Merry Christmas!

A Blessed and Holy Christmas to Motes 'n' Beams reader(s)!

O Emmanuel

O Emmanuel, Rex et legifer noster, exspectatio gentium, et Salvator earum: veni ad salvandum nos Domine Deus noster.

O Emmanuel, our King and our Law-giver, Longing of the Gentiles, yea, and salvation thereof, come to save us, O Lord our God!

O Rex Gentium

O Rex Gentium, et desideratus earum, lapisque angularis, qui facis utraque unum: veni, et salva hominem, quem de limo formasti.

O King of the Gentiles, yea, and desire thereof! O Corner-stone, that makest of two one, come to save man, whom Thou hast made out of the dust of the earth!

O Oriens

O Oriens, splendor lucis æternæ, et sol justitiæ: veni, et illumina sedentes in tenebris, et umbra mortis.

O Dayspring, Brightness of the everlasting light, Sun of justice, come to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death!

O Clavis David

O Clavis David, et sceptrum domus Israel; qui aperis, et nemo claudit; claudis, et nemo aperit: veni, et educ vinctum de domo carceris, sedentem in tenebris, et umbra mortis. 

O Key of David, and Sceptre of the house of Israel, that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth, come to liberate the prisoner from the prison, and them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death.

O Radix Jesse

O Radix Jesse, qui stas in signum populorum, super quem continebunt reges os suum, quem Gentes deprecabuntur: veni ad liberandum nos, jam noli tardare.

O Root of Jesse, which standest for an ensign of the people, at Whom the kings shall shut their mouths, Whom the Gentiles shall seek, come to deliver us, do not tarry.

O Adonai

O Adonai, et Dux domus Israel, qui Moysi in igne flammæ rubi apparuisti, et ei in Sina legem dedisti: veni ad redimendum nos in brachio extento.

O Adonai, and Ruler of the house of Israel, Who didst appear unto Moses in the burning bush, and gavest him the law in Sinai, come to redeem us with an outstretched arm! 

O Sapientia

O Sapientia, quæ ex ore Altissimi prodiisti, attingens a fine usque ad finem, fortiter suaviterque disponens omnia: veni ad docendum nos viam prudentiæ. 

O Wisdom that comest out of the mouth of the Most High, that reachest from one end to another, and orderest all things mightily and sweetly, come to teach us the way of prudence!

St Andrew Advent novena

It's that time again...

Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in piercing cold. In that hour, vouchsafe, O my God! to hear my prayer and grant my desires, through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of His Blessed Mother. Amen.

To be said 15 times a day until Christmas.

True reverence - Fr Faber

What is more necessary to true worship than a deep and calm reverence? Nay, what is more sweet to hot-hearted love than to be hushed and awe-smitten in the presence of the refulgent attributes of God? Familiarity in religion would be a simple impertinence if reverence did not mingle with it. What more familiar than the relation between father and son, yet what love more reverent than filial love? Truly, while it was true reverence which made Peter tell his Master to depart from him because he was a sinful man, it was no true reverence which made the craven men of Gadara beseech Jesus to withdraw His importunate blessings from their coast. But it was reverence, perhaps a deeper reverence than Peter's, which made Magdalene strive to hold the Risen Jesus by His feet, though it was not His will to suffer it. Too often, alas! we mistake coldness for reverence, and stiffness for respect. How sweetly did Jesus reprove that spirit when St. Gertrude complained to Him of one of her nuns who, out of reverence, as she fancied, kept away from a community Communion. "What would you have Me do?" said our Blessed Lord, "these good people tie the bandage of their own unworthiness so tightly over their eyes that they cannot see the tenderness of My Paternal Heart."

All For Jesus

Hindering mortal sin - Fr Faber

And, lastly, if you wish to press on toward the prize of Christian perfection, and to become a saint, listen to this story, listen to what happens to a man who has done no more than this, hindered two mortal sins from being consummated in outward acts. St. Paphnutius had dwelt in the desert for many a long year, and by weary penances had toiled for his sanctification. At last a strange thought came into his mind, and he ventured to express it in prayer to God. He desired to know to whom on the earth he was equal in sanctity. He asked it in simplicity and true humility, and God vouchsafed to speak to him. He told him he was now equal to a certain piper in an Egyptian village that He named. At once the saint set forth to seek him. When he came to the village he asked for the piper, and was told he was piping in the tavern for the amusement of those who were drinking there. Strange ! thought St. Paphnutius. However, he sought the piper out, led him aside, and spoke to him of his spiritual state. What good works had he done ? Good works ! rejoined the piper ; I know of nothing good that I have ever done ; but once, when I was a robber, I saved from violence a virgin consecrated to God ; and once, also, I gave money to a poor woman, who, out of poverty, was offering herself to sin. And then Paphnutius understood how God had given to that piper graces equal to his own, because for his Maker's glory he had in his rough robber-days hindered two mortal sins.

All For Jesus
(Cf. Mortal sin prevention!)

Increasing God's accidental glory - Fr Faber

It is the interest of Jesus that the glory of the most Holy Trinity should be increased in every possible manner, and at every hour of night and day ; and this glory, which is called God's accidental glory, is increased by every good work, word, and thought, every correspondence to grace, every resistance to temptation, every act of worship, every sacrament rightly administered or humbly received, every act of homage and love to Mary, every invocation of the saints, every bead of the Rosary, every sign of the Cross, every drop of holy water, every pain patiently endured, every harsh judgment meekly borne, every good wish, though it end only with the wishing, and never sees fulfilment — provided there be a devout intention along with all these things, and they are done in union with the merits of our sweet Lord.

