St. Thomas a Becket, Bishop and Martyr

"In the Name of Jesus and the protection of the Church, I am ready to embrace death."

Feast of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist

Today is the feast of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist. He needs no introduction. Out of all the evangelists, he is my favorite.

Fr. Leonard Goffine (1648 - 1719), in his Devout Meditations, has the following summary of the Beloved Disciple:

John, the brother of St. James the Greater, was a son of Zebedee, a fisherman of Galilee, and of Salome, a cousin of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Matt. iv. 21). He was the youngest of the apostles, and with Peter and James, was the most trusted of the disciples of Jesus, by Whom he was tenderly loved, on which account he is called the Disciple of Love. Of this Jesus gave the most convincing evidence when, at the Last Supper, He allowed that disciple to lean upon His breast, and when, from the cross, He committed to the care of John His own Mother. After the ascension John preached the Gospel in Palestine; afterwards went to Asia Minor, fixed his residence in Ephesus, and established many churches there. He was, with the other apostles, taken prisoner and scourged by the Jews, and in the year 95, under the Emperor Domitian, before the Latin Gate, at Rome, was thrown into a vessel of boiling oil. Having endured this torture without injury, he was then banished to the island of Patmos, where, by command of the Lord, he wrote the Apocalypse, or Revelation, concerning the fortunes of the Church. On returning from his banishment, he again governed the churches of Asia Minor as chief pastor, as he had done before, and, at the age of nearly one hundred years, died at Ephesus a peaceful and natural death.

Fr. Goffine also has the following to say about St. John and purity:

'He that loves wisdom,' saith the Holy Ghost, 'will obtain it, for it will not enter into a malicious soul, nor dwell in a body subject to sins' (Wis. i. 4). St. John was from his childhood an angel of purity, on which account he was particularly beloved by Jesus, and endowed by the Holy Ghost with such wisdom and knowledge that, as St. Augustine has remarked, he begin his gospel in a manner more lofty and sublime than the other three evangelists. For while they walk with the God-man upon earth, speaking comparatively little of His divinity, St. John, as if despising the world, soars beyond the vault of heaven, above the host of angels, and comes to Him by Whom all things are made, saying, "In the beginning was the Word." At the Last Supper he was permitted to lean on the bosom of Jesus, but what he there drank in secretly he imparted openly. Apply thyself, therefore, to purity of heart, and thou shalt be like St. John, a beloved disciple of Jesus, and shalt be filled with heavenly wisdom.

Ora pro nobis, Sante Johannes!

Feast of St. Thomas, Apostle and Martyr

Today is the feast of St. Thomas, Apostle and Martyr. He is commonly referred to as "Doubting Thomas," from the account in John 20:24-29. The account John gives is marvelous, and invites plenty of reflection. Before the "reforms" of 1969, the Church encouraged Her Faithful to silently say what Thomas said when he realized he had touched the Word Made Flesh - "My Lord and my God!" - at the Major Elevations at Mass. This is a practice that has fallen to the wayside, and is worthy of revival in one's life.

However, it would be an injustice to focus on Thomas' doubt. (In our day and age, sadly, this is often the case.) After the Upper Room, St. Thomas went on to be an Apostle and Martyr in the truest sense of the words. Here is what Fr. Leonard Goffine (1649 - 1719) wrote about the Saint for December 21st:

