St. Vincent of Lerins

Feast of the Epiphany

What then will a Catholic Christian do, if a small portion of the Church have cut itself off from the communion of the universal faith? What, surely, but prefer the soundness of the whole body to the unsoundness of a pestilent and corrupt member? What, if some novel contagion seek to infect not merely an insignificant portion of the Church, but the whole? Then it will be his care to cleave to antiquity, which at this day cannot possibly be seduced by any fraud of novelty...

- St. Vincent of Lerins

Jolly Modern

Modernists: pirates engaged in their trade without flying the Jolly Roger.

Ism Week

Back in my university days I was witness to a collegiate episode sponsored by the campus Residence Life Department titled “Ism Week.” Each day of the week was dedicated to spotlighting a different problematic -ism, complete with posters, speakers, workshops, and sponsored discussions intended to raise consciousness of an alleged societal ill.

Thus, one day was dedicated to Racism, subtitled “The -ism race,” another day was dedicated to Sexism, or “The -ism sex,” and so on. The normal leftist stereotypes and clichés were on display throughout the week.

The entry that had me laughing out loud was Theism, which was qualified as “The –ism of religion.”

At first I gave Res Life the benefit of the doubt and said that they were confused by the coincidental use of the letters I-S-M in a word that meant merely “belief in the existence of God” and nothing more. I later learned, however, that the Residence Life staff thought that to be religious was to be discriminatory. Well, at least if you were a Christian; if you were a religious minority, you were exempt.

I asked if a future installment of Ism Week would include a day for addressing the Ism of Atheism. I was told that wasn’t funny.

These days we could start our own ISM week.

* Monday: Atheism, the -ism of godlessness

* Tuesday: Feminism, the -ism of misandry

* Wednesday: Liberalism, the -ism of unthinking rebellion

* Thursday: Socialism, the -ism of institutionalized envy

* Friday: Modernism, the synthesis of all -isms

Clare's First Impression

Blogger Clare Short made it to her first Latin Mass recently, and she wrote about her impressions here.

From the article:

"There was an atmosphere of joy and beauty and reverence."

"The Tridentine Mass made it suddenly clear to me where the Holy Trinity is during Mass."

"I learned more about the Mass in 1 second than I have in 35 years."

Thus Spake St. Proclus

"We do not proclaim a deified man, but we confess an incarnate God."
- St. Proclus, Archbishop of Constantinople (+466 AD)

Trisagion
Sanctus Deus, Sanctus Fortis, Sanctus Immortális, miserére nobis.
Holy God, holy Strong One, holy Deathless One, have mercy on us.

Teresa on Intelligence

Feast of St. Teresa of Avila
"An intelligent mind is simple and submissive; it sees its faults and allows itself to be guided. A mind that is deficient and narrow never sees its faults, even when shown them. It is always pleased with itself and never learns to do right."
- St. Teresa of Avila

From Sorrow to Joy

From Mary alone our Lord took His flesh, dwelling nine months in her womb that was a temple more splendid that Solomon’s, maturing in stature near her heart that was endowed with an unspeakable treasury of resplendent virtues. It was Mary who stood at our Lord’s feet when His own heart was pierced with a Roman lance, piercing her heart through as well with the sword of sorrow. Yet joyfully did she offer her Son with her own hands for the salvation of the world, for her sorrow was not the grief of despair, but the source of pity, of perseverance in hope, and of repentance unto salvation. To her children who remember her at her Divine Son’s sacrificial celebration she bestows strength of spirit, turns grief to wisdom, and beautifies their acts of penance so that they acquire greater merit. In Mary most holy is an example of how to unite one’s self with the perfect sacrifice offered to Almighty God upon the altar. In loving Mary, we love what God Himself loved. “Mary was the most perfect among the saints only because she was always perfectly united to the will of God” (St. Alphonsus de Ligouri).

The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary
From the responsories at Matins.

(i) The prophecy of holy Simeon
“There was a man named Simeon, and this man was just and devout; and he said unto Mary: Thine own soul also a sword shall pierce.”

(ii) The flight into Egypt
“Arise, and take the Child and His mother and fly into Egypt; and be there until I shall tell thee.”

(iii) The three days’ disappearance of the boy Jesus
“Son, why hast thou done so to us? Behold thy father and I have sought thee, sorrowing.”

(iv) The painful progress to Calvary
“And bearing His own cross He went forth. And there followed Him a great multitude of people, and of women who bewailed and lamented Him.”

(v) The crucifixion
“And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, they crucified Him there. Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother.”

(vi) The taking down from the cross
“Joseph of Arimathaea begged the body of Jesus. And taking it down from the cross His mother received it into her arms.”

(vii) The entombment
“What a sadness of heart was thine, Mother of sorrows, when Joseph wrapped Him in fine linen and laid Him in a sepulcher.”