The devil's interests - Fr Faber

The devil also has his interests in the world. He has been allowed to set up a kingdom in opposition to God, and, like all sovereigns, he has a multitude of interests. Thus he has agents everywhere, active, diligent, unseen spirits, swarming in the streets of the cities, to push on his interests. They canvass the labourers in the field. They see what they can do with the monk in his cloister and the hermit in his cell. Even in the churches, during Mass or Benediction, they are hard at work, plying their unholy trade. Our fellow-men also, by thousands, let themselves out to him as agents ; nay, numbers work in his interests for nothing ; and, what is more shocking still, many do his work, and almost fancy it is God's work they are doing, it looks so good and blameless in their eyes. How many Catholics oppose good things, or criticise good persons ; yet they would never consent to be the devil's agents, if they really knew what they were about. These interests of the devil are very various. To cause mortal sin, to persuade to venial sin, to hinder grace, to prevent contrition, to keep back from sacraments, to promote lukewarmness, to bring holy people and bishops and religious orders into disrepute, and to stand in the way of vocations, to spread gossip, to distract people at prayer, to make men fall in love with the frivolities and fashions of the world, to get men to spend money on comforts, furniture, jewels, nicknacks, parrots, old china, fine dress, instead of on the poor of Jesus Christ, to induce Catholics to worship great people and put their trust in princes, and fawn upon political parties in power, to make them full of criticism of each other, and quick as children to take scandal, to diminish devotion to our Blessed Lady, and to make people fancy divine love is an enthusiasm and an indiscretion : these are the chief interests of the devil. It is amazing with what energy he works at them, and with what consummate craft and dreadful ability he advances them in the world. It would be a thing to admire, if it did not make us afraid for our own souls, and if all things which are against God were not simply abominable, and to be hated. The dark enemy of the Creator is mysteriously allowed a marvellous share of success in that creation which the All Holy once looked down upon, and blessed in His unspeakable complacency. Men's interests put the interests of Jesus on one side, partly as troublesome, more often as insignificant. The devil's interests are directly opposed to those of Jesus, and where they are successful, either debase them, or kill them altogether.

All For Jesus

St Philip Neri on love of neighbour

"We ought to hate no one, for God never comes where there is no love of our neighbours."

St Augustine on anger

"... And well do you know, my excellent brother, how, in the midst of such offenses, we must watch lest hatred of any one gain a hold upon the heart, and so not only hinder us from praying to God with the door of our chamber closed, but also shut the door against God Himself; for hatred of another insidiously creeps upon us, while no one who is angry considers his anger to be unjust. For anger habitually cherished against any one becomes hatred, since the sweetness which is mingled with what appears to be righteous anger makes us detain it longer than we ought in the vessel, until the whole is soured, and the vessel itself is spoiled. Wherefore it is much better for us to forbear from anger, even when one has given us just occasion for it, than, beginning with what seems just anger against any one, to fall, through this occult tendency of passion, into hating him. We are wont to say that, in entertaining strangers, it is much better to bear the inconvenience of receiving a bad man than to run the risk of having a good man shut out, through our caution lest any bad man be admitted; but in the passions of the soul the opposite rule holds true. For it is incomparably more for our soul's welfare to shut the recesses of the heart against anger, even when it knocks with a just claim for admission, than to admit that which it will be most difficult to expel, and which will rapidly grow from a mere sapling to a strong tree. Anger dares to increase with boldness more suddenly than men suppose, for it does not blush in the dark, when the sun has gone down upon it..."

Letter to Profuturus

Virtue: a means, not an end - Fr Faber

"Virtue itself is a means, not an end; for virtue is not God, nor union with God. Do not think this admonition strange. It is one that was constantly in the mouth of St. Francis of Sales. We are so bad that we can make even our pursuit of virtue a hindrance to our love of God."

Growth in Holiness

Useless knowledge - Thomas a Kempis

"Shun too great a desire for knowledge, for in it there is much fretting and delusion. Intellectuals like to appear learned and to be called wise. Yet there are many things the knowledge of which does little or no good to the soul, and he who concerns himself about other things than those which lead to salvation is very unwise."

Imitation of Christ

Dressing appropriately - St John Baptiste de La Salle

If you wish to be dressed appropriately, follow the customs of the country, and dress more or less like people of your rank and age. Still, it is important to take care that your clothes have nothing luxurious or anything superfluous about them. You must avoid whatever suggests ostentation or worldliness.

The best way to judge the appropriateness of clothing is by custom; follow it without fail. Because the human spirit is prone to change and the things that pleased us yesterday no longer do so today, there have been invented, and are still being invented every day, all sorts of different ways of dressing to satisfy this changing spirit. Those who would want to dress as people did 30 years ago would make themselves look ridiculous and eccentric. It is, however, characteristic of the conduct of people of good judgment never to attract attention to themselves in any way.

Fashion is what people call the style in which clothes are made at a given time.You ought to follow it in the matter of your hats, linen, and outer garments. It would be against decorum for you to wear a tall hat or one with a wide brim when everyone else uses low-cut hats with narrow brims. Nevertheless, it is not always advisable to adopt all the newest fashions right away. Some of them are capricious and bizarre, while some are reasonable and conformable to decorum. Just as you ought not to go against the latter, neither must you adopt too hastily the former, which ordinarily are followed only by a few people and do not last very long.

The surest and most reasonable rule concerning fashion is do not invent your own, do not be the first to try it, and do not wait until everyone else has given it up before abandoning it.

 Rules of Christian Decorum and Civility

Needless contradiction - St Francis de Sales

"It was a saying of S. Louis, that one should contradict nobody, unless there was sin or harm in consenting; and that in order to avoid contention and dispute. At any rate, when it is necessary to contradict anybody, or to assert one’s own opinion, it should be done gently and considerately, without irritation or vehemence. Indeed, we gain nothing by sharpness or petulance."

St Philip Neri on not asking for trouble

"A man should not ask tribulations of God, presuming on his being able to bear them: there should be the greatest possible caution in this matter, for he who bears what God sends him daily does not do a small thing."

The family and the State, Pius XI

"[T]he family is more sacred than the State and that men are begotten not for the earth and for time, but for Heaven and eternity."

- Pope Pius XI, Casti Connubii

The Hokey Cokey

... or Hokey Pokey, as it's known elsewhere.

(This post is apropos nothing topical, just something I've long pondered on.)

When I was young, my dad told me the Hokey Cokey mocked the Mass. The words Hokey Cokey being based on "Hoc est enim Corpus Meum" ("This is My Body"). That seems to be a well known theory, although it has been denied (for example, here).

It might all be an urban legend, but...

When I started attending Traditional Latin Masses half my life (so far) ago, it started making sense.

You put your right hand in... out, shake it all about.
- Perhaps a parody of the priest making the sign of the cross over the host and chalice at the Offertory.

You do the Hokey Cokey
- As per the famous theory, as mentioned already, about it being a parody of "Hoc est emim Corpus Meum."

And you turn around
- Priest turns to congregation and says "Dominus vobiscum."

Knees bend
- Genuflection.

Arms stretch
- Elevation.

Rah rah rah!
- Bells rung thrice.

Can those similarities really have come about just by accident?

Things prophets haven't said

Traditionalist (and I number myself among them) often quote this:

We are what you once were.
We believe what you once believed.
We worship as you once worshipped.
If you were right then, we are right now.
If we are wrong now, you were wrong then.

But is it all that persuasive really?

