“we contemplate important aspects of the person of Christ as the definitive revelation of God” -Pope St. John Paul II Each Thursday, millions of Catholics around the world pull out their Rosaries to pray the Luminous Mysteries. Although these mysteries predate me in existence (and the events they recall probably predate even my great-great grandparents), historically speaking, they are a fairly new and beautiful addition to the original set (the Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious). Pope St. John Paul II instituted them in 2002, just at the turn of the century, in his apostolic letter “Rosarium Virginis Mariae”. And just like the others, they have served as a well-spring of spiritual truth, life, and love, and an inexhaustible, ever-green field for contemplation. They shed light on the public ministry of Christ, parts people feel they may be very knowledgeable about, and place them in a new, well-deserved, and even more contemplative focus. Each of these mysteries bears a particular spiritual fruit, which I will get to in a minute. But apart from the light that these mysteries bring into our hearts through contemplation on them, there is another thread that intimately ties them together. And that is the radical call to obedience. Let’s see how this plays out in each mystery. The First Luminous Mystery: The Baptism in the Jordan Spiritual Fruit: Openness to the Holy Spirit Jesus Christ, in profound humility, was baptized by John in the Jordan River. As He was the spotless Lamb of God, this of course was not necessary. In fact, John says that he himself should be the one getting baptized by Christ! However, Jesus undergoes this Baptism, not so much for Himself, as for us. He is the type of the New Man we hope to become. And in being baptized, He set a pattern for us to, “go and do likewise”. To be baptized as He was, and so become the sons of God. And so that we might receive the Spirit (in which, as St. Paul writes, we cry “Abba! Father!”), He tells His Apostles to go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, all three Persons fully present at Jesus’ own baptism. In an age where Baptism is no longer seen by many Christians as essential, the light of this mystery shines on the importance of obedience to Christ’s command to be baptized, so that we may enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The Second Luminous Mystery: The Wedding Feast at Cana Spiritual Fruit: To Jesus through Mary Jesus performs his first miracle at the Wedding Feast at Cana. Here, he turns water into wine, gladdening the hearts of all at the feast. But He does so at the prompting of His Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, who notices that the newlyweds have run out of wine, and presents the situation to her Son. He, in turn, tells her His hour has not yet come. What follows is truly worthy of note. In an impeccable pronunciation of faith, she tells the servants, “Do whatever He tells you”. A profound call of faith to faith. Oh that these words would be etched into our hearts! For we run to Mary, and she brings us and our intentions to the throne of grace, and tells us the same thing. “Do whatever He tells you.” And these are her last words in all of Scripture. In one sentence, the Virgin’s life is encapsulated. A life of trust and obedience. The Third Luminous Mystery: The Proclamation of the Kingdom of God Spiritual Fruit: Repentance and Trust in God. Jesus Christ commences His ministry, preaching repentance and belief in the Gospel. This mystery was incredibly central to Christ's mission, as well as ours today. Christ’s call for the sinners to repent are actually His first recorded words in the Gospel of Mark (Mark 1:15). But He calls on sinners not to just turn from their evil ways, but to turn to God, a God who can be loved and trusted. In this mystery, Christ teaches us that belief in the Gospel, the good news of salvation, is an integral and essential step in the spiritual order. This seed of trust in God’s power to save us from the yoke of sin and death, in turn bears the fruit of wholehearted obedience, which is more pleasing to Him than numerous burnt offerings and sacrifices (1 Samuel 15). The Fourth Luminous Mystery: The Transfiguration Spiritual Fruit: Desire for Holiness Jesus ascends Mount Tabor with His disciples, Peter, James, and John, and is transfigured before them. The preface of the Transfiguration in the Roman Missal beautifully illustrates the significance of this mystery, “...For after He had told the disciples of His coming Death, on the holy mountain He manifested to them His glory, to show, even by the testimony of the law and the prophets, that the Passion leads to the glory of the Resurrection…” Prominent figures of the Old Covenant (Moses and Elijah) and the New Covenant (Peter, James, and John) are present in this mystery, foreshadowing a fulfillment of the former and an establishment of the latter in and through the person of Christ. But probably most prominent is the Father’s voice heard distinctly from the cloud above, telling the Apostles (and all reading this story) to listen to His beloved Son. In this command, we hear the echoes of the Virgin from John 2:5. In both scenarios, Christ is revealed in His divinity, and we are called to listen to Him and obey Him. And even when this obedience brings us to the most difficult of places, we can be encouraged by the glory of that reward that “eye has not seen and ear has not heard”(1 Corinthians 2:9). For indeed the trial of the Passion is always followed by the joy of the Resurrection. The Fifth Luminous Mystery: The Institution of the Eucharist Spiritual Fruit: Adoration Jesus shares the Last Supper with His disciples, giving them His body and blood. In the Institution of the Eucharist, that symbolized in the Transfiguration is made real at this meal. Christ offers Himself to the Father and to the disciples as the New Passover Lamb, which will fulfill all the sacrifices of old, and usher in the New Covenant. His Apostles seated at table with Him, will become the priests of this new covenant, having received from Christ the command to “do this in remembrance of Him” (Luke 22:19-20). While our minds are brought to the mystery of this supper, we are also taken back to John 6, where Christ commands His disciples to eat His flesh and drink His blood, promising eternal life unto them that do (John 6:58). It was certainly a very radical call, and many of His disciples ceased to follow Him thereafter. Save, of course, the Twelve Apostles. And their response to this is one that very well sums up the life of faith, a life that trusts in God and in His Word. Peter replies, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” And so in the narrative of the Institution, we come to heed Christ’s call to the Paschal banquet of His flesh and blood. The question remains for us, will we trust and obey, just as the Apostles did? Or will we, like the other disciples, also go away? And so these are the events of Christ’s life put forth in the Luminous mysteries. We see in them the inevitable and unmistakable call to obedience. And that is because Christ Himself stands at the center of each mystery as our own model for the faith. For He Himself was “obedient unto death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8). Are we?

A prayer devotion to the Three Holy Heats of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph My dear reader, I present to you the corporal method of devotion to the Three Most Holy Hearts. In humility, I wish to explain and instruct on how to say this chaplet. In doing so, I will also provide meditations and short readings to arouse devotion in the soul, if Our Good Father in heaven were to allow it. What is the Chaplet? This Chaplet is modeled after the Beads of the Sacred Heart, for no greater foundation for devotion is there than Jesus. It is composed of five groups of beads, arranged in order of six in each group. We begin with a crucifix, leading to a Pater bead, three Ave beads preceding to a Pater bead, leading to the centerpiece and going around into the five groups of six beads. These beads add up to a total sum of thirty three, the number of years Our Lord lived on earth. As with the Most Holy Rosary, the chaplet is given five mysteries, to mediate upon while pronouncing the prayers. This chaplet is different than most, as each group present a different prayer to be said, but this is no cause for alarm, or concern that it is overbearing. They are indulgenced prayers approved by Holy Mother Church, from the Raccolta, with the exception of two prayers, but still approved by a priest who has reviewed it. They are short, and easily memorized. The Chaplet We shall now begin with the Inroit, and the preceding prayers: I: Begin with the Sign of the Cross+ and on the Crucifix pray: “Almighty and Blessed Trinity, I offer unto thee this day my life, and all my works, toils and sorrows, joys and every beat of my heart for thy glory, in reparation for all offenses committed against thy sovereign majesty, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and the Pure Heart of her most chaste spouse, St. Joseph, in union with the Eucharistic and Most Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ, as well as the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offered throughout the world and in communion with all thy Angels and Saints, for thy glory and thy praise. Amen.” II: Pray the ‘Golden Arrow’; “May the most holy, most sacred, most adorable, most mysterious and unutterable Name of God be always praised, blessed, loved, adored and glorified in heaven, on earth and under the earth, by all the creatures of God, and by the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the most Holy Sacrament of the altar.” III: On the three beads after, pray; “Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Have Mercy on Us!” “Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!” “Most Chaste Heart of St. Joseph, Pray for Us!” IV: Glory Be V: Announce The Mystery VI: Golden Arrow, before or after the brief meditation The Mysteries Mystery I: On the Love of the Most Holy Hearts for Souls and the Dying Meditation: “The loving Heart of Jesus loves us with a boundless love. The divine and uncreated love which possess that adorable Heart, is nothing else but God Himself. Now since God is unlimited, His love is also unlimited. Since God is everywhere, His love is everywhere, in all places and all things. Therefore the Sacred Heart of Jesus loves us not only in heaven, but He also loves us on earth. He loves us in the sun, in the stars and in all created things. He loves us in the hearts of all the denizens of heaven and in the hearts of all of all persons that have some measure of charity for us on earth.” (St. John Eudes, The Sacred Heart of Jesus, Pg 120.) “The fourth good office which Our Lady renders to her children and faithful servants is to protect and defend them. Rebecca, by her cares and artifices, delivered Jacob from all the dangers in which he found himself, and particularly from the death which his brother Esau would have inflicted upon him, because of the envy and hatred which he bore him; as cain did of old to his brother Abel. Mary, the good Mother of the predestinate, hides them under the wings of her protection, as a hen hides her chickens. She speaks, she humbles herself, she condescends to all their weaknesses, to secure them from the hawk and the vulture. She puts herself round about them, and she accompanies them, like an army on battle array, ut castrorum acies ordinata.” (True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, St.Louis De Montfort, Pg 151-152) “Where your treasure is, there will be your heart also.” (Lk 12:34). Saint Joseph has three treasures: Jesus, Mary and you. Nothing consumes the heart of St. Joseph other than these three treasures.” (Calloway, ‘Consecration to St.Joseph’, Pg 55) “Blessed Joseph! It is not without important reasons that you have been preferred to so many other saints, and honored as the special patron of dying persons, of those who are desirous of securing for themselves the greatest of all graces, that of a happy death.” (A Manual of Practical Devotion to St.Joseph Pg 104, Fr.Patrignani, S.J.) Considerations: How often do you tell Him; “I love you, Jesus.” Is it something that passes your lips every day? Do you consider how much He really loves those who have recourse to His Heart? Do you trust in Mary’s intercession and love for you? Do you believe that she wants you to be with Jesus more than you even do? Tell her; “My mother, if you wish, could you press a kiss to His fine head on my behalf?” Is St.Joseph frequently invoked during your day? How much do you think of this good father’s love for you as his own child? The Prayer for this Mystery: “Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I love you! Save Souls!” End with a Glory Be Mystery II: On the Love of the Most Holy Hearts for Poor Sinners Golden Arrow Prayer: “The people stood looking on. They that passed by, shaking their heads, blasphemed me. But they that stood around mocked Me: in like manner also, the chiefs of the priests, with the scribes and elders, insulted Me by derisive gestures. The soldiers, too, jeered at Me, and, adding insults, they offered Me vinegar. All, in fine, sated me with reproaches. And amidst all this, what was I doing, Child? What My Heart? Father! I exclaimed, unfolding My Heart, Father! Forgive them; they know not what they do: they know not how enormous is the crime which they are committing.” (Imitation of the Sacred Heart, Pg 348, Rev. Peter J. Arnoudt S.J.) “Would you know in the further manner of divine mercy lives and reigns in the heart of the Mother of Mercy? Listen to Saint Bonaventure, “Great was Mary’s mercy towards the wretched while she was living in exile here below; but immeasurably greater still now that she happily reigning in Heaven. She manifests this greater mercy through innumerable benefits, now that she possesses a clear insight into the numberless woes of mankind. She does not require past merits, but grants the petitions of all men, out of charity, and opens the bosom of her clemency to everyone. She relieves every need and necessity with an incomparable affection and tenderness of heart.” (Admirable Heart of Mary, St.John Eudes, Pg 127-128) “St. Joseph may be compared to the good father in the Gospel, who loves those among his children who obey, and are an honor to him, but whose tender and compassionate heart also yearns for the return of that ungrateful child who had abandoned and dishonored the best of parents. The meaning of this is, that if he grants favors to the just to enable them to advance in perfection, neither does he withhold his paternal care and solicitude from poor sinners.” (A Manual of Practical Devotion to St.Joseph Pg 120, Fr.Patrignani, S.J) Considerations: How often have you fallen into grave sin, and came back to Him in the Tribunal of Mercy? Do you think of all the times you’ve grieved His Heart? What about the love He says to you with the words; “Ego te absolvo?”, “I absolve you of your sins!” I forgive you, wipe away the stains upon your baptismal robe and declare you mine once more! Behold my heart! It burns for you! I am in love with you, I suffered for you, I am waiting for you! What of Our Lady? Do you ignore the sparks from her Motherly Heart that fall upon your cold, dead one? What of the tears she cries for you, pleading her Divine Son to stay His judgement? My Son, though this soul has offended thee, please, for me, stay thy arm and have mercy! For I love this soul, as my own child, and do not wish to see it fall into perdition! Does not St.Joseph not worry in anxious hope for you? He does! Like a good father waiting on a rebellious child, he prays and hopes for your return, never resting until you do. My Son, you were once lost for three days, and your mother and I searched anxiously for you, spending many restless hours and tears waiting to see your face once more, I ask, My Son, can you wait a little longer for this soul? Prayer for this Mystery: “My Jesus, Mercy!+Mother of Mercy, pray for us!+St. Joseph, pray for us!” End with a Glory Be Mystery III: On the Crucible of Love and Mercy of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Especially in the Blessed Sacrament Golden Arrow Prayer: “Believe in My love and My mercy. You have sinned against me; I forgive you. You have persecuted me; I love you. You have wounded me both by word and deed; still I wish to do you good and let you share all my treasures. Do not imagine I am ignorant of your state of soul. I know that you have despised my grace, perhaps even profaned My Sacraments. Yet you have from Me a full pardon.” (Way of Divine Love, Sister Josefa Menendez, Pg 402) “Love gives itself as food to its own and this food is the substance which gives them life and sustains them. Love humbles itself before its own… and in doing psoriases them to the highest dignity. Love surrenders itself in totality, it gives an profusion and without reserve. With enthusiasm, with vehemence it is sacrificed, it is immolated, it is given for those it loves. … The Holy Eucharist is love to the extreme of folly.” (Way of Divine Love, Sister Josefa Menéndez, Pg 352) “We reminded you in our former chapters of the first duties which Christians owe to Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Eucharist: faith in His real presence, and the obligation to adore Him. It will be well before proceeding further to consider the principal reasons why Our Lord instituted this august sacrament. An acquaintance with these reasons will enable us to appreciate more fully the love of Jesus Christ for us shown in the Eucharist. The Savior instituted this sacrament in order to be the companion of our earthly pilgrimage, our food at the Holy Table, and the victim offered to God in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.” (Prisoner of Love, Fr Xavier Lasance, Pg 39) Considerations: When the Host is lifted to The Father, do you not say; “My Lord and My God!” Do you not hail that Precious Blood shed for you on the cruel, adorable wood of the Cross? Look at Him! He condescends to veil Himself, infinite majesty He is, under the sacred species. Every day He calls you, burning brighter and hotter than any star in all of the universe combined. I say to you, if you combined every star and supernovae, it would never equal one angstrom, one iota, one atom, of fiery love and brightness of the Sacred Host during Holy Mass! Behold, your Lord and God in the hands of the priest, why, do you not come to Me with all your woes, your sorrows, your tears? I can burn them away, I can heal you, I can help you! Yet you stay away from me? Oh, soul, if only you loved! Even worse, reader, think of the times you approached His Majesty, with a cold and unbelieving heart. Woe, sorrow! What of the times you approached with grave sin upon your soul? Why do you persecute me? You eat my flesh and drink my blood with the coldness of a robber. You receive My Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in a state of sin! Why do you crucify me again and again? Happily, think of all the times The Eucharist was received, and believed in, and loved! The angels veil themselves before me, hell and all its fallen angels tremble and fall down in horror at the presence of My love and holiness! The Saints adore Me profoundly, and My Father is pleased at the sacrifice… for it is Myself offered to Him. Oh, Soul, you approach, I come to meet you… we are united, in a tender embrace, I in you, you in Me, I make my dwelling in thy heart! Behold, soul! In my nail scarred hands, I hold the universe, the cosmos, the planets, all of existence… your heart. I give you mine, am I not a generous lover, friend and father? O, I am, and so I give you myself to be strengthened, inflamed and forgiven! I love you! Prayer for this Mystery: “Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, on fire with love of us, inflame our hearts with love of thee!” End with a Glory Be Mystery IV: On the Crucible of Motherly Tenderness of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Golden Arrow Prayer: “Thus does the Blessed Virgin love us with a most great and ardent love. In the first place, she loves us with the same love she has for God, seeing and loving God within us. The third theological virtue in Mary’s heart is not of another nature than the one in the hearts of the rest of the faithful which has as its sole object God and neighbor. It is true that this divine virtue is, in a sense, indescribably more ardent in the Blessed Virgin’s heart where its object is God instead of ourselves; nevertheless, it is substantially the same charity (though different in degree), and the Mother of Fair Love truly loves us with the same love wherewith she loves God Himself.” (Admirable Heart of Mary, St. John Eudes, Pg 215) “I maintain, in the second place, that the most glorious Virgin loves us with a supremely ardent love, because she loves us with the very same love with which she loves the God-Man, her divine son Jesus Christ, for she knows that He is our Head and we are His members, that we are therefore one with Him, as members are one with their head.” (Admirable Heart of Mary, Pg 215) “Mary’s charity is a love most zealous for the salvation of souls. This zeal gave the Blessed Virgin, from the beginning of her life, a most ardent desire to see the Son of God come into the world to save mankind from universal perdition of sin. This zeal made her offer many prayers, practice such mortifications and shed so many bitter tears to obtain the grace that the eternal Father might send His Son into the world to deliver us from the Considerations: When you pray the Rosary, do you not imagine yourself walking side by side with Our Lady? Are you not at her side, herself narrating the life of Jesus for you? My child, if only you truly knew how much God loves you, and how much I love you… you honor me with prayers and devotions, and I in return, laden the Divine Child with kisses on your behalf! If only you could see how much you’re loved! My Immaculate Heart burns for God, and for you! I am here, always a mother for you, always no matter what, ready to help you in affliction and temptation, always here… you are loved! Prayer for this Mystery: “Sweet Heart of Mary, be my salvation!” End with a Glory Be Mystery V: On the Crucible of Fatherly Love of the Most Chaste Heart of St. Joseph Golden Arrow Prayer: “God wants you to rest in St. Joseph’s fatherhood. Saint Joseph will never abandon you. No matter what your experience of fatherhood has been, St. Joseph will always be there for you. He is your spiritual dad, and he loves you. He will never hurt you. He would give his life for you a million times over.” (Consecration to St. Jospeh, Fr.Calloway, Pg 78) “I cannot remember having asked Saint Joseph for anything which he did not obtain. I am quite amazed when I consider the favors our Lord has shown me through the intercession of this blessed saint, and the many dangers, both of body and soul, from which he has delivered me.” (The Truth about Saint Joseph, Fr. Maurice Meschler, S.J., on the autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila, Pg 144) “Inspired by the Gospel, the Fathers of the Church from the earliest centuries stressed that just as St. Joseph took loving care of Mary and gladly dedicated himself to Jesus Christ’s upbringing, he likewise watches over and protects Christ’s Mystical Body, that is, the Church, of which the Virgin Mary is the exemplar and model.” (St. John Paul II) Considerations: St. Joseph, O, Joseph… dear soul, how often do you have recourse to the Defender of Holy Church? Do you forget him at times? He never forgets you… My child, do you know my Chaste Heart yearns to see you in heaven? It does! I am a faithful father, loving… and caring. Even if you’ve never known the love of an earthly father… I’m here for you! I can help in all troubles, all anxieties, and sorrows. You have but to ask! When the enemy assails you, I can defend you, protect you! I only wish to see you with my Son, Jesus, as He wishes to be with you! Prayer for this Mystery: “Most Chaste Heart of St. Joseph, crucible of chastity and purity, pray for us!” End with a Glory Be We have now come to the centerpiece, where that beautiful aspiration is now prayed; “Jesus Mary and Joseph, I give thee my heart and my soul, Jesus Mary and Joseph, assist me in my last agony, Jesus Mary and Joseph, may I breathe forth my soul out in peace with you.” Dear Reader, you may offer one Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, for the intentions of His Holiness, and the Bishop of your diocese if you so wish. This isn’t necessary, but it is completely optional. I also thank you for reading this little devotional, and if it but stirs up in your heart love for the Three Holy Hearts, I will consider myself the happiest of souls that another soul can love Jesus, Mary and Joseph more and more. Our Gentle Jesus, Mary and Joseph take care of you, and love you. +AMDG+ +JMJ+