Thomas, also called Didymus, or the twin, was a fisherman of Galilee. After having been received among the apostles he accompanied Jesus in all His journeys, and uniformly showed docility, zeal, and love towards Him, particularly on the occasion of His going to Bethany to raise Lazarus from the dead. For when the apostles were afraid to go thither, because the Jews desired to kill Jesus, Thomas, full of courage, said, "Let us also go, that we may die with Him" (John xi.16). His faith, indeed, wavered for a moment in regard to the resurrection of Christ; but no sooner had Christ satisfied him thereof by showing His wounds, than he cried out with firm faith, "My Lord and my God." St. Gregory thereupon says, "God overruled the doubting of Thomas to our good, since that very doubt has profited us more than the ready belief of the other disciples, inasmuch as thereby Christ was induced to give so much clearer proofs of His resurrection, in order to confirm us in the belief of it." Thomas showed the firmness of his faith by the innumerable labors which he undertook, and by the sufferings that he endured for Christ. He traversed the most extensive and remote countries, and preached Jesus to the Armenians, Medes, Persians, Parthians, Hyrcanians, Bactrians, and other barbarous and wicked nations, enduring in the course of his labors, with astonishing firmness, the greatest sufferings for the honor of God and the salvation of men. Finally he came to India, when, in the city of Calamina, or Meliapor, he underwent a glorious martyrdom, being pierced through with lances, by order of the idolatrous priests, as he was praying at the foot of the cross. So much did the apostle do to repair a single fault; but we, who every day commit so many - what do we do to repair them? 

The Feast of St. Thomas supersedes all but the Sundays in Advent.

Ora pro nobis, Sancte Thoma!

St. Raphael

Magnificat

Salve Regina

FUNERAL OF HER MAJESTY, QUEEN ELIZABETH II

 

BATTLE OF BRITAIN DAY ~ 82nd ANNIVERSARY

 

QUEEN ELIZABETH II: REQUIESCAT IN PACE

Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II died today at Balmoral at the age of 96. May Our Lord Jesus Christ be merciful upon her soul. 

 

"Come on out, come on out, there's going to be a war". Reflections on the Anniversary of World War 2

This day, 83 years ago, the forces of Satan crossed the Polish border and unleashed on the world a torrent of bloodshed. In the early hours of that fateful day, Nazi aircraft began to bomb Warsaw leading to the eventual occupation of that nation with co-conspirator, Soviet Russia. The Bolsheviks attacked Poland on the 17th, following the secret protocols in the vile Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact. In fact, Nazis had even been training in the Soviet Union in the late 1930s. The right and left hand of Satan met at the river San - the dividing line between the two totalitarian States. Eventually, due to far greater organization and international connections and assorted fellow travellers,  the communist empire would devour more than half of Europe and lead to its monstrous extension over the globe leading to such a death count, that even the fiendish Hitler would end up looking like a choir boy. 

 "Come on out, come on out, there's going to be  a war", were the words my mother recalled to me of her mother hurrying down to the ocean side as she played with my uncle at Southend on Sea. That fateful day was September 3rd, and Britain and France had just declared war on Germany. A few hundred miles away, in my father's country the forces of Satanic evil were busily at work, already bombing hospitals and murdering civilians. 

Stalin directing Hitler into a losing war 

The result for Poland was the virtual extermination of Poland's Jews - protected by King Kazimir the Great centuries earlier, when Jews were being hounded out of other European states. Nazi hatred for the Catholic Church too was on display with arrests and executions of priests. Mass was proscribed, with the sole Mass at the Wawel Cathedral under the eye of the Gestapo. It was in this environment that the great Archbishop Sapiecha would take on a seminarian named Karol Wojtyla. 

My father was a witness to Nazi brutality. Early during the war, he and my grandmother on a number of occasions would sneak food to the Jews of Przemysl and pass food through the wired off area where the Jews were kept, prior to deportation to the death camps. My father always remembered this, and he remembered to his horror seeing behind the wire a young teenage boy from his class in school. Eventually my father would be arrested in a "Lapanka" (or street catch) and sent to Germany for slave labour. He then ended up in Norway on an island doing tree cutting; transferred to a camp near the Swedish border, he and another teenager escaped up into the mountains and to freedom in Sweden. He always remembered seeing the German Army motorbikes travelling along the road far below looking for them. In fact, this escape was even more daring for two young men had tried it earlier and had been shot. From Stockholm he eventually he would end up in Scotland in the armed forces... from then, onto London where he met my very English mother (who left London and spent her war years in Llandudno, Wales) - and the rest is history. 

So, please pray for Poland that she may remain true to her ancient Faith.

"In Him there was life, and that life was the light of men." (John 1:4)

The Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, 1747, by Fray Miguel Melchor de Herrara

This beautiful painting has several Scripture references. When I realized that, the Prologue from John came to mind. Scripture and His Sacred Heart are intertwined - for Our Lord Jesus Christ was, and always will be, the Word made Flesh.

