There is a joke I have been telling people in the last few weeks. Not a joke, really, more of a jocular quip. I mentioned to a few friends and correspondents that I have to find out who the patron … 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.
Days of Grace
We are in the Sacred Triduum and therefore have entered into the very “holy of holies” of the Church’s liturgical cycle. Please know that all our generous supporters, tertiaries, readers, and friends are remembered in our prayers in this holiest … Continue reading
‘Same Sex Attraction,’ a Different Perspective
Dr. G.C. Dilsaver once said something very provocative about “same sex attraction” in an interview with Mike Church. For those not familiar, this is the term of recent coinage used to label the intrinsically disordered attractions otherwise called “homosexual” and … Continue reading
‘Be Strengthened in the Lord’
The anxieties and troubles we undergo often vex us irrationally. As I write this, I find myself having to console a frightened dog and am, therefore, in a position to observe non-rationality where it best remains: in a beast. Our … Continue reading
This Lent, Keep the Big Picture in Mind
It is, as I write, Sexagesima week. Next week will be Quinquagesima, its fourth day being Ash Wednesday. Penance beckons us. Jesus invites us into the desert with Him. As we follow, we must collect our thoughts and travel there … Continue reading
To Heaven with You!
Catholics should always have some good spiritual book that they are reading. “Spiritual reading,” and its more ancient cousin, Lectio Divina, are staples of the Catholic spiritual diet.1 The need for devout reading has always been a reality for the … Continue reading
My Pro-Life Speech on the Steps of the NH State House
This past Saturday was a first for me. I was asked to give a short pro-life speech on the steps of the New Hampshire State House. The occasion was the New Hampshire March for Life, an annual event sponsored by … Continue reading
A Perfect Christmas Octave
A liturgical octave is the eight-day observance of an important feast of the Christian calendar. During each day, the feast itself is commemorated even if other feasts happen on those days. The traditional liturgy is rich with octaves, and one … Continue reading
Fortes in Fide
Every night, when the Brothers pray the traditional office of Compline together, we encounter the following words of Saint Peter (I Pet. 5:8): Fratres: Sóbrii estóte, et vigiláte: quia adversárius vester diábolus tamquam leo rúgiens círcuit, quærens quem dévoret: cui … Continue reading
The Once and Future Politics
Our friend Charles Coulombe has written a wonderful book that I am reading right now, Blessed Charles of Austria: A Holy Emperor and His Legacy. Though I am only about half-way through the book, I was so struck with the … Continue reading
The Raising of Jairus’ Daughter and the Healing of the Haemorrhissa
The secular pieties being imposed upon us by our ascended masters are a hodgepodge of blasphemies, abominations, and lies meant to keep the common man enslaved while at the same time fooling him into thinking he is actually free. The … Continue reading
A Sower Went Out to Sow, But Why?
Why did Our Lord Jesus Christ teach in parables? The answers to this question vary. To many, these earthy stories are like supernatural versions of Aesop’s Fables or Grimm’s Fairy Tales: great stories with a solid moral lesson, only even … Continue reading
What Do Hope, Fear, and Poverty Have in Common?
Saint Benedict Center’s 2020 Conference is now history. Many very satisfied and happy conference-goers have told us how much they enjoyed the event. We Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary are very grateful to all who came and joined … Continue reading
Indifferentism: The First Head of the Modern Hydra of Heresy
Like its immediate predecessor, this Ad Rem is a sneak preview of our conference. In the second of his celebrated “Twelve Labors,” Hercules was challenged to slay a multi-headed beast called the “Lernaean Hydra” owing to its lair being the … Continue reading
Acquiring Spiritual Immunity: A Sneak-Peek at Our Conference
This Ad Rem is a sneak-preview of one of my two talks at the upcoming Saint Benedict Center Conference. I look forward to seeing many of my readers there! In the battle against COVID-19 hysteria, many wise critics have called … Continue reading
