in heaven? None! Revelation, chapter 21, verse 8. No: we shall not sit by and watch, while souls fall into hell like the snowflakes we see falling from the sky. Cowards cannot win a war; and we are at war. We are engaged in the most terrible war ever undertaken, and our troops think they can just shrug their shoulders and smile. The idiocy! Everything, all we have, our very selves, are at stake in this battle; and we watch those who should be our comrades-in-arms lay down their weapons. What can we be expected to think? What can we be expected to feel? Or sometimes we find that our fellow soldiers have not even been trained—not only not properly, but not at all! How would you expect an army to succeed that did not train men for war? The training of a soldier is not pleasant; it is not comfortable; and something would be very seriously wrong if it were. Can we then imagine that the training of a soldier of Christ will be pleasant or comfortable? No, of course not. It is our intention, then, to bring the gravity of this crisis to our readers’ attention, and stimulate them to play their part in the battle to the uttermost of their power. Great emphasis will be placed on this, because it is one of the most important issues with which we are concerned. For until men are aware of the spiritual realities around them, we can expect no outcome but disaster, and specifically spiritual disaster, which is the worst kind of disaster.
We shall provide our readership with spiritual reading from the great writers of our tradition—Thomas à Kempis, Lorenzo Scupoli, St Francis de Sales, St Alphonsus Liguori, St Augustine, &c. We shall provide commentary on liturgical prayers; we shall also provide social and political commentary. We shall provide objections to the interminable objections we have heard against our holy Religion, but have not been able to refute them—such as the never-ending case of Galileo.
It is our opinion that the quality of one’s reading is of much greater importance than its extent. We desire that all that we publish shall be of good literary quality; for hereby it will be a greater pleasure for the Gentle Reader, and we are aware of the power of literary style. We understand that many books have had great effect for evil upon the world on account of their literary style (Voltaire’s works, for instance). But while quality is of greater importance than quantity, it is nevertheless one of our aims to improve the armoury of the Reader in being able to defend the Faith—and, we may add, himself: and to this end it is necessary to provide him, we think, with a great deal of knowledge; quantity is, in this case, of not inconsiderable importance.
We also desire to direct our Reader to other writings that will help him in his spiritual life; and so we should remark that we shall not restrict our reviews to modern books, but also to older works which we consider may be of interest to our readership. All our reading, like everything we do, should be for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. Everything we do should be directed to that end; if it is not, it is wasted.
It should be remembered, of course, that we were made to know, love, and serve God—and that while knowledge comes first, it is less important than the other two. As Abp Fulton Sheen has said, “Character resides in the will, not in the intellect;” and we are of the opinion that there is some danger that a work of this kind may appear to overemphasize the intellect. We hope that we shall be able to treat of both in their right proportion.
This paper, then, will have aspects of a newspaper and aspects of a periodical. It is our intention that it shall deal with various matters, and we do not intend to exclude anything that we consider to be relevant to us and of interest to our actual or potential, but we hope actual, readers.
We are well aware that the contents of these journals will not infrequently be offensive to some people; we insist that we do not set out to offend anybody for the sake of it; rather, we say what we know to be Truth, and we should be most amazed if the Truth did not offend anyone.
We hope that these periodical journals will be found informative, and that they will bear fruit. We hope that if they do not inspire their Readers with apostolical zeal, those Readers will learn something, at least, from them; and we may be sure the inclusion of readings from Scripture and the writings of Saints will be spiritually fruitful, even if none of our original writings are found to benefit anybody.
Finally we should like to remind our readers of the vocation of all men, and specifically of the vocation of the laity. All men without exception are called to holiness, and finally to enjoy the Beatific Vision. We dare to hope that our work may play some small part in leading at least some one soul in the direction of holiness. But the particular vocation of the laity is to evangelize: to bring Christ to others. And how can we evangelize, as Bp Seamus Cunningham said at St Dominic’s Priory on Advent Sunday, if we are not evangelized ourselves? Let us then allow Christ to come to us, let us allow ourselves to be made holy by Him, that we may bring Him to all others. And in Advent we await His Coming to us at Christmas. Let these seasons be times of great grace for you all.

Plus ça change

"We have now to enter on the story of the long and bitter disputes between the bishops and some of the leaders of the Catholic laity which form so unpleasant a feature of this period of our history. It is difficult to define the causes of the rising at this time of an anti-clerical spirit in the Catholic body, or to analyse the feelings which in their ultimate issue resulted in actions which seem now almost incredible."

- Bernard Ward, The Dawn of the Catholic Revival in England, vol. 1, p. 87

Gentle Reader, please expect a blog post on the concept of Sacred Space and Profane Space.

I would like to be fluent in many languages.

I shall perhaps write something substantial tomorrow, since I have a free day.

It has been an extremely busy day. I suspect tomorrow will be the same. Praise the Lord!

I cite this very impressive comment of sanabituranima's in a Facebook debate.

Of course the Church is an institution. What on earth is your point.

" What proof do you have that I am wrong?"

The burden of proof lies with you. You must prove you are right.
...
When there is widespread testimony that you have cured incurable illnesses, walked on water and raised the dead (and the people giving that testimony have no good reason to lie - indeed, they continue to speak of these miracles EVEN WHEN THEY ARE THREATENED WITH DEATH FOR DOING SO) then I might think about believing you.

When this divine inspiration inspires something as heart-wrenchingly beautiful as the Gospel of John, as passionate and persuasive as the epistles of Paul, as simple yet compelling as the gospel of Mark, as filled with compassion for the oppressed as the gospel of Luke, as life-changing as the sermon on the mount as recounted by Matthew, then I might think about believing you.

When people hear your message and are willing to be tortured and murdered for the sake of it, in their thousands, and the tortures and murders do not discourage but rather encourage belief in your message, then I might think about believing you.

When your message is enough to satisfy the intellects of men and women as intellegent as St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Teresa of Avila, St. John Chrysostom, St. Iranaeus, St. Anselm etc, and yet simple enough to be understood and loved by little children, then I might think about believing you.

When your views have been attacked on every single point for two thousands years, and withstood environments that were indifferent, derisive or outright persecutory for two thousand years, then I might think about believing you.

When what you say has inspired heroic charity like that of Saint Vincent De Paul, Blessed Mother Teresa, Father Damien of Molokai or Saint Aloyius Gozanga then I might think about believing you.

Heck, if you can even convince me that you understand the instituaion you are criticisng, I might think about believing you.

Until then, I am going to carry on with my life and Robot Unicorn (hopefully more of the former than the latter, although perhaps that is somewhat optimistic!)

I am sure we learn more from teaching than from anything else. I spend some hours this evening endeavouring to improve a Chinese student's English. We spent two hours on the first page or so of Dombey and Son. I learned a lot more than I would have done if I had simply read that page and swiftly read on. Is not that interesting?

From Fr Garrigou-Lagrange, OP

Ch 24: The Active Purification of the Senses or of the Sensible Appetites


"If thy right hand scandalize thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee." Matt. 5: 29

Now that we have discussed the sins to be avoided, their consequences to be mortified, and the passions to be disciplined, we must treat of the active purification of the senses and of the sensible appetites, then of that of the intellect and the will. We shall then speak of the purification of the soul through the sacraments and prayer, and finally of the passive purification of the senses, which, according to St. John of the Cross, is at the threshold of the illuminative way.

THE PRINCIPLES TO BE APPLIED

When we treated (1) of mortification in general according to the Gospel and St. Paul, we saw that it is imposed on us for four principal motives: (I) because of the consequences of original sin, especially of concupiscence; (2) because of the effects of our personal sins; (3) because of the infinite elevation of our supernatural end (God seen as He sees Himself), which demands a subjection not only of the senses to reason, but of reason to the spirit of faith and to charity; (4) finally, because of the necessity of carrying the cross in order to follow Christ who died for us.

We must now apply these principles and see, first of all, what the mortification or active purification of the senses and of the sensible appetites should be.