St. Raphael

Saints Peter and Paul, ora pro nobis

Saint Irenaeus, ora pro nobis

EMANUEL JAQUES: Toronto's little saint of purity

It was July 29, 1977 when 12 year old Emanuel Jaques was abducted and tortured for over 12 hours by four homosexual sadists. [warning graphic content]. 

Having raped and tortured Emanuel for half a day, the monsters murdered Emanuel by holding his head in a kitchen sink filled with urine. 

Yes, urine. 

 

 

Torture, sadism, perversion, abuse...

This is homosexual depravity at it demonic, satanic conclusion. 

 

 

 

St. John Chrysostom wrote about this great evil, its causes and effects. 

Emanuel, a Catholic, had recently immigrated to Canada with his family from Portugal. I have written about Emanuel before, and will continue to do so. It is indeed scandalous that Emanuel is forgotten by the local Church. 

Holy Cross Cemetery in north Toronto,
where Emanuel's mortal remains are buried

I call upon the Archdiocese of Toronto to declare Emanuel "venerable".  

 

Today, in downtown Toronto, a so-called "gay pride parade" will be staged. A degenerate hoard ("hell appearing before its time" St. John Chrysostom) will gather to blaspheme God and His creation ("male and female He created them" Gn 1:27) and to "celebrate" sexual perversion. We cannot forget that many - if not most - of the homosexuals come from broken families, have suffered abuse in their childhood. Far worse than these sad people are the hedonistic non-homosexuals who cheer them on, who encourage them in their sin. But perhaps even worse than these reprobates are the silent bishops and clergy; who, if not encouraging and/or excusing this evil, just sit quietly by and allow this attack on God, the family to proceed without a word. Just as they have sat for decades in virtual silence on the scourge of abortion, allowing over 2 million Canadian babies to be butchered.

 

While this demonically inspired orgy takes place let us not forget that one of Emanuel's murderers is out on partial parole in B.C. This is how much children are "valued" in our society. But how could they be valued when children are dragged off to be exposed and abused by the horror of drag queens?

Let us turn to Emanuel in prayer. Let us pray that through his death, graces will be accepted by homosexuals who will repent and turn away from sin. 

Let us now once again implore Emanuel to pray for us and for the conversion of homosexuals.

Emanuel Jaques, pray for us. 

"To all homosexuals we say: Peace, Hope, and Joy in your daily pursuit of chastity and holiness. God be with you! May you always keep in your hearts the words of St. Paul, 'You are not called to immorality but to holiness' ".  

Very Rev. Mgr. Vincent Foy 

The Two United Hearts

"Pray the Mass" (1940) - The Traditional Latin Mass Explained

For the reader's gentle edification. 

The commentary is by Ven. Fulton Sheen, the late Archbishop of Newport, Wales - not of New York.

Praises of the Virgin

We reprint a section from the Aurora, a verse paraphrase and commentary on the Latin Bible which was used as a textbook during the medieval period. It was written by Petrus Riga. This section concerns praises of the Blessed Virgin. Credit to Canticum Salomonus for the text.

Praises of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Wrought in the Language of Scripture

She was the Ark,[1] Noe’s dove,[2] Moses’ bush,[3] Aaron’s staff,[4]

Jacob’s ladder,[5] Joseph’s seven sheaths of grain,[6]

The cloud raining Manna,[7] the rock gushing an abundant Stream,[8]

The Serpent’s healing pole,[9]

David’s sling bearing the Stone that struck the enemy,[10]

 Bethlehem’s spring, for whose water David thirsted,[11]

Solomon’s throne made of flashing white ivory,[12]

The scallop shell wet with Dew by Gedeon’s work,[13]

The amber vessel which the prophet saw in the fire,[14]

The ever-closed door in the Lord’s house,[15]

The lamp that gleams brighter than the seven other lights

Which Zacharias saw,[16] a blooming olive,[17]

One of the two staves, which is called Beauty,[18]

The earth spawning the worm which killed Jonas’s shade,[19]

The woman clothed with the sun’s brightness, her head adorned

By a gleaming crown of twelve stars.[20]

Let us go over each of the sentences I have just now gathered about the Virgin

In order; our errant speech seeks a plain path.

