Very frustrated with myself. At a men's conference where Gabriel Castillo brought a relic of St. Dominic -- and I forgot to bring my good prayin' rosary! I would have touched the relic with it.

Singing songs of praise in a "worship service" is not the highest form of worship. It's not even necessarily worship in all cases. Many contemporary love songs are at the same level of "praise," but do not constitute worship. What is real worship? Sacrifice. Hence, in continuity with ancient Israel's religion, we have the Holy *Sacrifice* of the Mass (a.k.a. "Divine Liturgy" in the East) -- forbidden to be offered to anyone other than God himself. It's not a re-sacrificing of Christ, but an unbloody, sacramental re-presentation of his once-for-all sacrifice -- making it present to us and applying its effects. (* Drums and guitars not required.)

It's okay to make artwork out of clay or whittled from wood or fashioned of metal. We see it everywhere. It doesn't somehow become an IDOL if *religious* art is carved or fashioned from these materials. The point of the Commandment is that we should have no other "gods" but the one, true God. Don't worship your Christian artwork, and you will be fine.

If the religious Jews of today oppose the kingship of Jesus Christ, then we should treat them just like infidels, heretics, and pagans. That is to say, we should love them, pray for them, and help them to convert and turn to Jesus.

This morning I had a strong desire to pray the rosary well. I noticed at the end of the third mystery, my tangle-free rosary had somehow become hopelessly tangled. I couldn't fix it, but I didn't want to be distracted. And so I continued and finished well. I still couldn't untangle it afterward, which is very frustrating, so I asked for Mary, Untier of Knots, to help. Then it just came loose. She's not only Queen of Heaven and Earth; she is also our Mom.

If the apostle Paul needs to tell Christians to "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" (Philippians 2:12), then how much more serious is the situation for souls who are not Christian? Be converted -- and then evangelize!

During times of distress and war and violence and instability, we don't need to freak out. But the chaos can serve as an impetus for us to confess our sins (yes -- the sacrament of Confession!) and get right with God now before it's too late. "Too late" can either be a nuclear end-of-the-world scenario... or something like clumsily falling off the ladder wrong when cleaning your gutters. Be ready always.

Before the 1960s and 70s, EVERY Catholic was a "Traditional Catholic," whether a good one or a bad one. In the big picture, it's twisted to think that "modernized" Catholicism -- only about 60 years old -- is the norm, while "Traditional" Catholicism is the outlier. It's quite the opposite.

An insightful prayer from my morning prayer book: "Make me clearly understand that, if I wish to be completely converted to you, I can never make peace with my weaknesses, my faults, my self-love, my pride." It's a mistake to neglect cooperating with God in the work of rooting out our sins, assuming they just magically go away when (as we may wish to believe) we go straight to heaven when we die. Do what needs to be done now.

There are problems -- some greater, some smaller -- in fully siding with * sedevacantism * the #SSPX * the modern Roman church of synodalism. Best thing to do as lay people is to pray for clarity and resolution in the Church, and to live out the Faith of the saints and the perennial teachings of the Church. 📿 Pray the Rosary. ✝️ Read the Saints. 📚 Read the catechisms of Baltimore, Pius X, Trent, etc. 📖 Read the Bible. 🙏🙏🙏 Pray, pray, pray Avoid the ditches of (1) rejecting the office of the papacy and the authority structure in the Body of Christ, and (2) embracing the spirit of the world, even if particular popes and bishops seems to do so at their own peril, deceiving even the very elect.

IS ECUMENISM BAD? It's good if it involves clarifications to promote understanding -- for example, explaining patiently and carefully to Muslims why our belief in the Trinity does not mean we are polytheists, or assuring Protestants that our veneration of Mary and the saints is fundamentally different than worship that is due to God alone. Clarifying is always good. A different kind of so-called "ecumenism" is bad if it involves compromising the integrity of the tenets of our Faith in order to make it compatible with, or blend with, conflicting faiths. Fake unity serves no good purpose, and is in fact harmful.