There can't be many people who have difficulty conceding that they used to be wrong but that they're right now. If I were a modernist, and a traditionalist used that motto in a discussion with me, I'd probably respond, "Yes, I was wrong then. Now, I've seen the light!"

What might be a more persuasive argument?

Perhaps the fact that we have been warned to beware of novelties, in scripture for a start:

For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears: And will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables... - 2 Timothy 4:3-4

Notice the chronology. Truth first, being abandoned in favour of error. Not the other way round. 

In fact, I don't think I've ever seen any prediction that says that one day the Church will start getting things right after having been wrong for so long. Not that anyone has to believe in private revelations, but when none of them predicts that things are just going to keep getting better in the Church, it should make one think.

These days, I'm more interested in what prophecies don't say than what they do. Things like, "There will be a great Council, that will open the Church up to the influence of the world, and there will be a new springtime!" And, "The Church's liturgy will undergo immense improvements, allowing more participation by the people, and more involvement of women, who have been neglected for so long." Not forgetting, "Church buildings will be greatly improved by the removal of altar rails, statues, and the relocation of tabernacles to a less central position."

So on the one hand, we've had warnings that things will become very bad (a diabolical disorientation, as Sr Lucy put it), and on the other we've had no predictions that things will get better (except after a chastisement of some kind). Our Lady's Immaculate Heart will triumph eventually, but meanwhile there will be trouble.

Whose preference?

The subject of the liturgy is often reduced to being a mere matter of preference, but isn't how we worship more significant than that?

One might prefer burger and fries to salad, but does that make it superior?
One could prefer the Beatles to Beethoven, while still acknowledging the superiority of the latter.

So, while one may "prefer" the New Mass or the Traditional Mass, which one is superior?

This post from last year might provide a clue.

Pomp need not come into it though. I maintain that a Traditional Mass, offered in the humblest of surroundings, without music, is still superior to a reverent New Mass in a cathedral.

(The Divine Liturgy is also superior. I often think of detergent adverts:
We washed the Latin Rite in new improved Vatican II, but we used the original formula on the 
Eastern Rites. Let's see how they turned out!)

The changes matter. They matter to those who protest against them, and they matter to those who introduced them, otherwise they wouldn't have introduced them, imposing the new and suppressing the old.

The only preference which counts is God's preference. He "preferred" Abel's sacrifice to Cain's.

C S Lewis on Divine Goodness

... What would really satisfy us would be a God who said of anything we happened to like doing, "What does it matter so long as they are contented?" We want, in fact, not so much a Father in Heaven as a grandfather in heaven--a senile benevolence who, as they say, "liked to see young people enjoying themselves" and whose plan for the universe was simply that it might be truly said at the end of each day, "a good time was had by all". Not many people, I admit, would formulate a theology in precisely those terms: but a conception not very different lurks at the back of many minds. I do not claim to be an exception: I should very much like to live in a universe which was governed on such lines. But since it is abundantly clear that I don't, and since I have reason to believe, nevertheless, that, God is Love, I conclude that my conception of love needs correction.

The Problem of Pain

Abolishing suffering and disease

It would be wrong to wish someone suffering. (Although, maybe a little suffering might do some people good.) But might it be worse to desire a world (outside of Heaven) without suffering and disease? Such a world would be impossible anyway. It would be a tyranny with special sufferings of its own.

Eugenics desires to eliminate disease and suffering, or rather people who will suffer from disease. Heaven works because everyone in it is perfect. While we are here on earth, we have to contend with disease and suffering.

Imagine a world where suffering has been abolished. Where most people undergo (or have their offspring undergo) genetic treatments that will eliminate disability (or any offspring with disabilities). But, there will be some people who will resist such practices. They will have children naturally and accept any disabled babies.

They will be in a minority. They will suffer persecution in various forms. A society which thinks it has eliminated disease and disability will not welcome these inconvenient families who accept such suffering. These people who refuse to  consent to unethical and sinful procedures will be penalised. There will be a culture of ostracising imperfect people. Responsible parents will have made sure they produced healthy children. Irresponsible parents will show scant regard for the common good, by tolerating unhealthy children. There won't be a culture of compassion, because people will be expected not to need any. But there will always be a few spoiling it for everyone else!.

The word "compassion" means "suffer with". A world without suffering would be a world without compassion.

Are we nearly there yet?

Pope Benedict XV on peace

To the heads of the belligerent peoples.

From the beginning of our Pontificate, amidst the horrors of the terrible war unleashed upon Europe, We have kept before Our attention three things above all: to preserve complete impartiality in relation to all the belligerents, as is appropriate to him who is the common father and who loves all his children with an equal affection; to endeavour constantly to do to all the most possible good, without personal exceptions and without national or religious distinctions, a duty which the universal law of charity, as well as the supreme spiritual charge entrusted to Us by Christ, dictates to Us; finally, as Our peace-making mission equally demands, to leave nothing undone within Our power, which could assist in hastening the end of this calamity, by trying to lead the peoples and their heads to more moderate frames of mind and to the calm deliberations of peace, of a "just and lasting" peace.

Whoever has followed Our work during the three unhappy years which have just elapsed, has been able to recognize with ease that if We have always remained faithful to Our resolution of absolute impartiality and to Our practical policy of welldoing, We have never ceased to urge the belligerent peoples and Governments to become brothers once more, even although publicity has not been given to all which We have done to attain this most noble end.

Towards the end of the first year of war, We addressed to the conflicting nations the most lively exhortations, and in addition We indicated the way to follow in order to arrive at a lasting and honourable peace for all. Unhappily, Our appeal was not heeded; and the war continued bitterly for two more years, with all its horrors; it even became more cruel and spread over land and sea, even in the air; desolation and death were seen to fall upon defenceless cities, peaceful villages and their innocent populations. And at the present moment no one can imagine how the sufferings of all may increase and become more intense, if further months or, still worse, further years are added to these bloodstained three years. Will the civilized world then become nothing but a field of death? And will Europe, so glorious and so flourishing before, rush, as if driven on by a universal folly, to the abyss and be the agent of her own suicide?

In so agonizing a situation, in face of so great a danger, We who have no special political aim, who pay no attention to the suggestions of the interests of either of the belligerent groups, but are moved only by the feeling of our lofty duty as common Father of the faithful and by the solicitations of our children who beg for our intervention and Our peace-making word, We raise anew a cry for peace and We renew an urgent appeal to those who hold in their hands the destinies of nations. But so as not to confine Ourselves any longer to general terms, as circumstances have advised us in the past, we now wish to descend to more concrete and practical propositions, and to invite the Governments of the belligerent peoples to reach agreement on the following points, which seem to be the basis of a just and lasting peace, leaving to them the task of making them more precise and of completing them.