May the Golden Virgin gild this writer’s pen,

So that elegant order might grace our speech.

Mary was the Ark, wherein seed was saved;

She rules, saves, and covers her own.

She was a dove: like a dove’s eyes,

Simple, meek, with no gall of evil.[1] 

She is Moses’ burning bush: the fire does not harm the bush,

No lust touched the Virgin’s beauty.

The Virgin is the staff: without a bud that staff bore

Flowers, and without a man she bore God.

She is Jacob’s ladder, whose prayer, intercession,

And example lead you up to the stars of heaven.

She was at once Joseph’s seven sheaves and his store-house, who

Conceived by the Holy Ghost, as mother of the Sacred Bread.

This cloud gives manna, this rock water, when she bears Him

Who was heavenly Food and the Fount of everlasting water.

The Virgin was the pole that raised that Serpent

That saved us, harboring no venom.

The sling David bore, which bore the Stone that bore into the enemy’s brow:

The Virgin bore God, who killed the evil enemy.

She is Bethlehem’s spring, which the king thirsted for, because

In the House of Bread[21] she gave birth to the Bread of Heaven.

When the scallop shell brims with Dew removed from the sodden fleece,

Judea rejoices; the Virgin brims with God.

She is Solomon’s ivory throne, the seat of chastity,

Made God’s chair, white as ivory.

She is the vessel of amber, gleaming with silver, beaming with gold,

When she gives birth to him who is God and man.

The door stays closed because no man could cross

Its threshold: the Virgin conceived without a man.

She is the lamp which seven lights surrounded,

Shining and full of Christ’s seven-fold gift;

She is also the blooming olive because she is light, food, remedy—

Light to the blind, food to the poor, remedy to sinners;

She is also the beautiful staff because the Virgin exceeds the sun’s light

And all heaven’s candles in her beauty.

Earth creates the worm, withering the ivy, because the Virgin

Bore Christ, who cast down the teary Synagogue.

As for the woman bright like the sun and crowned with twelve stars:

I think the stars were the twelve disciples.

Such a beloved Virgin, so noble, was born into the world,

At her rising, light dawned upon our sinful race.

---

[1] Genesis 6:14–22.

[2] Genesis 7:8–12.

[3] Exodus 3:2.

[4] Numbers 17.

[5] Genesis 28:11–16.

[6] Genesis 37:7.

[7] Exodus 16.

[8] Exodus 17:5–6 ?

[9] Numbers 21:8–9.

[10] 1 Kings 17:19.

[11] 2 Kings 23:15–17.

[12] 3 Kings 10:18–20.

[13] Judges 6:36–38.

[14] Ezechiel 1.

[15] Ezechiel 44:1–3.

[16] Zacharias 4.

[17] Ecclesiasticus 24:19.

[18] Zacharias 11:7.

[19] Jonas 4:7.

[20] Apocalypse 12:1.

[21] The meaning of “Bethlehem.”

THE EVILNESS OF "PRIDE"

 

"PRIDE is not a thing that can be destroyed by a single stroke of the sword. One has to put it to death every day. 

PRIDE is self-love. To deny oneself all the time, there you have a good way of killing pride: to starve it out". 

St. Elizabeth of the Trinity

Sacre-Coeur

D-Day: June 6, 1944. May we NEVER forget

Seventy eight ago, this very day, the Allies stormed ashore upon the Normandy Beaches... may we never forget their incredible sacrifice.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon the them. May the souls of the faithfully departed, through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen.

Last year, the Prince of Wales opened a memorial to fallen British veterans. 

Address of H.M. King George VI on D-Day, 6 June 1944

Four years ago our Nation and Empire stood alone against an overwhelming enemy with our backs to the wall. Tested as never before in our history, in God's Providence we survived that test.

The spirit of the people, resolute, dedicated, burnt like a bright flame lit surely from those unseen fires which nothing can quench.