St. Thomas treats this subject at length when he discusses the passions in general and in particular, also the seven. capital sins and their results, and finally when he speaks of the virtues that have their seat in the sensible appetites, such as temperance, chastity, fortitude, patience, meekness, and so on.

Among the great masters of the spiritual life, St. John of the Cross deals with this same subject in The Ascent of Mount Carmel (2) and at the beginning of The Dark Night (3) where he discusses the faults of beginners, or the seven capital sins transposed into the spiritual order: spiritual pride, spiritual gluttony, spiritual sloth, and so on.

Here we should recall the necessity of observing the precepts, especially the supreme precepts of love of God and of our neighbor, consequently of avoiding every mortal sin, and also of guarding ourselves better against our more or less deliberate venial sins. Although a man cannot, without a very special help which the Blessed Virgin received, continually avoid all venial sins taken together, he can avoid each one of them in particular. He should also strive more and more to suppress imperfection, which is a lesser good, an act of a lesser degree of generosity in the service of God. The lesser good is not an evil; but, in the order of good, one should not stop at the lowest rung of the ladder, at the least degree of light and warmth. The happy medium of the acquired virtue of temperance, described by Aristotle, is doubtless already a good, but we should aspire higher, that is, to the happy mean of infused temperance, which, moreover, rises in proportion to the growth of this virtue, united to that of penance, especially when the gifts of the Holy Spirit, like that of fear, incline us to greater generosity in order the better to overcome ourselves and advance more rapidly.(4) Besides, there are still many degrees in this greater generosity, according, for example, as one ascends toward the summit of perfection by the winding road, which is easier, or by the straight road traced by St. John of the Cross, which reaches its goal more rapidly and leads higher.

To avoid sin and imperfection, we must remember here that the capital sins dispose to others, which are often more serious, as vainglory does to disobedience, anger to blasphemy, avarice to hardness, gluttony to impurity, luxury to the hatred of God. We could never beg God too fervently for light to see the gravity of sin and to have a greater contrition for our faults. With fraternal charity, it is one of the greatest signs of spiritual progress.

We must also remember that venial sin, especially if it is repeated, disposes to mortal sin; for he who easily commits venial sin loses purity of intention, and if the occasion presents itself, he may sin mortally. Venial sin is thus on a dangerous slope, like a wall which hinders us from reaching union with God. On the road of perfection, he who does not advance, falls back.

Likewise imperfection, or an act not wholly generous, disposes us to venial sin. Acts that do not measure up to our degree of charity and of the other virtues (actus remissi), although they may still be meritorious, indirectly dispose us to redescend, for they do not exclude as much as they ought the inordinate inclinations which may cause us to fall. We shall discuss especially the mortification of sensuality and of anger.

I quote this here for your edification.
Pray excuse my lack of posts for the last several days.

There is an amazing collection of ancient MSS. and books in the Cathedral Library. I wanted to look at an 11th-c. MS. of the Rule of St Benedict. Apparently I have to get my supervisor to make a case for it being necessary for me to see it. But it isn't necessary; I just want to view it out of historico-antiquarian interest. Perhaps I could get my supervisor to write this:

Dear Librarian,

My student, David Mitchell, wishes to view MS 12345 (Regula Sancti Benedicti), since he is interested in (1) history, (2) religion, (3) medieval manuscripts, (4) palaeographic Latin abbreviations, (5) the monastic life in medieval Europe, (6) the Rule of St Benedict. He does not need to see it but he will be very upset if permission is not granted.
Yours at a moderately warm temperature,

Dr Alphabetagammadeltaepisolenzetaetathetaiotakappalambdamunuxiomnicronpirhosigmatauupsilonphichpsiomega

Hey ho.

A Deplorable State of Affairs

I urge you, ex corde, to watch this video:

http://www.realcatholictv.com/cia/05rebellion/

Today's resolution: to go to Mass as often as possible henceforward. We shall not be able (quoth Fr Hardon) to practise Christian chastity without so doing.

Today I forgot the comparative of magnus. Let it never happen again.

Today is the first day of the Novena of the Presentation of our Lady. I urge you to make some preparation for that great Feast (21st November). For my part my daily meditations shall be upon the Presentation of our Lady for the next few days. Read some of St Alphonsus's Glories of Mary; there is a section on this Mystery.

I have finished Verbum Domini. I hope to write something on it soon.

I have been fairly busy today. I had a piano lesson and an essay to complete and hand in. It was also Nan's 91st birthday. 91! My goodness... Do pray for her. Both my grandmothers are good women.

I am still listening to Fr Hardon, that great Servant of God.

Did you realize Pope John Paul II had been declared Venerable? I only realized this yesterday. The declaration was made by the Holy Father the day before my twenty-first birthday.

Today the Pope published the most important papal document on Sacred Scripture since Dei Verbum. It is called Verbum Domini. I shall comment on it when I have read it. It is a long document - 200 pages. I am reading it now.

Today was my grandmother's birthday. I rang her when I woke up at 1.30 this afternoon. She said I had made her day, which was a joy to hear.

Secondly: I am sure that Satan attacks converts with great vehemence, particularly those whom God wants to play a particularly strong part in His plan.

I hope my brother will forgive me for posting this, if he reads it. I was praying the Sorrowful Mysteries tonight, and came to the Crown of Thorns, and by a train of thought came to think of my brother. He is so good, he has borne so much, he is so kind, he is so guileless, his heart is so great, his soul appears to me to be so beautiful, I have been crying for a quarter of an hour. He is a good man. He is so much better than I. I love him very much. God loves him more. Please pray for him.

I wonder if there are any particular devotions to St Pius X? He was an extremely holy man.

Gentle Reader, I advise you not to leave it until your last tablet before going to see a doctor to renew your prescription.
I also advise against farting loudly.

Good night.

I have been listening to Fr Hardon quite a lot lately. He was a great and holy man. Let us ask his intercession. Fr Hardon, pray for us!

Is ubi legationem ad civitates suscepit, in eo itinere persuadet Castico, Catamantaloedis filio, Sequano, cuius pater regnum in Sequanis multos annos obtinuerat et a senatu populi Romani amicus appellatus erat, ut regnum in civitate sua occuparet, quod pater ante habuerit; itemque Dumnorigi Haeduo, fratri Diviciaci, qui eo tempore principatum in civitate obtinebat ac maxime plebi acceptus erat, ut idem conaretur persuadet eique filiam suam in matrimonium dat.

Gentle Reader, you would not believe the brain-ache that that sentence has given me over the last half hour.

Hello. A happy Feast of St Charles Borromeo to you.
I have been listening to Fr Hardon lectures, from the Real Presence website.
He was a very holy man.
Surely he is in Heaven.

Lots to do and a short space of time. I suppose this is a good thing. Only I want rest at the moment, not work. Time pressure has its benefits, though. It means, or should mean, that more gets done than might otherwise. Hey ho.
I do hope you are all having a happy Octave of All Saints. Let us call upon them all. Here is a prayer that invokes all of them:

Sancti Dei omnes, intercedere dignemini pro nostra omniumque salute.

V. Lætamini in Domino, et exultate, justi.
R. Et gloriamini, omnes recti corde.

Oremus.

Protege, Domine, populum tuum, et apostolorum tuorum Petri et Pauli, et aliorum apostolorum patrocinio confidentem, perpetua defensione conserva.
Omnes Sancti tui, quæsumus, Domine, nos ubique adjuvent; ut dum eorum merita recolimus, patrocinia sentiamus: et pacem tuam nostris concede temporibus, et ab Ecclesia tua cunctam repelle nequitiam: iter, actus, et voluntates nostras, et ominum famulorum tuorum in salutis tuæ prosperitate dispone: benefactoribus nostris sempiterna bona retribue, et omnibus fidelibus defunctis requiem æternam concede. Per Dominum, &c.

This was at one time used in the Little Office of Our Lady.

Here is the translation in the Baronius edition of the Lt. Office:

O all ye Saints of God, vouchsafe to intercede for our salvation, and that of all mankind.