First of all, the fundamental point should be that for the material force of arms should be substituted the moral force of law; hence a just agreement by all for the simultaneous and reciprocal reduction of armaments, according to rules and guarantees to be established to the degree necessary and sufficient for the maintenance of public order in each State; then, instead of armies, the institution of arbitration, with its lofty peace-making function, according to the standards to be agreed upon and with sanctions to be decided against the State which might refuse to submit international questions to arbitration or to accept its decisions.

Once the supremacy of law has been established, let every obstacle to the ways of communication between the peoples be removed, by ensuring through rules to be fixed in similar fashion, the true freedom and common use of the seas. This would, on the one hand, remove many reasons for conflict and, on the other, would open new sources of prosperity and progress to all.

With regard to reparations for damage and to the expenses of the war, We see no way of settling the question other than by laying down as a general principle, a complete and reciprocal condonation, justified by the immense benefits to be drawn from disarmament, and all the more because one could not understand the continuation of such slaughter solely for reasons of an economic nature. If, however, in certain cases there exist special reasons, let them be pondered with justice and equity.

But pacifying agreements, with the immense advantages flowing from them, are not possible without the reciprocal restitution of territories actually occupied. In consequence, on the part of Germany, there should be total evacuation of Belgium, with a guarantee of its full political, military and economic independence vis-à-vis any Power whatsoever; similarly the evacuation of French territory. On the side of the other belligerent parties, there should be a corresponding restitution of the German colonies.

With regard to territorial questions, such as those disputed between Italy and Austria, and between Germany and France, there is ground for hope that in consideration of the immense advantages of a lasting peace with disarmament, the conflicting parties will examine them in a conciliatory frame of mind, taking into account, so far as it is just and practicable, as We have said previously, the aspirations of the peoples and co-ordinating, according to circumstances, particular interests with the general good of the great human society.

The same spirit of equity and justice should direct the examination of other territorial and political questions, notably those relating to Armenia, the Balkan States and the territories composing the ancient Kingdom of Poland, for which especially its noble historical traditions and the sufferings which it has undergone, particularly during the present war, ought rightly to enlist the sympathies of the nations.

Such are the principal foundations upon which We believe the future reorganization of peoples should rest. They are of a kind which would make impossible the recurrence of such conflicts and would pave the way for a solution of the economic question, so important for the future and the material welfare of all the belligerent States. Thus, in presenting them all to You who preside at this tragic hour over the destinies of the belligerent nations, We are animated by a sweet hope, that of seeing them accepted and thus of seeing the earliest possible end to the fearful struggle which has the ever-increasing appearance of a useless massacre. Everybody recognizes, furthermore, that on both sides the honour of arms has been satisfied. Give attention, then, to Our entreaty, accept the paternal invitation which We address to You in the name of the Divine Redeemer, Prince of Peace. Reflect on your very grave responsibility before God and before men; on your decisions depend the rest and joy of countless families, the life of thousands of young people, in short, the happiness of the peoples, whose wellbeing it is your overriding duty to procure. May the Lord inspire you with decisions agreeable to His Most Holy Will. May Heaven bring it about that, by earning the applause of your contemporaries, You will also gain for yourselves the beautiful name of peacemakers among future generations.

As for Us, closely united in prayer and penitence to all faithful souls who sigh for peace, We implore for You from the Divine Spirit light and counsel.

From the Vatican, August 1, 1917 Benedictus, PP. XV

Pope St Pius X on bitter zeal

'"For the Lord is not in the earthquake" (III Kings xix., II) - it is vain to hope to attract souls to God by a bitter zeal. On the contrary, harm is done more often than good by taunting men harshly with their faults, and reproving their vices with asperity.'

E Supremi

Pius XII on peace

It is necessary first of all to renew the hearts of men, to repress covetousness and greed, to allay hatreds, to really put into practice the norms and dealings of justice, to bring about a better distribution of wealth, to foster mutual charity and to stir up virtue in all.

Mirabile Illud

C S Lewis on the 3D Trinity

"You know that in space you can move in three ways – to left or right, backwards or forwards, up or down. Every direction is either one of these three or a compromise between them. They are called the three Dimensions. Now notice this. If you are using only one dimension, you could draw only a straight line. If you are using two, you could draw a figure: say, a square. And a square is made up of four straight lines. Now a step further. If you have three dimensions, you can then build what we call a solid body: say, a cube – a thing like a dice or a lump of sugar. And a cube is made up of six squares.

"Do you see the point? A world of one dimension would be a straight line. In a two-dimensional world, you still get straight lines, but many lines make one figure. In a three-dimensional world, you still get figures but many figures make one solid body. In other words, as you advance to more real and more complicated levels, you do not leave behind you the things you found on the simpler levels: you still have them, but combined in new ways – in ways you could not imagine if you knew only the simpler levels.

"Now the Christian account of God involves just the same principle. The human level is a simple and rather empty level. On the human level one person is one being, and any two persons are two separate beings – just as, in two dimensions (say on a flat sheet of paper) one square is one figure, and any two squares are two separate figures. On the Divine level you still find personalities; but up there you find them combined in new ways which we, who do not live on that level, cannot imagine. In God’s dimension, so to speak, you find a being who is three Persons while remaining one Being, just as a cube is six squares while remaining one cube. Of course we cannot fully conceive a Being like that: just as, if we were so made that we perceived only two dimensions in space we could never properly imagine a cube. But we can get a sort of faint notion of it. And when we do, we are then, for the first time in our lives, getting some positive idea, however faint, of something super-personal – something more than a person. It is something we could never have guessed, and yet, once we have been told, one almost feels one ought to have been able to guess it because it fits in so well with all the things we know already."

Archbishop Lefebvre on wealth and poverty

"If human hearts were motivated by the holy virtues, then wealth, instead of being avariciously and egotistically hoarded by a few, would be widely distributed among the modest purses of the many who are now living in abject poverty."

1951 letter

Belloc on Justice and Order

Now, the law and its courts, its magistrates and its officers have in every society whatsoever two causes to serve. These two causes are Justice and Order. In Heaven the two are coincident. On earth they are in practice convergent, but not identical. You must in practice lean either towards the side of Justice or towards the side of Order. In the Catholic atmosphere the emphasis is on Justice, in the anti-Catholic it is upon Order. In both, every effort is made by good men to combine the two, but when the one must be sacrificed to the other or when there must be compromise between them to the advantage of the one or the other, the Catholic ethic results in an emphasis upon Justice, the anti-Catholic in an emphasis upon Order...