“Go to Joseph! Have recourse with special confidence to St. Joseph, for his protection is most powerful, as he is the patron of the universal Church.” ~Blessed Pope Pius IX The Silent Saint, The Patriarch of Patriarchs, The Terror of Demons and Guardian of Virgins, and Spouse of the Blessed Mary. Saint Joseph is rightly proclaimed the Patron of the Universal Church. For it was he who protected Jesus and Mary from the cruel Herod, from poverty, from famine… The Head of the Holy Family! How do we even begin to expound on the greatness of this saint? First, let’s say this; The saint who stands next to the Blessed Virgin in glory; is not a priest, not a martyr, not a deacon, not a confessor, not a doctor of the church, not a pontiff… Saint Joseph was a father, a husband and a workman! Ponder on this… the saint who sits next to Jesus and Mary is not a cleric, nor a martyr… but a husband and a father. If Mary was a walking adoration chapel, carrying the Bread of Eternal Life within her virginal womb, than Joseph was the first of adorers, next to the magi, the shepherds and the wise men and three kings! Actually, Joseph was the first to adore the Sacred Humanity of Jesus Christ, the Divinity of Jesus Christ, the God-Man made incarnate within the womb of Mary! He was the first to lead the First Eucharistic Processions to Egypt and Jerusalem during Mary’s pregnancy, and we can also say, when Jesus was but a little boy, holding both their hands as they traveled. Let me not get ahead of myself, for this Saint is so good to us, by his prayers and intercessions, we should love him because he loves us dearly. This Saint, born of the royal blood of King David, had the supreme privilege of being wed to Mary, and father to Jesus Christ on earth, until his natural death. He had his own Annunciation (Gospel of St.Matthew 1:18-25), just like his blessed wife, he, was given the supreme dignity of taking her hand in marriage, and raising the very Son of God. “A just man,” (St. Matthew 1:19) Scripture calls him. God’s word declares St. Joseph to be a just man, eminent in virtue. Well, sure! By virtue of his proclamation and very vocation, he has to be just! He has to be pure and holy to marry the Blessed Virgin, and to raise the Sinless Lamb of God! Let us rebuke the heresy that Joseph and Mary had other children, for this attacks the infallible dogma of the Immaculate Conception and the dogma of the Perpetual Virginity of Our Lady, and dishonors God greatly. It also takes away the title of Joseph Most Just and slanders his own virginity! Yes, dear reader, this most eminent Saint was a virgin before God, for His and Mary’s marriage was the heavenly model of marriage before God. Let me expound on this; Fr. Donald Calloway, in his book; “Consecration to St. Joseph,” speaks thus; “Your spiritual father is a gentleman. Saint Joseph is the first Christian gentleman; next to Jesus, he is the greatest example of masculine chastity. He was married to the most beautiful woman in the world, and he treated her with respect, dignity and reverence.” (Calloway, “Consecration to St. Joseph, Pg 46) The esteemed author says in the previous page; “Saint Joseph and Mary lived in what is called a “Josephite Marriage.” They were truly husband and wife, but they never engaged in sexual relations. Their vocation was to be untied in heart, mind, and soul, but never in body.” (Calloway, Pg 45) Joseph’s Most Chaste Heart, is at its core, a Crucible of Chastity. The marriage of Mary and Joseph was pure, spotless, full of superabundant love between two humans, that was the eminence of charity and chastity. As the dear author, Fr. Donald Calloway points out, that St. Joseph is a gentleman, the best example next to Jesus Christ, of masculine chastity. In Fr. Calloway’s work we continue to read; “”Where your treasure is, there will be your heart also.” (Lk 12:34). Saint Joseph has three treasures: Jesus, Mary and you. Nothing consumes the heart of St. Joseph other than these three treasures.” (Calloway, Pg 55) Did you think when we see these plaster statues of the Lily-Staffed saint, that he’s just as cold and unfeeling in heaven? No! He loves you! He protects you! He wants what is best for you because God wills the best for you, and St. Joseph does the will of God! Believe me, I say to you, that St. Joseph is your spiritual father if you so wish him to be, for all you have to do is ask this great saint and God will grant you him as a patron and he will embrace you as a client and child. Why, my beloved reader, do you think that his heart is titled ‘Most Chaste?’ Because he possess the supereminence of this virtue, next to Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary! Following Fr. Calloway, we read; “Saint Joseph will help you have a chaste heart. Lust is the predominant vice at work in the hearts of men today. The world is filled with immoral and lust filled actions. These actions greatly offend God, ruin families, and cry out to heaven for justice. Did not Our Lady warn St. Jacinta of Fatima that many souls go to hell because of sins of the flesh?” (Calloway, Pg 55) I gave the above statistic for a reason; to show the scourge of lust on this world. To show the absolute unholy, filthy scourge that Lucifer and his apostate angels have unleashed on man and woman to destroy chastity and purity. Lucifer hates chastity and purity, for the sole fact that it is the Virtue that combats lust and gluttony, lack of temperance and control. He hates it because Our Lady and St. Joseph possess it super-eminently, and perfectly. Well, Our Lady will crush his head! (Genesis 3:15) Eve gave into his wiles, and Our Lady, the New Eve, corrected this mistake. Eve brought sin into the world by one action, Mary brought salvation into the world through her womb in one God-Man. So, there’s a reason why the Rosary, and all devotion to Our Lady is so dreadful to that prideful apostate angel. Especially devotion to St. Joseph, either through his rosaries or, his Seven Sorrows and Joys. We can see through these devotions the virtues of this eminent saint shine through, but His Most Chaste Heart, the fiery Crucible of Chastity, is the burning, molten core of love for purity and God. His litany names him the ‘Terror of Demons,’ and for good reason. It was Herod that sent his wicked soldiers to slay the newborn Jesus, and to rid the world of the King of Kings. For Herod was prideful, just a Lucifer was. St. Joseph fled through the night with Mary and Jesus multiple times to safety. He thwarted the devil’s plans, several times. He wields the Lily Staff, symbolizing his purity, which he uses to impale that ancient serpent and protect the Children of God. In one hand he wields the Lily Staff symbolizing his eminent chastity and sublime purity, in the other, The Divine King rests gently in his father’s arms, hand raised in benediction, blessing those who love this good father and angelic saint of God. We know as the Church Militant, that we are not obliged to adhere to private revelation, though it would be unwise to ignore the consensus of saints and mystics, whom by a very august grace, were revealed the lives of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. We see in Blessed Ann Catherine Emmerich’s divinely inspired and, with the full approval of Holy Mother Church, the visions of The Life of Jesus Christ, but especially the hidden life at Nazareth. “After the conception of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin experienced a great desire to visit her cousin Elizabeth. I saw her traveling with Joseph toward the south.” (Life of Jesus Christ, Pg 196) St. Joseph is a gentleman! He is the role model for all husbands, and fathers. What husband and father would even comprehend letting their wife go on a journey by herself, with child, across the state or country itself, without any form of defense or solace should she find herself in peril? Not St. Joseph! He was right at her side, to and fro, and with the greatest of love, zealously defended the Unborn Jesus. “It may, perhaps, have been an hour after the birth when Mary called St. Joseph, who still lay prostrate in prayer. When he approached, he fell on his knees, his face to the ground, in a transport of joy, devotion, and humility. Mary again urged him to look upon the Sacred Gift from Heaven, and then did Joseph take the Child into his arms.” (Life of Jesus Christ, Pg 227) I cannot imagine, with all sensible human faculties the emotions this good father felt, when he took into his arms his Lord, his God, his King, his son, and saw that seraphic face, from his chubby cheeks, to his closed eyes resting in Sacred Humanity. What of the Circumcision? Who of the first was to behold the Precious Blood flow? St. Joseph was seen it before this own eyes. What of the fear and anxiety when Mary and Joseph lost the boy Jesus in the temple for three whole days? “And seeing him, they wondered. And his mother said to him: Son, why hast thou done so to us? Behold thy father and I have sought the sorrowing.” (St. Luke 2:48) Do we forget that even the Blessed Mother called Joseph, Jesus’ father? Truly he was. How is this important? Let me explain: St. Joseph, from Jesus’ infancy, taught Him how to be a true gentleman, a true man. Everything Joseph did, Jesus emulated. Think about it. Do sons not emulate their fathers? Do they not look up to them in love and affection? Jesus worked alongside Joseph in his workshop, Joseph taught the Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, the Author of the Law, how to work with His hands. Truly, this patriarch of patriarchs has a high place in paradise, and should be honored for the supreme and majestic grace he was privileged to be blessed with. Why a Patron of a Happy and Holy Death? “When Joseph was dying, Mary sat at the head of his bed, holding him in her arms. Jesus stood just below her near Joseph’s breast. The whole room was brilliant with light and full of angels. After his death, his hands were crossed on his breast, he was wrapped from head to foot in a white winding sheet, laid in an narrow casket, and placed in a very beautiful tomb, the gift of a good man.” (Life of Jesus Christ, Pg 330) How, in all good reasoning could the very picture presented to the imagination not cause the eyes of the soul to be wet with tears? There is no other human being who has ever lived, will live or is currently living, that will experience any death more sublime and full of divine charity than St. Joseph’s death. That is why Holy Mother Church proclaims him the patron of a holy death. What death could anyone reasonably ask for besides to die in the arms of Our Lady and Our Lord?

An investigation and a warning into a New Age theology, first put forth by Chardin, later espoused by Rohr, that has gone too far beyond the realm of Catholic orthodoxy Often in history, an apprentice will rise up after his master’s time is long gone. This student will perhaps appear to be original, but for those who remember the source of their ideas, they are but a mere echo. That is what Fr. Richard Rohr is like to Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Tiehard de Chardin arose during the great surge of modernism and its battle with the Church. He was condemned by the Magisterium in his time, yet his ideas lingered on, much so because they appeal to the modern scientific imagination. And now these ideas are starting to reemerge. It is imperative that we know the sources of these ideas and understand their hidden implications lest we be taken off guard by them. The Universe is the Body of God? See here how Rohr develops his theology from Chardin, taking things to the final end of this strange belief: "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience." Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin “We are not just humans having a God experience. The Eucharist tells us that in some mysterious way, we are God having a human experience.” Fr. Richard Rohr, Universal Christ Firstly, we are not souls trapped in a body. That is the heresy of Manichaeism or Albigensian. No, God made us humans: body and soul. St. Augustine states: “If the world wasn’t necessary for us to learn the ways of God, God wouldn’t have created the world.” We, being physical creatures, learn about spiritual realities from the earth. Secondly, we are not God. It seems to me that some try to lower God from being the First Principle of all creation. Instead of acknowledging God as Creator, they wish to lower God to His creation. In doing so, they are seeking, in a Humanistic way, to proclaim that man is God. To continue along this path of investigation, we shall continue to look at The Universal Christ, Rohr’s newest book. It is telling that Fr. Rohr excludes a very important part of the following excerpt, quoted at the beginning of this book: (St. John of Damascus:) “I do not worship matter; I worship the Creator of matter who became matter for my sake, who willed to take his abode in matter; who worked out my salvation through matter. Never will I cease honoring the matter which wrought my salvation! I honor it, but not as God In his book, Rohr left out the final line: “I honor it (speaking of matter), but not as God.” It is once more telling that Rohr thought it appropriate to include this quote at the start of his book. He was trying to support a narrative. The fact that he leaves out the full clarity of the excerpt, as if to mislead, must put us on guard. Rohr’s Universal Christ furthermore states: “The universe is the Body of God, both in its essence and in its suffering.” This is completely against Catholic teaching. Vatican I, Session Three (On God and the Creator of All Things) clearly states, “If anyone says that the substance or essence of God and that of all things are one and the same: let him be anathema.” Thus, with this thinking, God the Creator is reduced to his creation. Suddenly, if the essence of creation is God, than man must be God. Of course, we know that is not so. “[Christ is a cosmic reality that is found] whenever the material and the divine co-exist—which is always and everywhere.” —Rohr “The Universe is the body of God…yes, it’s the second person of the Trinity in material form.” —Rohr Loosing God in the Ambiguity of “Awakening” "Most of the Catholics Christians I’ve met would for all practical purposes believe Jesus is God only, and we are human only. We missed the big point. The point is the integration, both in Jesus and ourselves." (Fr. Richard Rohr, Source) The most important part of the former quotation for our investigation is his conclusion: The point of the Incarnation and Resurrection is our integration in Jesus and ourselves. Rohr believes the point of life is to combine ourselves with Jesus in one whole. This reasoning sounds orthodox on the surface, however, instead of this reasoning being used in the Catholic sense, Rohr means to use it in the monistic way. Monistic, meaning that God and man are one, or that man is God. I may be coming too quick to my conclusion, but I pose the question: What else is the natural progression of this Chardinian/Rohr thought if not that man is God and that God is one with his creation? Rohr has already stated as much. It would help us now to bring in a few other peers of Rohr. By examining their line of thought, we can perhaps better understand Rohr. James Finley is a fellow member of Fr. Richard Rohr’s Center for Action and Contemplation. Finley spent six years at the Abbey of Gethsemani before he became a psychologist. He is known for his book, “Merton’s Palace to Nowhere”, and he is also the voice of the popular podcast, “Turning to the Mystics.” In a recent interview, Finley was asked the question: “Is God real?” “I would say, God does not exist. There isn’t some infinite being called God who exists. God is the name that we give to the beginning-less, boundary-less, endless, infinite plenitude of existence itself. I am who am. God is that by which we are. And furthermore, God is a presence in an ongoing self-donating act that’s presencing itself and utterly giving itself away in and as the gift and the miracle of the intimate immediacy of our very presence. The closer we can start to get to it are these moments of awakening we spoke of earlier, like these awe moments of quickening…” We will touch on this error: “Moments of awakening” to our true self, or the realization that we are God. The idea of a “spiritual awakening” or “realization” stems from Eastern Buddhism. In their philosophy, they believe that God is within the human, in a panthiestic way. This idea of “realization” is not Christian. Repentance is what we have. We must conform ourselves to the God who is within our hearts, yes, but infinitely above us in His majesty. It is also noteworthy that Fr. Rohr once invited Marianne Williamson to one of his Center’s events. She is the author of the occult book “A Course in Miracles”. In this book, “it is taught that the crucifixion of Jesus has no meaning and was even wrong, because people think that sin doesn’t exist or is a lack of consciousness. After all, there’s nothing that keeps you separated from God, except for the thought that you are separated from God (...) Rohr endorses the teachings of Marianne Williamson on ‘A course in miracles’, in which she states that we are all in heaven now but we simply do not realize it because we haven’t found the illumination of the ‘God consciousness.’ ” (Stichting Promise) This illumination, or realization, of a “God consciousness” is a new age, Buddhist idea that is not Christian. At that, it is a Marxist idea, because it believes the progress is continual. In 1952, Fr. Teilhard wrote in a letter: “As I love to say, the synthesis of the Christian God (of the above) and the Marxist God (of the forward) – Behold! that is the only God whom henceforth we can adore in spirit and in truth.” Douglas Farrow, a theologian, remarks: “The Christ of Rohr includes, just as that of Teilhard, the whole creation. Jesus may be the unique Christ, but He is nevertheless just one example of the revelation of the Christ. It is a revelation, not a reconciliation, which we have to look for in Jesus” The New Yorker, speaking of Fr. Richard Rohr, builds dangerous assumptions on the foundations laid out: “According to his teachings, you don’t have to follow Jesus or practice the tenets of any formal religion to come by salvation, you just have to “fall in love with the divine presence, under whatever name.” If We Are God, There Is No Law That Is Above Us What is evident in many pagan cultures is that they fall short of Judeo-Christian morality. Man was and still is too dominated by concupiscence to imagine the tenets of Christianity by himself. Since God is above us, and He makes the law, Christianity is not something any worldly man would set in stone. While Hinduism seeks to escape from suffering, Christianity embraces suffering. In knowing that God suffered first for us, we find joy and peace. In knowing that God loves us and wills us to repent and come to Him, we pick up our cross and leave our former lives behind. Many heretics in ancient days, such as the Pelagians or Quietists, believed in a logic like this: We are capable of being the source of our own grace Whatever we will is lawful since we are capable of our own self determination We can therefore do evil and it can be good This is why many moderners who reject the ethos of Christianity reject original sin and the existance of Hell. Yes, it is pride to reject these things. “How dare anyone condemn me for doing these evil things that I chose to do?” To mention sin is to attack their pride. Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin had a problem with dogma of original sin. Evolutionary theory was his way to get around it. Christiancentury.org states: “Teilhard also aimed to show that the doctrine of original sin could be understood as the condition for the original act of creation. Evolution suggests that humans exist in a process of becoming, rather than being made perfect from the start. Adam and Eve are therefore best understood as images of sin, not as our biological ancestors. Paradise is a state of salvation open to all who live in unity with Jesus. Teilhard thought that attributing all sin to a single historical act that might, in fact, not have occurred was grossly immature. And to defend a version of the doctrine of original sin that ignored the evidence of reason and experience diminished its deepest meaning. Thus, Fr. Chardin was stripped of his teaching position in 1925 for denying Original Sin and the existence of Hell. It is Church teaching that Adam and Eve were are biological ancestors and that their disobedience is the cause of original sin, which, like DNA, passed down to their children. In the CAC article titled Heaven Is a Great Party, Rohr says. “God has always had a very hard time giving away God: No one seems to want this gift. We’d rather have religion, and laws, and commandments, and obligations, and duties. I’m sure many of us attend church out of duty, but gathering with the Body of Christ is supposed to be a wedding feast.” What is a true wedding feast but a high mark of man’s dignity? It has the laws of manners and decency. It has vows made before God. A religion without laws, commandments, obligations, duties, and virtues, without religion itself, is chaos. For now, let us conclude. Further Errors Appendix: The Dancing “God”? “I would believe only in a god who could dance.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra “More often than the sacred beings of other cultures, the gods of Hinduism and Buddhism dance. They express their creative and destructive energies through fluid rhythmic movements, setting the pulse of the universe. In benign moods they dance gracefully in divine play. In stern moods they dance with a force that, if fully unleashed, could destroy worlds. Sculpture and paintings depicting deities including Shiva, Krishna, and the elephant-headed Ganesha, together with video clips of dance performances, will illuminate these ideas.” —Sdmart Blog See: The Cosmic Dance of Shiva. Shiva, which means “nothingness”, is a dancing god who creates in the chaos of a dance. Speaking of this dance, called the Nataraja, Aldous Huxley said: “The whole thing is there, you see. The world of space and time, and matter and energy, the world of creation and destruction, the world of psychology…We (the West) don’t have anything remotely approaching such a comprehensive symbol, which is both cosmic and psychological, and spiritual.” The popular writer Sadhguru breaks this down clearly: “India is the only place where our gods must dance…This is because the closest analogy you can give to the phenomenon of creation is that it is like a dance. Today, modern physicists are using such words – they say creation seems to be in a dance. If you observe a dance, on the surface, there seems to be no logical coherence to what is happening. But if you look closely enough, there is a very profound system to the whole process. (...) You cannot understand the dance because everything that you understand will only be a wrong conclusion. But you can experience the aesthetic of the dance, or you can become the dance…If you become the dance, you become the divine…” Fritjof Capra (author of the Tao of Physics), Carl Sagan, and many other modern scientists are facinatined by this concept. Sagan, known for the series Cosmos, says that he liked to imagine the Nataraja was “a kind of premonition of modern astronomical ideas.” Religious ideas of the East have crept far into modern science, the new age, and Christianity itself. Fr. Richard Rohr, The Divine Dance: Exploring the Mystery of Trinity: “Scientists are discovering this reality as they look through microscopes and telescopes. They are finding that the energy is in the space between the particles of the atom and between the planets and the stars. (Is this where his idea that the essence of God is in everything comes from?). They are discovering that reality is absolutely relational at all levels. When you really understand Trinity, however slightly, it’s like you live in a different universe. And a very good and inviting one!” Fr. Richard Rohr (Ibid): Trinity is the very nature of God, and this God is a circle dance, a centrifugal force flowing outward, and then drawing all things into the dance centripetally. In Hinduism, the idea of a dancing god enclosed in a circle is: god is the creator and creation, the dance and the dancer. Fr. Richard Rohr (Ibid): “If this God names himself/herself in creation and in reality then there must be a “family resemblance” between everything else and the nature of the heart of God.” Thus, the error. Many will try to claim this idea of a dancing “god” is based in the Fathers, by showing that they used the term “perichoresis.” However, this write up on Wikipedia explains why this is not so: "Perichoresis" is derived from the Greek peri, "around" and chōreō, "to go, or come". As a compound word, it refers primarily to "going around" or "encompassing", conveying the idea of "two sides of the same coin". Suggested connections with Greek words for dancing ("choreia", spelled with the short letter omicron not the long omega) are not grounded in Greek etymology or early Christian use, but are modern in origin.” — Further investigation of their belief in physics: “Before Albert Einstein propounded his theory of relativity in the early 20th century, it was assumed that matter could ultimately be broken down into indivisible indestructible parts. But when individual subatomic particles were smashed against each other in high-energy experiments, they didn’t scatter into smaller bits. Instead, they merely re-arranged themselves to form new particles using kinetic energy or the energy of motion: subatomic dynamism. “At the subatomic level, all material particles interact with one another by emitting and reabsorbing (i.e., creating and destroying) other particles. Modern physics shows us that every subatomic particle not only performs an energy dance, but also is an energy dance; a pulsating process of creation and destruction. For the modern physicist, then, Shiva’s dance is the dance of subatomic matter,” Capra wrote in a letter.” Appendix: Substitutionary Atonement Theory Rohr: "I believe that Jesus’ death on the cross is a revelation of the infinite and participatory love of God, not some bloody payment required by God’s offended justice to rectify the problem of sin. Such a story line is way too small and problem-oriented. “This theory of atonement ultimately relies on another commonly accepted notion—the “original sin” of Adam and Eve, which, we were told, taints all human beings. But much like original sin (a concept not found in the Bible but developed by Augustine in the fifth century), most Christians have never been told how recent and regional this explanation is or that it relies upon a retributive notion of justice” On the contrary: Council of Trent: “If anyone asserts that the transgression of Adam injured him alone and not his posterity, and that the holiness and justice which he received from God, which he lost, he lost for himself alone and not for us also; or that he, being defiled by the sin of disobedience, has transfused only death and the pains of the body into the whole human race, but not sin also, which is the death of the soul, let him be anathema, since he contradicts the Apostle who says: “By one man sin entered into the world and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned.” [Rom. 5:12] Notes: Fr. Richard Rohr wrote a book called The Enneagram: A Christian Perspective. The Vatican document Jesus Christ, Bearer of the Water of Life, speaking of the Enneagram, says that “when used as a means of spiritual growth introduces an ambiguity in the doctrine and the life of the Christian faith.” More suspect quotes by Fr. Rohr: “The brilliance of Buddhism is that it put enlightenment front and centre, where as we [Christians] put ...salvation front and center, and its just messed up because Jesus was talking about enlightenment too, but we didn't let him do that, we turned him into an answer giver.” “When Christians hear the word “incarnation,” most of us think about the birth of Jesus, who personally demonstrated God’s radical unity with humanity. But in this book, I want to suggest that the first incarnation was the moment described in Genesis 1, when God joined in unity with the physical universe and became the light inside of everything. (This, I believe, is why light is the subject of the first day of creation, and its speed is now recognized as the one universal constant.) The incarnation, then, is not only “God becoming Jesus.” (Universal Christ) Fr. Chardin: “It has sometimes seemed to me there are three weak stones sitting dangerously in the foundations of the modern Church: first, a government that excludes democracy; second, a priesthood that excludes and minimises women; third, a revelation that excludes, for the future, prophecy.’ (Letter to Christophe de Gaudefroy, 7 October 1929) “Like the countless shades that combine in nature to produce a single white light, so the infinite modalities of action are fused, without being confused, the one single color under the mighty power of the universal Christ.” (Science and Christ) “Christ has a cosmic body that extends throughout the universe.” (Cosmic Life, 1916, XII, 58) “It seems we are now reliving after 1,500 years the great conflicts with arianism - with the big difference that we are now concerned with defining the relations, not between Christ and the Trinity, - but between Christ and a universe that has suddenly become fantastically large, formidably organic and more than probably poly-human (...planets - millions perhaps). And if I may express myself brutally (but expressively) I see no valid or constructive way out of the situation except by making through the theologians of a new Nicea a sub-distinction in the human nature of Christ between a terrestrial nature and a cosmic nature.” (Letter to Andre Ravier SJ, 14 January 1955, Lettres intimes, 452) “A general convergence of religions upon a universal Christ who fundamentally satisfies them all: that seems to me the only possible conversion of the world, and the only form in which a religion of the future can be conceived.” “Lastly, to put an end once and for all to the fears of 'pantheism’', constantly raised by certain upholders of traditional spirituality as regards evolution, how can we fail to see that, in the case of a converging universe such as I have delineated, far from being born from the fusion and confusion of the elemental centres it assembles, the universal centre of unification (precisely to its motive, collective and stabilising function) must be conceived as pre-existing and transcendent. A very real 'pantheism' if you like (in the etymological meaning of the word) but an absolutely legitimate pantheism-for if, in the last resort, the reflective centres of the world are effectively 'one with God', this state is obtained not by identification (God becoming all) but by the differentiating and communicating action of love (God all in everyone). And that is essentially orthodox and Christian.” (The Phenomenon of Man) This investigation is written without enthusiasm, but I think worth sharing to warn others about jumping into the works of these two priests, Fr. Richard Rohr and Fr. Teilhard de Chardin. If any false accusations are put forth, do excuse them. All said, I think the larger work stands as a warning worth hearing. May Fr. Rohr, let us pray for him, hold fast to the teachings of the Catholic Church and may Fr. Chardin rest in peace. May God bless you, dear reader!