V. Rejoice in the Lord, and be glad, O ye just.
R. And glory, all ye that are right of heart.

Let us pray.

Protect thy people, O Lord, and preserve them by thy continual defence, who trust in the patronage of Peter and Paul, and all thy other apostles.
Let all thy Saints, we beseech thee, O Lord, assist us every where; that, while we honour their merits, we may experience their patronage: grant us thy peace in our times, and repel all wickedness from thy Church: dispose our way, our acts, and wills, and those of all thy servants, in the good success of thy salvation: render to our benefactors everlasting blessings, and to all the faithful departed grant eternal rest. Through our Lord, &c.

1. Why do I have so much to do?
2. Why do I leave everything to the last minute?

This evening I came across this on Facebook:

"don't kid yourself; just because you say things that folk find hard to hear and harder still to concur with doesn't make you a martyr for truth. It just makes you wrong. And a gobs***e"

I could not help thinking this might apply to me, though it might not. I still suspect it.

*shrugs*

In Praise of Mary (II)

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

How can I begin to praise Thee, O my Mother?
We are approaching the Feast of All Saints; and Thou, my Mother, art the greatest and the Queen of all Saints. Yea, Thou art my Queen and the Queen of Heaven crowned. Thou hast greater love in Thine Immaculate Heart than all the love of all the mothers in the world put together. Thou desirest nothing more than that God be loved and that souls be saved.
Grant that I may love Thee, Mary; grant that I may love Thee. Thou dispensest the graces of God. He that loves Thee cannot despair; Thou givest hope to men. He that loves Thee will love Thy Son. How can a man love Thy Son Jesus, when he loves not Thee?
Let all be devoted to Thee, my Mother; let all know and love Thee! How soon the world would be rescued from its deplorable state, if only it knew and loved Thee! Let us love Thee, and let us never faint. Thy children are never lost. Let us be children of Thine, then we shall be brothers to Thy Son. Let us imitate Thy virtues, most especially (1) Thy humility, (2) Thy charity towards God, (3) Thy charity towards Thy neighbour, (4) Thy faith, (5) Thy hope, (6) Thy chastity, (7) Thy poverty, (8) Thine obedience, (9) Thy patience, (10) Thy prayer.
If we knew Thee better, how much the better should we know Thy Son! He Who, though He was God, lived nine months within Thy womb, dependent utterly on Thee, His Mother, for His bodily life. Think, good Mother, that Thine acceptance, Thy Fiat! brought about His Incarnation: indeed, if it is not too much to say, the fate of the world hinged upon Thine answer. Most perfect of all the creatures of God! Greatest of created beings, greater than the Seraphim! With love more ardent than theirs! Ah, Mary, would that we all had a tithe of a tithe of Thy fortitude and Thy willingness to do God’s will; that we all could say to God, Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum. How reluctant we are, and how resistant, to co-operate with the impulses of grace! How cowardly we are in God’s service! How huge a mountain seems the smallest request God asks of us! Yet all that is evil in us comes from ourselves, and all that is good is a gift of God. All that we have of our own is evil. Every good thing we have, from existence downwards, comes from God. Let that humble us! But, oh! will anything humble us, proud as lions as we are? Alas! how easily we imitate the lion in his pride! But when a difficulty approaches we are as timid as a mouse. Grant us the grace of diligence, O Mary, that we may overcome this coward’s sloth.
Thou art most beautiful, Lady! Would to God that I could love Thee as thou dost deserve! That I might serve Thee as a knight his lady! Thou art my Lady, and I thy servant—but what an inept and miserable servant I am! How lazy and reluctant to obey my mistress! How selfish and proud! Thou knowest that my words are true. Oh, grant that I may love thee more! Let me not allow myself to neglect serving You on account of fatigue, hunger, or thirst! Let me not neglect to say one Ave, though I be ever so exhausted! What excuses do we not have for sloth!
Lady, listen to my supplications when I call upon Thee! Grant me, Mary, for the sake of Thy Son and for my own sake, the grace of holy purity. Grant that I may be constant and fervid in devotion to Thee. And do not let me babble when I pray to Thee. Let me not rattle through rosaries unthinking; let me hear what I am saying when I pray! Grant that I may persevere in the recitation of Thy Rosary until the day of my death; let me never forsake devotion to Thee; rather, let me increase in it until I die. Mary, pray for me. I am Thy slave—but an unfaithful slave deserving of severe punishment. Indeed Roman masters had (in law) power of life and death over their slaves—I am deserving of death at Thy hand. Thou art without sin—therefore Thou canst cast the first stone—yet Thou wilt not, such is Thy mercy.
Teach me how to serve Thy Son: for none has served Him as well as Thou. Thou art the greatest of Saints. Thou art the Mediatrix of all graces. Every grace that comes from God is dispensed through Thy beautiful hands.
Thou art the Cause of our Joy, and, as St Bernard said, “the reason for my hope.” How many souls hast Thou not rescued from hell! How many sinners hast Thou not converted by Thy prayers?

How foolish are they, then, who, knowing the great source of confidence and the great refuge they have in Thee, neglect to call upon Thee! How foolish are they who neglect and despise devotion to Thee, those who look upon Thy Rosary as a devotion for the simple and for old women, and not equally for the learned and for young men. Let us pay no heed to the proud and haughty critics and scholars (who so proud as the scholar, save the heretic?) who sneer at devotion to Thee: let us pay no more attention to them than to those who object that in venerating Thee we are somehow making Thee equal with God. No: let us pay no heed to those who scorn us; and we know how many there are who scorn those who serve Thee, and especially there are those who scorn those who say the Rosary. It is astonishing how widespread this cancer of derision is. It stems from pride and is contagious.—Say the Rosary in public, and see how people mock you, and how the number of people who deride you will grow. It is extraordinary.
O my Mother, I ask of Thee this, that I never shall neglect to call upon Thee. I know that if I call upon Thee I shall be secure; but I fear lest I should abandon Thee. It is my own negligence I fear.
Mary, in my last and darkest hour I pray Thee come to me, and carry me safely over the dread chasm of death. I pray for the grace to spend every moment from this one until the article of death in preparation for that journey. I pray Thee lighten the darkness of this journey. Amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

(30th October, 2010, Vigil of All Saints’ Day)

This post, with its accompanying videos, are very fine:

Click here.

I am remembering.

I am feeling much better.

I shall be fine this time tomorrow. I am just rather agitated actuellement.

Vexor. Cur adhuc vexor? Vexandus non sum. Me vexat.

I have had a wonderful evening at the concert in Sunderland and with various friends of Patrick Zuk. Huzzah!

Continued

VIII. De Introitu, Kyrie eleison, et Gloria in excelsis.

1. INTROITUS semper eodem modo dicitur cum Gloria Patri, ut in Ordinario, præterquam tempore Passionis, et in Missis Defunctorum, ut etiam ibi annotatum est.
2. Kyrie eleison, dicitur novies post Introitum alternatim cum ministro, id est, ter Kyrie eleison, ter Christe eleison, ter Kyrie eleison.
3. Gloria in excelsis dicitur quandocumque in Matutino dictus est Hymnus Te Deum, præterquam in Missa feriæ quintæ in Cœna Domini, et Sabbati sancti in quibus Gloria in excelsis dicitur, quamvis in Officio non sit dictum Te Deum.
4. In Missis votivis non dicitur, etiam tempore Paschali, vel infra Octavas, nisi in Missa beatæ Mariæ in Sabbato, et Angelorum: et nisi Missa votiva solemniter dicenda sit pro re gravi, vel pro publica Ecclesiæ causa, dummodo non dicatur Missa cum paramentis violaceis. Neque dicitur in Missis Defunctorum.

