In the spiritually malnourished first half of my life, my ministers made fun of the idea that Jesus is either a commercialized sweet and helpless little baby in a manger or an effeminate helpless dead man nailed to a pagan cross. Instead, we were to think of him in "truth" -- as the one who would soon come riding down from heaven on a white horse with a rod of iron, taking charge as King of kings and Lord of lords, ruling over a geopolitical kingdom on earth for 1000 years. I never observed a Christmas or an Easter growing up -- because those were pagan, worldly holidays. So now, of course, I am especially nourished by meditating on the joyful and sorrowful mysteries of the rosary. I don't take them for granted, but feed my soul with them. Christmas and the Easter triduum are special times for us (my wife grew up the same way I did), even though we don't have any family memories of them as children. Please pray for my aging parents, one of which is struggling in a nursing home. They have never progressed beyond their false religion. To their angels, to our Holy Mother, to St. Padre Pio, to St. Jude Help of the Hopeless, to St. Monica -- I ask, Pray for us. Help such enemies of the Church even invisibly, behind the scenes, for the salvation of their souls and to the glory of God. This is my prayer literally every day.

I think the best advice to Catholics today is to be a listening people. That is to say, to listen to the saints of old and hold to the faith once delivered.

If the rosary is "the weapon against the evils of the world today," as St. Padre Pio said, then this is my conceal carry for prudent use in certain situations. I had it blessed according to the old Roman rite. Ave Maria!

“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do..." (Matthew 6:7, ESV). Who seriously expects us to believe this implies that pagan gentiles used to repeat biblical prayers while meditating on the central events of the gospel in order to draw closer to the Blessed Trinity? Don't let illiterate, theological retards -- no matter how well meaning -- influence you to abandon the rosary. 📿

The best way to navigate our way through the current crises in the Church, including in Rome, is to hold onto traditional Catholicism. Go to traditional Masses when possible. Read and reread older traditional catechisms (Baltimore, Trent, Pius X, Bellarmine, etc.). Pray the rosary every day. Read the lives and writings of the saints. Do Catholic things. Love and pray for your family and even other families. Reject all that is incompatible with historic Catholicism, including anything gay, novel, Protestant, modernist, and worldly -- even if a bishop, pope, or angel from heaven were to introduce these things. Put on the whole armor of God. Enroll in the school of our Queen Mother. Always look to her. Trust, hope, and don't worry. Fight on your knees.

I'll never understand those who accuse Catholics of believing they have to "earn" their forgiveness through the sacrament of #confession. Earn it? In Confession, you basically just have to say what you did and say you're sorry -- and mean it. That's how it plays out between people here below, too. Do we "earn" people's forgiveness by apologizing to them and saying we won't offend them again (or try our best not to)? The accusation against Catholics comes from an irrational Protestant fear of doing anything by "works." It originates from a misunderstanding of the term in St. Paul's epistles.

THE GREAT OMISSION Many of us are excited to go about the Great Commission Jesus gave his disciples before he ascended into heaven. True, as lay people, we all have a certain duty to spread the faith, but not in the same way that the apostles originally did and their successors do. One of the best ways to help fulfill that Commission is to live in obedience to the gospel, to be baptized and to observe all things Jesus commanded. If we omit working to live out what the gospel demands of us (a lifelong project), then we defeat the purpose of the Church's spreading of the gospel. It is no less important for us to live the gospel than to preach it.