NOTE: Lent has already begun, but it’s not too late to start a new fasting discipline. Join the Benedict Challenge test cohort here and get the quick-start guide for gradually adopting the original fasting protocol for the Church, as well as the Order of St. Benedict. Let’s be frank—Catholics today are not known for their fasting discipline. Moses, Elijah, and Jesus all fasted for 40 days in preparation for their missions. Yet most of us can barely handle missing a single meal, let alone the one meal prescribed by Canon Law on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Did you know that the early Christians fasted this way every Wednesday and Friday? St. Anthony of Egypt took it a step further in the 3rd century and only ate every other day. And St. Benedict – the founder of Western monasticism – made daily fasting a core plank of his rule for all monks. For centuries, the Order of St. Benedict ate just one meal a day throughout most of the year, including Lent. Today, millions of people have rediscovered “OMAD” as a vital health practice – apart from the ancient Christian discipline. However, sadly, the trend has yet to catch on in the Catholic Church. Many Catholics feel comfortable giving up all kinds of things for Lent. We abstain from alcohol, Instagram, or chocolate. But we recoil at the thought of returning to the ancient traditions of plain old daily fasting (i.e., not eating from dinner one day until dinner the next). Bishops have made every concession to our modern frailty, even allowing two small meals or “collations” on the last two remaining fasting days on the calendar. Yet, before we chalk up fasting as an outdated tradition irrelevant to our modern existence, we should consider whether denying ourselves for a time might offer something more profound that we crave. One Meal a Day: A Pathway to Self-Mastery The human heart does not change. Sin, despair, vanity, and anxiety plague our souls. Temptation and indulgence of the flesh remain the devil’s tools. While the early Church grappled with lion attacks, we battle the beasts of endless digital distraction and a crisis of abundance. We are drowning in cheap calories and cheap content. Many of our physical ailments, from obesity to diabetes, stem from a spiritual root cause—the “throwaway culture” decried by Pope Francis. Jesus told his disciples that certain demons “do not come out except by prayer and fasting.” Perhaps the seeming uptick in demonic activity stems from the fact that modern believers are so reluctant to use these weapons together. This Lent, let’s fight back. A few years ago, after discovering the fasting Rule of St. Benedict, I began to explore the early history of fasting in the Church, and I was surprised at what I learned. Not only did the Church Fathers fast more rigorously than us moderns, but they also embraced a different understanding than the purely penitential view we often encounter. It was largely the extreme penitential practices of the Middle Ages that triggered the decline of fasting up to the present. Many Catholics feel comfortable giving up all kinds of things for Lent. We abstain from alcohol, Instagram, or chocolate. But we recoil at the thought of returning to the ancient traditions of plain old daily fasting In St. Benedict’s time and earlier, fasting meant eating one evening meal—not restricting yourself to coarse bread and moldy cabbage or engaging in death-defying 40-day fasts in the desert. It was an aid to focus and prayer and a complement to lives of self-dedicated service. It was meant to make communal living and other forms of sacrifice easier, not harder. Not only is this tradition accessible and doable for the average believer, but it also comes with profound physical and mental benefits. Those who fast experience a deep mental clarity. They live longer. Fasting heals us at a cellular level—clearing out the old junk that accumulates in our bodies—and re-orders our appetites at the most fundamental biological, hormonal, and psychological levels. Over the past three seasons of Lent, I have turned what I’ve learned into a practical program to reinstate this tradition. The Benedict Challenge guides participants through a 40-day journey modeled after the moderate yet rigorous rule instituted by St. Benedict for his monks in the 6th century. Originally presented as a video course in 2021, I refined the material into a 7-week roadmap for incrementally transitioning to eating just One Meal a Day by the end of Lent. Over the seven weeks, the fasting protocol transitions participants from the customary three meals (no snacking!) spread over 12 hours to eating just one meal a day by the end of Lent. Here’s how the program works: Following its namesake’s original rule, the Benedict Challenge’s essence is a return to the authentic monastic fasting tradition of One Meal a Day. It’s become popular to give up certain things for Lent. This protocol provides flexibility for additional abstinences from indulgences like sweets or alcohol (should you decide to eliminate them). However, these sacrifices should not obstruct fidelity to the central pillar of the One Meal a Day fast. General Rules: No snacking between meals. Abstain from meat on Wednesdays and Fridays. Single meal on Fridays (initially allowing collations). Week 1: Ash Wednesday Fasting: 12-hour window. Eating: 12-hour window, three meals. Ash Wednesday: One dinner. Week 2: Invocabit Sunday Fasting: 14-hour window. Eating: 10-hour window, 2-3 meals. Week 3: Reminiscere Sunday Fasting: 16-hour window. Eating: 8-hour window, 2-3 meals. Week 4: Oculi Sunday Fasting: 18-hour window. Eating: 6-hour window, two meals. Week 5: Laetere Sunday Fasting: 20-hour window. Eating: 4-hour window, 1-2 meals. Week 6: Judica Sunday Fasting: 22-hour window. Eating: 2-hour window, one meal. Week 7: Palm Sunday Fasting: 23-hour window (OMAD). No meat. Optional Fasting: “Black Fast” from Holy Thursday dinner to Easter Vigil. Easter: Feast Day. Continuing Tradition: Fast with one meal on Fridays and other traditional fasting days. Woven throughout is a system for identifying and overcoming our destructive habits (read: demons) through the discipline acquired from rigorous prayer and fasting. Lastly, the journal takes a page from my friend David Clayton’s book The Vision for You, providing a template for daily and weekly reflections about your vocation. Are you moving in the right direction? If not, why bother moving forward at all? I’ll be the first to admit that fasting and Lent do not initially scream “Fun!” I enjoy my breakfast of hamburger and eggs, washed down with coffee or tea containing liberal portions of cream and honey. However, something energetic and vital about fasting has been lost over time—something that the early saints knew well. The Catholic Church’s fasting discipline began to decline centuries ago, and this decline has accelerated in the past 100 years. Are you moving in the right direction? If not, why bother moving forward at all? I document the reasons behind this decline at the beginning of the book. However, my concern is less with the reasons for the death of Catholic fasting and more focused on practical ways we can reinvent fasting as a living tradition. There are many trendy guides to “intermittent fasting” for weight loss, life extension, etc. However, few connect these physical benefits to the more profound spiritual riches available through fasting. When coupled with prayer and sincere repentance (metanoia), I have found fasting to be vital in my spiritual life. I aim to contribute to reviving this lost tradition – making it accessible for modern Catholics seeking a clear rule rooted in the wisdom of the saints. Join the Test Cohort Since Lent has already started, and the book/journal takes a few days to ship, I have prepared a temporary abridged PDF version for the I AM Catholic readership with the essential roadmap and the first two weeks of the journal. I invite you to join a test group for the program and provide feedback. If you join, you’ll receive: Advance access to the fasting roadmap First two weeks of the daily journal + the first four book chapters. A link to a private group where I’ll be hosting weekly informal video calls for support and accountability Opportunity to shape future iterations of the program There is no cost except a commitment to attempt the first week and share any feedback. If you’re feeling lukewarm about your current direction and are open to a deeper encounter with the living God, I hope you’ll join me for the next 40 days. Charlie Deist is a writer living in rural Northern California with his wife and three children. You can follow him on X (@chdeist) or Substack