Once more a supreme test has to be faced. This time the challenge is not to fight to survive, but to fight to win the final victory for the good cause. Once again what is demanded from us all is something more than courage, more than endurance. We need the revival of spirit, the new unconquerable resolve.

After nearly five years of toil and suffering we must renew that crusading impulse on which we entered the war and met its darkest hour.

We and our allies are sure that our fight is against evil and for a world in which goodness and honour may be the foundation of the life of men in every land.

That we may be worthily matched with these new summons of destiny I desire solemnly to call my people to prayer and dedication.

We are not unmindful of our own shortcomings, past and present. We shall ask not that God will do our will, but that we may be enabled to do the will of God. And we dare to believe that God has used our Nation and Empire as an instrument for fulfilling His high purpose.

I hope that throughout the present crisis of the liberation of Europe there may be offered us earnest, continuous and widespread prayer.

We, who remain in this land, can most effectively enter into the suffering of subjugated Europe by prayer. Whereby we can fortify determination of our sailors, soldiers and airmen who go forth to set the captives free.

The Queen joins with me in sending you this message. She well understands the anxieties and cares of our womenfolk at this time. And she knows that many of them will find, as she does herself, fresh strength and comfort in such waiting upon God.

She feels that many women will be glad in this way to keep vigil with their men as they man the ships, storm the beaches and fill the skies.

At this historic moment surely not one of us is too busy, too young, or too old to play a part in a nationwide, a worldwide vigil of prayer as the great Crusade sets forth.

If from every place of worship, from home and factory, from men and women of all ages and many races and occupations, our intercessions rise, then, please God, both now and in the future not remote, the predictions of an ancient song may be fulfilled: "The Lord will give strength unto His people, the Lord will give His people the blessing of peace."

 

Cardinal Collins waves forward the Sunday obligation - and Irenaeus writes a personal apology

I missed an important tidbit of information on Wednesday: Cardinal Collins has brought back the Sunday obligation.

The announcement is below.

It’s news to me. I was unaware the Sunday obligation had been suspended for almost 27 months. As far as I was aware, the obligation had been in force since July 2020.

Credit where credit is due, I suppose. Cardinal Collins has exercised his authoritative powers.

In full disclosure, since I was rather public about it, I never should have advocated for the shuttering of the churches as loudly as I did at the start of the pandemic. (See my posts in March 2020.) Authority is very important in the Church. There is no question of that for me. Just ask my parish priest. But I do wonder if my attitude – akin to so many of my contemporaries and elders – helped along His Eminence’s learned helplessness, as it were. Did my attitude strengthen His Eminence’s conviction that closing the churches was the right thing to do? Should I have taken a different stance? I suspect I know the answer. I am sorry, dear reader, for misleading you. It was not my intention. I know I cannot take back what I said and wrote. Please forgive me.

--

Sunday Mass Obligation

Posted : Jun-01-2022

On March 13, 2020, Cardinal Collins issued a communication to the faithful of this archdiocese indicating that it was necessary to cancel public celebrations of the Eucharist on the coming Sunday, stating: “For this weekend and any other which may be required, I grant the faithful dispensation from their Sunday obligation.”

Given that most of the health and safety restrictions in our parishes are no longer in place and the faithful are able to attend the celebration of the Eucharist once again, the basis for the dispensation from the Sunday obligation has dissipated and is no longer in effect.

The Church does not obligate people to do the impossible. If individuals, based on their conscience, cannot attend Mass for a grave reason, including a great vulnerability to COVID-19 or because they are self-isolating to limit the spread of illness, then they are excused from their Sunday obligation, as the law of the Church allows.

After two years of COVID-19 restrictions, many have been deprived of the opportunity to attend Mass and to receive the most Holy Eucharist and all of us have missed the opportunity to experience community, including members of our parishes. As we come to the celebration of Pentecost this weekend, we invite and encourage the faithful to return to the practice of attending Mass in-person.

June: The Month of the Sacred Heart

 

Make our hearts like unto Thine.

