At the recommendation of my friend Gary Potter, I am reading — very slowly — Robert Cardinal Sarah’s The Power of Silence. The book is as Gary describes it in his short piece on our website, and I will say … Continue reading
Category: «Ad Rem» A Weekly Email Message from the Prior
Were We Saved by Jesus Christ or by the Holy Trinity?
If the question strikes the reader as strange, it should. But it should do so for only one reason, namely, because it implies that nasty modern habit of opposing things that are in no way opposed. It is a false … Continue reading
‘Keep Yourselves in the Love of God!’: A Graduation Speech
This Ad Rem is a brief introductory speech I gave at IHM School’s graduation this past Sunday. Readers should know that our school in rural southern New Hampshire is very small, hence only two graduates. To read the speeches given by our graduates, please … Continue reading
Imaging the Holy Ghost
The Holy Ghost is sometimes called the “neglected” or “forgotten” Person of the Trinity. It is easy to see why He would be. The First Person is easy to image as a benevolent Father with all the familiar signs of … Continue reading
The ‘Good Fruits’ of Medjugorje
The Holy Father has recently made statements about Medjugorje that have got people talking. Now, these negative statements by the Holy Father have another side to them, as he also made remarks about the possible legitimacy of the earliest messages … Continue reading
Consoling Thoughts on Suffering
All men suffer. The poor suffer because they lack the necessities of life. The rich suffer because of the “cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches” (Mark 4:19), which provoke thousands of anxieties. The young suffer because they … Continue reading
The Religion of Peace
This Sunday, the first after Easter, was Low Sunday. Its Gospel comes from Saint John, who relates Jesus coming into the Upper Room on the evening of His Resurrection. The reading spans to the next Sunday, when the incredulous Saint … Continue reading
Does God Want Sacrifice or Not?
When first introduced to praying the Psalms, I found some passages, especially of Psalms forty-nine and fifty, to be confusing on the subject of sacrifice. I knew they could not contradict either the rule of faith or each other, but … Continue reading
Cultural Marxism versus the Church
The phenomenon of “cultural Marxism” has generated much commentary in conservative circles in recent years. As a result, more people have now heard of it and its role in spawning “political correctness,” but the larger phenomenon and its origins are … Continue reading
Social Disintegration and Catholic Hope
This week, my Reconquest show is an interview with John Horvat II, which we have already recorded. The discussion is a wide ranging consideration of Catholic social teaching, including the subject of immigration, as it effects various aspects of the … Continue reading
Chaos and the Visible Church
“The Church is now in a full-blown civil war over doctrine” screams the headline from the U.K. Catholic Herald. The body of doctrine being fought over is not limited to the hot-button issues surrounding Amoris Laetitia, either. Those issues certainly … Continue reading
The Abortion Idea
Ideas, it has been rightly said, have consequences. This is true of good ideas as well as of bad ones. When the idea that Christ’s missionary mandate to the Apostles ought to be followed was a dominant force in Christendom, … Continue reading
Truth and Forgiveness
If the best of all possible results from recent political developments were to occur — a big if — the real problems that beset society will yet remain unfixed. The reason is that those real problems involve an order that … Continue reading
Spoiling the Wine of Cana
The Epiphany is not just a feast. Traditionally, it is an Octave, and also a season, or, rather, the second part of the season of Christmastide. “Epiphanytide,” as it is called, is that portion of the liturgical year in the … Continue reading
Circumcision: An Acceptable Practice?
The first of January is the Octave Day of Christmas. In the traditional Roman rite, it is the Feast of the Circumcision of Our Lord. Among other gems, this feast gives us the sublimely beautiful Benedictus antiphon, Mirabile mysterium, which … Continue reading