IX. De Orationibus.

1. IN festis Duplicibus dicitur una tantum oratio; nisi facienda sit aliqua commemoratio, ut dictum est supra.
2. In Festis Semiduplicibus occurrentibus ab Octava Pentecostes usque ad Adventum, et a Purificatione usque ad Quadragesimam, dicitur secunda oratio. A cunctis, tertia ad libitum.
3. In festis Semiduplicibus occurrentibus ab Octava Epiphaniæ usque ad Purificationem, dicitur secunda oratio, Deus qui salutis, tertia, Ecclesiæ, vel pro Papa, Deus, omnium fidelium.
4. In festis Semiduplicibus, a feria quarta Cinerum usque ad Dominicam Passionis, secunda oratio de feria: tertia, A cunctis.
5. In Semiduplicibus a Dominica Passionis usque ad Dominicam Palmarum, secunda oratio de feria, tertia Ecclesiæ, vel pro Papa.
6. In festis Semiduplicibus, ab Octava Paschæ usque ad Ascensionem, secunda oratio de S. Maria, Concede nos, tertia, Ecclesiæ, vel pro Papa.
7. In festis Semiduplicibus infra Octavas occurrentibus, secunda oratio dicitur de Octava, tertia, quæ secundo loco infra Octavam ponitur.
8. Infra Octavas Paschæ, et Pentecostes, in Missa de Octava dicuntur duæ tantum orationes, una de die, alia, Ecclesiæ, vel pro Papa.
9. Infra alias Octavas, et in Vigiliis quæ jejunantur (excepta Vigilia Nativitatis Domini, et Pentecostes) dicuntur tres orationes, una de die, secunda de S. Maria, tertia, Ecclesiæ, vel pro Papa. Sed infra Octavas S. Mariæ, et in Vigilia et infra Octavam omnium Sanctorum, secunda oratio dicitur de Spiritu sancto, Deus, qui corda, tertia, Ecclesiæ, vel pro Papa.
10. In Dominicis infra Octavas occurrentibus dicuntur duæ orationes, una de Dominica, secunda de Octava, et in die octava dicitur una tantum oratio, nisi facienda sit aliqua commemoratio.
11. In Dominicis dicuntur tres, ut in Ordinario assignantur, quibusdam exceptis, ut suis etiam locis notatur.
12. In festis Simplicibus, et feriis per annum, nisi aliter in propriis locis notetur, dicuntur tres, ut in Semiduplicibus, aut quinque: possunt etiam dici septem ad libitum.
13. In feriis Quatuor Temporum, et ubi plures leguntur Lectiones, hujusmodi plures orationes dicuntur post ultimam orationem ante Epistolam, ut suis locis in Proprio Missarum de Tempore.
14. In Missis votivis, quando solemniter dicuntur pro re gravi, vel pro publica Ecclesiæ causa, dicitur una tantum oratio: sed in Missa pro gratiarum actione additur alia oratio, ut in proprio loco notatur. In aliis autem dicuntur plures, ut in festis Simplicibus.
15. In votivis beatæ Mariæ secunda oratio dicitur de Officio illius diei, et tertia de Spiritu sancto: sed in Sabbato, quando de ea factum est Officium, secunda oratio erit de Spiritu sancto, tertia, Ecclesiæ tuæ, vel pro Papa. In votivis de Apostolis, quando ponitur oratio A cunctis, ejus loco dicitur oratio de sancta Maria: Concede nos, famulos.
16. Si, cum plures dicuntur orationes, occurrat fieri commemorationem alicujus Sancti, ea ponitur secundo loco, et tertia oratio dicitur, quæ alias secundo loco dicenda erat.
17. In conclusione orationum hic modus servatur: Si oratio dirigatur ad Patrem, concluditur, Per Dominum nostrum, etc. Si ad Filium, Qui vivis et regnas cum Deo Patre, etc. Si in principio orationis fiat mentio Filii, concluditur, Per eumdem Dominum nostrum, etc. Si in fine orationis ejus fiat mentio, Qui tecum vivit, etc. Si facta sit mentio Spiritus sancti, in conclusione dicitur, In unitate ejusdem Spiritus sancti, etc. Alia quoque in dicendis orationibus serventur, quæ superius in Rubrica de Commemorationibus dicta sunt.

X. De Epistola, Graduali, Alleluia et Tractu, ac de Evangelio.

1. POST ultimam orationem dicitur Epistola. Qua finita, a ministris respondetur, Deo gratias. Et similiter quando leguntur plures Lectiones, post singulas dicitur, Deo gratias, præterquam in fine quintæ Lectionis Danielis in Sabbatis Quatuor Temporum, et in fine Lectionum feriæ sextæ in Parasceve, et Sabbati sancti.
2. Post Epistolam dicitur Graduale, quod semper dicitur, præterquam tempore Paschali, cujus loco tunc dicuntur duo versus, ut habetur in Rubrica in Sabbato in Albis.
3. Post Graduale dicuntur duo Alleluia, deinde versus, et post versum, unum Alleluia. Tempore Paschali, quando non dicitur Graduale, dicitur aliud Alleluia, post secundum versum: et quando dicitur Sequentia, non dicitur post ultimum versum, sed post Sequentiam.
4. A Septuagesima usque ad Sabbatum sanctum non dicitur Alleluia, neque dicitur in Missis de feria in Adventu, Quatuor Temporibus, et Vigiliis quæ jejunantur, exceptis Vigilia Nativitatis Domini, si venerit in Dominica, et Vigilia Paschæ et Pentecostes, ac Quatuor Temporibus Pentecostes: nec dicitur in festo SS. Innocentium, nisi venerit in Dominica.
5. A Septuagesima usque ad Pascha, ejus loco dicitur Tractus, qui Tractus prædicto tempore in aliquibus feriis non dicitur, ut suis locis ponitur: nec dicitur in feriis a Septuagesima usque ad Quadragesimam, quando repetitur Missa Dominicæ.
6. Dicto Graduali, seu Alleluia, seu Tractu, dicitur Evangelium, Et in principio Evangelii dicitur, Dominus vobiscum. R. Et cum spiritu tuo. Deinde Sequentia sancti Evangelii secundum N. R. Gloria tibi, Domine. In fine Evangelii a ministro respondetur, Laus tibi, Christe. Quod etiam dicitur in fine illius partis Passionis, quæ legitur in tono Evangelii, præterquam in Parasceve. Postea, si dicendum est, dicitur Credo.

I find this fascinating

MISSA quotidie dicitur secundum ordinem Officii, de festo Duplici, vel Semiduplici, vel Simplici: de Dominica, vel Feria, vel Vigilia, vel Octava: et extra ordinem Officii, Votiva, vel pro Defunctis.

I. De Duplici.

MISSA dicitur de Duplici illis diebus, quibus in Kalendario ponitur hæc nota Duplex, et in festis mobilibus, quandocumque Officium est Duplex. In Duplicibus dicitur una tantum oratio, nisi aliqua commemoratio fieri debeat. Alia omnia dicuntur ut in propriis Missis assignatum est. Quando dici debeat Gloria in excelsis, et Credo, inferius ponitur in propriis Rubricis.

II. De Semiduplici, et Simplici.

MISSA de Semiduplici dicitur quando in Kalendario ponitur hæc vox Semiduplex. Præterea in Dominicis, et diebus infra Octavas. In Semiduplicibus tam festis, quam Dominicis, et infra Octavas, dicuntur plures orationes, ut infra dicetur in Rubrica de Orationibus. Infra Octavam dicitur Missa sicut in die festi, nisi propriam Missam habuerit; in Dominicis vero sicut in propriis locis assignatur. De Simplici dicitur Missa sicut de Semiduplici, ut suis locis ponuntur.