Canada's bishops have yet to apologize for two years of abuse and degradation they imposed on Catholics

 

The above photo of the faithful in Montreal, locked out of their churches, marginalized, ignored by their pastors; reduced to kneeling on hard cement in the freezing cold of Montreal is a reflection of the abuse inflicted on them by the men who outwardly occupy the sees of the successors of the Apostles in Canada. 

We Catholics are still waiting for these sad men to admit their guilt, their abuse, their collusion with the State. May they repent and do penance. Perhaps a start might be actually taking a pro-life stand? Perhaps they could show repentance by rebuking the political abusers? Silence, in this case, means consent. When the man who is the Prime Minister of Canada called Canadian truckers "Nazis" the bishops remained silent. When he called them racists the bishops were silent. And so it goes. 

The perverse irony of this is that he and his Deputy came out as fanatical supporters of real Nazis and racists involved in a foreign war half a world away (shipping them bombs and bullets on the backs of long-suffering taxpayers). 

Friends, pray for these men to repent and convert. They have abused us as neo-Gallican satraps of Caesar. They even allowed the Sacred Liturgy to be trodden underfoot by surrendering to State bureaucrats the rubrics of the Mass: the greatest crime of which was turning over the Most Holy Eucharist to the control of godless sinners.  

Ascension Day

Ascension, by James Tissot

 

A foretaste of the glory of the Ascension

The second track in this video, Nun lieget alles unter dir, is a treat.

Enjoy!

Queen Victoria: the Monarch who oversaw the founding of the Dominion of Canada

 

Today, in Canada, is celebrated the birthday of Queen Victoria (which is actually on the 25th). Though the enemies of this country toppled her statue in a desperate bid to destroy her memory, we commemorate her reign in which she oversaw the formation of the Dominion of Canada. 

 

 

"Ask, and the gift will come..." (Matthew 7:7)

Over the past week, I have heard and contributed to three separate conversations on the differences between the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Divine Mercy devotion. My arguments about the latter from three years ago have not changed. I still have reservations about the way the devotion came to the wider Church. The one thing I would change about my previous post is how I came across. But, "the prudent man who dost things with wise counsel" I was not. Mea culpa.

What brings me here is a query I heard from the first conversation. I relay it here in case a reader comes to our blog with a struggle about the Church or another spiritual matter. The person was relating how they were struggling with finding a yearning for a devotion to the Sacred Heart. How could they find this yearning? In response, I said they should simply ask for this yearning, in light of this famous passage from Matthew 7:

Ask, and the gift will come; seek, and you shall find; knock, and the door shall be opened to you. Everyone that asks, will receive; that seeks, will find; that knocks, will have the door opened to him. If any one of yourselves is asked by your son for bread, will he give him a stone? If he is asked for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead? Why then, as evil as you are, know well enough how to give your children what is good for them, is not your Father in heaven much more ready to give wholesome gifts to those who ask him? Matthew 7:7-11 (R. Knox Version).

Be it a desire to have a devotion to the Sacred Heart, or any other devotion, or to keep the Faith in times where the humanity of the Church is heavily scrutinized and exposed for all the world to see - whatever spiritual good you desire, all you have to do is ask. Of course, the caveat is that one has to be in a state of grace and that these goods must be what is needed for their state in life. But, the point remains - "Ask, and the gift will come." Don't be afraid to ask for a spiritual good with confidence and perseverance. He will give it to you, should it fit His Purpose for you, to be with Him forever and ever.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the role of Mary in this. 

All of the great Marian writers mention Mary's co-operation with God's spiritual gifts to us here below. Indeed, She, full of grace, is the greatest intercessor we have. Whatever spiritual good we ask of Mary with confidence, courage, and perseverance, She will bring it to Her Son. It is said that He cannot refuse His Mother anything, just like it is here below with sons and their mothers. Indeed, I have heard it said that Mary is quite eager to carry our spiritual requests to Her Son, with joy. So, do not be afraid to ask Her for the spiritual goods you need. She will help you in line with God and His Purpose.

We need only ask. Do not be afraid to ask for spiritual goods from God and His Mother. It will come, in due time, in one form or another. Blessed be the Names of Mary and Jesus forever and ever. Amen.