I can’t help but think how much this helps Trump, in a bad way… freeing him from the responsibility to pursue justice against these criminals. But fear not, they will ultimately pay for their crimes, in this life or the next.
Good grief.
What is it going to take?
Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom, pray for us.
Today is the Second Sunday after Epiphany. The Gospel is from John 2, the wedding at Cana. Jesus wasn’t ready to begin His ministry just yet, but His mother had other ideas.
Think about this.
Was she capable of bending the will of God? Many Church Fathers have written on this passage: was it Jesus’ human will or His divine will, could they ever be in conflict, how did Mary know this was the right time, and was her will ever in conflict with the divine will? Heaven forbid. The first thing we need to understand is the plain fact of what happened here: Mary asked, God said no, Mary got what she wanted.
Our Lady of Perpetual Help, pray for us.
Remember too that Mary knew the scriptures better than any rabbi that had ever lived. She knew about the Feast of the Messiah from Isaiah 25: “And the Lord of hosts shall make unto all people in this mountain, a feast of fat things, a feast of wine…”
Our Lady Seat of Wisdom, pray for us.
In a certain way, this event is also the beginning of the Passion, because it would mean His persecution be hastened. That is what Jesus is pointing forward to when He says, “My hour is not yet come.” Note also the stunning depth of Mary’s faith… after being rebuked by her Son, who is God, she immediately turns to the waiters with instructions on what is to come next… which was the Second Person of the Triune Godhead producing 180 gallons, yes 180 gallons, of the finest wine ever made. That’s how the Founder of the Catholic Church rolls. Happy Sunday.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.
GOSPEL (John 2:1-11) At that time, there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee: and the mother of Jesus was there. And Jesus also was invited, and his disciples, to the marriage. And the wine failing, the mother of Jesus saith to him: “They have no wine.” And Jesus saith to her: “Woman, what is that to me and to thee? My hour is not yet come.” His mother saith to the waiters: “Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye.” Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three measures apiece. Jesus saith to them: “Fill the waterpots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And Jesus saith to them: “Draw out now and carry to the chief steward of the feast.” And they carried it. And when the chief steward had tasted the water made wine and knew not whence it was, but the waiters knew who had drawn the water: the chief steward calleth the bridegroom, And saith to him: “Every man at first setteth forth good wine, and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse. But thou hast kept the good wine until now.” This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.
By Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Hamed Aleaziz
(Today is the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter at Rome in the pre-1955 Liturgy… reposting this from a few weeks ago -nvp)
The saints and doctors of the Church teach that if a pope having sufficient knowledge and having made sufficient reflection denies an article of Faith and professes heresy, he falls to heresy and loses his papacy.
When it is taught that ‘a pope cannot profess heresy’ it simply means that this profession cannot be made and completed while he is pope, for upon attempting to profess heresy he loses his papacy and is reduced to a heretic, whereby the profession is made as a heretic and not as a pope.
Hence a pope as a private person can profess heresy but could never make this profession while occupying the papal office. Consider the words of St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1797), Doctor of the Church:
“If ever a pope, as a private person, should fall into heresy, he should at once fall from the Pontificate. If, however, God were to permit a pope to become a notorious and contumacious heretic, he would by such fact cease to be pope, and the apostolic chair would be vacant.”
St. Robert Bellarmine, Doctor of the Church, makes this very point.
“A Pope who is a manifest heretic automatically ceases to be a Pope and head, just as he ceases automatically to be a Christian and member of the Church. Wherefore, he can be judged and punished by the Church. This is the teaching of all the ancient Fathers who teach that manifest heretics immediately lose all jurisdiction.”
St. Francis de Sales echoes this point as well:
“Now when the Pope is explicitly a heretic, he falls ipso facto from his dignity and out of the Church…”
The 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia states:
“The Pope himself, if notoriously guilty of heresy, would cease to be pope because he would cease to be a member of the Church.”
St. Antoninus says that such a pope who is cut off from the Mystical Body cannot be the head of that Body.
“In the case in which the Pope would become a heretic, he would find himself, by that very fact alone and without any other sentence, separated from the Church. A head separated from a body cannot, as long as it remains separated, be head of the same body from which it was cut off.”