Two things you can do with that strange necklace your grandma once gave you In the 13th century, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to St. Dominic. She gave him a rosary and told him to tell Christians to pray it. Before that, similiar beaded necklaces were used by monks. They would use the beads to keep track of how many prayers they said, as well as how many they had left to pray for the day. The great thing about the rosary is that it can be prayed anywhere! Even if you don’t have a necklace, you can keep track of the prayers with your ten fingers. I also have a rosary ring that I use to pray as I do my daily walks. Praying the rosary will transform your spiritual life! Today, I will show you two different things you can do with it. The Rosary Note: The Rosary should become a daily habit of yours. Practice saying it every single night, every single morning, or anytime you prefer. It only takes 15–20 minutes. You can also split the rosary up into five parts if you are short on time. Say for example, you can pray the first two decades at noon and the final three decades before you go to bed. When you pray the rosary, you are meditating on the life and death of Jesus, placing yourself alongside his mother Mary. You are asking her to show her son to you. Mary is like a microscope by which you will see the infiniteness of Jesus clearer. There are four variations of the rosary — the Joyful Mysteries, the Luminous Mysteries, the Sorrowful Mysteries, and the Glorious Mysteries. It is recommended by the Church to pray certain mysteries on certain days of the week. The Joyful Mysteries are prayed on Monday and Saturday (and on Sundays of Advent) The Sorrowful Mysteries on Tuesday and Friday (and on Sundays of Lent) The Luminous Mysteries are prayed on Thursday The Glorious Mysteries on Wednesday and Sunday Withing the four different mysteries, there are five mysteries each. You pray these five, one for each decade, depending on the day. It will be helpful to memorize the 20 mysteries(or you can use this list as a reference when you pray): The Joyful Mysteries 1st Mystery — The Annunciation to Mary Mary learns from the Angel Gabriel that God wishes her to be the mother of God and humbly accepts. (Luke 1:26–38) Fruit of the mystery: Humility 2nd Mystery — The Visitation of Elizabeth Mary goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth andis praised by her as “blessed among women.” (Luke 1:39–56) Fruit of the mystery: Love of Neighbor 3rd Mystery — The Birth of Jesus Mary gives birth to Jesus in the stable at Bethlehem. (Luke 2:1–20) Fruit of the mystery: Poverty 4th Mystery — The Presentation of baby Jesus Mary and Joseph present Jesus to His Heavenly Father in the Temple of Jerusalem forty days after His birth. (Luke 2:22–39) Fruit of the mystery: Purity of Heart and Body 5th Mystery — The Finding in the Temple After searching for three days, Mary and Joseph find the twelve-year-old Jesus sitting in the Temple discussing the law with the learned doctors. (Luke2:42–52) Fruit of the mystery: Devotion to Jesus The Sorrowful Mysteries 1st Mystery — The Agony in the Garden The Agony in the Garden: The thought of our sins and His coming suffering causes the agonizing Savior to sweat blood. (Luke 22:39–44) Fruit of the mystery: Obedience to God’s Will 2nd Mystery — The Scourging at the Pillar Jesus is stripped and unmercifully scourged until His body is one mass of bloody wounds. (Matt. 27:26) Fruit of the mystery: Mortification 3rd Mystery — The Crowning with Thorns Jesus’s claim to kingship is ridiculed by putting a crown of thorns on His head and a reed in His hand. (Matt. 27:28- 31) Fruit of the mystery: Courage 4th Mystery — The Carrying of the Cross Jesus shoulders His own cross and carries it to the place of crucifixion while Mary follows Him sorrowing. Simon of Cyrene also helps the exhausted Jesus towards the end so that he does not collapse. (Luke 23:26- 32) Fruit of the mystery: Patience 5th Mystery — The Crucifixion Jesus is nailed to the cross and dies after three hours of agony witnessed by His Mother. (Matt. 27:33–50) Fruit of the mystery: Sorrow for our Sins The Luminous Mysteries 1st Mystery — The Baptism in the Jordan river Jesus is baptized. As he comes up from the water, the heavens are opened for him, and he sees the “Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon him.” (Matthew 3:16–17) Fruit of the mystery: Openness to the Holy Spirit 2nd Mystery — The Wedding at Cana At a wedding in Cana, Mary says to Jesus that the wine has ran out. Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.’ His mother said to the servers, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’” The water is then turned into wine. (John 2:1–5) Fruit of the mystery: To Jesus through Mary 3rd Mystery — The Proclamation of the Kingdom of God (Sermon on the Mount) Jesus the Beatitudes to many. “‘This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.’”(Mark 1:15) Fruit of the mystery: Conversion 4th Mystery — The Transfiguration “After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light.” (Matthew 17:1–2) Fruit of the mystery: Desire for holiness 5th Mystery — The Institution of the Eucharist (the Last Supper) “While they were eating, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and giving it to his disciples said, ‘Take and eat; this is my body.’” (Matthew 26:26) Fruit of the mystery: Adoration The Glorious Mysteries 1st Mystery — The Resurrection Jesus rises from the dead on Easter Sunday, glorious and immortal, as He has predicted. (Matt. 28:1–7) Fruit of the mystery: Faith 2nd Mystery — The Ascension Jesus ascends into Heaven forty days after His resurrection to sit at the right hand of God the Father. (Luke 24:50–51) Fruit of the mystery: Hope 3rd Mystery — The Descent of the Holy Ghost (Pentecost) Jesus sends the Holy Spirit in the form of fiery tongues on His Apostles and disciples. (Acts 2:2–4) Fruit of the mystery: Wisdom 4th Mystery — The Assumption of Our Lady Mary’s soul returns to God and her glorified body is taken up into heaven and reunited with her soul. Fruit of the mystery: Devotion to Mary 5th Mystery — The Coronation of Our Lady Mary is crowned as Queen of heaven and earth, Queen of angels and saints. Fruit of the mystery: Grace of a happy death Prayers There are also a few prayers that you will say as you meditate on the mysteries. The Sign of the Cross In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. The Apostles Creed I believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; he descended into hell; on the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty; from there he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Our Father Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Hail Mary 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. Glory Be Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Fatima Prayer O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell; lead all souls to heaven especially those who are most in need of your mercy. Hail, Holy Queen Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope. To you do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To you do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then, most gracious advocate, your eyes of mercy toward us, and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus. 0 clement, 0 loving, 0 sweet Virgin Mary! Pray for us, 0 holy Mother of God. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Closing Rosary Prayer O God, whose only-begotten Son, by his life, death, and resurrection, has purchased for us the rewards of eternal life; grant, we beseech you, that we who meditate upon these mysteries of the most holy rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Praying the Rosary Intro: With the crucifix in your hand, cross yourself, while saying the Sign of the Cross. With your fingers still on the cross, say the Apostles Creed. Next, move your fingers to the first bead, directly above the cross, and say an Our Father. Move your finger to the first of the three beads in the middle, between the cross and the medallion. Pray a Hail Mary on each of these three middle beads (these represent prayers for the virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity. Think of these things as you pray.). Now, move your fingers to that chain and pray a Glory Be. Decades: The rest of the rosary consists of sets of a bead, ten beads, and then a chain. The ten Hail Mary prayers are a decade and they are proceeded by an Our Father and followed by a Glory Be and the optional Fatima Prayer, which Mary said to include while you pray the rosary. The bead right before crossing the medallion is the one we will start with. Announce the first mystery to yourself, or to others if you are praying together, and began an Our Father. As you say this Our Father, and until you finish the decade, meditate on the first mystery of whatever set you have chosen (chosen depending on the day or season), for example: the 1st Glorious Mystery, The Resurrection The prayers are purposely repetitive so that you can focus on meditating on the mystery. Once you memorize the prayers, it will be easier to meditate on the mysteries. Think of the event your current mystery is dedicated to. Each mystery holds innumerable Christian truths. You are trying to uncover them, with Mary’s help. You can close your eyes and pretend that you are there. Imagine yourself standing by Jesus as He is beaten. Imagine yourself watching Jim during his baptism. The possibilities are endless. For the ten beads that are close to one another, pray a Hail Mary while touching each of the beads. After the Hail Marys are said, touch the chain and say a Glory Be and then the Fatima Prayer. You did it! That was a decade. Now move your finger to the next bead that is separated by extended lengths of the chain and announce your next mystery. Pray the remaining four decades in the same way you prayed the first decade. Closing: Once you have finished all five decades, put your fingers on the medallion. Say a Hail, Holy Queen then the Closing Rosary Prayer. Now, you have the choice to be done, as you have officially completed the rosary, or to continue with some final closing prayers. Many Catholics say the Saint Michael Prayer or a prayer to St. Joseph. You can also add in any other prayers you want to. Lastly, with the crucifix in your hand, cross yourself, while saying the Sign of the Cross. Bring the cross to your lips and kiss it! Extra Tips: — A rosary is good to keep in your car, pocket, or purse. Take one with you where ever you go! If you are stressed, use it to give you peace. Say it while you are driving or while you are in a waiting room. Say it while you watch the sun go down or while you walk across town. — Each bead, decade, and complete rosary, that you pray can be dedicated to something. I have heard of people praying for a separate family member of theirs on each bead of a decade. If you have a habitual sin that you are trying to defeat, dedicate your rosary to defeating that sin. The Chaplet of the Divine Mercy The chaplet can be prayed with the same rosary! This is a much shorter collection of prayers that can be done in less than ten minutes. But don’t rush it! It is good to pray this for peace in the world or for an end to a specific war or disease. If you love the rosary, you will love this. It is also good for beginners who are having trouble with the slightly more complicated rosary. Let’s begin! Prayers The Eternal Father Eternal Father, I offer you the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your Dearly Beloved Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world. For the Sake Of . . . For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world. Holy God Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world. St. Faustina’s Prayer for Sinners (Optional Opening Prayer) O Jesus, eternal Truth, our Life, I call upon You and I beg Your mercy for poor sinners. O sweetest Heart of my Lord, full of pity and unfathomable mercy, I plead with You for poor sinners. O Most Sacred Heart, Fount of Mercy from which gush forth rays of inconceivable graces upon the entire human race, I beg of You light for poor sinners. O Jesus, be mindful of Your own bitter Passion and do not permit the loss of souls redeemed at so dear a price of Your most precious Blood. O Jesus, when I consider the great price of Your Blood, I rejoice at its immensity, for one drop alone would have been enough for the salvation of all sinners. Although sin is an abyss of wickedness and ingratitude, the price paid for us can never be equaled. Therefore, let every soul trust in the Passion of the Lord, and place its hope in His mercy. God will not deny His mercy to anyone. Heaven and earth may change, but God’s mercy will never be exhausted. Oh, what immense joy burns in my heart when I contemplate Your incomprehensible goodness, O Jesus! I desire to bring all sinners to Your feet that they may glorify Your mercy throughout endless ages (You can also just say the remainder of this prayer instead of including the first section. Either way is optional. Many just say the “O Blood and Water” parts.) You expired, Jesus, but the source of life gushed forth for souls, and the ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. O Fount of Life, unfathomable Divine Mercy, envelop the whole world and empty Yourself out upon us. O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in You! O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in You! O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in You! St. Faustina Prayer (Optional Closing Prayer) Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion — inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase Your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to Your holy will, which is Love and Mercy itself. (You can exclude the second half of this prayer if you want) O Greatly Merciful God, Infinite Goodness, today all mankind calls out from the abyss of its misery to Your mercy — to Your compassion, O God; and it is with its mighty voice of misery that it cries out. Gracious God, do not reject the prayer of this earth’s exiles! O Lord, Goodness beyond our understanding, Who are acquainted with our misery through and through, and know that by our own power we cannot ascend to You, we implore You: anticipate us with Your grace and keep on increasing Your mercy in us, that we may faithfully do Your holy will all through our life and at death’s hour. Let the omnipotence of Your mercy shield us from the darts of our salvation’s enemies, that we may with confidence, as Your children, await Your Son’s final coming — that day known to You alone. And we expect to obtain everything promised us by Jesus in spite of all our wretchedness. For Jesus is our Hope: through His merciful Heart, as through an open gate, we pass through to heaven. Praying the Chaplet Holding the crucifix in your hand, make the Sign of the Cross. With your fingers on the first bead, Pray the optional St. Faustina’s Prayer for Sinners if you choose. You can also just pray the following prayer if you want: O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in You! On the second bead, pray an Our Father. On the third bead, pray a Hail Mary. On the fourth bead, pray the Apostles Creed. On the final, fifth bead, pray an Eternal Father. On the first ten beads, the first decade, pray the “For the Sake Of” prayer. After that, on the next bead that is separated between the extended lengths of chain, pray another Eternal Father. You will continue the rest of the chaplet by praying ten “For the Sake Of” prayers and then a Eternal Father. Closing: On the medallion, pray three Holy God prayers. Then you can say the Optional Closing Prayer. Finish by moving your fingers down to the cross and then cross yourself while saying the Sign of the Cross. Kiss the cross. You’re done! Source (EWTN) for the descriptions of the mysteries. Source (USCCB) for “fruits of the mysteries.”

After the weakening of religion and tradition, man has returned to the spoiled fruits of the past Photo by dyanawingso from unsplash In 380 AD, Christianity was made the official religion of Rome by Emperor Theodosius. For the next thousand years, and then some, Christianity shaped humanity and made it better. The history of the West is Christianity; it built the West. Medicine? Scholastics? Art? Architecture? Music? Law? Politics? Christianity. What happens when you take Christianity out of the world? You return to what there was before it — Paganism. The Descent of Man Christianity’s dominance began to erode from a variety of factors — the Protestant Reformation, the Enlightenment, and Industrialization. By 1900, after a previous century of Darwin, Marx, Freud, and Nietzsche, the world of the Middle Ages was almost gone. The Great War marked the end of the Old World. It was a war so barbaric, so terrible, that humanity could not comprehend it. Instead of trying to comprehend what happened, and what led to such a horror, the Roaring Twenties were ushered in by the constantly accelerating change in the world— an age of hedonism: think The Great Gatsby, Paris, and the degeneracy of destitute Berlin. It was only a matter of time before the shadow of war once again came over the world. World War 2 was even worse than World War 1. That war consisted of over-industrialized, rationalistic, and militaristic, countries such as Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. To those countries, human dignity mattered little. The theorists who called World War 1 “The War to End All Wars” were dead wrong. War had only gotten worse. Whereas wars in the Middle Ages, such as the Crusades, actually made sense — they were fought over territory or other purposes— these new wars with machine guns, tanks, and trenches were complete bloodbaths. There was little honor; in them, man showed himself to be a monster. If the 19th century was man’s attack on God, “disproving” Him with evolution, reason, heliocentrism, and relativism, the 20th century was God’s attack on man, proving him not to be the god he thought he was, but a creature capable of evil — the guard in the concentration camp, the pilot in the Luftwaffe, the eugenist, a Stalin, a Hitler, a Mao, a man capable of all things. What made Fyodor Dostoevsky the prophetic writer he was, a writer who predicted the Underground Man (a resentful person who lashes out at society), the radical (the communist revolutionaries), the nihilist and the relativist (with his book Crime and Punishment, he forecasted killers who kill for no reason because they believe life has no purpose or morality), was that he saw firsthand, while in a Siberian prison, how evil man could be. Man is stained by sin, and can only be made good, with much fear and trembling. After the 20th century, the most evil century in the history of man, for anyone to believe that man is born pure they have to be ignorant, or intentionally blind, to what happened before. Far from being made better, by enlightenment, reason, and science, man has only become more evil; and he has increasingly resorted to trying to justify that he is not evil. While the world is relatively peaceful today, that peace is held by a thread. Above us, the sword of Damocles hangs. Pernicious Confusion The philosopher Charles Taylor says that we live in a “Secular Age.” The defining consequence, Taylor says, of this disenchantment of the world is that it is now nearly impossible to believe in God; whereas, in the Middle Ages, it was nearly impossible to not believe in God. I would argue that, while you can disenchant the world with science, it is impossible to desymbolize the world. That is because man experiences the world with patterns, symbols, and order. You don’t look or touch a tree and think that it is a random assortment of atoms and elements. No, you experience it as a tree (a tree qualified as a tree because there are other things like it). This is the Aristotelian view of the world. Things exist as they are. We understand the world because we are part of the world. Note that Christianity, specifically Thomism, is a direct continuation of the Aristotelian tradition. Before Aristotle, there was Plato, who thought the “forms” of things existed outside of things. René Descartes, in the 17th century, is the continuation of Plato. Descartes thought that the human soul existed outside of the body — and was skeptical of the outside world’s existence. His confusion can explain much of the transgenderism we see today — or those who believe that they were born something other than what their physical body is. Modern thinkers such as the relativists believe that morality, right and wrong, depends on the individual person’s opinion instead of being an objective thing. But think: Do you determine what a tree is? Or does the tree, which exists as a physical thing, tell you what it is? The tree tells us what it is when we perceive it. That is why we all have the same experience of a tree — I don’t think a tree is a mountain and you don’t think it is a flower. We both have a similar belief of what a tree is — a tree is a tree. You don’t determine what a tree is; the tree determines how you will experience it by existing as it does. Morality is no different than trees. Most humans have the same idea of what is right and what is wrong. That is because morality is objective. We don’t determine what morality is; we are subjected to it much the same way we are subjected to the experience of a tree when we perceive it. Beauty is not in the eye of the beholder. Beauty is in the object perceived. Disorder World Economic Forum Agenda Contributor Yuval Noah Harari, author of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, said that: “There are no gods, no nations, no money and no human rights, except in our collective imagination.” As well as: “Culture tends to argue that it forbids only that which is unnatural. But from a biological perspective, nothing is unnatural. Whatever is possible is by definition also natural. A truly unnatural behavior, one that goes against the laws of nature, simply cannot exist, so it would need no prohibition.” While it’s okay to be wrong, he is dangerously wrong. I make that claim because Harari is a powerful man, because of whom the WEF is associated with, from world leaders to CEOs. Unsurprisingly, he is also one of the leading proponents of transhumanism. Taking into account Descartes, transhumanism can be seen in the light of being a push towards abnormality, derived from the belief that there is no objective order. Harari doesn’t believe there are objective human rights, or morals, because he deceives himself. He denies his own experience of the world. He is a human; yet he yearns to be an “enlightened” cyborg. It is not natural to cut your arm off, purposely, and replace it with a stronger robotic arm — it is a diabolic attack on the natural order of the world. Your arm, counter to what Descartes might have said, is you, though not the whole of you. You are your body; and your body is you. Transhumanism, then, in the sense that it seeks to carve and change the natural body, is an attack on the natural, and thus a denial of life, since all of life, or our experience of the world, comes from the natural order. Modern Pagans The modern world, as St. John Paul II called it, is a culture of death. Our society believes that the individual, not the majority, not the patterns, the symbols, and images, not the natural order, determines what is right. Prevalent abortion and euthanasia are an extrapolation of prevailing "individual rights". People who support such things are espousers of abnormalities of the natural order. In nature, a mother carries a child to birth; and she dies a death, in time. In modern, unnatural society, since she is supported by others who think like her, a mother can kill her child, because she doesn’t want it, and choose to die when she wants. Someone once said that “The most dangerous place for a baby to be in America is in their mother’s womb.” The aborted child who can not yet speak has no say if he lives, not because he can not speak or cry, but because he requires a mother to care for and deliver him. The mother’s opinion, since there are apparently no objective truths, as Yuval Noah Harari would say, can be whatever she wants it to be; and it will be her own “truth.” Frankly, abortion shares much of the same horror of the pagan’s child sacrifice. Moloch was the god to whom the Canaanites sacrificed children to. The times before Rome adopted Christianity were not much different than the times which we now live in. Those were superstitious times. Are our own times not superstitious? Superstition has become more common in humanity since the downfall of Christianity. It started with the burning of witches, which was a product of superstitious Protestants. Now, we have young women who act like witches, with their crystals, and with their astrology. Charlemagne outlawed witch burning when he was the Holy Roman Emperor in the 9th century. Witch burning is not a thing of the Middle Ages, but of the Pagan Age, before 400 AD, and the Modern Age, which began after 1500. But superstition is not only related to witches. You wouldn’t have to look further than the coronavirus to see superstitious people; think about all of the protective measures. Even the alien sightings, conspiracy theorists, and ghost hunters, are a reflection of the rise of superstition. Next, we have Gnosticism. Gnosticism, which is the belief in secret knowledge, revealed to only a select few, seems to have made a comeback with the tide of modern relativism. It can also be seen with the Protestants who think they can interpret the Bible themselves; and the Protestants and agnostics who don’t go to church at all yet believe they can fully understand God on their own. Tattoos and drugs, which are so common today, wouldn’t be that rare in Pagan Britain, before it was converted to Christianity. Neither would rampant sexual depravity be rare in the Pagan lands. People nowadays partake in things that prostitutes in the Middle Ages would be ashamed to do. Something as benign as walking has reverted to the pagan past. In the Middle Ages, people enjoyed and appreciated nature, believing it to be beautiful in and of itself, created by God. Now, people walk through nature and have a distorted Romanticist perception of nature where they become inebriated by it, because of the supposed effect they receive from it — think the German Romantics, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Walt Whitman. Lastly, the barbarism, brutality, and senseless killing, that we saw last century, are similiar to the ancient Pagan wars; and murderers who kill in the most horrible ways, showing no respect to human dignity, are ancestors not of the Christians but of the pagans. There are numerous other examples I could point to, but I hope for now you at least have something to think about and ponder. Ultimately, I hope I convinced you that Paganism has returned. “Indeed, the only cause of their [Rome] perishing was that they chose for their protectors gods condemned to perish.” ― St. Augustine, The City of God

This method of prayer is both simple and profound: the life of the Christian is forged by a prayer of the heart The Desert Fathers were famous for their acts of devotion to Jesus Christ. Among these many devotions was the habit known as the Jesus Prayer. This prayer at first glance is a short, simple prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” This is repeated over and over again. However this simple prayer in reality is a deep, multifaceted path to the deepest possible relationship with Christ. The Prayer The three primary parts of the Jesus prayer that are worthy of consideration are the words, the technique, and the goal of the prayer. By understanding all three part. we can come to a deeper understanding of the spirituality of the Desert Fathers and a path to a deeper relationship with Christ. Beginning with the words, the prayer is the entirety of the gospel in one line. The prayer acknowledges our sinfulness, Christ's role as the Lord of our lives, and our need for His Mercy. The goal thus of repeating the Jesus prayer is to engrave upon the very heart of a person the truth of the Gospel. Dealing next with the issue of the technique there are many different approaches to how one may engage with the Jesus Prayer. Some practitioners find it helpful to tie the prayer to their breeding, inhaling to the first part of the prayer, and exhaling through the second. Some find it better to repeat the prayer out loud over and over again. Most find helpful the use of a tool called a prayer rope. All practitioners, no matter their technique, seek ultimately to make the prayer a de facto part of how they live their lives. This would in its ideal form mean that a person always, no matter what they were doing throughout their day, would be repeating the Jesus prayer. The final segment worthy of consideration when it comes to the issue of the Jesus Prayer is the issue of its goal. Through the Jesus prayer we dissolve away our sinfulness to the simple repetition of the prayer itself. Through the Jesus Prayer, we seek a relationship with true Christ, where what we were is lost and replaced with a new man: this is the constant prayer of the heart described by Saint Paul in the Scriptures. The goal of the Jesus prayer is intrinsically mystical and thus intrinsically impossible to explain. However this poor man's attempt is in short: the shaping of the cold stone of the human heart into a living beautiful statue through the simple repetition of the Gospel message. It is for this reason that the Jesus Prayer is perfect for Lent. We seek through the process of Lent to leave behind our old selves and to embrace a deeper connection to Christ. So join with the Desert Fathers. Undertake the practice of the Jesus Prayer. Reform who you are as a man. Leave the old man behind.

