On Tuesday, the Morning Midas—a roll-on/roll-off (RoRo) vehicle carrier—was abandoned by its crew in the central Pacific Ocean following an onboard fire, according to a Bloomberg report.
The vessel was transporting approximately 3,000 vehicles, including an estimated 800 electric vehicles (EVs). The fire’s origin has not been confirmed, though lithium-ion battery ignition remains a possible cause given the cargo profile and previous mid-sea incidents involving EVs (see here & here).
Morning Midas had departed China in late May with a scheduled port call in Mexico, according to Bloomberg data.
The US Coast Guard evacuated all 22 crew members from the RoRo carrier to a nearby merchant vessel earlier today. Coast Guard sea-based assets are en route to the incident area.
The ship’s manager, Zodiac Maritime, confirmed that smoke was billowing from the deck. A company spokesperson said salvage support teams are en route.
Insurance giant Allianz has long emphasized the need to strengthen safety protocols for all maritime shipments involving lithium-ion batteries given the proliferation of green tech around the world.
“The unnatural vice [sodomy] is the greatest of all sins after the sin of unbelief.” -St. Thomas Aquinas
“Every sexual intercourse [sodomy] that cannot lead to conception is opposed to man’s nature.” – St. Thomas Aquinas
“Since by the unnatural vices man transgresses that which has been determined by nature with regard to the use of venereal actions, it follows that in this matter this sin is gravest of all.” – St. Thomas Aquinas
The sin against nature [Sodomy] debases man lower than even his animal nature.” -St. Thomas Aquinas
“Since by the unnatural vices man transgresses that which has been determined by nature with regard to the use of venereal actions, it follows that in this matter this sin is gravest of all.”
– St. Thomas Aquinas
“Sodomy pollutes the flesh, extinguishes the light of the mind, expels the Holy Spirit from the temple of the human heart.”
⁃ St. Peter Damian
“And what more should I say since it [sodomy] expels the whole host of the virtues from the chamber of the human heart and introduces every barbarous vice as if the bolts of the doors were pulled out.”
– St. Peter Damian
“This vice [sodomy] violates temperance, kills purity, stifles chastity and annihilates virginity with the sword of a most infamous union. It infects, stains and pollutes everything: it leaves nothing pure: there is nothing but filth.”
-St. Peter Damian
“This plague [Sodomy] undermines the foundation of faith, weakens the strength of hope, destroys the bond of charity; it takes away justice, subverts fortitude, banishes temperance, blunts the keenness of prudence.” – St. Peter Damian
“The miserable flesh [of the sodomites] burns with the heat of lust; the cold mind trembles with the rancor of suspicion; and in the heart of the miserable man chaos boils like Tartarus [Hell]. – St. Peter Damian
“As the Sacred Scripture says, the Sodomites were wicked and exceedingly sinful.”
-Saint Peter Canisius
“Those unashamed of violating divine and natural law are slaves of sodomy never sufficiently execrated depravity.” –
St. Peter Canisius
“Someone who lived practicing the vice of sodomy will suffer more pains in Hell than anyone else, because this is the worst sin that there is.”
– St. Bernardine
“No sin in the world grips the soul as the accursed sodomy; this sin has always been detested by all those who live according to God.”
– St. Bernardine
All sodomites, men and women, died all over the earth, as Saint Jerome said commenting on the verse Lux orta est iusto [The light was born for the just] (Ps 96:11). This was to make it clear that He [Jesus Christ] was born to reform nature and to promote chastity.
St. Bonaventure, Sermon 21 – In Nativitate Domini
“Consider how great is that sin [sodomy] to have forced hell to appear even before its time!” – St. John Chrysostom
“The sin of Sodom is contrary to nature, and it is an insult to the Creator.” – St. John Chrysostom
“The worst is that such an abomination is committed boldly and that the monstrosity became the law. Nobody nowadays fears, nobody blushes. They boast and they laugh at these actions.”
-St. John Chrysostom
“All passions are dishonorable, for they make the soul a slave, and force it to do things that are shameful. But among these, the worst is lust between men.”
-St. John Chrysostom
“Such sins [of Sodomy] overturn the laws of nature, and they bring down the wrath of God upon those who commit them.”
– St. John Chrysostom
“The sins of Sodom are abominable and deserve punishment whenever and wherever they are committed”
– St. Augustine
“Those offences which be contrary to nature are everywhere and at all times to be held in detestation and punished; such were those of the Sodomites, which should all nations commit, they should all be held guilty of the same crime by the divine law.” -St. Augustine
“Sodomy offends God and provokes His wrath.”
– Pope St. Pius V (In his papal bull Horrendum illud scelus)
“Like the blind and stupid, homosexuals do not recognize the disease and misery in which they find themselves. This not only causes Me nausea, but displeases even the demons themselves, whom these miserable creatures have chosen as their lords.”
– St. Catherine
It is disagreeable to the demons, not because evil displeases them and they find pleasure in good, but because their nature is angelic and thus is repulsed upon seeing such an enormous sin being committed.