The lus Canonicum on the 1917 Code of Canon Law by Wernz-Vidal makes this same point:
“A pope who falls into public heresy would cease ipso facto to be a member of the Church; therefore, he would also cease to be head of the Church.” It adds, “A doubtful pope is not pope.”
Continue reading at the Daily Knight
Thank God this criminal was denied a spot on SCOTUS.
WASHINGTON — Paul Mango, an integral part of the Trump administration’s drive to invent coronavirus vaccines and treatments, has died at 65.
Mango joined former President Trump’s Health and Human Services Department in 2019 as deputy chief of staff. During the Covid-19 pandemic, he became the agency’s chief liaison to Operation Warp Speed, the record-breaking effort to develop new vaccines and medicines to counter the coronavirus pandemic.
He published a memoir about those months, “Warp Speed: Inside the Operation That Beat COVID, the Critics, and the Odds,” in 2022. In the book he lauded Moderna’s cooperation with the government in developing clinical trials and delivering millions of doses. He criticized Pfizer for a lack of transparency and not collaborating more with the Trump administration. But overall, he painted a picture of a national effort to overcome historical odds to develop new vaccines.
“Paul was a mentor and friend who dedicated his life to serving his country, who led a life of amazing accomplishment, and who will be dearly missed,” said Brian Blase, president of the Paragon Health Institute, where Mango worked as an adviser. Mango was “instrumental” in the success of Operation Warp Speed, Blase said…
The following taken from Roman Catholic Saints:
The worst evil that can befall us is unquestionably SIN, which makes us an object of abhorrence in the sight of God.
God’s infinite mercy has not only prepared for us a potent remedy against sin in the merits of Jesus Christ, our Savior, but it has also given us poor sinners a secure refuge in the assistance of Mary, Our Lady refuge of sinners. In the Old Law there were cities of refuge to which the guilty could flee for safety; in the New Law, Mary’s mantle is for us that citadel of refuge for sinful souls. How can the Divine Wrath strike us, if we are covered by the mantle of Mary, the chosen daughter and the honored Mother of God?
Our Lady refuge of sinners is thus not merely a pledge of our safety, but by her unrivaled sanctity, she is as earnest of pardon for all sinners who have recourse to her intercession. She not only disarms the just anger of God roused by our sins, but also obtains for her true clients sincere and heartfelt conversion. All we need do is turn toward her with Faith, to obtain Divine Clemency and the means to rise from the mire of sin.
To be cleansed from sin and to be admitted again into the friendship of God is a grace beyond compare; but to be kept free from fresh falls is even more important, as our salvation depends entirely upon final perseverance. Mary, by her intercession, helps us detest past sins and faults; and keeps us from renewed relapses.
Through God’s permission we are tempted in all sorts of ways; but Mary’s watchful assistance helps us put Satan to flight while she suggests to us, through our Angel Guardian, all manner of good thoughts and holy aspirations.
More than ever at the hour of death, Mary shelters her devoted children, driving the Tempter far from us, and encouraging us to fight valiantly to the last gasp.
“Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us SINNERS, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”
St. Bonaventure has aptly said: “Thou embracest with maternal affection a sinner who is even despised by the whole world, nor dost thou cease thine embrace until thou hast reconciled him with his judge.”
In the Old Testament we find many figures of Mary as the refuge of sinners, like Ruth who “gleaned the ears of corn after the reapers.” St. Bonaventure draws this comparison:
“As Ruth found grace in the eyes of Booz, so Mary found Grace before God. The reapers are the gleaners in the vineyard of the Lord, the missionaries, preachers and confessors who endeavor to gain souls to God. But there are obstinate and hardened souls who do not allow themselves to be gained; these can be saved only through the powerful intercession of Mary. There is no sinner so corrupt and sunk in vice that Mary will despise and reject him. If such a one seeks help with her, she will most certainly reconcile him with Jesus and obtain pardon for him.”
*from The Woman in Orbit and other sources
https://www.roman-catholic-saints.com/our-lady-refuge-of-sinners.html
By now you’ve seen video of the (drunk?) Eagles fan hurling vulgarities at the Packers girl last weekend. I say (drunk?) because I’m not sure he actually was. I think this might be sober him. Just a complete jackass in real life.
Turns out this guy work(ed) for a totally woke DEI company, whose mission was to turn other companies more woke.
Alas, the “I” in DEI does not extend to old white jerk dudes. They fired him last night.
BCT Partners… now hiring!