From Essays of a Catholic

Pius XII on brotherhood of mankind

And first of all let us imitate the breadth of His love. For the Church, the Bride of Christ, is one; and yet so vast is the love of the divine Spouse that it embraces in His Bride the whole human race without exception. Our Savior shed His Blood precisely in order that He might reconcile men to God through the Cross, and might constrain them to unite in one body, however widely they may differ in nationality and race. True love of the Church, therefore, requires not only that we should be mutually solicitous one for another as members and sharing in their suffering but likewise that we should recognize in other men, although they are not yet joined to us in the body of the Church, our brothers in Christ according to the flesh, called, together with us, to the same eternal salvation. It is true, unfortunately, especially today, that there are are some who extol enmity, hatred and spite as if they enhanced the dignity and the worth of man. Let us, however, while we look with sorrow on the disastrous consequences of this teaching, follow our peaceful King who taught us to love not only those who are of a different nation or race, but even our enemies. While Our heart overflows with the sweetness of the teaching of the Apostle of the Gentiles, We extol with him the length, and the breadth, and the height, and the depth of the charity of Christ, which neither diversity of race or customs can diminish, nor trackless wastes of the ocean weaken, nor wars, whether just or unjust, destroy.

Mystici Corporis Christi, para 96

Lift me up

“When we are faced with our Cross, we have two choices: be like the thief on the left and say ‘Take me down,’ or be like the thief on the right and say, ‘Lift me up.’” - Archbishop Fulton Sheen

Archbishop Sheen on truth and compromise

"There are only two positions to take concerning truth, and both of them had their hearing centuries ago in the court-room of Solomon where two women claimed a babe. A babe is like truth; it is one; it is whole; it is organic and it cannot be divided. The real mother of 'the babe would accept no compromise. She was intolerant about her claim. She must have the whole babe, or nothing-the intolerance of Motherhood. But the false mother was tolerant. She was willing to compromise. She was willing to divide the babe-and the babe would have met its death through broadmindedness."

The Curse of Broadmindedness

Archbishop Sheen on St Joseph

Happy Feast of St Joseph!

... The sorrow of Joseph came from the inexplicable. On the one hand, he knew that Mary had taken the vow of virginity, as he had done. It seemed impossible to believe her guilty, because of her goodness. But, on the other hand, because of her condition, how could he believe otherwise? Joseph suffered then what the mystics have called "the dark night of the soul." Mary had to pay for her honor, particularly at the end of her life, but Joseph had to pay for his at the beginning. Because Joseph had kept his vow, he was naturally surprised when he heard that Mary was with child. The surprise that Joseph felt was like that of Mary at the Annunciation: "How shall this be, seeing I know not man?" Mary wanted then to know how she could be both a virgin and a mother; Joseph wanted to know how he could be a virgin and a father.. It took an Angel to reassure them both that God had found a way. No human knowledge of science can explain such a thing. Only those who listen to Angels' voices can pierce that mystery. As Joseph had a mind to put Mary away secretly, the Gospel lifts the veil of the mystery to him: "But hardly had the thought come to his mind, when an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, and said, 'Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take thy wife Mary to thyself, for it is by the power of the Holy Ghost that she has conceived this child; and she will bear a son, whom thou shalt call Jesus, for He is to save His people from their sins.' " (Matt. 1:20, 21.)

Joseph's worries were overcome by a revelation of the dignity of Christ's Virgin Birth and of the nature of His mission --- namely, to save us from our sins. The very words of the Angel: "Do not be afraid to take thy wife Mary to thyself," seem to support the view that Joseph already believed that a miracle had taken place in Mary and that that was why he "feared" to bring her into his own house. It is unlikely that any man told of a Virgin Birth would ever have credited it if there had not already been in his heart a belief in the Messias, Christ, Who was to come. Joseph knew that the Messias would be born of the family of David, and he himself was of that family. He also knew of the prophecies concerning the Child, even the one of Isaias that He would be born of a Virgin. If Joseph had not already been described as a just man, the message of the Angel and the honor that was to come to Mary would have been enough to have inspired great purity in him. For if a modern father were told that one day his son would be President of the United States, it would inspire a changed attitude toward his wife, the mother of the child. In like manner, all anxiety and anguish now leave Joseph, as his soul is filled with reverence and awe for the love of Mary's secret.

That brings us to the second interesting question concerning Joseph. Was he old or young? Most of the statues and pictures which we see of Joseph today represent him as an old man with a gray beard, one who took Mary and her vow under his protection with somewhat the same detachment as a doctor would pick up a baby girl in a nursery. We have, of course, no historical evidence whatever concerning the age of Joseph. Some apocryphal accounts picture him as an old man; Fathers of the Church, after the fourth century, followed this legend rather rigidly. The painter, Guido Reni, did so when he pictured Joseph as an old man with white hair.

But when one searches for the reasons why Christian art should have pictured Joseph as aged, we discover that it was in order better to safeguard the virginity of Mary. Somehow, the assumption had crept in that senility was a better protector of virginity than adolescence. Art thus, unconsciously, made Joseph a spouse, chaste and pure by age, rather than by virtue. But this is like assuming that the best way to show that a man would never steal is to picture him without hands; it also forgets that old men can have unlawful desires, as well as young men. It was the old men in the garden who tempted Susanna. But more than that, to make Joseph out as old portrays for us a man who had little vital energy left, rather than one who, having it, kept it in chains for God's sake and for His holy purposes. To make Joseph appear pure only because his flesh had aged is like glorifying a mountain stream that has dried. The Church will not ordain a man to his priesthood who has not his vital powers. She wants men who have something to tame, rather than those who are tame because they have no energy to be wild. It should be no different with God.

Furthermore, it is reasonable to believe that Our Lord would prefer, for a foster father, someone who had made a sacrifice rather than someone who was forced to it. There is the added historical fact that the Jews frowned on a disproportionate marriage between what Shakespeare calls "crabbed age and youth"; the Talmud admits a disproportionate marriage only for widows or widowers. Finally, it seems hardly possible that God would have attached a young mother, probably about sixteen or seventeen years of age, to an old man. If He did not disdain to give His Mother to a young man, John, at the foot of the Cross, then why should He have given her an old man at the crib? A woman's love always determines the way a man loves: she is the silent educator of his virile powers. Since Mary is what might be called a "virginiser" of young men as well as women, and the greatest inspiration of Christian purity, should she not logically have begun by inspiring and virginising the first youth whom she had probably ever met --- Joseph, the Just? It was not by diminishing his power to love, but by elevating it, that she would have her first conquest, and in her own spouse, the man who was a man, and not a mere senile watchman!