Preparing the soul to serve God and making one's love pure “When the devil has failed in making a man fall, he puts forward all his energies to create distrust between the penitent and the confessor, and so little by little he gains his end at last.” St. Philip Neri St. Augustine in the City of God talked about the two cities, the city of man and the city of God, the city of vanity and the city of salvation. To be a citizen in the city of God, only God knows whether you are genuinely seeking an authentic union with Him. In the spiritual life as Christians, Christianity by default demands perfection out of us. To be an authentic Christian is to be in constant union with God, who is the maker of all things, where our will becomes His will. Our fidelity to Him is reflected in the way we live our life, and conduct ourselves both privately and professionally. This authenticity is the main reason why people of little or no faith would be attracted to you as a person and the institution you represent, the Catholic Church. This maturity in the Christian faith requires strong asceticism where we strip ourselves of attachments to certain things, objects, pleasures and sins to be instruments of His will in our lives, and to be truly free. This spirit of cleansing the soul can be reflected in fine art or sacred architecture where we as Christians were building and making better music, art and architecture in the 16th century and the contemporary counterparts we find today. This virtue, excellence and integrity is a reflection of an intimate relationship with God, where our failures as human beings are rooted out and we become a vessel of His presence in our lives. St. John of the Cross, said for beginners in the spiritual life “For a clearer understanding of this and of how truly imperfect beginners are, insofar as they practice virtue readily because of the satisfaction attached to it, we will describe, using the seven capital vices as our basis, some of the numerous imperfections beginners commit. Thus we will clearly see how very similar their deeds are to those of children. The benefits of the dark night will become evident, since it cleanses and purifies the soul of all these imperfections.” Today, the Catholic Church faces immense challenges both within and externally. We also live in a time of immense confusion and death that seeks to do us immense harm both within the Church and in the culture. The great Saints such as St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Joan of Arc, St. Benedict of Nursia and St. Therese of Lisieux, showed us the way to remove the distractions of the world and focus on eternity. It is this discipline that spiritual purgation seeks to foster within us as we move from a state of dysfunctional behavior to a state of excellence in virtue, chastity and charity. As the great St. Alphonsus Liguori says: “A person who rails at God in adversity, suffers without merit; moreover by his lack of resignation he adds to his punishment in the next life and experiences greater disquietude of mind in this life.” It is our duty as Christians to be concerned with God and with the higher things than to be trapped within our own excessive sinfulness and selfishness. For this excellence of soul which God nurtures within us is to be united to the all powerful, all conquering God, whose love is endless.

This is the inspiring tale of St. Paphnutius of Thebes, a Desert Father monk who stood his ground against Roman Emperors and Arians Unlike a martyr, a confessor is someone who suffers all things for Christ yet does not suffer a physical death. A confessor suffers what is near to a real and tangible spiritual death for Christ, a complete surrender to Him, yet they are not granted the solace of His immediate presence but the prolonged separation from the source of their courage and the aim of their efforts. For the confessor who desired death above all,  “I shall willingly die for God, unless ye hinder me,” as St. Ignatius of Antioch remarked (1), life itself must seem to be a impediment to these living saints, that is unless they embrace all of life as suffering. The Master: Saint Anthony the Great There was in Thebes, in the land of Egypt where empires go to die, a man who was likely in his mid to late twenties. His name was Paphnutius. Now there was an older hermit, also in Thebes, named Anthony. Paphnutius and other young men his age were once lucky to spot the hermit as he passed through town, or so they thought. A man dressed in blackish garb, capped with a loose hood, said that he was not the great Anthony. At first, what the curious Paphnutius believed to be humility was the truth. This was not the rumoured St. Anthony the Great. After that moment, another man dressed the same, though younger, but somehow more palid and stern looking, asked Paphnutius and his friends where to find the items they were sent to purchase. “You will not find them here,” Paphnutius said. “Follow me.” After a circuit at the marketplace, the strangers loaded up the items on their camel. Paphnutius, by this time, must have been struck by their sereneness. He must have asked a question about its origin, and must have received an answer, though unfortunately for us, both his question and the answer were lost to time. Nonetheless, we know that Paphnutius and many other eager young men who sought spiritual contentment left their former lives and left for the desert. These were the first of men who would be called monks. Taking impulse from the verse “to give up all things and follow me,”  monks left all behind to grow closer to the Lord. These men sought to suffer for Christ, who suffered for them, by carrying their own cross. Self imposedly, they made their cross harder to carry. What is known as ascetisim began to develop. In the early years, there quickly began to widen a gap between what is acceptable and what was extreme. Nevertheless, Paphnutius grew spiritually in an environment such as this, where nearly all men were saints or trying to become one. While there is no record of Paphnutius' early life, it is known that he – like many other men of his day – became a disciple of the monk Saint Anthony of the Desert, whose direction of a community of fellow hermits marked the beginning of traditional Christian monasticism. The Bishop and the Emperor Having spent several years pursuing spiritual illumination in the austerity of the desert under Anthony's direction, Paphnutius was eventually chosen to become a bishop for the Upper Thebaid region. This placed him in direct conflict with Maximinus Daia (2), the Roman imperial ruler of Egypt and Syria from 305 to 313 A.D., who persecuted the Church in the far regions and attempted to undermine it by strengthening the institutions of paganism. Under Emperor Maximinus Daia's rule, Paphnutius had his left leg partly mutilated and his right eye put out, in an unsuccessful effort to make him renounce his Catholic faith. Not yielding before torture, he was condemned to manual labor in the mines. Imperial policy toward Christians shifted between 311 and 313, in the midst of a power struggle between the various co-emperors of the time. The Emperor Constantine began to embrace the faith in 312, and he proclaimed its legality the following year, during which Maximinus Daia also died. When peace was restored to the early Catholic Church, St. Paphnutius returned to his flock as their much beloved bishop, where he nurtured their souls. Yet, this peace was short lived. The Arian heresy was entering into Egypt. St. Paphnutius and the Arians St. Paphnutius arrived at the great Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. By then, he was greatly esteemed himself, after a life of being a zealous defender of the faith and having the title of confessor. Constantine the Great, during the Council, would often talk with St. Pahpnutius in private, never letting him leave his company without kissing honorably the saint's empty eye socket: an abyss which was yet a beacon full of the powerful Christian faith. Many years later, Saint Paphnutius was also in contact with the young and likewise zealous Saint Athanasius, once travelling with him to the Council of Tyre in 355. The old and wise Saint Paphnutius died after a long life dedicated to Christ. His feast day is on the 11th of September. Saint Paphnutius, pray for us, Footnotes: 1. The Epistle of St. Ignatius of Antioch to the Roman Church (108 A.D. ) 2. Daia (Daza) was emperor from 310 to 313 A.D. He became embroiled in the civil wars of the Tetrarchy between rival claimants for control of the empire, in which he was defeated by Licinius If you enjoyed this story, do purchase our edition of The Life of St. Anthony, a riveting biography of the father of monasticism Experience the Desert Father's LENT course: https://www.iamcatholic.co/challenge-page/desert-fathers-lent-course

An exploration of Church teaching on mysticism and prayer 2 Peter 2:18: For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. Colossians 2: “My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is. “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.” Mystici Corporis Christi, Pope Pius XII, 1943: “Grave errors with regard to this [Catholic] doctrine are being spread among those outside the true Church, and that among the faithful, also, inaccurate or thoroughly false ideas are being disseminated which turn minds aside from the straight path of truth. “For while there still survives a false rationalism, which ridicules anything that transcends and defies the power of human genius, and which is accompanied by a cognate error, the so-called popular naturalism, which sees and wills to see in the Church nothing but a juridical and social union, there is on the other hand a false mysticism creeping in, which, in its attempt to eliminate the immovable frontier that separates creatures from their Creator, falsifies the Sacred Scriptures.” Since the early 17th-century twofold attack on mysticism by Quietism and Jansenism, both being two polar extremes to one another, the true mystical tradition has become more and more muddied, lost in the middle, lost at a time when it is needed most. Men of today desire nothingness, nirvana, literally—“extinguishing a flame”—thus their spirituality reflects this. Ask a man what he thinks happens after death and he’ll tell you: “nothing.” However, though their end goal is inherently absent, they still believe that they must climb up a mountain, trekking upon a great spiritual journey, finding fulfillment, finding their True Self at the peak. But I say to you, the spiritual life is not a journey, no, it is a few footsteps. It is turning yourself around, repenting, and taking a step toward God. It is looking up that great mountain, which is God, and adoring Him. True Mysticism The purpose of this article is not to give an in-depth analysis of Christian mysticism. It’s goal is to simply distinguish it from false mysticism. “No less far from the truth is the dangerous error of those who endeavor to deduce from the mysterious union of us all with Christ a certain unhealthy quietism. They would attribute the whole spiritual life of Christians and their progress in virtue exclusively to the action of the Divine Spirit, setting aside and neglecting the collaboration which is due from us.” (Mystici Corporis Christi) However, "Divine favors are conferred not on those who sleep, but on those who watch," says St. Ambrose. “For it to be prayer at all, the mind must take part in it” (St. Teresa of Avilia, Interior Castle) According to the early quietists, perfection consists in complete absorption in God. The human will becomes identical with the divine. There is, then, no need for Sacraments, for law, for worship, and the person can indulge in carnal desires without staining the soul. Christian prayer, however, is an encounter with the living God, a Person so spended in goodness, that we become aware of our darkness. It is an encounter with the living God, which leaves us reborn. Pure quietism is abandonment carried to the extreme, namely to annihilation and spiritual death. It is emptiness without love and mercy. It is nothingness without comfort and encouragement. It is is seeking consolation without transformation of becoming a follower of God. It is Christianity without the Cross. True “Contemplative prayer is a communion in which the Holy Trinity conforms man, the image of God, to his likeness.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2713) Contemplation is "a gaze of faith, fixed on Jesus." (CCC, 2715) “In the battle of prayer, we must face in ourselves and around us erroneous notions of prayer. Some people view prayer . . . as an effort of concentration to reach a mental void.” (CCC, 2726) “Meditation engages thought, imagination, emotion, and desire. This mobilization of faculties is necessary in order to deepen our convictions of faith, prompt the conversion of our heart, and strengthen our will to follow Christ” (CCC, 2708) Let us now read Cardinal Ratzinger's Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on Some Aspects of Christian Meditation: “Contemplative Christian prayer always leads to love of neighbor, to action and to the acceptance of trials, and precisely because of this it draws one close to God.” "Pope John Paul II has pointed out to the whole Church the example and doctrine of St. Teresa of Avila who in her life had to reject the temptation of certain methods which proposed a leaving aside of the humanity of Christ in favor of a vague self-immersion in the abyss of divinity. (...) “Therefore, one has to interpret correctly the teaching of those masters who recommend "emptying" the spirit of all sensible representations and of every concept, while remaining lovingly attentive to God. In this way, the person praying creates an empty space which can then be filled by the richness of God. However, the emptiness which God requires is that of the renunciation of personal selfishness, not necessarily that of the renunciation of those created things which he has given us and among which he has placed us. There is no doubt that in prayer one should concentrate entirely on God and as far as possible exclude the things of this world which bind us to our selfishness. On this topic St. Augustine is an excellent teacher: if you want to find God, he says, abandon the exterior world and re-enter into yourself. However, he continues, do not remain in yourself, but go beyond yourself because you are not God: He is deeper and greater than you. "I look for his substance in my soul and I do not find it; I have however meditated on the search for God and, reaching out to him, through created things, I have sought to know 'the invisible perfections of God' (Rom 1:20)."21 "To remain in oneself": this is the real danger. The great Doctor of the Church recommends concentrating on oneself, but also transcending the self which is not God, but only a creature. God is "deeper than my inmost being and higher than my greatest height." In fact God is in us and with us, but he transcends us in his mystery. (...) “Some physical exercises automatically produce a feeling of quiet and relaxation, pleasing sensations, perhaps even phenomena of light and of warmth, which resemble spiritual well-being. To take such feelings for the authentic consolations of the Holy Spirit would be a totally erroneous way of conceiving the spiritual life. Giving them a symbolic significance typical of the mystical experience, when the moral condition of the person concerned does not correspond to such an experience, would represent a kind of mental schizophrenia which could also lead to psychic disturbance and, at times, to moral deviations. (...) “With the present diffusion of eastern methods of meditation in the Christian world and in ecclesial communities, we find ourselves faced with a pointed renewal of an attempt, which is not free from dangers and errors, "to fuse Christian meditation with that which is non-Christian." Proposals in this direction are numerous and radical to a greater or lesser extent. Some use eastern methods solely as a psycho-physical preparation for a truly Christian contemplation; others go further and, using different techniques, try to generate spiritual experiences similar to those described in the writings of certain Catholic mystics. Still others do not hesitate to place that absolute without image or concepts, which is proper to Buddhist theory, on the same level as the majesty of God revealed in Christ, which towers above finite reality. To this end, they make use of a "negative theology," which transcends every affirmation seeking to express what God is, and denies that the things of this world can offer traces of the infinity of God. Thus they propose abandoning not only meditation on the salvific works accomplished in history by the God of the Old and New Covenant, but also the very idea of the One and Triune God, who is Love, in favor of an immersion "in the indeterminate abyss of the divinity [quoting Meister Eckhart; see section “Further Errors”]." These and similar proposals to harmonize Christian meditation with eastern techniques need to have their contents and methods ever subjected to a thorough-going examination so as to avoid the danger of falling into syncretism.” “In a homily given on November 1, 1982,” spiritualdirection.com remarks, St. Pope John Paul II “said the call of St. Teresa advocating a prayer totally centered on Christ “is valid, even in our day, against some methods of prayer which are not inspired by the Gospel and which in practice tend to set Christ aside in preference for a mental void which makes no sense in Christianity. Any method of prayer is valid insofar as it is inspired by Christ and leads to Christ who is the Way, the Truth and the Life (cf. Jn 14:6).” Onward, in 2002, a very important document, Jesus Christ the Bearer of the Water of Life, was released by The Pontifical Council for Culture & Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue: “The New Age concept of God is rather diffuse, whereas the Christian concept is a very clear one. The New Age god is an impersonal energy, really a particular extension or component of the cosmos; god in this sense is the life-force or soul of the world. Divinity is to be found in every being, in a gradation “from the lowest crystal of the mineral world up to and beyond the Galactic God himself, about Whom we can say nothing at all. This is not a man but a Great Consciousness”. In some “classic” New Age writings, it is clear that human beings are meant to think of themselves as gods: this is more fully developed in some people than in others. God is no longer to be sought beyond the world, but deep within myself. Even when “God” is something outside myself, it is there to be manipulated. “This is very different from the Christian understanding of God as the maker of heaven and earth and the source of all personal life. (...) God is not identified with the Life-principle understood as the “Spirit” or “basic energy” of the cosmos, but is that love which is absolutely different from the world, and yet creatively present in everything, and leading human beings to salvation.” False Mysticism The end result of false mysticism is the annihilation of the human will, and thus the annihilation of love of God in the soul, compared to the conformity of the will to what is good, holy, and true. It’s logical conclusion is that man is his own God. This follows because it reduces God to finite nature, as if to reduce his infinite majesty so high above ours. The first errors listed in the Syallbus of Errors by Pope Pius IX was that of Pantheism: “There exists no Supreme, all-wise, all-provident Divine Being, distinct from the universe, and God is identical with the nature of things, and is, therefore, subject to changes. In effect, God is produced in man and in the world, and all things are God and have the very substance of God, and God is one and the same thing with the world, and, therefore, spirit with matter, necessity with liberty, good with evil, justice with injustice.” Likewise states the First Vatican Council: “If anyone says that the substance or essence of God and that of all things are one and the same: let him be anathema.” St. Pope John Paul II on the Difference between Buddhism and Christianity “Among the religions mentioned in the Council document Nostra Aetate, it is necessary to pay special attention to Buddhism, which from a certain point of view, like Christianity, is a religion of salvation. Nevertheless, it needs to be said right away that the doctrines of salvation in Buddhism and Christianity are opposed. “At various times, attempts to link this method with the Christian mystics have been made – whether it is with those from northern Europe (Eckhart, Tauler, Suso, Ruysbroeck) or the later Spanish mystics (Saint Teresa of Avila, Saint John of the Cross). But when Saint John of the Cross, in the Ascent of Mount Carmel and in the Dark Night of the Soul, speaks of the need for purification, for detachment from the world of the senses, he does not conceive of that detachment as an end in itself. “To arrive at what now you do not enjoy, you must go where you do not enjoy. To reach what you do not know, you must go where you do not know. To come into possession of what you do not have, you must go where now you having nothing” (Ascent of Mount Carmel, 1. 13. 11). In Eastern Asia these classic texts of Saint John of the Cross have been, at times, interpreted as a confirmation of Eastern ascetic methods. But his Doctor of the Church does not merely propose detachment from the world. He proposes detachment from the world in order to unite oneself to that which is outside of the world – by this I do not mean nirvana, but a personal God. Union with Him comes about not only through purification, but through love.” “Carmelite mysticism begins at the point where the reflections of Buddha end, together with his instructions for the spiritual life. In the active and passive purification of the human soul, in those specific nights of the senses and the spirit, Saint John of the Cross sees, above all, the preparation necessary for the human soul to be permeated with the living flame of love. And this is also the title of his major work – The Living Flame of Love. (...) “Herefore, despite similar aspects, there is a fundamental difference. Christian mysticism from every period – beginning with the era of the Fathers of the Eastern and Western Church, to the great theologians of Scholasticism (such as Saint Thomas Aquinas), to the northern European mystics, to the Carmelite mystics – is not born of a purely negative “enlightenment.” It is not born of an awareness of the evil which exists in man’s attachment to the world through the senses, the intellect, and the spirit. Instead, Christian mysticism is born of the Revelation of the living God. This God opens Himself to union with man, arousing in him the capacity to be united with Him, especially by means of the theological virtues – faith, hope, and, above all love.” “Do we draw near to God in this way? This is not mentioned in the “enlightenment” conveyed by Buddha. Buddhism is in large measure an “atheistic” system. We do not free ourselves from evil through the good which comes from God; we liberate ourselves only through detachment from the world, which is bad. The fullness of such a detachment is not union with God, but what is called nirvana, a state of perfect indifference with regard to the world. To save oneself means, above all, to free oneself from evil by becoming indifferent to the world, which is the source of evil. This is the culmination of the spiritual process." For further reading: Rescuing the Mystics

