Saint Paul twice speaks of handing on to others things which he himself had received. One of these things was the truth concerning the Death and Resurrection of Christ (I Cor. 15:3-4); the other was the mystery of the Holy … Continue reading
Category: «Ad Rem» A Fortnightly Email Message from the Prior
«Ad Rem» is our Prior’s fortnightly email message offering news and commentary regarding the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Crusade of St. Benedict Center, and issues affecting the universal Church. Each number offers brief, ad rem (“to the point”) commentary on timely or otherwise important matters. Click here to subscribe to our email list and receive the «Ad Rem» each time it’s published.
Saint Robert Bellarmine
(You can learn more about this great saint on the Reconquest episode I recorded with Mr. Ryan Grant.) He was born on October 4, 1542, at Montepulciano, Tuscany, and died September 17, 1621 in Rome. Saint Robert’s parents were Vincenzo … Continue reading
The Mass in Type and Prophecy
This week’s Reconquest show is called The Mass in the Old Testament. The title is not meant to connote an anachronism: I am well aware that the Mass was instituted on that first Holy Thursday, the night before Our Lord … Continue reading
Kill Them All!
Much attention has been given to the so-called “dark passages” of the Bible in recent years. This is largely due to the use put to these passages by the enemies of the Christian name, by which I mean the aggressive, … Continue reading
Weeping Women
The pew I occupy on a daily basis is very close to the eighth station of the Cross: “the women of Jerusalem weep over Jesus.” This proximity occasions my reflecting on it more than on the other stations. It has … Continue reading
God is Here
There is a Latin rhyme that goes like this: Ora et labora, Deus adest sine mora. In English, we can translate it this way, keeping the rhyme: “Work and pray; God is here without delay.” Ora et labora is well … Continue reading
Knowledge and Mystery
When I was first studying philosophy, I overheard a conversation between an eccentric old philosophy professor and one of the other seminarians. It fascinated me. This old gent said that Our Lord defended the study of philosophy in the Gospels … Continue reading
The Crusades: Just Wars?
[How and when to listen to my show, ‘Reconquest.’ Also: Listen to past episodes.] A typical catalogue of the supposed historical crimes of the Catholic Church — or of Western men in general — would include the Crusades and the … Continue reading
Anger Issues
Anger is a vice that seems to be on the increase, with the country splitting at the seams of religion, class, race, party, and ideology. Pat Buchanan refers to this as the “balkanization” of America. At the opposite moral extreme … Continue reading
Are the Works of Mercy a Matter of Justice?
Continuing the general subject of the last Ad Rem, I would like to reply to this second question about Mercy. We are, after all, in the “Year of Mercy,” and some things should be gotten straight about this gravely misunderstood … Continue reading
Are the Works of Mercy Ever Obligatory?
Two questions about “mercy” were recently asked of me. Since we are soon to embark on the “Year of Mercy” proclaimed by Pope Francis, and since there is much confusion about the subject in general, I thought it worthy of … Continue reading
Don Pelayo Starts the Reconquest
In the year 711, the Visigothic Kingdom of Spain fell to the invading Umayyad Muslim forces. This was due to the fateful victory of the Berber commander Ṭāriq ibn Ziyad, over Visigothic forces in the Battle of Guadalete. Spain’s monarch, … Continue reading
Act and Potency in the Christian Life
In the Tuesday night Philosophy group that has been meeting since this past summer, we are now more than halfway through the course on Cosmology. We recently covered the subject of act and potency — a couple of simple words … Continue reading
Why Is Total Consecration the Remedy to Our Ills?
The following is an excerpt from my recent conference talk. I am probably not alone — I hope I am not — in considering much of devotional literature a bit tiresome when it presents one or another special devotion as if … Continue reading
Marian Consecration: A Little History
To whet the appetites of our readers for our conference theme, I present here a small chunk of my own talk, which is the “title cut” of the conference, since it has the same name: “Total Consecration to Mary: The … Continue reading