Joseph was probably a young man, strong, virile, athletic, handsome, chaste, and disciplined; the kind of man one sees sometimes shepherding sheep, or piloting a plane, or working at a carpenter's bench. Instead of being a man incapable of loving, he must have been on fire with love. Just as we would give very little credit to the Blessed Mother if she had taken her vow of virginity after having been an old maid for fifty years, so neither could we give much credit to a Joseph who became her spouse because he was advanced in years. Young girls in those days, like Mary, took vows to love God uniquely, and so did young men, of whom Joseph was one so pre-eminent as to be called the "just." Instead, then, of being dried fruit to be served on the table of the King, he was rather a blossom filled with promise and power. He was not in the evening of life, but in its morning, bubbling over with energy, strength, and controlled passion. 

- The World's First Love

Red Nose Day

Once again, Red Nose Day will be occupying another Friday in Lent, promising fun and frivolity in aid of charity.

For the moment, let's ignore the fact that Comic Relief isn't 100% sound from a Catholic perspective. Just imagine that there are no moral or ethical issues against it at all. All it should take to raise the millions of pounds it intends to raise is a 15 minute broadcast about the plight of poor people here and abroad. As is, the 6+ hours of daftness is just self-indulgence on the part of the celebs (who could raise the equivalent sum or more between themselves). Why do people need to be entertained in order to donate? Would they not donate otherwise? Is it that people will only give to charity on condition that they are amused?

What are people thinking of? If people were motivated by real charity, all that should be needed to raise money for a good cause, is telling them that money is needed and why.

Now to turn to the ethical problems. SPUC has this article from a couple of years ago:

Raising money for Red Nose Day means that some of that money will go to charities and projects that are inimical to building a culture that respects all human life from conception. Red Nose Day has made, and continues to make, grants that fund groups that advocate and promote abortion, contraception and same-sex marriage, such as the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) and the Terrence Higgins Trust.

No one wants to be a spoil-sport when it comes to fundraising for worthy causes, a good thing in itself. However, fundraising efforts should not be spoilt by having the money used to fund the destruction of human life.

It's not just Comic Relief, of course. Many other charities are kind of Trojan Horses, raising money for anti-life causes under the pretext of supporting good causes.

SPUC also has a charities bulletin (which could do with being updated), giving details of where various charities stand on pro-life issues.

The criminal negligence of Our Lady and St Joseph

A fine example of G K Chesterton writing over 90 years ago something that could have been written today:

... Cruelty to children, one would have thought, was a thing about as unmistakable, unusual and appalling as parricide. In its application it has come to cover almost every negligence that can occur in a needy household. The only distinction is, of course, that these negligences are punished in the poor, who generally can't help them, and not in the rich, who generally can. But that is not the point I am arguing just now. The point here is that a crime we all instinctively connect with Herod on the bloody night of Innocents has come precious near being attributable to Mary and Joseph when they lost their child in the Temple. In the light of a fairly recent case (the confessedly kind mother who was lately jailed because her confessedly healthy children had no water to wash in) no one, I think, will call this an illegitimate literary exaggeration. Now this is exactly as if all the horror and heavy punishment, attached in the simplest tribes to parricide, could now be used against any son who had done any act that could colourably be supposed to have worried his father, and so affected his health. Few of us would be safe.

Eugenics and Other Evils

Unrequited love

A young woman goes to the doctor. She shows him a photograph of a young man.

"Doctor, I am so much in love with this man. I can't sleep. I can't function at all. I want him. I need him. He's not interested in me, and it hurts me so much. I am suffering. I will die if I can't have him. Is there anything you can do for me?"

The doctor thinks for a moment and then informs her, "I can find this man for you. We have therapies we can give him and drugs. Possibly mild electric shocks and hypnotism. I can make him love you."

The doctor's assistant traces the young man and he is subjected to these treatments, and falls in love with the girl whom he marries. They live happily ever after.

And, because the doctor made the lady happy, so she was no longer suffering or suicidal, what he did was right.

I mean, if there are no moral objections to providing a woman with the child she so wants but can't have, why should there be anything wrong with getting her the man she wants? She's suffering, and it would be inhumane not to.

Lenten meditations

Carmel Books blog has a list of links to Lenten meditations, from "Practical Meditations For Every Day in the Year on the Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ composed chiefly for the Use of Religious by a Father of the Society of Jesus."

Herd immunity

I've been seeing a lot of articles about vaccinations over the last week, so I've been thinking about the issue of herd immunity as an argument to have one's children vaccinated. (I'm not addressing the separate issue of unethically-derived vaccines in this post.)

With the 3-parent baby issue, topical at the moment, you get supporters of the procedure talking about how children with mitochondrial diseases suffer and die, while simultaneously dismissing the arguments of opponents as being emotive. With vaccines it's that children might get diseases, suffer, and maybe die if they're not vaccinated, but if opponents say children sometimes experience adverse reactions to the vaccines, suffer, and maybe die, they too are being emotive!

Both sides use emotive arguments. Understandably so. To vaccinate or not to vaccinate: either way there are risks.

Another motif that keeps recurring in arguments between pro-vaxxers and anti-vaxxers is the matter of herd immunity.

Someone declares that she (it is usually a she in these discussions!) has refused to have her children vaccinated, owing to concerns about possible reactions.

Then someone else argues back that she should have her children vaccinated, to contribute to herd immunity.

Now hang on a minute! What this argument is effectively saying is, you should be willing to sacrifice your child for the sake of the common good!

In my opinion, the only reason to vaccinate one's child should be to protect the child being vaccinated. If a parent decides vaccination is too risky, she (or he) is hardly going to decide to do it for the herd. Would any parent who had concerns be persuaded to vaccinate his child because the herd could use some more contributors?

It is one thing for an adult to decide to take that risk for the common good himself. That would be a selfless decision. But to decide that someone else (specifically an infant) should take that risk is another matter altogether.

Here is something that Pope Pius XII said on the subject of Medico-Moral Problems in 1952, not specifically about vaccination but I think the principle is applicable to this issue too:

"In support of their view they appeal to the fact that the individual is subordinate to the community, that the good of the individual must give way to the common good and be sacrificed for it....
... It must be pointed out that man as a person, in the final reckoning, does not exist for the benefit of society; on the contrary, the community exists for the individual man."

 Guide For Living

Mitochondria harvesting

Our MPs have voted 3-1 in favour of "three-parent babies", or "mitochondrial donation". This procedure is apparently supposed to eliminate mitochondrial disorders. So that's all right then...