True Christian mysticism versus false New Age ideas Christian mysticism seeks to transcend the self, losing it in a sea of love, all the way in adoration of God. However, false mysticism seeks to transcend the self, supposedly “losing it in divinity”, as if we were God or to become God. Many New Age proponents will use the Christian mystics to try to show that their form of mysticism is the same. However, their plan crumbles with this: The Christian mystics lose themselves in adoration of God. Many will quote the mystics and leave out that full context. For the next few chapters, I will show that that this foundational context underlined is built into the works of all the true mystics. Rescuing John Ruysbroeck “When a man is bare and imageless in his senses and empty and idle in his higher powers, he enters into a rest through mere nature . . . without the grace of God. These people err gravely. They immerse themselves in an absolute silence that is purely natural, and a false liberty of spirit is born from this. Having drawn the body in upon itself, they are mute, unmoving. . . . They mistake these types of simplicity for those which are reached through God. In reality they have lost God… “And in this natural rest one cannot find God, but it certainly leads a man into a bare vacancy, which may be found by Pagans and Jews and all men, how wicked soever they may be, if they can live in their sins without the reproach of their conscience, and can empty themselves of every image and of all activity. In this bare vacancy the rest is pleasant and great. This rest is in itself no sin; for it exists in all men by nature, whenever they make themselves empty. But when a man wishes to practise and possess it without acts of virtue, he falls into spiritual pride and a self-complacency, from which he seldom recovers. And he sometimes fancies himself to have and to be that to which he shall never attain. When a man thus possesses this rest in false quietude, and all loving adherence seems a hindrance to him, he clings to himself in his rest, and lives contrary to the first way in which man is united with God: and this is the beginning of all ghostly error.” (Adornment of the Spiritual Marriage, chapter 66) Rescuing Jean-Pierre de Caussade, Author of Abandonment to Divine Providence “I must not, like the quietists, reduce all religion to a denial of any specific action, despising all other means, since what makes perfection is God's order, and the means he ordains is best for the soul.” (The Sacrament of the Present Moment) Rescuing Julian of Norwhich “The goodness of God is the highest object of prayer and it reaches down to our lowest need.” (Revelations of Divine Love) “Prayer is a new, gracious, lasting will of the soul united and fast-bound to the will of God by the precious and mysterious working of the Holy Ghost.” (Revelations of Divine Love) Rescuing St. Teresa of Avilia “For it to be prayer at all, the mind must take part in it” (Interior Castle, Part I). Rescuing The Cloud of Unknowing “Lift up your heart towards God with a humble stirring of love; and think of Himself … refuse to think of anything but Him.” (Chapter 3) “For a love that is pure and perfect, though it admits that the body is sustained and consoled when such sweet feelings or tears are present, does not complain when they are missing, but is really pleased not to have them, if it is the will of God.” “The madness I speak of is effected like this: they read and hear it said that they should stop the ' exterior' working with their mind, and work interiorly. And because they do not know what this ' interior ' work means, they do it wrong. (...) And at once the devil is able to deceive them with false lights and sounds, sweet odours and wonderful tastes, glowing and burning in their hearts or stomachs, backs or loins or limbs. In all this make-believe they imagine they are peacefully contemplating their God, unhindered by vain thoughts. “The expressions and gestures which this counterfeit contemplation (or anything similar) produces in those that are led astray are wonderful to behold, much more so than those of God's true disciples, for these latter are always most proper in their behaviour, physical or spiritual. But not so with these others! Whoever cares to look at them as they sit at such a time, will see them staring (if their eyes are open) as though they were mad, and sniggering as if they saw the devil. (It is good for them to beware, for the fiend truly is not far away!) Some squint as though they were silly sheep that have been banged on the head, and were going soon to die. Some hang their heads on one side as if they had got a worm in their ear. Some squeak when they should speak, as if they had no spirit - the proper condition for a hypocrite! Some cry and whine, because they are in such an anxious hurry to say what they think - heretics are like this, and all who with presumptuous and ingenious minds maintain error. If a man saw everything they did he would see much disorderly and unseemly behaviour. Yet there are some clever enough to restrain themselves in general before the people. But if they could be seen at home, I reckon there would be no hiding them. And I also reckon that whoever directly contradicted their opinion would soon see them burst out somewhere or other ... and yet they think that all they do is done for the love of God, and to maintain truth! I really believe that unless God works a miracle of mercy to make them stop, they will 'love God' like this for so long that they will end by going to the devil, raving mad. (...) “There are some who, though they do not fall into the error I have just mentioned, yet because of their pride, their natural ingenuity of mind, and their erudition, give up the doctrine and counsel of Holy Church as generally held. These men and their supporters lean too much on their own learning. And because they were never grounded in this humble, 'blind', experience, and in virtuous living, they deserve to have a false experience, counterfeited and produced by their spiritual enemy. So that at last they burst out and blaspheme all the saints, sacraments, statutes, and ordinances of Holy Church. Gross worldlings, who think that the statutes of Holy Church are too hard to help them amend their lives, go over to these heretics too soon and too readily, and vigorously support them; all because they think that they lead them by a more comfortable way than that laid down by Holy Church. Now I really believe that those who will not go the hard way to heaven will go the comfortable way to hell.” “Whenever you feel your mind engaged, not in any physical or spiritual matter, but solely with God as he is (as the working out of the teaching of this book would prove) then you can be said to be ' above ' yourself, and 'beneath' God. Certainly you are above yourself, because you have succeeded in reaching by grace what you could not achieve by nature. And that is that you are united with God, in spirit, in love, and in harmony of will. You are beneath God, of course; for though in a manner of speaking you and God could be said at this time not to be two spiritually but one - so that you or whoever it is that perfectly contemplates may, because of this unity, truthfully be called 'a God' as the Bible says, you are nonetheless beneath God. For he is God by nature and without beginning; and you once were nothing at all. And when afterwards you, by his power and love, were made something, you by your deliberate act of will made yourself less than nothing. And it is only by his wholly undeserved mercy that you are made a god by grace, inseparably united to him in spirit, here and hereafter in the bliss of heaven, world without end! So though you may be wholly one with him in grace, you are still infinitely beneath him in nature. My spiritual friend, now you may understand a little how it is that a man who does not know how the faculties of his soul operate, or what they are, may very easily be deceived as to the meaning of words written with spiritual intent. (...) “If they want to test the origin of their urge they can test it in this way if they like. In the first place let them see whether they have done everything possible in the way of preliminaries, preparing for it by cleansing their conscience according to the law of Holy Church.” From the prologue, to the student, about the work: "Do not willingly and deliberately read it, copy it, speak of it, or allow it to be read, copied, or spoken of, by anyone or to anyone, except by or to a person who, in your opinion, has undertaken truly and without reservation to be a perfect follower of Christ." Further Errors Early Errors The Euchites, late 4th centurty: “Only such sensible revelations of God confer perfection upon the Christian. (...) The state of perfection, freedom from the world and passion, is therefore attained solely by prayer, not through the church, baptism and or any of the sacraments.” New Advent states: The Neoplatonists held that the One gives rise to the Nous or Intellect, this to the world-soul, and this again to individual souls. These, in consequence of their union with matter, have forgotten their Divine origin. Hence the fundamental principle of morality is the return of the soul to its source. The supreme destiny of man and his highest happiness consists in rising to the contemplation of the One, not by thought but by ecstasy.” Meister Eckhart A condemnation against some of Meister Eckhart’s ideas: “A good man ought so to conform his will to the divine will that he himself wishes whatever God wishes; because God wishes me to have sinned in some way, I would not wish that I had not committed sins, and this is true repentance.” (Pope John XXII’s edict “In agro dominico,” Mar. 27, 1329) Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on Some Aspects of Christian Meditation: “Meister Eckhart speaks of an immersion "in the indeterminate abyss of the divinity" which is a "darkness in which the light of the Trinity never shines." (Cf. Sermo "Ave Gratia Plena). Beguines Beghards/ Beguines, early 14th century: “At the elevation of the body of Jesus Christ, they ought not to rise or show reverence to it; it would be an imperfection for them to come down from the purity and height of their contemplation so far as to think about the ministry or sacrament of the eucharist, or about the passion of Christ as man.” Quietism Miguel de Molinos (the founder of Quietism), early 17th century: “Man must annihilate his powers and this is the inward way; in fact, the desire to do anything actively is offensive to God and hence one must abandon oneself entirely to God and therefore remain as a lifeless body.” (Dux Spiritualis) Bl. Pope Innocent XI’s Coelestis Pastor, Condemning the Errors of Miguel de Molinos/Quietism: —“It is necessary that man reduce his own powers to nothingness, and this is the interior way” —“To wish to operate actively is to offend God, who wishes to be himself the sole agent; and therefore it is necessary to abandon oneself wholly in God and thereafter to continue in existence as an inanimate body.” —“Natural activity is the enemy of grace, and impedes the operations of God and true perfection, because God wishes to operate in us without us.” —“By doing nothing the soul annihilates itself and returns to its beginning and to its origin, which is the essence of God, in which it remains transformed and divinized, and God then remains in himself, because then the two things are no more united, but are one alone, and in this manner God lives and reigns in us, and the soul annihilates itself in operative being.” —“He who gives his own free will to God should care about nothing, neither about hell, nor about heaven; neither ought he to have a desire for his own perfection, nor for virtues, nor his own sanctity, nor his own salvation-the hope of which he ought to remove.” —“He who in his prayer uses images, figures, pretension, and his own conceptions, does not adore God “in spirit and in truth.” —“Even if one becomes sleepy and falls asleep, nevertheless there is prayer and actual contemplation, because prayer and resignation, resignation and prayer are the same, and while resignation endures, prayer also endures.” —“On occasion of temptations, even violent ones, the soul ought not to elicit explicit acts of opposite virtues, but should persevere in the above mentioned love and resignation.” New Age Jesus Christ the Bearer of the Water of Life: “New Age has a marked preference for Eastern or pre-Christian religions, which are reckoned to be uncontaminated by Judaeo-Christian distorsions. Hence great respect is given to ancient agricultural rites and to fertility cults. “Gaia”, Mother Earth, is offered as an alternative to God the Father, whose image is seen to be linked to a patriarchal conception of male domination of women. There is talk of God, but it is not a personal God; the God of which New Age speaks is neither personal nor transcendent. Nor is it the Creator and sustainer of the universe, but an “impersonal energy” immanent in the world, with which it forms a “cosmic unity”: “All is one”. This unity is monistic, pantheistic or, more precisely, panentheistic. God is the “life-principle”, the “spirit or soul of the world”, the sum total of consciousness existing in the world. In a sense, everything is God. God's presence is clearest in the spiritual aspects of reality, so every mind/spirit is, in some sense, God. “When it is consciously received by men and women, “divine energy” is often described as “Christic energy”. There is also talk of Christ, but this does not mean Jesus of Nazareth. “Christ” is a title applied to someone who has arrived at a state of consciousness where he or she perceives him- or herself to be divine and can thus claim to be a “universal Master”. Jesus of Nazareth was not the Christ, but simply one among many historical figures in whom this “Christic” nature is revealed, as is the case with Buddha and others. Every historical realisation of the Christ shows clearly that all human beings are heavenly and divine, and leads them towards this realisation. “The innermost and most personal (“psychic”) level on which this “divine cosmic energy” is “heard” by human beings is also called “Holy Spirit”.” Good and Evil Jakob Böhme, early 17th century: “The being of all beings is but a single being, yet in giving birth to itself, it divides itself into two principles, into light and darkness, into joy and pain, into evil and good, into love and wrath, …Creation itself as his own love-play between the qualities of both eternal desires.” (Sämtliche Schriften ed. W. E. Peuckert, vol. 16 (Stuttgart: Frommann, 1957), p. 233.) “Kabbalah considers the necessity of evil, theodicy, which, along with the Gnostics, equates with an imperfect God of creation who is not the final God. …. [that is to say] the doctrine of the Greeks called apokatastasis, that all creatures, including Cain and the Devil, will return, at the end of great transmigrations, to be mingled again with the Divinity from which they once emerged.”(OnePeterFive) Friedrich Nietzsche: "Buddhism already has - and this distinguishes it profoundly from Christianity - the self-deception of moral concepts behind it - it stands, in my language, Beyond Good and Evil." (The Anti-Christ) Carl Jung: “Christ and the devil appear as equal and opposite, thus conforming to the idea of the “adversary.” This opposition means conflict to the last; and it is the task of humanity to endure this conflict until the time or turning-point is reached where good and evil begin to relativise themselves, to doubt themselves, and the cry is roused for a morality ‘beyond good and evil’. (OnePeterFive, Ibid) On the contrary: “For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Beliel?” (2 Corinthians” 6:14,15)

Phew! What a year it’s been! Yes I mean, the liturgical year, and not the calendar one. It’s a bit unbelievable that we’re already back in Ordinary Time, after what felt like (and actually was) a very short, yet impactful Advent and Christmas. The season plays host to a number of feasts, including the Solemnity of the Mother of God, the feast of the Holy Family, the memorial of the Holy Name of Christ, and a slew of others. But I observed that at the beginning of this most joyful season, there exists a most interesting  juxtaposition. Following the celebration of the Nativity of the Lord is the feast day of St. Stephen, one of the first seven deacons of the Church. And her protomartyr. The very placement of these two feasts right next to each other has many beautiful, rich theological implications. There’s SO much that can be said about the seemingly contradictory nature of these two days. A day of blessed birth, a night of joy, preceded immediately by a day of bloodshed, and innocent blood, no less. So what’s up with that? Again, there’s a whole well of things that can be said, but I’d like to give voice to just one. And that’s the theme of giving and receiving, which is certainly not foreign to Christmastide. How and why is this one of the connecting themes between the two events? Let’s discuss the “how" first. It’s very common during Christmas to hear people say, “Jesus is the reason for the season!” This isn’t just a mindless platitude but a well structured rhyme communicating an eternal truth. The greatest gift one can give is the gift of self. To give yourself wholeheartedly to someone is the deepest expression of love. And that is precisely what God does in the Incarnation. He gives us indeed the greatest gift of all time. Himself. And He does so in the most vulnerable way possible. Not only in the weakness of human flesh, but in the weakness of a baby. A poor, defenseless child. He gives Himself, whole and entire, unreservedly and unapologetically to us. And that’s definitely worth celebrating. Stephen’s case is quite similar, his penultimate statement being, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59). Both Stephen and Christ offer themselves as a gift, Christ, in His Incarnation, to man, and Stephen, in His martyrdom, to God. And both give the ultimate gift, though in different ways. The gift of self. And whereas God wholeheartedly receives Stephen into the abode of Heaven, we must decide whether we desire to receive Christ into our own abode. Our hearts, our homes, our very lives. And as to “why” this connection is important, it is because it presents us the ever-present reality of an eternal exchange, giving for the sake of something greater. A concept many people struggle with, because as human beings, we tend to want to eat our cake and have it. And these two feasts pose a challenge to that very mindset. Christ, desiring to unite us and bring us into the blessed life of the Trinity, laid aside the glory of His divinity, and “pitched His tent among us” (John 1:14). Stephen gives his life on earth for the life of God in Heaven, turning his eyes from His accusers to, “the Son of man, standing on the right hand of God” (Acts 7:56). Stephen presents to us a challenge, that ultimate giving of self that God calls each of us to. It may not be as grave as being martyred, but in the little things of each day. The words we say (or choose not to say) because of our love for Christ. The things we do for those around us or abstain from doing because the Church has instructed us not to. And in these little things, in these little moments, our love is tested. And thanks be to God for giving us the grace to give Him ourselves in love, just like Stephen did! And in this season of Ordinary Time… no. In EVERY season, may we receive Christ with warmth, fervor, and love into our hearts, and so be received with great rejoicing into the heart of the Father, and the blessed life of God. As we receive His Son, may He receive our spirit. EL-Natan Adah-Ogoh, Nashville, Tennessee.

In the annals of philosophy and aesthetics, Sir Roger Scruton stands as a luminary, guiding us through the intricate interplay of beauty and the human experience. This essay seeks to delve into the Catholic case for Sir Roger Scruton, examining the profound connections between his philosophical insights and the enduring traditions of Catholic thought. While Scruton was an Anglican, the resonance of his ideas with a broader European, and notably Catholic, tradition remains a compelling narrative. At the core of Scruton's philosophical corpus lies an unwavering commitment to the transformative power of beauty. His reflections on aesthetics transcend the conventional boundaries of art appreciation, delving into the essence of the human experience itself. Scruton, in confronting the expanding ugliness fueled by secularism and liberalism, posits that the pursuit of beauty is not a mere indulgence but an essential endeavor that connects individuals with the transcendent. Scruton's exploration of aesthetics is deeply rooted in his conviction that beauty is a transcendent quality capable of elevating the human spirit. His philosophical treatises, such as "The Aesthetics of Music" and "Beauty: A Very Short Introduction," unravel the intricate tapestry of aesthetic experience. Scruton's plea for embracing beauty in the face of modern challenges becomes a beacon of hope, echoing the sentiments of a bygone era where the pursuit of beauty was integral to cultural and spiritual flourishing. While Sir Roger Scruton identified himself as Anglican, his works’ foundations in the Catholic tradition are unmistakable. Scruton's call for embracing beauty aligns with the rich tapestry of Catholic thought that has shaped the aesthetics of European culture throughout the ages. The Catholic case for Scruton extends beyond denominational affiliations, acknowledging the universality of his insights in bridging the secular and the sacred. Scruton's works have found a warm reception within Catholic circles. It is a testament to the universal appeal of his ideas that may one day place him alongside the great Anglican thinkers like C.S. Lewis, who, despite his Anglican background, has become a source of solace and wisdom for many Catholics. In Scruton's transcendent crusade for beauty, there is a potential convergence with the enduring legacy of Anglican intellectuals embraced by the Catholic tradition. Scruton's advocacy for beauty is not confined to the realm of personal preference; it is a societal imperative with far-reaching implications. In the face of modernity's relentless assault on traditional aesthetics, Scruton's work takes on a distinctly Catholic hue. The Catholic tradition, with its emphasis on the sacramentality of the material world, finds a home in Scruton's call to preserve and cultivate beauty as a means of transcending the mundane. The significance of beauty, as Scruton contends, lies in its capacity to serve as a bulwark against the encroaching ugliness of the contemporary world. In embracing the Catholic case for Scruton, we are invited to partake in a broader cultural project - one that seeks to reclaim the sacred through an intentional commitment to beauty. It is a journey that transcends the individual and resonates with a timeless tradition that recognizes the profound impact of aesthetics on the human soul. As we commemorate the fourth anniversary of Sir Roger Scruton's passing, we are compelled to reflect not only on the man himself but on the enduring legacy of his ideas. While his Anglican roots are an indelible part of his history, the essence of Scruton's work transcends denominational boundaries. His plea for embracing beauty is an invitation to participate in a timeless endeavor - one that echoes the sentiments of a Catholic tradition deeply intertwined with the pursuit of the divine through the aesthetic realm. In Sir Roger Scruton, we find a bridge between the secular and the sacred, between the temporal and the eternal. The Catholic case for Scruton is not a mere historical footnote but a living testament to the enduring power of beauty in shaping the human experience. As we navigate an era marked by ever-expanding ugliness, Scruton's teachings beckon us to rediscover the profound significance of beauty, transcending the unpleasant boundaries of our age and connecting us with a tradition that recognizes the sacredness inherent in the pursuit of the beautiful.

