When the history of the twentieth century is written, future generations will not believe the brutal crimes committed in Communist countries like North Korea under the Kim family dynasty. That is why the book Eyes of the Tailless Animals: Prison Memoirs of a North Korean Woman by Soon Ok Lee is so valuable. What … Read more
By all metrics, the skies of 2024 are overwhelming in their display of the extraordinary. Celestial spectacles are appearing with increasing frequency for those who know how to gaze heavenward in wonder. Many witnessed eclipses on March 25 and April 8, which darkened many parts of the earth. However, the most spectacular … Read more
In times of great suffering like ours, it does us good to think about heavenly things. Such considerations are constant reminders that our greatest concerns should be our union with God in this world and the next. Indeed, in times past, people commonly raised their hearts to Heaven, which made all their … Read more
In the spiritual life, there are rules that help the Catholic in the quest for sanctity. Some of these are general rules that apply to dealing with the weaknesses of our fallen nature. According to the noted Catholic thinker, Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira, two rules of the spiritual life never change. … Read more
An opioid crisis is devastating America. Every day, more than ninety Americans die by overdosing on these new killers. The crisis involves the misuse of and addiction to opioids such as prescription pain relievers, fentanyl and heroin. New powerful synthetic opioids have become especially deadly. Too many people mistakenly reduce the problem … Read more
Pilgrimages are very common for the Catholic faithful, often requiring travel to distant places. On February 2, 2016 I was part of an American contingent that made such a pilgrimage to Quito, Ecuador to venerate the heavenly statue of Our Lady of Good Success. The impressions were so overwhelming that only now … Read more
Symbolic acts and gestures often have a greater persuasive power than words and reasoning, though one completes the other. This is why the Divine Savior constantly used both symbolic gestures and employed metaphors and parables. This is also why the Church has always surrounded herself with symbols to make visible the beauty … Read more
Claude Newman was a twenty-year-old African-American who, in 1943, awaited execution in a prison in Mississippi. His crime was that of ambushing and shooting a man named Sid Cook, his beloved grandmother’s abusive second husband. One day, noticing a medal hanging around the neck of a fellow prisoner, Claude asked the young … Read more
“I know what this is all about! I can see it from the title!” some reader might say. Let those readers who are hostile to pomp in Church liturgy get ready for a surprise: Saint Francis advocates precisely the opposite, and how emphatically! You don’t have to take my word for it. … Read more
“Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Pauperist Heresies Heresies requiring material poverty for eternal salvation have sprung up since the dawn of Christianity. Here we refer more particularly to medieval miserabilists. Under the influence of the Cathars or Albigensians, who adopted the Manichean principle that … Read more