It is true that it is the demon who hits the sinner with the poisoned arrow of lust, but when a man carries out such a sinful act, the demon leaves.” -St. Catherine of Siena
“They [homosexual acts] are born from an ardent frenzy; they are disgustingly foul; those who become addicted to them are seldom freed from that vice; they are as contagious as disease, passing quickly from one person to another.”
– St. Albert the Great
“Sacred Scripture itself confirms that sulfur evokes the stench of the flesh, as it speaks of the rain of fire and sulfur poured upon Sodom by the Lord.”
– St. Gregory the Great
“And Sodom and Gomorrah might have appeased [God’s wrath], had they been willing to repent, and through the aid of fasting gain for themselves tears of repentance.” – St. Jerome
“[God in the Law given to Moses] having forbidden all unlawful marriage, and all unseemly practice, and the union of women with women and men with men.”
– St. Eusebius of Caesarea
“…It was just that Sodomites, burning with perverse desires arising from the flesh like stench, should perish by fire and sulfur so that through this just punishment they would realize the evil they had committed, led by a perverse desire.” – St. Gregory the Great
Help Me Pay For Home Health Care, Office Work, Transportation (about $1600/mo est.) This applies to the twelve months of 2025; any amounts over the goal will be much appreciated.
I’m Paul Mann, 76. I’m 80% blind from glaucoma. I’m the creator of the Douay-Rheims website, drbo.org. I’ve asked my friend to create this webpage for me. I went blind in my right eye in 1992 and now glaucoma has destroyed most of my vision in my left eye. My optometrist was negligent for five years. I finally got surgery but the damage from the glaucoma cannot be reversed.
June is the month of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Let us pray.
Most sweet Jesus, Redeemer of the human race, look down upon us humbly prostrate before Thine altar. We are Thine, and Thine we wish to be; but, to be more surely united with Thee, behold each one of us freely consecrates himself today to Thy most Sacred Heart.
Many indeed have never known Thee; many too, despising Thy precepts, have rejected Thee. Have mercy on them all, most merciful Jesus, and draw them to Thy sacred Heart.
Be Thou King, O Lord, not only of the faithful who have never forsaken Thee, but also of the prodigal children who have abandoned Thee; grant that they may quickly return to Thy Father’s house lest they die of wretchedness and hunger.
Be Thou King of those who are deceived by erroneous opinions, or whom discord keeps aloof, and call them back to the harbor of truth and unity of faith, so that there may be but one flock and one Shepherd.
Be Thou King of all those who are still involved in the darkness of idolatry or of Islamism, and refuse not to draw them into the light and kingdom of God. Turn Thine eyes of mercy towards the children of the race, once Thy chosen people: of old they called down upon themselves the Blood of the Savior; may it now descend upon them a laver of redemption and of life.
Grant, O Lord, to Thy Church assurance of freedom and immunity from harm; give peace and order to all nations, and make the earth resound from pole to pole with one cry: “Praise be to the divine Heart that wrought our salvation; to it be glory and honor for ever.” Amen.
SSPX, Sedevacantists, Bene-Papists, EWTN-ists, FirstThings-ists…Hermeneutic of Continuity or Rupture? Latin Mass or Novus Ordo? Roman Catholic or Synodal Church?
2025 marks 60 years since the close of Vatican II. We will explore the events of the last six decades in Church History and attempt to answer which group of Catholics “Got it Right.” Only $119 to enroll, or take with Snatched From Satan, and Atheism Eviscerated and get all three courses for $299, a near $60 savings!
Weekly Live Classes start Thursday June 12th, at 5pm PDT/8pm EDT and will run approximately 70-80 minutes. Q&A will follow for 10 minutes or more for those who can stay. I will suggest readings. No tests. No pressure. Content: Ages 13 and up. Recorded video link sent afterwards so you can watch on your own time! Join us this Easter Season. (Projected duration 7 weeks)
Today is the Feast of the Queenship of Mary. But when 31 May falls on a Saturday and that Saturday is within the Octave of the first very Novena between Ascension and Pentecost, there's some overlaps in the pre-55 calendar that include rare Marian feasts today…a thread:
Saint Joan of Arc was burned alive 594 years ago today. Her words upon being fastened to the stake:
“Hold the Cross high, that I may see it through the flames.”
She was 19 years old. I’m honored to have her as my birthday saint.
Convicted of heresy by Bishop Pierre Cauchon, a legitimate prelate of the Roman Catholic Church, along with a bench of corrupt judges. After being burned alive at Rouen, 30 May, 1431, they scattered and drowned her remains, so that she wouldn’t be venerated.
You will find no heresy within her. Her words speak to us today.
“About Jesus Christ and the Church, I just know they are one in the same thing.”
“One life is all we have and we live it as we believe. But to surrender who you are and to live without belief is more terrible than dying – even more terrible than dying young.”