Adoration is defined as "a deep love and respect." It derives from the Latin root "adoratio," meaning "to give homage or worship someone or something." When young lovers fall into passionate bliss, they crave and pour out adoration upon one another. The birds sing loudly, colors seem brighter, and we are in a state of extreme peace and happiness. One could describe this as a feeling of fulfillment or purpose. Infatuation, in its most intense form, is akin to an ideal state of heaven, where nothing is missing, and all feels complete. Adoration is the pathway to transitioning from never-ending infatuation to a deep, fulfilling love with God the Father. As St. Paul of the Cross eloquently puts it: "Let weak and frail man come here suppliantly to adore the Sacrament of Christ, not to discuss high things, or wish to penetrate difficulties, but to bow down to secret things in humble veneration, and to entrust God's mysteries to God, for Truth deceives no man—Almighty God can do all things. Amen." In history, we see adoration's roots within the Church date back to 1226. Like many other practices and pillars of faith in the Church, adoration had been practiced long before it was formally named. Before the time of Jesus, we witness adoration taking place in the temple before the Ark of the Covenant, as described in the book of Joshua. Adoration, as we know it, is a mystery born of a mystery. It is a dedicated time of prayer and reflection in the presence of the blessed Eucharist, which contains the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ. As the Church continued to "break bread" with the body of Christ, we receive the Lamb of God through communion, uniting our existence with His as He spiritually nourishes us. When we partake in the Eucharist, we briefly stand before Jesus, and a priest proclaims, "the body of Christ." We acknowledge this with an "Amen" before consuming Him entirely. In adoration, we extend this moment with our Lord, gazing upon the Eucharist as it is lifted overhead, inviting complete vulnerability. The Eucharist is displayed openly, and accessible to all, and in this sacred setting, we meet Him with exposed souls, gazing into His heart. The Bible portrays the highest echelons of heaven as filled with angels in constant worship and adoration of the Father, as seen in Revelation 4:6-8. Examples of adoration in history abound. Mary, the mother of Jesus, often gazed upon her son in complete adoration. Mary was the first to hold our Lord in her womb, serving as the perfect tabernacle and a model for how we, too, can become temples for our Lord. When Christ became a human, Mary cradled Him in her arms, adoring Him in His most vulnerable physical state. Even the shepherds and Wise Men came to worship and adore Him. Throughout scripture, we encounter references to Mary adoring her son, Jesus. She stood by Him during His ministry, modeling adoration for humanity to the Son of Man. One final time, at the foot of the cross, scripture depicts her standing in John 19:25, adoring her son amidst His agony and crucifixion. Angels and Seraphim in heaven praise the Father in constant and unending adoration. Mary, who spent time in adoration with our Lord while Martha busied herself with earthly matters, further exemplifies the significance of this practice. In scripture, we read about John laying his head against the breast of Jesus in complete surrender and adoration. Adoration became a turning point in my faith journey. I had experienced deep worship as a Protestant in charismatic churches. These encounters often involved speaking in tongues, witnessing tongues, or experiencing beatific visions, filled with emotions, and public prayers. However, a friend introduced me to Adoration, and I watched a promotional video about this ministry offered in every parish. People spoke of peaceful encounters with Jesus, where they silently prayed or meditated on Him. I saw little difference between this and the Holy Spirit-filled encounters I had experienced until that point. Still, the descriptions of "peace" piqued my curiosity. Despite not being Catholic, I decided to explore what sitting in front of a small round wafer could provide. I visited my local Church's chapel, sitting in the back. Despite my ignorance about proper Catholic rituals like genuflection, bowing or kneeling, I experienced a profound stillness. I felt as though I were in an anechoic chamber, hearing only the sounds of my own heartbeat and the soothing hum of my brain. I closed my eyes and prayed, leaving with a deep desire for more. I started visiting weekly, dedicating my lunch breaks to spending time with our Lord. This practice continued for a year before I returned to Catholicism. Regardless of my faith questions, I never doubted what I gained from adoration. When I rejoined the Church, adoration welcomed me. Every Thursday for three years, I've maintained this sacred practice, which purifies my week and resets my heart. In adoration, I am clothed in the armor of God, ready to face the fallen world. Adoration has significantly transformed my life, enhancing my daily disposition and fostering a sense of calm and centeredness. Some of my most profound moments with Christ have occurred in adoration, where I could speak openly and candidly with our Lord. I have shared laughter, smiles, and tears with my Savior, and I've never felt alone since becoming involved in the adoration ministry. Padre Pio encapsulates my thoughts about adoration with his words: "A thousand years of enjoying human glory is not worth even an hour spent in sweetly communing with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament." Adoration is one of the primary reasons I embrace Catholicism today. There is no other experience quite like it in the world, no other opportunity that allows us to connect with the divine in such a profound manner. Cardinal Newman aptly describes the Blessed Sacrament: "The Blessed Sacrament is that Presence which makes a Catholic Church different from every other place in the world; which makes it, as no other place can be, holy." Finally, adoration has led to a transfiguration within me when in the presence of the blessed sacrament. Just as Jesus revealed His divine nature on the mountain to His disciples, the body of Christ reveals itself in the Eucharist. Just as Jesus was seen in His true form and as the Son of God, the Holy Trinity is revealed when the monstrance displays the body, soul, and divinity of Christ atop an altar. By adoring this mystery, we come to understand the grace of receiving our Lord in communion, as we consume Jesus into our very beings and become living temples for our Lord. Earthly sustenance cannot bind us more powerfully to the glory of the Father in Heaven. Praise the Lord Jesus for providing these sacraments to His people. How can we not look upon them in total adoration?

Work can be prayer On December 10th, 1941, Thomas Merton entered the Abbey of Gethsemani as a novice. A few days later, after graduating college last December, I entered the same monastery as a worker. What sparked this change of explosive direction in my future? Why did I forsake my years of education? Well, I must begin with when I first felt the tension. I was working at a factory that prints magazines. Amidst the dimly lit facility, besides the noisy machines, face to face with people who didn’t look content, I reflected deeply as I did my work, coming to the conclusion that I wouldn’t find contentment in this. Fyodor Dostoevsky was an engineer as well as a writer, so both can be done simultaneously. Yet, to reconcile the artistic aspect of my personality, concerned with ideas and the spiritual, and the exhausting, brute, almost dehumanizing, work of a factory seemed an impossibility. A few days after starting this new job, I was talking with my priest. Somehow, we began to talk about the silent retreats of Gethsemani, of which he is an ardent admirer. He mentioned that those old monks may have jobs available, and that perhaps I might enjoy working there. I considered the idea for a couple weeks. I applied for a job at a water treatment plant; that would be quiet and tolerable, I thought. I eventually called the monastery and asked if they had any jobs open. A few days later, a monk told me that they didn’t have any full-time jobs available at the moment, but that I could take part-time work if I desired. The next day, I went in for a quasi-interview and was hired on the spot. The day after that, the water treatment plant, for a providential reason I assume, declined me. And so it was. I would work with the monks or not at all. I gave up a lot of money by entering this line of work. I gave up benefits. I gave up many apparent things, but I also gained many others things, of which one day I will realize. What is it like to work with monks? The atmosphere is generally one of community. There is no boss looking down your shoulder. Many monks are almost in disguise, appearing not to be monks, but average men. The work is meditative in nature — preparing fudge and fruitcake. Packaging these. Shipping them. Cleaning out old buildings built in the 70s. Driving around the massive monastery on a golf cart. It is very human work. Taking up random conversations with monks. Accepting the call of duty: when outside, bearing the rain, cold winds, and snow, to fulfill my work. “Ora et Labora” means prayer and work. There is a lot of work. But there is also a lot of time for prayer. Work can be prayer.

"The witness to Christ borne even to the shedding of blood has become a common inheritance of Catholics, Orthodox, Anglicans and Protestants…." -Tertio Millennio Adveniente, 10 November 1994, Saint Pope Saint John Paul II A) The Church of Thousands of Faiths: Hence the universal Church is seen to be "a people brought into unity from the unity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit" -Lumen Gentium, 21 November 1964, Pope Saint Paul VI The massive number of divisions of Christian churches is a big barrier to the credibility of the Christian religion. The accusations of heresy some denominations make concerning other Christians are often unwarranted and have far-reaching and damaging consequences. This can make non-Christians wonder why one should join a religion of "love" when its existing members seem to hate each other so much. There is much debate over how many Protestant denominations actually exist, and with good reason. The single biggest problem is how to define what a denomination actually is. A certain amount of variation will exist between different congregations that still abide by the same doctrine and teachings of a common order, but how much variation can exist before a separate order is formed? At least one survey decided that if a church, with its own unique dogma, had parishes in multiple countries, then each country had its own denomination of the church. This is totally meaningless. Whoever thought this was a good idea succeeded only in showing how ignorant they are about religion. Unfortunately, many people have bought into this shallow definition of denomination. As a Catholic, I take offense to the suggestion that there are over 200 denominations of the Catholic Church. We are one church, as the word "Catholic", meaning “universal”, indicates. I can go to any Catholic Church in the world and know that I am getting the same communal experience that I would have had in my hometown, even if I don't understand the language used. It has been my observation that when fellow Catholics go on pilgrimages, they always include at least one notable church to visit for mass. When they return, they typically spend more time talking about how beautiful the foreign mass was than about any other aspect of the trip. I am not alone in this observation. Matthew Kelley questioned Catholics worldwide and published the results in his book Why I Love Being Catholic. This culture-spanning unity that all Catholics share at mass was the most common response. In stark contrast, there are over 140 regional and national Lutheran churches in the world, with 138 participating in the Lutheran World Federation at the time of writing. While traveling Lutherans would most likely go to a sister Lutheran church rather than a non-Lutheran church, they still are conscious of the differences between one form of Lutheranism and another. They hope to find a parish of their own teachings or, failing that, at least one close enough for their comfort. These separate churches are freely admitted by Lutherans as being separate denominations. Most other Protestant churches, however, are somewhere in between these two extremes. It is not always easy to tell when a parish has a local flavor but is still part of a bigger church, or if it is a new denomination that has split off. I have found that attempts to clarify this are not always welcome. There are also movements of Christian thought that greatly influence established churches and yet may or may not have churches of their own. The Evangelical movement, for example, not only influenced the teachings of many established churches, but has inspired many denominations in their own right (such as Pentecostals), as well as the majority of non-denominational churches. Does a parish whose preacher embraces the Evangelical movement form his own denomination or does he remain part of his parent church? Should the non-denominationals who embrace Evangelical teachings really be called non-denominationals after all, or should they all be classified as Evangelical? Finally, there are churches where either Jesus has to share the spotlight with other figures, and/or essential aspects of His teachings (such as claiming to be God) are denied. Can these churches really be called Christian at all? According to the Religious Congregations and Membership Study of 2010, there are over 35,000 independent or non-denominational Protestant churches in the U.S. alone. I suspect that this number will be larger still when the 2020 survey is completed and reported publicly. My own research into non-independents seems to suggest between 500 to 2000 denominations of Christianity in the U.S., depending on who did the research and how they defined what a denomination was. I do believe it is fair to say that one has a choice of about 36,000 schools of thought when it comes to Christianity in the U.S. B) The Problem of Division: Many educated people, including Mark Twain and my favorite Christian apologist C.S. Lewis, have lauded the variety of Christian brands as a good thing. To them, one can therefore find the perfect fit to one's own needs as a Christian to maximize one's faith. While I agree that this sounds good in theory, anyone who knows anything about human nature should be a bit suspicious. Apparently, religious skeptics think so too. The most obvious question that comes up is: how can 36,000 churches, each professing to tell "the truth," all be right? While a great deal of commonality exists throughout nearly all Christian denominations, there is a danger of watering down teachings so as to not offend one of another denomination. For that matter, there is also the danger of churches bending the teachings to conform to the wants of the congregation rather than to what Christian teachings really say. This is an especially important question when clergy are elected instead of being appointed. Is a church willing to accept, as Jesus did, that maybe only 12 people from about 5000 men (John 6:10, 66-67 the word "men" suggests an even greater number as family members certainly attended, as shown in Matthew 14:21) will remain when the teachings start "hitting close to home?" But perhaps the most damning evidence against this division is Matthew 16:18: "And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it." (italics mine) Note the singular form of "church" and the pronoun "it." Also note that Jesus only promises safety for those within this one church. The problem is not exclusively one of appearance. It is inevitable that, with so much variety out there, that much ignorance exists concerning other denominations. Ignorance breeds contempt, and pride can quickly transform this contempt to a false sense of superiority. This attitude can certainly cause one to look at other denominations as being inferior, and has on occasion led to hatred and even bloodshed. C) Does Division Discredit Christianity?: One cannot deny that the lack of unity in the Christian community is real: the evidence is both obvious and overwhelming. But I do not believe this discredits Christianity as a whole. Indeed, it is the only major religion I am aware of whose focus is on the sinful (i.e., corruptible) nature of man. Therefore, division does not discredit the teachings of Christianity, perfect unity would. It is not that this justifies those who, through pride or ill intent, mislead others in faith; only that such behavior is predictable and expected based on its own teachings. D) The Biblical Answer to Division - Diversity: "Welcome anyone who is weak in faith, but not for disputes over opinions. One person believes that one may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. The one who eats must not despise the one who abstains, and the one who abstains must not pass judgment on the one who eats; for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on someone else’s servant? Before his own master he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. [For] one person considers one day more important than another, while another person considers all days alike. Let everyone be fully persuaded in his own mind. Whoever observes the day, observes it for the Lord. Also whoever eats, eats for the Lord, since he gives thanks to God; while whoever abstains, abstains for the Lord and gives thanks to God.” -Romans 14:1-6 First of all, please note that I took great pains to use the word "division" instead of "diversity" when speaking of the credibility problem. Diversity is very welcome in the Christian faith. As we can see in the passage above from St. Paul to the Romans, cultures can be different and still be part of the same faith. This was written specifically because of cultural differences between the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians. St. Paul, however, clearly intends to show that as long as any behavior is in keeping with the love of God and neighbor, it is good. This leads us to the next point: which kinds of behavior are in keeping with the love of God? For this, I would like to refer to John 3:36: "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him." (italics mine) Note how belief is life, but disobedience is death. By the very words of Jesus, belief is the opposite of disobedience. To believe (or to have faith) in God means to obey God. The whole of the Bible teaches us what obeying means. There are many different ways to obey. In 1 Corinthians 12:14, 18-19, St. Paul says "Now the body is not a single part, but many. But as it is, God placed the parts, each one of them, in the body as he intended. If they were all one part, where would the body be? But as it is, there are many parts, yet one body." I suggest the gentle reader should read this whole chapter, as it shows so well how diversity is part of God's plan. We obey God when we perform the part He calls us to do. But God is very generous, and gives us more gifts and talents than we can ever use in this lifetime. If a high school student is good in both science and music, he may be considering a career as either a doctor or a musician. Either choice is fine, as God made him suitable for either part. It will be more important how he acts within the career than the career itself. This leads me to my final question for this topic: what is the difference between diversity and division? Going back to 1 Corinthians 12:18, we see that we are called to be part of the body "as He intended." By not being the part God intended, we still retain our uniqueness, but we no longer have a place. We are now separated, or divided, from the body. Using another example of a high school student, a student with no scientific talent who goes on to be a doctor would be such a case. Even if he does so with the noble idea of taking good care of people, it is still wrong because God gave him talents to take care of people in other ways. Whatever reasons one would tell oneself to justify such a choice, they can all be summarized in a single word: pride. This is why so many people with good intentions ultimately take an evil route. Doing good becomes a form of idolatry when one's own idea of "doing good" is more important than the idea of "doing good" as He intended one to do. While Christians bring discredit to themselves when they engage in division, Christianity itself is not discredited because of its diversity. E) Christians have an Advocate in Unity Through Jesus: "Furthermore, many elements of sanctification and of truth" are found outside the visible confines of the Catholic Church: "the written Word of God; the life of grace; faith, hope, and charity, with the other interior gifts of the Holy Spirit, as well as visible elements." Christ's Spirit uses these [Non-Catholic] Churches and ecclesial communities as means of salvation, whose power derives from the fullness of grace and truth that Christ has entrusted to the Catholic Church. All these blessings come from Christ and lead to him, and are in themselves calls to "Catholic unity." -Catechism of the Catholic Church #819 As mentioned in Topic A.2, Jesus called for a single church in Matthew 16:18. In John Chapter 17, Jesus gives the longest single prayer recorded in the Bible. It is just before His arrest, so these are essentially his final petition to the Father. Verses 11-12 are: "And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are. When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me, and I guarded them, and none of them was lost except the son of destruction, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled." (the "they" being the eleven remaining disciples) He followed that up by a reminder of how He labored to ensure it was that way during His lifetime. A few verses later (20-23), Jesus extends this prayer of solidarity to all those who come after the disciples: "I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me." Jesus used the word "one" four times and refers to unity at least three other times in only four verses! Also note that Jesus Himself acknowledges how unity is essential to the credibility of the Church He created. Christian division is the ultimate oxymoron. Regardless of what denomination we Christians belong to, or how such divisions occurred in the first place, we should all strive for unity, and such unity can only happen through accepting diversity. This is a simple effort that we can all contribute towards and it will bring more credibility to our faith than any Papal edict or evangelistic sermon ever could.

The Apotheosis of St. Louis in St. Louis, Missouri. Much of what is today the United States once fell under New France and New Spain, Catholic powers who named many cities after Catholic saints. The intricate interplay between religion and American culture has been a defining feature of the nation's historical landscape. The multifaceted tapestry of Christianity, with its diverse denominations, has profoundly molded American values, moral conduct, and societal developments. Among the religious forces that have significantly shaped the American experience, Roman Catholicism stands prominently alongside Protestantism. Initially a minor presence, Roman Catholicism gradually burgeoned in both scale and significance, ultimately emerging as one of the most influential catalysts in shaping American society. This influence reverberates through various facets, from social infrastructure and education to healthcare and democratic values. Roman Catholicism's Arrival and Expansion in America Roman Catholicism's roots in America trace back to the early sixteenth century, but its ascent to a formidable phenomenon commenced in the mid-1820s (Butler, Balmer, & Wacker, 2011). This pivotal turning point coincided with the arrival of the first waves of Irish immigrants on American shores. By the late 1840s, a staggering two million Irish Catholics, driven from their homeland by agrarian changes and the Irish potato famine, had sought refuge in the United States. This influx of Irish immigrants was soon followed by German arrivals in the 1840s and 1850s, and later by Italian immigrants in the 1870s. By the dawn of the twentieth century, the magnitude of this demographic shift had reached such proportions that it prompted the implementation of stringent immigration laws in the 1920s. Nonetheless, the impact was already deeply etched in the fabric of American society, with Roman Catholics estimated to constitute 17% of the population in 1906, compared to 10% in 1861 and a mere 2% in 1790, prior to the 19th-century wave of immigration (Portier, 2011). This transformative demographic shift exerted an inexorable influence on American society. First and foremost, these Catholic immigrants exhibited significant ethnic diversity, both among themselves and in comparison to the existing American populace. The presence of twenty-eight different languages spoken within the Catholic community by 1916 is a testament to this diversity (Butler & Stout, 1998). This diversity engendered tensions and, at times, open antagonism. For instance, the Irish, being the earliest arrivals and sharing a common language with the Americans, assimilated relatively seamlessly. However, the Germans faced more challenges in adapting to their new environment. As for Italian Catholics, they grappled not only with the language barrier but also with divergent understandings of Catholicism itself. Their religious practices were influenced by their distinct ethnic backgrounds, with some hesitancy in acknowledging the full authority of the Pope. In this milieu, ethnic diversity emerged as the primary force that bound together the Roman Catholic community, driven by the imperative of preserving their national identity amid a sometimes-hostile environment. These immigrants, facing disadvantages and an obligation to assist newly arrived fellow Catholics, played a pivotal role in establishing social infrastructure, including educational and medical institutions. These structures, initially intended to facilitate the adaptation of newly arrived co-religionists, would have a broader societal impact. Roman Catholicism's Role in Building Social Infrastructure The construction of social infrastructure was a significant hallmark of the Roman Catholic immigrant experience in America. While initially designed to serve the needs of the Catholic community, these institutions ultimately extended their influence beyond religious boundaries, contributing to the broader American society. One vital facet of this infrastructure was the educational system. Private Catholic schools, originally established to aid children who did not speak English, burgeoned into the largest such system in the world. These schools not only preserved ethnic identities but also imparted essential skills and knowledge to generations of Americans. The Catholic educational network left an indelible mark on the American educational landscape (Cawley & McCall, 2013). Another crucial component was the healthcare system, exemplified by institutions like the Sisters of Mercy (Butler et al., 2011). Catholic healthcare providers played an integral role in caring for the sick and vulnerable, leaving a lasting impact on the American medical establishment (Curran, 2007). Roman Catholic clergy and laity were deeply engaged in social activities, including labor struggles. Figures like Dorothy Day, a prominent Catholic convert and social activist, were instrumental in establishing homes and shelters for the impoverished. The Catholic community's active participation in the Civil War and both World Wars served to diminish their sense of alienation and solidified their presence within American society (Kolodiejchuk, 2016). Roman Catholicism's Transition from Alienation to Adaptation As the twentieth century dawned, the era of distancing and resistance began to yield to one of adaptation and integration into American culture. The persistent hostility mentioned earlier played a pivotal role in precipitating this shift, compelling immigrants to demonstrate their commonality with the broader American population. Simultaneously, the infrastructure erected primarily for the benefit of the Catholic community became increasingly conspicuous on a statewide scale. For example, the extensive system of private Catholic schools, originally designed to assist non-English-speaking children, gained recognition as a prominent educational institution. Similarly, the Catholic healthcare system, embodied by the Sisters of Mercy, continued to thrive, expanding its reach beyond the confines of the Catholic community (Curran, 2007). The Catholics' engagement in social activities, such as labor struggles, also contributed to their integration into American society. Figures like Dorothy Day epitomized this commitment, working to build homes and shelters for the marginalized (Miller, 2015). Participation in major conflicts, including the Civil War and both World Wars, further eroded the sense of alienation and fostered a sense of belonging within the broader American context (Kolodiejchuk, 2016). The Impact of Roman Catholicism on American Values Roman Catholicism's influence on American values underwent a complex transformation. Initially viewed with skepticism by the Protestant majority, the Catholic Church grappled with perceived contradictions between its canonical structure and democratic American values. While concerns were not entirely unfounded, by the early twentieth century, Catholic canon had notably relaxed in response to both external pressures and internal developments (Dolan, 2016). The major breakthrough came in the 1960s with the Second Vatican Council, conducted by Pope John XXIII between 1962 and 1965. This ecumenical council brought about significant changes that defined the incorporation of the Catholic Church into American culture. The Masses were allowed to be said in local languages instead of Latin, the authority of the Pope was lessened and distributed between local bishops, and, most importantly, the stance towards other Christian denominations changed from distancing to seeking common ground (O'Malley, 2008). This ushered in the modernization of Roman Catholicism in America. While some argue that these changes were more a result of Americanization than the influence of Roman Catholicism, the fact that these changes were the result of Vatican II suggests that the Catholic Church was at least partially responsible for the shifts (Dolan, 2016). In other words, the American society absorbing the Catholic society was also affected by this process. Conclusion Defining the intricate process of social change and distinguishing cause and effect is a complex endeavor. Some of the changes brought to America by Roman Catholicism can be conclusively deemed as unique, while others appear more like effects resulting from exposure to American culture. However, the impact of Roman Catholic immigrants on America in both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is unmistakable. It benefited the social infrastructure, education, medicine, and the general principles of American religion. Roman Catholicism, alongside Protestantism, played a pivotal role in shaping American values and culture, leaving an indelible mark on the nation's history. This influence continues to endure, serving as a testament to the lasting impact of religious diversity in the United States. References Butler, J., Balmer, R., & Wacker, G. (2011). Religion in American life. New York: Oxford University Press. Butler, J., & Stout, H. (1998). Religion in American history. New York: Oxford University Press. Cawley, M., & McCall, J. (2013). American Catholic education: Theological and religious roots. New York: Routledge. Curran, C. E. (2007). Catholic social teaching, 1891–Present: A historical, theological, and ethical analysis. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press. Dolan, J. P. (2016). The Second Vatican Council's impact on American Catholicism. Theological Studies, 77(1), 190-204. Kolodiejchuk, B. (2016). Mother Teresa: A complete authorized biography. San Francisco: HarperOne. Miller, W. D. (2015). Dorothy Day: A biography. San Francisco: HarperOne. O'Malley, J. W. (2008). What happened at Vatican II. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Portier, W. L. (2011). Common threads: A cultural history of Catholics in the United States. New York: Orbis Books.

