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.