This is manufacturing bespoke human beings. It is tampering with the creation of human life. So you have 3 parents, some third-siblings, maybe some two-third siblings. If you're lucky, you might have a full sibling. And you probably won't know who your third-siblings are. And the next generation will have five or six grandparents...

And it won't be long before parents will be forced to ensure their children have no genetic illnesses. And then, is it that hard to imagine that, eventually, anyone who hasn't been created by this process will have to pay more for insurance?

This is eugenics.

Oh, and the embryonic donors of the mitochondria? Seems they're destroyed once their mitochondria has been harvested.

Heaven - Cardinal Bacci

Heaven

1. Faith teaches us that the soul which is in the state of grace and has expiated all the temporal punishments due to its sins, goes immedia...tely to Heaven when it is separated from the body. There the soul enjoys eternal happiness. It sees God face to face. It sees Him without any intervention of created things, but as He is in Himself in the Unity and Trinity of His infinite perfections.

In this beatific vision the intellect remains completely satisfied, because in God there is every truth, beauty and goodness. The will abandons itself entirely to the will of God, desiring nothing else and loving nothing else but God alone. There springs from this abandonment a love which satisfies every desire, an inexpressible joy and a boundless peace. The happy soul will see the Blessed Virgin, too, and she will smile upon it with maternal tenderness. It will see the Angels and Saints gathered around the King of Kings and the Queen of Heaven, singing their praises. St. Paul, who was taken up to the third Heaven, tells us that it is impossible to imagine or to describe the unknown joys which are experienced there. In comparison with the eternal happiness of Heaven, the poor pleasures of this world are empty shadows. We cannot imagine the happiness of those who have gained Heaven by their good lives upon earth. The concept of Heaven is so beautiful and immense that it caused the Saints to desire death as a means of going there. They welcomed suffering, too, because it brought them nearer to their goal.

2. Our souls have an innate desire to be happy. God Himself has placed this desire in our hearts. What else are we doing all our lives but trying by every possible means to be happy? Unfortunately, we seek happiness where it is not to be found. Some seek it in material gain, others in honours, others in pleasure. But our hearts are much wider than the riches and honours and pleasures of this world. In comparison with the riches of the human spirit, worldly wealth is a very insignificant thing. Worldly honours are shadows which pass. As the "Imitation of Christ" reminds us, we are what we are before God, not what we appear before men. (Bk. III, Chapter 50:8) Pleasure also passes quickly, and when it is immoderate it leaves in our hearts a sense of emptiness and disgust. St. Augustine had a good deal of experience of the deceptiveness and complexity of human happiness. He had reason to exclaim: “You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless except in You. (Confessions, II, 2:4) We should follow the example of the Saints and aim at Heaven in everything we do. This should be the goal of our earthly journey. We should make sure that all our actions are in conformity with the will of God and directed towards this end.

3. God desires our salvation. “God wishes all men to be saved.” (1 Tim. 2:4) We are all aspirants of Heaven. We shall not be denied the grace of God so long as we ask for it with confidence and perseverance. St. Augustine tells us that Paradise is ours if we wish: “You are not called to embrace the earth, but to prepare yourselves for Heaven; not to be the successes of this world nor to a short-lived and transient prosperity, but to eternal life together with the Angels.” (Serm. 296, 6:7)
Contemplate this true and everlasting happiness. Let us direct towards it our intentions and desires and all our work. Then the day will come when we shall be really happy for all eternity.

Hell - Cardinal Bacci

Hell

1. “In whatever you do, remember your last days, and you will never sin.” (Ecclus. 7:36)

The meditation considered by the masters of the spiritual life to be the most useful for rousing the soul from sin, or from a state of torpor, is that on the last things, in other words, on what will happen to us at the end of life. Amongst these last things, hell is the most terrifying. Yet, if the mercy of God did not sustain us, we could fall into hell at any moment. St. John Chrysostom meditated on hell every day. All the Saints have found in this meditation the first steps on the way to perfection. Remember that a single mortal sin would merit hell for us. In that moment the sinner could have been already hurled into that abyss of torments. Let us imagine that we are there... and that the goodness and mercy of God has released us from those everlasting, all-devouring flames. If this should happen, all the sacrifices which virtue demands would seem so easy and pleasant. How ready we should be to do anything sooner than return to that chasm of eternal sorrow!

2. In that place of never-ending suffering there will be three punishments to torture us. There will be the worm of conscience which does not die: “Their worm dies not.” (Mark 9:43) This is the awful realisation that we could have saved ourselves, but are lost for all eternity; that God gave us so many graces and we damned ourselves by abusing them. Now there is no longer any remedy, because the mercy of God has been succeeded once and for all by His justice.

In the second place, there is fire. This is a real fire, but altogether different from the material fire we know in this world, which was created by God for our benefit and service. The fire of hell, on the other hand, was created by Divine Justice purely to punish us. It is a special kind of fire which tortures body and soul, and the rebel angels as well as damned human beings. It could be called discerning in so far as it torments more or less mercilessly according to the gravity of the sin. These flames embrace every evil and exclude every good. They are flames which will never be extinguished, flames which burn, but do not consume, flames without light, dark and accompanied by the shrieking of eternal despair. The very thought of this horrible dungeon of torments should spur us on to begin immediately a life of virtue and Christian perfection.

3. The greatest punishment, however, will be that of loss. This is the knowledge that we have lost forever our one, true, and highest good, God Himself. The soul will now understand fully what it means to have lost God forever. It will feel irresistibly the need to be united with Him, and to see, enjoy and love Him. But at the same time it will know that God has cast it away from Himself for all eternity. "Go, accursed soul, into everlasting fire!" Then the irresistible need for God will turn to hate and eternal malediction.

The terrifying reality of hell should not leave us amazed, as if it were an act of implacable severity. Rather should it be a warning to us. God should not seem to us to be a pitiless judge, but a judge who is infinitely just and infinitely good. Rather than send us to hell, God gave us His only-begotten Son, Who died on the cross for our sins. Just as the Redemption is a work of infinite love and goodness, so hell is a work of infinite justice.

If we reflect on the mystery of the Incarnation, on the Redemption and on the death of the Son of God, it will appear that, omnipotent though He is, He could not have done more to save us. The divine work of Redemption explains the mystery of the eternity of hell. It is not God Who is relentless. It is the damned soul which was relentlessly ungrateful towards the infinitely good and merciful God.