Trads. I think you are correct. Latin is sacred and so is the TLM, there is no good reason for the Eucharist to be touched by non-consecrated hands on a regular basis (whether from recipients or Eucharistic Ministers), The New American Bible is a terrible translation, Pope Francis has said some irresponsible things, 70s folk music has no place in the liturgy and the organ is the most proper instrument for Mass unless you wish to include chant, holding hands during “The Lord’s Prayer” is tacky, the sign of peace should last five seconds, there is no real purpose for altar girls, religious indifferentism is not Catholic, the Novus Ordo has often been terribly celebrated, it is a tragedy how our churches were defaced and unbeautified by members of our own congregations, and Vatican II seems to have been poorly implemented and people have been using it as an excuse to neuter our Church for far too long! Note here that “neuter” does not mean feminize, but rather effeminize. Please keep everything I just stated in mind. I am not your enemy. I identify as a “Trad wannabe” and I have often argued on your behalf against accusations that more typical Catholics may level against you. I am twenty-five-years-old, and I find the trend towards traditionalism among my generation to be much more good than it is bad. BUT, there are aspects of this radicalization of which I believe we need to be wary. Satan does not just give up as soon as we start going to Latin Mass, and we must remember that he will attempt to turn anything holy to his will. He tried with Jesus and His ministry, he sure as hell (pun intended) will try with you, and no matter how good your intentions are, he has a much better shot at corrupting you than he did with Jesus. Based on my own observations as a young adult Catholic, here are some tendencies that Catholics of Traditional Communities really need to guard themselves against. Disregarding the Holy Father Look. I get it. I work professionally in ministry, and I get asked all the time what the deal with our pope is. While the Catholics I grew up with may have had a difficult time explaining how the pope speaking in any capacity could ever be wrong, I find that Trads find this very easily explainable. In fact, I think we find it too easy. Like it or not, Pope Francis is our pope and I am honestly not sure you are even Catholic if you say otherwise. His position as the successor of Peter must be respected, and that means a measure of respect is owed to the man himself. Referring to him disparagingly as “Bergoglio” is improper and unbecoming as members of his flock. Saying that you don’t listen to the pope because he’s a liberal is dangerous territory. I am not saying that we are bound by every quote the media reports of him, but his words have weight. And we have to be extraordinarily careful of the accusations we level against him. Until you can give me very good proof of him being a heretic, freemason or pedophile, I don’t want to hear it. “Beware of ever repeating what you have heard of others, unless it be something very edifying” Saint Bonaventure warns. How much more should we heed his warning when talking about our shepherd? Liturgical Gatekeeping I granted earlier that the Novus Ordo Mass is often poorly celebrated. But it is often celebrated well. We must be careful with projecting our own experiences of the Novus Ordo onto every single Novus Ordo parish. We are allowed to be annoyed, and even enraged, by an irreverent Mass. Our God is owed the highest respect we can give Him. But before grabbing stones, we must first remember that the vast VAST majority of Novus Ordo Masses are licit. Even the ones that max out the cringe factor “count” as our obligation to celebrate Jesus’s death and Resurrection. I have heard stories of Latin Mass goers discouraging others from attending any Mass besides Latin Mass. That is ridiculous. We are the universal Church and we have many forms of celebration and we must be open to them (TO A DEGREE). Deemphasizing The Mission This is something that I have never heard a Trad say but it’s something I have perceived among Traditional communities. Communities are wonderful and necessary for the flourishing of God’s Kingdom here on earth, but we have to remember to “Make Disciples of All Nations” and to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, etc. I think a lot of communities tend to stay where it is comfortable, but God calls us out of that. I have met people in my mission line of work who seem to think the only thing that is important is improving the liturgy. That’s great to improve the Liturgy, but it cannot be everything. And no, arguing with Catholics on r/Catholic about which Mass is best is not mission work. Scandalizing and Confusing Non-Catholics This point ties into the previous one. I am currently sponsoring someone in RCIA at one of the two parishes in my city. My “sponsee” was initially attracted to Catholicism through one of those parishes but attends RCIA at the other. At one point, during the class, several of the other students and helpers began berating the parish where my sponsee first began his journey, and he came out of that class rather bewildered. This is not the only time this has happened. There have been several times I have been in conversations with non-Catholics/casual Catholics where someone overhearing the conversation just has to jump in and tell them how much better and more reverent their parish/liturgy is than the other one. A house divided against itself must fall and that is exactly what non-Catholics see when we begin attacking each other. I grant that this one is far from a uniquely Trad problem, but to paraphrase Matt Fradd: it seems like there are many people who would rather convert Novus Ordo Catholics into Latin Mass Catholics than non-Catholics into Catholic. As a Church, we need to turn our ire from each other and towards ideologies that call for the destruction of life and the Church. We need to call out the wolves among our flock, but we must defend ourselves and save others from the wolves outside our Pasteur. Traditional practices are a means of serving God, but they are not gods themselves. We have to remember what it means to be in the Church: we are ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC, and APOSTOLIC. Not keyboard warriors with an affinity for Latin.

For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are ill and infirm, and a considerable number are dying. If we discerned ourselves, we would not be under judgment; but since we are judged by [the] Lord, we are being disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. -1 Corinthians 11:23-32 “Hear then the parable of the sower. The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the kingdom without understanding it, and the evil one comes and steals away what was sown in his heart. The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy. But he has no root and lasts only for a time. When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, he immediately falls away. The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word, but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit. But the seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.” -Matthew 13:18-23, with similar explanations in Mark 4:13-20 and Luke 8:11-15 According to the Oxford Languages Dictionary, the definition of "pluralism" is "a condition or system in which two or more states, groups, principals, sources of authority, etc., coexist." This is in contrast with "dualism," which is "1. the division of something conceptually into two opposed or contrasted aspects, or the state of being so divided. 2. the quality or condition of being dual, duality." Duality has a specific meaning in Christianity. It usually means that God and creation are separate and distinct, yet still united in some way. Biblical duality deals with the fact that, although we were meant to be spirit and body, God nonetheless sustains us between death and resurrection. Both pluralism and dualism are closely related, yet neither one alone really conveys one of the most amazing and wonderful aspects of Christianity that makes it so unique. Pluralism has a certain serenity about it, a sense of unity. A man may be both a doctor and a father, and there is no conflict between these two states. But dualism presents an apparent conflict. Marriage is a dualism of a man and woman. A man is not a woman, and a woman is not a man, yet they become one through marriage. When one thinks of a man, one normally sees the man in one aspect at a time (patients see the doctor, but not the father, whereas the son usually sees the father). But when one thinks of a marriage, hopefully both aspects are seen together. Pluralism allows for one aspect to happen at a time; dualism forces one to think of both at once. When we talk of Jesus, who is both God and man, which word should we use? It might appear that this is a clear case of dualism, but in practice it becomes quite difficult. We can visualize a marriage as man and woman easy enough, one needs only look at a wedding picture after the vows are made. But imaging Jesus as being man and God is hard to do except within a trite statement of faith. Even the Gospel writers had this problem. While all of them clearly indicate that Jesus is God and man, there is no clear example or explanation of this to help us understand it. Jesus is almost always portrayed by his human nature ("And Jesus wept," John 11:35), with only a few clear indications of his divine nature ("Your sins are forgiven." Luke 5:20 and 7:48). Unitarians and Muslims base their beliefs of Jesus being only man from the gospel emphasis on the humanity of Jesus. It's not for a want of trying, however, that this is so. Examples we can understand are hard to come by. The dualism was insisted upon by Jesus Himself when He said, "take and eat; this is my body." to a culture that abhorred cannibalism (Matthew 26:26), yet nearly half of Christendom denies that God, who created the essence of the universe, could change the essence of the bread and wine into the essence of His body. Perhaps the clearest and most understandable example of both natures being shown at once is in the transfiguration He experienced on the mountain (all three synoptic gospels and 2 Peter 1:18), and during His ascension into Heaven (Luke 24:51). But these examples, beautiful as they are, do just enough to entice us to contemplate the mystery of His dualism rather than help us understand. We have an almost endless list of titles Jesus goes by: savior, healer, teacher, brother, prophet, perfect sacrifice, king of kings, priest most high, and on and on. This suggests that perhaps pluralism is the answer. But a closer look gives us another problem. Many of the titles Jesus has can appear to contradict each other, therefore they are dualisms. Even in my short list, perfect sacrifice and priest most high would be a dualism. When Jesus is called "king of kings," we must also remember the dualism of Jesus being described, explicitly or implicitly, as a slave (such as Philippians 2:7). So I think what we really have is that Jesus is a pluralism of dualisms. And, as difficult as this concept may be to accept, the Gospels provide plenty of evidence that this is indeed the case. In addition to a number of His titles indicating apparently contradictory aspects of Jesus, His own words and actions show this as well. I'll just give a few here. Perhaps the most obvious is when He claimed that "thus the last shall be first, and the first shall be last" (Matthew 20:16). Another good example is that He claimed that neither the law nor the prophets were to be changed (Matthew 5:17), yet the changes He promoted to the culture based on these tenants were so radical that it led to His execution. Jesus once claimed Peter had the special blessing of the Father, yet a few verses later called Peter "Satan" (Matthew 16:17-23). Jesus claimed to be "the life" (John 14:6) and a few hours later died (John 19:30). Jesus kept company with sinners and condemned the ritually righteous (Matthew 9:11 for example), and yet claimed to be doing God's will (Matthew 9:13). The most important of the apparent contradictions, however, has to go back to His being fully human and fully divine. Only a fully divine being could have withstood bearing all of mankind's sins at once, yet if He was not fully human then such a sacrifice would have been meaningless. God had to become man and die, so that in His resurrection, He could resurrect man, who had already died. I could go on, but these apparent contradictions are real. Skeptics often use them to "prove" the Bible cannot be trusted. As "Christians" (a term that means "little Christ") we inherit this pluralistic dualism. As hard as this concept can be to grasp, if we are to truly know ourselves as Christians, we have to at least have some understanding of it. Jesus, among other great things, gave us a road map to follow, but we still have to follow it for it to mean anything. For the rest of the paper, I am going to focus on only two dualistic expressions. I feel they are broad enough in scope that, if understood, the millions of other dualisms of Christianity can be better understood as well. The first dualism I will address comes from C.S. Lewis. When he came out of his atheism, he looked for a means to decide which of the thousands of religions and quasi-religions in the world was the best expression of whatever god(s) might exist. He quickly noted that all pagan religions focused on the ritual. As a philosopher, C.S. Lewis was disturbed that paganism did not make any serious effort to discover philosophical truths of the universe these gods created (this was done by secular philosophers who, regardless of personal religious beliefs, were careful to not intrude on religious matters). Pagan religions were for the masses, not the intelligentsia. In a similar manner, C.S. Lewis was not impressed by godless philosophies. While philosophers were welcomed by the intelligentsia, the lack of rituals meant that the commoners had little or nothing to do with them. C.S. Lewis could not accept a religion as being true if it did not include everyone. After his search, he found that only Hinduism and Christianity had both the ritual and the philosophy (he considered Islam to be a watered-down version of Christianity, and therefore not worth considering). But while Hinduism had something for both the intelligentsia and the commoner, they could still do this while separated from each other. A whole village could perform some sacred ritual while a nearby monk could contemplate the meaning of the universe. The monk had no obligation to attend the ritual, and the villagers had no obligation to listen to the monk's insights. It was only in Christianity, he discovered, that a highbrow like him had to kneel and sing songs with the lowbrows, but they, in turn, had to sit and listen with him as the secrets of God's plan for all mankind were revealed. He specifically used the 1 Corinthians quote I placed at the head of this paper as proof of the dualism of ritual and philosophy inherent in Christianity. I have found this dualism quite useful, as it seems most people can see both a ritual and a philosophical aspect to Christianity. But while I found it useful in many situations, there were still many situations where this explanation of Christian beliefs seemed to be stretched, and sometimes even failed. I later read Apologia Pro Vita Sua (Apology for my Life) by Saint John Henry cardinal Newman, and found another dualism that did a better job explaining the dualistic aspects of Christianity, but it seems to be harder for others to understand. Newman, in attempting to explain the differences between Protestant and Catholic churches, and why the Anglican Church was the best blend of the two (this was before his conversion to Catholicism), described Christianity as having a pure side and a truth side (with the Anglican Church balancing both aspects the best). It should not be too hard to associate Newman's "truth" with C.S. Lewis's "philosophy," but there does seem to be great confusion in getting from C.S. Lewis's "ritual" to Newman's "purity." But just because there is confusion, it does not mean there is no reason to not make an effort to settle it. If we look at "purity" as meaning "the way it should be" or "idealized," then perhaps getting from ritual to purity is not as hard a leap as it first seems. From the time of Cain and Able (Genesis 4) to the end of the Book of Revelation, we see rituals being presented as the way things should be, with great attention on getting things right. When things are right, there is a certain beauty to the result. Therefore profound beauty can also be considered part of purity. Protestants left the Catholic Church on grounds that the church was perverting what the Bible really said. They were arguing for the truth. The Catholic Church, in response, claimed that the office of the pope was a legacy of Saint Peter, whom Jesus explicitly named as leader of the church (Matthew 16:18). The Catholics were arguing for the idealized (or purity) of the office of the pope (if Peter was commissioned as leader of the church, then so too should his direct successors). As the centuries have gone by, the Catholic Church has done much to identify the truth of the faith, but such efforts are usually internal and not well appreciated outside church theologians. Protestants, however, continue to fracture at a frightening rate. Individual churches and denominations can exhibit the full range of positions considering truth or purity, yet they all seem to view themselves as embracing truth no matter how far from the truth they may have gone. Fundamentalists seem to be the most hypocritical in this regard, as they take the purist position that the Bible, being inspired by God, need not be analyzed. It says what it says and that is all there is to it. I also find that Newman's purity and truth dualism is actually endorsed by Jesus. In His explanation for His parable of the Sower (which is only one of two parables recorded by all three synoptic writers, suggesting the importance of it), we see some seeds are spread on rocky ground, that they grow up "with joy," (Matthew 13L20 and Luke 8:13) but are quickly parched by the sun because they have no roots. Such is what one can expect from a purist position. The joy and other great feelings that can come from the purity of Catholic rituals are nonetheless feelings. Feelings are, by their nature, short-lived. Faith needs roots to survive when the feelings go away. Although the Catholic Church is opposed to the idea that marriages can end simply because the "feeling" is gone, it is failing to give its young adults a reason to stay in the Church when their feelings are gone. And this lesson is not limited to the Catholic Church, as fundamentalists are quite excited about their faith as well. But they deny that obvious contradictions exist in the Bible, that every word is to be taken at face value. Their sense of purity is so strong that they experience cognitive dissonance when these apparent contradictions are read out loud to them. Fundamentalists, like our young adults, are likely to leave when truth does not give the faith roots. We also see seeds scattered among thorns. They presumably grow roots, but are unable to bloom because they are "choked by the anxieties and riches and pleasures of life." (Matthew 13:22 and Luke 8:14) The constant fragmenting of the Protestant churches is evidence that they are so distracted. If their focus was truly on God and not other things, then why the need to constantly separate just to have a different way to say the same thing? Should not different ways of expressing the truth be welcomed, or is the truth of Jesus meant to be limited? It is only when the seeds are scattered on ground that is both soft and free of weeds that a harvest of "hundred or sixty or thirtyfold" (Matthew 13:8, with similar claims in Mark 4:8 and Luke 8:8) can be had. It is only when the church embraces its plurality of dualism that the church will grow. The exodus of participating Christians from all churches is well past alarming levels, and cannot continue at this rate for long before there will be no one left to go to church. All Christian churches need to work on bringing the dualism back to the faith, just like Saint Paul did with the churches he established (per the opening quote). The alternative is a slow suicide of the faith by those refusing to accept this reality. Mysticism keeps men sane. As long as you have mystery you have health; when you destroy mystery you create morbidity. The ordinary man has always been sane because the ordinary man has always been a mystic. He has permitted the twilight. He has always had one foot in earth and the other in fairyland. He has always left himself free to doubt his gods; but (unlike the agnostic of to-day) free also to believe in them. He has always cared more for truth than for consistency. If he saw two truths that seemed to contradict each other, he would take the two truths and contradiction along with them. His spiritual sight is stereoscopic, like his physical sight: he sees two different pictures at once and yet sees all the better for that. Thus, he has always believed that there was such a thing as fate, but such a thing as free will also. Thus, he believes that children were indeed the kingdom of heaven, but nevertheless ought to be obedient to the kingdom of earth. He admired youth because it was young and age because it was not. It is exactly this balance of apparent contradictions that has been the whole buoyancy of the healthy man. The whole secret of mysticism is this: that man can understand everything by the help of what he does not understand. The morbid logician seeks to make everything lucid, and succeeds in making everything mysterious. The mystic allows one thing to be mysterious, and everything else becomes lucid. ― G.K. Chesterton