III. De Feria, et Vigilia.

1. MISSA de feria dicitur quando non occurrit festum, vel Octava, vel Sabbatum in quo fiat Officium B. Mariæ. In feriis tamen Quadragesimæ, Quatuor Temporum, Rogationum, et Vigiliarum, etiamsi Duplex, vel Semiduplex festum, vel Octava occurrat, in ecclesiis cathedralibus et collegiatis cantantur duæ Missæ, una de festo post Tertiam, alia de feria post Nonam.
2. In Vigiliis autem et feriis Quatuor Temporum, vel feria secunda Rogationum, quæ veniunt infra Octavam, Missa dicitur de Vigilia, vel feriis supradictis cum commemoratione Octavæ: præterquam infra Octavam Corporis Christi, in qua in ecclesiis cathedralibus et collegiatis cantantur duæ Missæ, una de Octava post Tertiam, alia de Vigilia post Nonam: In Missis autem privatis dicitur Missa de Octava com commemoratione Vigiliæ. Si autem in die Vigiliæ, vel prædictis feriis fiat Officium de aliquo festo, tunc dicitur Missa de festo cum commemoratione Octavæ, et Vigiliæ, vel feriarum prædictarum. Quod si Vigilia occurrat in die alicujus festi ex majoribus primæ classis, in Missa non fit commemoration de ea, sicut nec in Officio.
3. Si festum habens Vigiliam celebretur feria secunda, Missa Vigiliæ dicitur in Sabbato, sicut etiam de ea fit Officium: excepta Vigilia Nativitatis Domini, et Epiphaniæ.
4. Missa Vigiliæ in Adventu occurrentis dicitur cum commem. feriæ Adventus, licet de ea non sit factum Officium: Vigilia Nativitatis excepta.
5. Si in Quadragesima, et Quatuor Temporibus occurrat Vigilia, dicatur Missa de Feria cum commemoratione Vigiliæ.
6. Tempore Paschali non dicitur Missa de Vigilia, nisi in Vigilia Ascensionis, quæ tamen non jejunatur, sicut nec Vigilia Epiphaniæ.

IV. De Missis Votivis S. Mariæ, et aliis.

1. IN Sabbatis non impeditis festo Duplici vel Semiduplici, Octava, Vigilia, feria Quadragesimæ, vel Quatuor Temporum, vel Officio alicujus Dominicæ quæ supersit, in præcedens Sabbatum translato, dicitur Missa de S. Maria secundum varietatem temporum, ut in fine Missalis ponitur.
2. In Adventu autem licet Officium non fiat de S. Maria in Sabbato, dicitur tamen Missa principalis de ea cum commemoratione de Adventu, nisi fuerint Quatuor Tempora, vel Vigilia, ut supra.
3. Aliis diebus infra hebdomadam, quando Officium fit de feria, et non est resumenda Missa Dominicæ præcedentis, quæ fuerit impedita, (exceptis feriis Adventus, Quadragesimæ, Quatuor Temporum, Rogationum, et Vigiliarum) dici potest aliqua ex Missis votivis, etiam in principali Missa quæ vocatur conventualis, secundum ordinem dierum in fine Missalis assignatum, cum commemoratione feriæ, de qua factum est Officium. Quæ tamen Missæ, et omnes aliæ votivæ, in Missis privatis dici possunt pro arbitrio sacerdotum, quocumque die Officium non est Duplex, aut Dominica cum commemoratione ejus, de quo factum est Officium et commemoratione item festi Simplicis, si de aliquo occurrat eo die fieri commemorationem in Officio. Id vero passim non fiat, nisi rationabili de causa. Et quoad fieri potest, Missa cum Officio conveniat.

V. De Missis Defunctorum.

1. PRIMA die cujusque mensis (extra Adventum, Quadragesimam, et tempus Paschale) non impedita Officio Duplici, vel Semiduplici, dicitur Missa principalis generaliter pro defunctis sacerdotibus, benefactoribus, et aliis. Si vero in ea fuerit festum Simplex, vel feria, quæ propriam habeat Missam, aut resumenda sit Missa Dominicæ præcedentis, quæ fuerit impedita, et infra hebdomadam non occurrat alius dies in quo resumi possit: in ecclesiis cathedralibus et collegiatis dicantur duæ Missæ, una pro Defunctis, alia de festo Simplici, vel feria prædicta. Sed in ecclesiis non cathedralibus nec collegiatis dicatur Missa de die cum commemoratione generaliter pro Defunctis.
2. Præterea feria secunda cujusque hebdomadæ, in qua Officium fit de feria, Missa principalis dici potest pro Defunctis. Si autem fuerit propria Missa de Feria, vel de festo Simplici, vel resumenda sit Missa Dominicæ præcedentis, ut supra, in Missa de die fiat commemoratio (ut dictum est) pro Defunctis. Excipitur tamen Quadragesima, et totum tempus Paschale, et quando per annum Officium est Duplex, vel Semiduplex: quibus temporibus non dicitur Missa conventualis pro Defunctis, (nisi in die depositionis Defuncti, et in anniversario pro Defunctis) neque pro eis fit commemoratio. Missæ autem privatæ pro Defunctis quocumque die dici possunt, præterquam in festis Duplicibus, et Dominicis diebus.
3. In die commemorationis omnium Defunctorum, et in die depositionis, et in anniversario Defuncti, dicitur una tantum oratio; et similiter in die tertia, septima, trigesima, et quandocumque pro Defunctis solemniter celebratur: in aliis Missis plures, ut de feriis et Simplicibus dicetur infra in Rubrica de Orationibus.
4. Sequentia pro Defunctis dicitur in die commemorationis omnium fidelium Defunctorum, et depositionis Defuncti, et quandocumque in Missa dicitur una tantum oratio: in aliis autem Missis pro Defunctis dicatur ad arbitrium sacerdotis.

VI. De Translatione festorum.

IN dicendis Missis servetur ordo Breviarii de translatione festorum Duplicium et Semiduplicium quando majori aliquo festo, seu Dominica impediuntur. In ecclesiis autem, ubi titulus est ecclesiæ, vel concursus populi ad celebrandum festum quod transferri debet, possunt cantari duæ Missæ, una de die, alia de festo: excepta Dominica prima Adventus, feria quarta Cinerum, Dominica prima Quadragesimæ, Dominica Palmarum cum tota hebdomada majori, Dominica Resurrectionis, et Dominica Pentecostes cum duobus diebus sequentibus, die Nativitatis Domini, Epiphaniæ, Ascensionis, et festo Corporis Christi.

VII. De Commemorationibus.

1. COMMEMORATIONES in Missis fiunt sicut in Officio. De festo Simplici fit commemoratio in Missa, quando de eo in Officio facta est commemoratio in primis Vesperis. Quando autem de eo fit commemoratio tantum ad Laudes, in Missa solemni non fit commemoratio de eo, sed in Missis tantum privatis. Excipitur Dominica Palmarum, et Vigilia Pentecostes, in quibus nulla fit commemoratio, etiam in Missis privatis, de festo Simplici occurrente, licet facta sit in Officio. De Dominica fit commemoratio, quando in ea agitur de festo Duplici. De Octava fit commemoratio, quando infra Octavam celebratur aliquod festum, nisi illud festum fuerit de exceptis in Rubrica Breviarii de Commemorationibus. Item quando infra Octavam fit de Dominica.
2. De feria fit commemoratio in Adventu, Quadragesima, Quatuor Temporibus, Rogationibus, et Vigiliis, quando Missa dicenda est de festo illis temporibus occurrente. Sed in ecclesiis cathedralibus et collegiatis, ubi plures sacerdotes quotidie celebrant, in feriis, Rogationibus et Vigiliis prædictis; quæ habent Missas proprias, dicuntur duæ Missæ, una de festo, alia de feria, Rogationibus et Vigilia, absque ulla utrumque commemoratione: in festis tamen majoribus primæ classis nihil fit de Vigilia occurrente, ut dictum est supra.
3. Quando infra Hebdomadam dicuntur Missæ votivæ, post primam orationem semper dicatur oratio ejus de quo fit Officium, ut supra explicatum est in propria Rubrica.
4. Quando fit commemoratio de feria Quatuor Temporum, pro feriæ commemoratione dicitur prima Oratio, quæ concordat cum Officio.
5. In faciendis commemorationibus servetur ordo ut in Breviario. De Dominica, ante diem infra Octavam: de die infra Octavam, ante ferias prædictas: de feriis prædictis, ante festum Simplex: de festo Simplici, ante orationes quæ secundo vel tertio loco dicendæ assignantur, et hæ dicantur ante orationes votivas: in quibus votivis servetur deinde dignitas orationum, ut de sanctissima Trinitate, de Spiritu sancto, de SS. Sacramento, de S. Cruce, ante votivam de B. Maria, et de Angelis, et de S. Joanne Baptista, ante Apostolos, et similiter in aliis.
6. Si facienda sit commemoratio pro Defunctis, semper ponitur penultimo loco. In Missis autem Defunctorum nulla fit commemoratio pro vivis, etiam si Oratio esset communis pro vivis et Defunctis.
7. Quando dicuntur plures orationes, prima tantum et ultima cum sua conclusione terminantur: et ante primam et secundam orationem tantum dicitur Oremus, ante primam dicitur etiam Dominus vobiscum.
8. Cum vero dicuntur plures orationes, et una oratio eadem sit cum alia ibidem dicena, oratio hujusmodi, illa scilicet quæ eadem est, non alia, commutetur cum alia de Communi, vel Proprio, quæ sit diversa. Idem servetur in Secretis, et Orationibus post Communionem.

