Eastertide and the possibility of a new kind of life

I have been away from this blog for several weeks because I am moving to a new house.

Eastertide comes in the spring when flowers, such as the ones pictured above, burst forth in all their glory from bulbs and branches. Our loving Creator gave us so much beauty in this world. Like the flowers, we too are given a new life every spring through Easter, the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Easter seems a better time to make resolutions for a new year. These resolutions should involve more than losing weight or taking on a new sport. They shouldn’t focus on the spiritual because God wants us to reach for heavenly things, not the things of the earth. Keeping those resolutions requires God’s assistance. Therefore, a devotion to Mary and your patron saint will make a difference. I have also found that praying several times a day to my guardian angel brings my attention back to things that truly matter, which are eternal.

May you all have a blessed and fruitful Easter!

Bach’s Matthaeus Passion

Listen to the Matthaeus Passion by Bach performed by the Netherlands Bach Society. This is my favorite piece in all of classical music. The last aria, “Mache Dich mein Herze rein”, makes me cry.

Knowing the Love of God by Garrigou-Lagrange

Here is another book worth reading slowly, and using as a guide to meditation. The book is entitled “Knowing the Love of God”, a collection of retreat conferences given by Father Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange (1877-1864), a French Dominican priest and brilliant theologian.

Sermon for the second Sunday of Lent

A good sermon from Fr. Michael de Saye explaining St. Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, exhorting the faithful to live pure lives.

https://youtu.be/Ppnbx63ROmo?si=RJ6mlIIUaMiM883Z

What to read for Lent

Meditations and Readings for Lent from St. Thomas Aquinas, Translated by Father Philip Hughes (London, Sheed and Ward, 1937). Daily meditations for Lent from the Angelic Doctor.

Meditations for Lent by Jacques-Benigne Bossuet (Bishop Bossuet was a great orator in the 17th century. His works were favored by saints and Popes (such as Pope Pius XII). Because of his great piety and eloquence, he was considered the greatest preacher of his time)

Sermon on charity

Watch this sermon on charity and meditate on this virtue before beginning your Lenten practices.
https://youtu.be/E-Mcsp-e8IQ?si=658XdvwgklouHTDx

Vatican II is the operating system of the Novus Ordo – it must be destroyed!

Cancel Vatican II. Condemn it as heresy. Take all the documents, dump them in the middle of Piazza San Pietro, throw gasoline over them and burn them. Call the popes who came after Pope Pius XII for what they are – modernists, poisoners of the flock, wolves in sheep’s clothing, mercenaries, bad shepherds. Cardinals, bishops and priests who refuse to condemn Vatican II can join the Anglicans, Episcopalians, Methodists, and televangelists, and they can even take their Pachamama idol with them.

Once Vatican II is shredded to pieces, the rest is easy. Dump the Novus Ordo “Mess”, the source of all those clown and guitar masses, the 1970s cheesy music, the altar girls. Into the rubbish heap they all go, like hippie bell bottom-jeans and-tie-dye shirts. What replaces it? The Tridentine Rite, pre-1955.

Get a new missal.

Follow the example of Saint Pope Pius X, who said modernists should treated like an enemy in a boxing match. “In a duel, you don’t count or measure the blows, you strike as you can.”

Saint Pope Pius X giving modernists the Clint Eastwood stare