Venial Sin - Cardinal Bacci

Venial Sin

1. Next to mortal sin, the greatest of all evils is venial sin. Sin is always an offence against the God of goodness. When we sin, we place our own will above His and put Him in a position secondary to ourselves. If mortal sin is spiritual suicide because it extinguishes in us the divine life of grace, venial sin is an injury, more or less grave, to the soul. The former completely separates us from God; the latter moves us farther away from Him. Mortal sin means the death of the soul. Venial sin is a disease of the soul which reduces its supernatural powers and leaves it more open to the ever-increasing attractions of evil.

We cannot speak of small sins, as if sin could be a triviality. Sin is always something great and terrible, because it is an offence against our Creator and Redeemer, whom we should love, honour and serve with every impulse of our heart and with the whole strength of our will. It is the height of ingratitude, because in order to offend God we make use of the gifts He has given us -- our eyes, ears, speech and all our powers of soul and body.

Let us think seriously about this. We must firmly resolve to be more vigilant so that with the grace of God we may avoid ever committing a deliberate venial sin.

2. There is another motive which obliges us carefully to avoid ever committing a venial sin. The path of sin leads us down a smooth and slippery incline towards destruction. Once we begin to descend it is difficult to stop. Even to begin is a disaster:

“He who wastes the little he has will be stripped bare.” (Eccles. 19:1)
“He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much;
and he who is unjust in a very little thing is unjust also in much.” (Luke 16:10)

Whoever is faithful to God in little things, will receive from Him the grace to remain faithful also in greater things, but a man who despises the lesser falls rejects the divine assistance and so exposes himself to the danger of falling more seriously. If we reflect on such dangers, we shall have a real fear of venial sin and shall be always on our guard against it.

3. The Gospel tells us that we must render an account of every idle word, and that nothing tarnished can be admitted into the splendour of Paradise. In the terrible torments of Purgatory we must pay the full price for all our faults, even the slightest. The thought of such fearful punishment should frighten us, but the love of God should keep us far from all shadow of sin. We read of some of the saints that throughout their lives they wept at the mere remembrance of their slightest negligence. If we loved God truly, we should shun the least suggestion of sin.

Sin - Cardinal Bacci

Sin
1. In that we prefer our own wayward whims to the law of God, sin is an abuse of liberty. It is a revolt against right reason, the dictates of which we refuse to obey. It is an offence against our Creator and Redeemer, whose commandments we despise and whose redeeming grace we reject by our actions. It is, moreover, an act of supreme folly, for it extinguishes not only the supern...atural splendour of grace, but also the natural light of reason. Through sin man is brutalised, and experiences in himself as his first punishment the confusion of his whole being.

In practice, the sinner denies God who has created and redeemed him. He upsets the natural order of things and is violently separated from the source of all truth, beauty and goodness. As a result he experiences in himself the hell which he has constructed with his own hands -- a hell of emptiness, disgust and remorse. Unless the helping hand of God reaches out to rescue him from the abyss, all this is simply a bitter foretaste of eternal despair. God, as St. Augustine has written, has ordained from all eternity that every dissolute soul will be its own punishment. For the sinner hell begins on this earth. There can be no peace for the wicked.

When we realise the gravity, stupidity and dire consequences of sin, it seems impossible that a rational being, enlightened and enriched by divine grace, should continue to sin. Nevertheless sad experience teaches us that the lives of individuals, families and human society in general are often distorted by this evil, which is the root of all other evils.

2. In order to understand more clearly the gravity of sin, it is helpful at this stage to consider three things: --

(a) The world with all its evils -- sorrows, diseases, wars, plagues and death. All these things do not come directly from the will of God, Who is the highest good, but happen with His permission. They are the effect of original sin and of the continuing transgressions of men.

(b) Hell, which is the handiwork of sin. God, infinitely good but also infinitely just, has ordained this terrible and everlasting punishment for the rebellious sinner.

(c) The Crucifix. To save us from sin the God-Man has suffered the cruelest of torments and death, but men go on offending Him with unbelievable ingratitude.

3. Now let us turn the spotlight on ourselves and think of our past lives. So many sins and abuses of God's grace! Such coldness and ingratitude! Where has all this brought us? Spiritually, sin has deprived us of God and of the supernatural life which His grace gives us. Intellectually, it is an absurdity, a dishonour and a degradation. Physically, it is an inversion of the right order and often means total ruin. Let us humbly repent, therefore, and make resolutions so firm that we shall be ready to face any sacrifice, even death, in order to put them into practice.

St Philip Neri's maxim for 1st January

WELL! when shall we have a mind to begin to do good?

The New Year - Cardinal Bacci

Happy New Year!

The New Year

1. This is a new gift which God in His infinite goodness gives to us. But every gift of God demands on our part a generous expression of gratitude, which should result in positive acts of virtue. Gratitude is an empty and short-lived sentiment unless it is accompanied by a sincere intention of performing good works.

Time is the price of eternity, because with time we can purchase an eternity of happiness or misery.
Consider this great truth. Every year is like a ladder in our lives. Now, it is necessary that this ladder should lead us, not perilously downwards towards evil, but upwards towards Heaven, even if with faltering footsteps.

The New Year opens today as a blank page in the diary of our lives. What do we intend to write there? The usual inanities and sins, perhaps? Let us reflect before God and in the light of the eternity which awaits us. This is the time for great decisions. It is necessary that we should offer our resolutions to God along with a humble and fervent prayer that He will strengthen us to comply faithfully with His grace.

2. During these days it is customary to exchange, verbally or in writing, good wishes for the New Year. But these poor greetings are often nothing more than conventional phrases. Men lack the power to transmute such good wishes into reality. God alone is the source of every material and spiritual good; therefore He alone can ensure that these benevolent expressions are translated into deeds of Christian renovation. Since today is the beginning of the New Year, it is especially important for us to ask God more fervently and insistently to bless the resolutions which we are making for ourselves and the good wishes which we are showering on our friends.

These wishes have no meaning, and these resolutions have no force, if they are not accompanied by fervent and persevering prayer.

3. It is suggested in “The Imitation of Christ” that if we were to get rid of at least one habit of sin every year, we should soon be holy. If we have not tried to do this in the past, let us propose to do it in the future. This year let us select the principal defect which we possess, the sin into which we are most accustomed to fall. Let us seek to eradicate it with all the strength of our soul, assisted by the grace of God which will certainly not be denied us. Let us request for this purpose the most powerful patronage of Mary Most Holy. Let us pass this day in close union with God and under the maternal mantle of our Heavenly Mother. Finally, let us promise earnestly that all the days of the New Year will follow the same pattern.