(From Rubricæ generales Missalis, from an old (1866) Missal. I am pleased to find that that Latin is not difficult at all. The only trouble I had (at all) was with the words "quod" and "diversa".

Egad! I have not gebloggen this biduum! Mine apologiae. Let us pray that priests always celebrate Mass in accordance with the rubrics.

Well, tonight was, I suppose, my last Candlelit Procession... Hey ho...
It has been a good and in its own way a productive day. I am pleased. Bye.

On Progressivism & The Barbarians

There seems to be hardly any intellectual virus more tenacious than this particular strain; yet the emptiness of the idea should be self-evident to any thinking person. The idea is that the present is better than the past, because this is the present and the past is the past, and consequent upon this piece of monumental imbecility is the idea that anything old, however venerable it really is, is unworthy of attention and contemptible. This strange mentality is enamoured of buzzwords, particularly the word forward as well as the very obvious progress. They both mean the same thing, of course. We must move forward! (Why?) You are stuck in the past! You cling to ancient and outmoded ideas! Your outlook upon life is medieval!

Anyone who seriously thinks in this way needs to examine this philosophy and see what basis it has in reason. It is true that certain advances have been made in medicine, and discoveries in the physical sciences generally: and I think it is this discovery that creates an illusion of progress. Something once discovered is unlikely to be forgotten for a long time, generally speaking. And continuous discovery creates an impression that things are getting better, and insofar as the expansion of knowledge in particular fields is concerned, this may be the case. But to extrapolate from this that old things are to be done away with and new things to be welcomed is stupid.

I hope the reader does not think, when I use words such as "stupid," "monumental imbecility," "self-evident to any thinking person," I am merely extolling my own opinions and despising those of others. I would not use such words, or any words, if I were not determined to insist upon reality. I have no desire to irritate people for the sake of it; that would be odious and futile. I sincerely hope and pray that I would never descend to such depths. I should also make it clear that when I use words, I try to express my meaning in the words that give that meaning. It is amusing, sometimes, to see people infer subtexts that I had not intended. It is also somewhat vexing.

I hope nobody thinks that because I object to the Progressivist Philosophy (if it can be called that) I think that old things must always be revered because they are old, and that new things must be resisted because they are new: this would be the exactly opposite error, of precisely equal gravity to that which I am opposing. I am suggesting that we consider reasonably what is new and what old, that we exercise due caution in rejecting old things and accepting new, that when old things become noxious they must be reformed or done away with, and that when new things are harmful they must be cast away.



I find that this Progressivist outlook tends (though not invariably) to belong to that category of persons whom Belloc called "The Barbarians," mentioned by Frederick D. Wilhelmsen in his essay on Belloc. Here are Wilhelmsen's words:



“The Barbarian” within is the man who laughs at the fixed convictions of our inheritance. He is the man with a perpetual sneer on his lips. He is above it all: he judges the poor believer in the street or in the church, some old woman huddled before a shrine of the Virgin mumbling her beads, and he judges her harshly. It is hard enough to come by belief and to live in it, but to throw it away for a cheap joke is despicable. Such are the Barbarians.



And these are Belloc's:



The Barbarian hopes — and that is the mark of him, that he can have his cake and eat it too. He will consume what civilization has slowly produced after generations of selection and effort, but he will not be at pains to replace such goods, nor indeed has he a comprehension of the virtue that has brought them into being. Discipline seems to him irrational, on which account he is ever marvelling that civilization should have offended him with priests and soldiers .... In a word, the Barbarian is discoverable everywhere in this, that he cannot make: that he can befog and destroy but that he cannot sustain; and of every Barbarian in the decline or peril of every civilization exactly that has been true.



And these are Belloc's also; and with them I conclude:



We sit by and watch the Barbarian, we tolerate him; in the long stretches of peace we are not afraid. We are tickled by his irreverence, his comic inversion of our old certitudes and our fixed creeds refreshes us; we laugh. But as we laugh we are watched by large and awful faces from beyond: and on these faces there is no smile.



15th October, 2010

On Transubstantiation

HOC EST ENIM CORPUS MEUM.



St Dominic Barberi replied to someone pestering him about this matter: "Our Lord said, 'This is My Body.' You say it is not His Body. I prefer to believe Jesus Christ."

The words of Institution could not possibly be plainer.

If someone believes that Jesus Christ is God; that He is the Truth; then they must believe that all His Words are true, and that He does not waste words. It is perfectly logical to deny that the Bread and Wine are changed into the Body and Blood of Christ and that the Bread and Wine themselves utterly cease to be - if one does not believe in the Divinity of Christ in the first place. But one who believes that Jesus Christ is the Truth must believe that all his words are true. There is no word more incontrovertible than the word est, is, ist, è, εστιν. Could Our Lord have used a clearer word than is, when He uttered the words of Consecration? If when He said, "This is my Body," it was not His Body, then there would have been a disjunction between what He said and what He thought: a lie: and Who will dare to accuse Jesus Christ of a lie? He said, "This is my Body;" he did not say "This is a simulacrum of My Body," or "This represents My Body," or "This is kind of like My Body," or "This is a symbol of My Body;" and with good reason: for if that had been the case, He would have been instituting a more or less pointless ceremony. No: he said, "This is My Body," and those who try to interpret those four words, which are as plain as the sun at noonday, nay, ten thousand times plainer, in any manner besides their literal and obvious signification, implicitly accuse Jesus Christ of a lie.

A metaphor, you say? No. Is it conceivable that Jesus Christ would have allowed the slightest ambiguity in this solemn moment? If what He was doing was something other than changing the bread He held into His Body, why did He use such a turn of phrase? What would He have said if He had intended to change bread into His body? It may be said that He could have used a formula which expressed the process of change. But clearest and most unambiguous of all are the words "This IS My Body."

What are we to understand by the word is? Any metaphorical or symbolic interpretation of the word is makes it absolutely synonymous with is not; and this is at worst a lie and at best a noxious waste of words. Can we accuse Our Saviour of either of those things?

Such a metaphor, at such a moment, would be pointless and dangerous.



It may be objected that if Jesus Christ could, and did, carry out this act, it does not follow that we can. We cannot change a created thing into the Uncreated Creator. No: and that is why Our Lord then said, Do this in memory of Me. Some will use the words "in memory of Me" as an argument against Transubstantiation; yet how they negate the words This is My Body I am at a loss to understand. When Our Lord uttered the words Do this in memory of Me he was giving His Apostles Sacramental Power: the Power to do what He was doing: to change bread and wine into God the Son, that the Faithful might be nourished by God the Son. That is the meaning of the words "Do this." And that sentence, Do this in memory of Me, was the formula instituting the Sacrament of Order, which gave the Apostles the Sacramental Power, I say, to confect the Eucharist, but also, importantly, to ordain their successors, that other men (viri) might be able to perform their office of priests of Christ.



Let it be clearly understood that the priesthood is not a job; it is the possession of Sacramental Power whereby a man (vir) participates in the Omnipotence of God.