In response to the trick question as to whether she was in the state of grace: “If I am not, may God put me there; and if I am, may God so keep me.”
“It is better to be alone with God. His friendship will not fail me, nor His counsel, nor His love. In His strength, I will dare and dare and dare until I die.”
“You say that you are my judge; I do not know if you are; but take good heed not to judge me ill, because you would put yourself in great peril.”
“Children say that people are hung sometimes for speaking the truth.”
“Go forward bravely. Fear nothing. Trust in God; all will be well.”
“All battles are first won or lost in the mind.”
“ACT, AND GOD WILL ACT.”
“I am not afraid, I was born to do this.”
Her sentence was reversed and annulled by the Church in 1455.
(Originally posted in the midst of our captivity, May 21, 2020)
Happy feast!
“He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.”
Forty days after Easter, Our Lord ascended into Heaven, straight up into a cloud. The Ascension is mysterious for several reasons. For one thing, you would think such a startling sight would be described in great detail in the Gospels, but this isn’t the case. Matthew and John don’t even mention it. Luke speaks of it briefly at the end of his Gospel, and in more detail in Acts. Mark’s account is the Gospel reading at Mass today (1962), “He upbraided them…” It appears in the second half of the 16th and final chapter of Mark’s gospel, which is itself a mystery: Many ancient manuscripts are missing these last seven verses.
Another mystery are the events leading up to the Ascension. Namely, the events of the 40 days Our Lord remained, appearing several times in various ways, even eating and drinking with the apostles. The most complete rendering is in John; the Synoptic Gospels are all but silent. It strikes me akin to the very few words attributed directly to our Blessed Mother, and the total silence of her most chase spouse. Deepening this mystery is that John ends his Gospel by telling us there were countless other things that Jesus did that are not written down, and if they were, the whole world could not contain the books that would be written. Have you ever meditated on that?
Another mystery is the need for the upbraiding. These men saw more miracles than could fill books that could fill the world, yet they were still a wretched bunch of unbelievers, who needed one last ass-kicking before Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father? On the surface, not a very encouraging commentary on the state of man. This seems to tempt us to despair.
On the contrary!
In the Mysteries of the Rosary, the Ascension is the Second Glorious. The Fruit of the Mystery is HOPE, which is also the second Theological Virtue. Have you meditated on Hope? It’s not some sweet soothing Kathy, just wish all your troubles away, hush hush don’t cry, things will get better, sweetie. No.
Hope is rooted in the knowledge that God is not a jerk, that God keeps his promises, and that we can and should trust in Him. It is standing firm in your faith, grounded by right reason, knowing that God is in control. Hope goes beyond simply desiring some future good; hope is the desire for a future good accompanied by the expectation of attaining it.https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07465b.htm
We are living through an unprecedented time in history. Don’t let your normalcy bias cloud current events. An antipope has usurped the Petrine See, and seemingly the whole Church doesn’t mind. We’ve seen the anti-church emerge and strut like a peacock… we are talking about open idol worship inside St. Peter’s, lead by the antipope… and it is allowed to pass. And now the entire world has been turned upside down in a matter of weeks. Entire empires are intentionally self-destructing over a mild virus, cheered on by their own citizenry, to the delight of the all the worst actor agitators, undergirded with communism and satanism.
All of this is converging with you in the middle of it. God chose you to be born into this age. What an absolute honor that is. We are called to action, through both spiritual warfare and concrete action in the natural realm. Act, and God will act. Act, grounded in faith, spurred by hope, intentioned with charity. We know how this ends: God wins, and He wants you on the winning team. Assume the bearing that victory is yours, and expect to attain it.
Blessed feast to all.
Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that we who firmly believe that Thine only-begotten Son, our Redeemer, to have ascended this day into heaven, may also ourselves dwell in mind on heavenly things. – Collect, Feast of the Ascension
CHARLOTTE — When Bishop Michael Martin met April 1 with Cardinal Robert Prevost in Rome, he had no idea he was sitting down to talk with a future pope.
On Thursday, Bishop Martin said he is thrilled that the Chicago-born cardinal – now known as Pope Leo XIV – had become the 267th pope. At a press conference at the Diocesan Pastoral Center in Charlotte, he called the election “a unique blessing” for Catholics worldwide and in the Diocese of Charlotte.
“I’m very surprised – I never would have dreamt that we would see a pope born in the United States in my lifetime,” Bishop Martin said. “I admit that as I was sitting there watching him walk out onto the loggia, I was very shocked. At the same time, I knew he had been considered, and at least in my dealings with him I felt he certainly had the qualifications for it and has had experiences in diverse parts of the world that allow him to bring to this position a unique blessing that I think we’re going to see very quickly.”
Bishop Martin’s meeting with Cardinal Prevost came in the pope’s former capacity as the Vatican’s head of the Dicastery for Bishops, the office that handles appointments of bishops worldwide. During the hour-long meeting, Bishop Martin said he gained a sense of the future pope’s personality as well as his deep knowledge of issues affecting the Church…