(15th October, 2010. (St Teresa of Avila))

IN ARTICULO MORTIS

Dread thought, whereat I shudder and I tremble,

That moment, hated moment, needs must come

Within a lifetime's instant—to dissemble

Cannot be done. The distant thundering drum



Is not so distant after all. More sound

And more, and quicker, threat'ning as an axe

To sever me from me. I look around

At all that I have known; think of the tracks



Trod by my wayward spirit. I can no more;

What is this? I am dying, must be gone,

God knoweth where. Reality is sore:

What am I when it snaps? Let me live on!



No, I must die; temptations fierce assail;

God help me! Am I ready? Michael, Mary,

Saints, pray for me! I languish, now I fail;

Have mercy on me, Lord; can I be wary



In this my evil hour? I am, I fade.

The Fury's shears! No more! avaunt! avaunt!

Ah, terror!—Mercy! I to calm am sway'd;

But sure a dreadful spectre comes to daunt.



I now approach the End; some seconds more:

Christ, Mary, cling, I love You, be my shields;

One only thing of You I do implore:

Let me awaken in Elysian fields.



(14th October, 2010.)

"The End of Christendom" (FBN)

Sometimes it looks as though the civilization which began in our Europe is lying on its bed of death.

Christendom, that is, Europe, or Western Civilization, was fathered by ancient Rome and mothered by the Faith. The Roman Empire, in time, came to cover most of Europe; and, when the Empire was declining, and had proceeded too far in that decline for the Faith to save it altogether, it was gradually converted from a by then decrepit Paganism to Catholicism, renewing and revivifying its spirit. Who knows what barbarism Europe would have descended to if it had lacked the Faith? (Hint: look around you.)

The soul of Europe, then, is Catholic and is Roman. The last to assume the title of Emperor in Europe was, I think, Napoleon. But things are to be judged as they are, as things, and not by their names: and the Empire, which is Christendom, which is Europe, still exists - for the time being.

We are all aware of the great religious disaster of the sixteenth century - which is miscalled "The Reformation" - and how it destroyed the unity of Western Christendom. It need hardly be said that the only feasible manner of gaining Christian unity is by a return to what was lost at that time. But that is by the bye. We are aware, I say, of the lamentable revolution which is glorified in anti-Catholic books, pamphlets, documentaries, on websites and by cities and by nations. We know how that came as near as anything to destroying Europe, and how in a manner it succeeded. We are aware, also, of the secularization of much of Europe (though not of Ireland, South Germany, or Poland) by the present day; and we are aware of the vacousness and imbecility of the New Secularism. It is difficult to know whether to laugh or to cry: we feel like Gargantua when Pantagruel was born and Badebec died, though the parallel stops there.

We are aware, of course, of the immorality, emptiness, and despair, of the generation in which we find ourselves. We live in an age in which the use of the reason seems to have come to end, an age in which men gratify themselves at the expense of all else, an age in which the meaning of the word love is not known, in which people are bewildered by a lack of purpose in their lives, in which there is rampant impurity, in which many people are mentally ill: an age of self-will and self-idolatry: and the explanation is simple. God is not loved. This lovelessness is a disease and a contagion. It is like a heresy; nay, it is a heresy; a disease of the intellect, which will spread over all the earth like the plague that it is if it be unchecked.

We, we of the Faith, and we alone, have the remedy for this demonic evil. For we alone possess the Truth of God; and we alone have the efficacious remedies for sin, thanks to the love of God, His Truth (which we alone possess in its entirety), and the power He has given to His Priests. The Catholic alone is sane: for he is in tune with reality.



We are aware of these evils - the religious revolution of the sixteenth century, the decline of morality in the twentieth, the despair of the beginning of the twenty-first - and they may tempt us to think that our civilization is approaching its end. Indeed it looks more likely than at any previous time in our history.



While this notion has some justification, I think it may be exaggerated by a misreading of history.

We tend to imagine that for a thousand years before the so-called Reformation the Catholic Church existed in unquestioned and unparalleled splendour. I doubt if that era lasted for two lifetimes (say 1220-1350, that is, from after the victory at the Battle of Muret (1213) to the time of the Black Death); and perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the Church's zenith was but one long lifetime - from 1220 to 1300. But in any case at the Black Death there came a crash, as is hardly surprising, and perhaps it was that shock that was the ultimate cause, in terrestrial terms, of the Reformation.



The Church has always, we must never forget, been hated by its enemies, and always has the potential to do so. When we think what the Church claims to be, and indeed is: the expositor of revealed Truth, taught by God, and reprimanding man for his lust, for his avarice, for his ambition, for his pride; and when we think what man, of himself, is: then it is not difficult to understand why there should be such a conflict between man's sinful nature and the Catholic Church.

The Church has, therefore, always had enemies within and without, terrestrial and infernal.



I think one of the reasons we think of the Church as having been an impregnable monolith for a thousand years is because from the Council of Trent until the Second Vatican Council the Church had a certain monolithic character to it: and that was necessary, to preserve and renew the life of the Church. But the Church does not need to be always as monolithic as it then was; it needs to live and to breathe in the present.

But the Church has often had a precarious life; and if we had lost the Battle of Muret to the Albigensians, then Europe would have been stifled and destroyed by a peculiarly vile creed indeed. Were it not for the conversion of the great Clovis, we might be Arians who say that Jesus Christ is not God. We were nearly wiped out by Islam in the seventh century, and by the Scandinavian Pagans, and by the infamous Mongolian hordes - "the Huns:" perhaps this all-out attack from all sides was the fiercest we have ever had to endure. These attacks lasted on and off for centuries. It is true that the Faith itself stands immovable in the midst of these things, and that the Catholic Church cannot be destroyed; but this does not mean that it could not at any time be, for instance, destroyed in a whole nation, or a whole continent. The Church, and the civilization she has mothered, very frequently looked as if they were doomed to extinction.



And we find ourselves at the present time in a similar predicament. It looks as though our civilization is doomed. Our families, which are microcosms of the State, are breaking down. Our society is coming apart like the pieces of a jigsaw-puzzle. These things have their roots in doctrine, of course: in the minds of men. We can trace, if we will, the history of how people thought: the process whereby divorce became acceptable (it was introduced into English law in 1669 and was made generally legal for all in 1857); the process whereby so many became indoctrinated in the contraception mentality; the process whereby our nation apostatized; the process whereby cohabitation became not only socially acceptable but almost universal; I could go on and on. I am not going to.



I think we shall endure. We have lived through times of peril in our past history, and we have weathered the storm. This is no guarantee, it is true; and this seems to be the greatest storm through which we have had to pass. But all is not lost, and there are Saints upon this earth yet. God will not destroy Sodom for forty good men, nor for thirty, nor for twenty, nor for ten: and God knows that we deserve a worse fate than Sodom did. But there is much to hope for: not least the Mercy of God. And if we hope in that Mercy, and only if we hope therein, we shall be saved.



For my part, I think we shall endure.



(13th October, 2010.)

My Note "On 'The Real World'"

It is a hilarious irony that those who are the most enamoured of this phrase are precisely the same people who are the least interested in reality. Doubly ironic is their obliviousness to this fact.

There are few of us who have reached manhood who do not know how gruelling and ghastly the real world is. But many of us also know that this so cruel world is, in its essence, good: for existence exists and is good. (That statement is, in its skeleton, the proof for the existence of God, by the way. God is Existence. Existence cannot create itself; yet we know existence exists. So there must be an Uncreated Existence.)

Now the Reader, if he knows me and certain facts about me, will not be surprised to learn that I have had the "real world" insult offered to me. It is somewhat like a man's curse issued against another turning back upon himself. There is a great and dreadful irony in it. The reference was, of course, to my religion.

Now the reason I hold my religion is because it is the true one. I am not a Catholic because I hold an opinion to that effect; opinion is naught compared with Truth. I was reading Urquhart's translation of Rabelais this evening and came across these words: "Believe it if you will, or otherwise believe it not, I care not which of them you do, they are both alike to me, it shall be sufficient for my Purpose to have told you the Truth, and the Truth I will tell you." [1] I agree with all of that, except that I do care which you do: though indeed, for my sake, my allegiance is to Truth and to Reality, and not to you. If you want to live in an imaginary world of your own creation, furnished with moral relativism and substituting emotion for thought, and to tell me that gender is a social construct and that (as nearly became, or did it actually become, law in California?) "people are not born male or female," then that is up to you. If you want to be damned then that is up to you; the demons will welcome you; but I love you, and would have it otherwise. "Zeal," as a Saint has said, "springs from love."

It is not my purpose in this Note to provide any of the many converging proofs of the objective truth of Catholicism. I do wish, however, to point out two arguments which I find very strong. They are (1) the eternal hatred of the Catholic Church on the part of Her enemies (with its concomitant the eternal love of Her friends and devotees), and (2) the multiplicity of the character of what I shall call confirmed Catholics. By "confirmed Catholics" I do not mean those who have received that awe-filled Sacrament; I mean (a) those raised Catholic, who left the Church and returned; (b) those brought up Catholic who never the left the Church, but whose Faith was confirmed by the experience of life; and (c) converts (I do not include those contemptible men who "convert" for reasons of politics or expediency), whose sincerity none can question. I shall take these two in their turn.

For the first, I shall take the liberty of a long quotation from the great and holy Hilaire Belloc, in his magnificent book Survivals and New Arrivals: Enemies of the Catholic Church Old and New.



The curious have remarked that one institution alone for now nineteen hundred years has been attacked not by one opposing principle but from every conceivable point.

It has been denounced upon all sides and for reasons successively incompatible: it has suffered the contempt, the hatred and the ephemeral triumph of enemies as diverse as the diversity of things could produce.

This institution is the Catholic Church.

Alone of moral things present among men it has been rejected, criticized, or cursed, on grounds which have not only varied from age to age, but have been always of conflicting and often of contradictory kinds.

No one attacking force seems to have cared whether its particular form of assault were in agreement with others past, or even contemporary, so long as its assault were directed against Catholicism. Each is so concerned, in each case, with the thing attacked that it ignores all else. Each is indifferent to learn that the very defects it finds in this Institution are elsewhere put forward as the special virtues of some other opponent. Each is at heart concerned not so much with its own doctrine as with the destruction of the Faith.

Thus we have had the Church in Her first days sneered at for insisting on the presence of the full Divine nature in one whom many knew only as a man; at the very same time She was called Blasphemous for admitting that a Divine personality could be burdened with a suffering human nature. She was furiously condemned, in later ages, for laxity in discipline and for extravagant severity; for softness in organization and for tyranny; for combating the appetites natural to man, and for allowing them excess and even perversion; for ridiculously putting forward a mass of Jewish folklore as the Word of God, and for neglecting that same Word of God; for reducing everything to reason—that is, to logic, which is the form of reason—and for appealing to mere emotion. Today She is equally condemned for affirming dogmatically the improbable survival of human personality after death, and for refusing to admit necromantic proofs of it—and pronouncing the search for them accursed.

The Church has been presented, and by one set of Her enemies, as based upon the ignorance and folly of Her members—they were either of weak intellect or drawn from the least instructed classes. By another set of enemies She has been ridiculed as teaching a vainly subtle philosophy, splitting hairs, and so systematizing Her instruction that it needs a trained intelligence to deal with Her theology as a special subject.

This unique experience suffered by the Church, this fact that She alone is attacked from every side, has been appealed to by Her doctors throughout the ages as a proof of Her central position in the scheme of reality; for truth is one and error multiple.

It has also been used as an argument for the unnatural and evil quality of Catholicism that it should have aroused from the first century to the twentieth such varied and unceasing hostility.

But what has been more rarely undertaken, and what is of particular interest to our own day, is an examination of the battle's phases. Which of the attacks are getting old-fashioned? Which new offensives are beginning to appear, and from what direction do they come? Which are the main assaults of the moment? What is the weight of each, and with what success are they being received and thrown back?

I say, this cataloging of the attacks in their order of succession, from those growing outworn in any period to the new ones just appearing, has been neglected. A general view of the procession is rarely taken. Yet to make such an appreciation should be of value. The situation of the Church at any one time can be estimated only by noting what forms of attack are failing, and why; with what degree of resistance the still vigorous ones are being combated; what novel forms of offensive are appearing. It is only so that we can judge how the whole position stood or stands in any one historical period.

Now the historical period in which we have most practical interest is our own. To grasp the situation of the Catholic Church today we must appreciate which of the forces opposing her are today growing feeble, which are today in full vigor, which are today appearing as new antagonists, hardly yet in their vigor but increasing.

As for the Faith itself it stands immovable in the midst of all such hostile things; they arise and pass before that majestic presence:

"Stat et stabit, manet et manebit: spectator orbis." [2]



And there is something wonderful in seeing the Church ever immovable, against the intelligent forces of evil that try to wound Her as much as they can, and the stupid agents of evil who try to destroy Her: who know not that She cannot be destroyed, so feeble is their grasp of the reality of spiritual things.

Secondly, when one examines the nature of those who become Catholics, there is no common thread linking them, none at all, apart from their humanity and their Catholicism. All Catholics, but it is true of converts (and that is to be noted), are about as like to one another as a hairbrush to a glass of water, as the sun to a frog, and as a tweed jacket to a roast potato. I do not mean that there will not be similarities in personality and common interests in golf or art or Romantic poetry or philately or the Renaissance in France or tectonics or the works of Catullus. I mean that there is no such thing as a typical Catholic, whereas there is such a thing as a typical Anglo-Catholic or a typical Calvinistic Methodist or a typical Plymouth Brother.

I find these two things, among twenty thousand others, strong arguments in favour of Catholic truth; and these myriad taken all together I find amount to a certainty.



The Catholic Church is the prime reality of the world.



Crowns and thrones may perish, kingdoms rise and wane,

But the Church of Jesus constant will remain.



All great States and civilizations come to their end: Carthage, Venice, Rome. There is nothing that endures. But there is one thing which shall endure until the end of time; and it shall endure until the end of time, yes, because Christ has given his promise - but what is a promise? A promise is an assurance of Truth with reference to some act either begun in the future or already begun and continuing into it. A promise coming from Jesus Christ, Who is Truth itself, will not be broken.

I have not endeavoured to prove Catholic truth in this essay; if the Reader cares enough about reality, he may read some Catholic books for himself to find out the Church's dogmas and the reasons behind those dogmas. If he does not care about reality, he will attack the Church anyhow and in any way, "without," as Defoe put it, "knowing whether Popery [be] a man or a horse."

I should wish to emphasize the distinction which must be made between holding a strong opinion to the effect that something is true, and knowing that something is true: as the Catholic knows that his religion is true, and that all other religions, whether they be Muslim or Protestant or atheist, are, precisely insofar as they contradict Catholic truth, false. It is those who are clinging tenaciously to opinion, rather than those with a sure and certain knowledge of truth, who write such charitable remarks as this:



May the faeries at the bottom of your garden keep your milk fresh, the elves under your bed ease your muscles while you sleep and the ignorant fool inhabiting your body wake up to the world soon. [3]



Perhaps people who write such things should read the Pilgrim's Progress, paying particular attention to the character of Mr Worldly-Wiseman. He is very busy these days.

Finally, I pray that all my Readers may have awakened in them an interest in reality. For reality is great and terrible; and reality is much more interesting, also, than the warpings and falsifications of it caused by religious bias. "Reality," it must be said, "is harsh to the feet of shadows." [4]





[1] Rabelais, François, "Garguanta et Pantagruel," tr. Urquhart, Navarre Society Limited Edition, vol. 2, p. 73.

[2] Belloc, Hilaire, "Survivals and New Arrivals," "http://www.ewtn.com/library/answers/surviv.htm"

[3] Glendinning, Robbie, comment on Stuart Abram's link to the Youth Declaration to the UN on abortion and family rights

[4] Lewis, C.S., "The Great Divorce."