The musings and meandering thoughts of a crotchety old man as he observes life in the world and in a small, rural town in South East Nebraska. I hope to help people get to Heaven by sharing prayers, meditations, the lives of the Saints, and news of Church happenings. My Pledge: Nulla dies sine linea ~ Not a day without a line.
Explore how medieval outlaws utilised specific woodland construction techniques and camouflage to create nearly invisible campsites. Discover the clever methods used to manage fire without producing visible smoke, allowing groups to remain hidden from authorities for years.
August 4th, 1265. Simon de Montfort is killed at the Battle of Evesham. His military captain, a man named Roger Godberd, is now a wanted man. The crown declares him an outlaw — a wolf's head. Anyone can kill him on sight.
Godberd disappears into Sherwood Forest. For the next seven years, he organises raids across three counties — Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, and as far south as Wiltshire. The Sheriff can't find him. The king's men can't catch him. Local knights actively shelter him. It takes until 1272 before authorities finally capture him, and even then, he's held in three different prisons over three years before his trial at the Tower of London.
Traditional Catholic morning prayers to help start your day in a godly way! The month of March is dedicated to St. Joseph. We've also included a powerful Lenten prayer -- the Prayer Before a Crucifix. This video is a compilation of many traditional morning prayers Catholics say, and should not be considered a replacement for those who have an obligation to pray the Divine Office morning prayers.
What if the key to understanding the Eucharist isn’t just in the New Testament—but hidden deep within the story of the Exodus? Yes, the Exodus: the 10 plagues, the Passover lamb, the manna from heaven. These aren’t just ancient rituals or bedtime stories—they’re blueprints for a meal, a sacrifice, and a divine presence that point directly to the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.
📌 Watch until the end to discover how the Exodus story prefigures the Catholic Eucharist—and why this ancient prophecy refutes the idea that Communion is merely symbolic.
✨ What You’ll Learn in This Video:
📖 How the Passover lamb, manna, and covenant meal point to the Eucharist
🌟 Why the Eucharist fulfills Old Testament patterns—not breaks them
👑 How Jesus fulfils the Exodus prophecy as the true Lamb, Living Bread, and Divine Presence
🙏 Why rejecting the Real Presence severs continuity with Scripture and Tradition
⏳ Chapters:
0:00 - Introduction: The Eucharist Hidden in Exodus
1:20 - The Passover Lamb: A Blueprint for the Eucharist
3:05 - Manna from Heaven: Foreshadowing the Bread of Life
5:10 - The Covenant Meal on Sinai: A Promise Fulfilled in Christ
7:15 - How the Early Church Understood the Eucharist
8:46 - Addressing Objections: Is the Eucharist Just Symbolic?
9:50 - Conclusion & Invitation to Believe in the Real Presence
📖 Key Scripture & References:
Exodus 12:8 – “They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.”
John 6:53 – “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.”
1 Corinthians 5:7 – “Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.”
Luke 24:35 – “He was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.”
🔗 Additional Resources:
📖 Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 1333–1341): The Eucharist as fulfillment of Old Testament sacrifices.
📖 St. Justin Martyr: Describes the Eucharist as the very body and blood of Christ.
📖 St. Ignatius of Antioch: Warns Christians not to separate from the bishop or the Eucharist.
💬 Discussion Prompt:
Have you ever seen the connection between the Exodus story and the Eucharist? How does understanding the Eucharist as the fulfillment of Old Testament types deepen your faith?
Fr Edward Flanagan was a holy priest who radically changed the understanding of education for disadvantaged youth and how this challenge is viewed in the United States and beyond.
On March 23, Pope Leo XIV recognized the “heroic virtues” of Fr. Edward Flanagan, a priest most well-known for his Boys Town method of establishing orphanages.
This is the first major step in the cause for canonization, as it confirms that he lived a holy life and is worthy of imitation.
The next step for his cause will be the recognition of two miracles through his intercession, which would make way for his beatification and then canonization.
Who was Fr. Flanagan?
Fr. Flanagan was born in 1886 in Ireland and came to the United States in 1904 with his sister.
He then attended Mt. St Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, MD, where he graduated in 1906 with a BA degree and then in 1908 with an MA degree. He then entered St. Joseph’s Seminary in New York and was ordained a priest in 1912, after having also studied in Rome.
Only a few years into his priesthood, Fr. Flanagan was given permission by his bishop to open a home for homeless boys in Omaha, Nebraska. Larry Peterson describes what happens next in an article for Aleteia:
On December 12, 1917 (The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe), Father Flanagan moved five boys into his first boys’ home. It was called “The City of Little Men.” By June of 1918, there were 32 boys and by Christmas there were more than 100. By the spring of 1919 the capacity of 150 was reached and bigger facilities were in order.
Fr. Flanagan is most well-known for saying, “There is no such thing as a bad boy.” His work inspired even Hollywood, which filmed a movie inspired by his work in 1938.
One of the most enduring parts of Fr. Flanagan’s legacy was his “Boys Town Method” of education, which includes the following:
Teaching social skills that contribute to a positive learning environment
Empowering children to make good decisions
Correcting inappropriate behaviors by teaching and practicing appropriate alternative behaviors
Reducing the frequency and severity of referrals through a data-driven referral process framework
Praising students more and punishing them less
Fr. Flanagan believed every boy (and girl) are not inherently bad and can be encouraged to do good. His model has been used around the world and has changed the lives of countless children.
Saint Luigi Versiglia was an Italian bishop who worked in China. He was a disciplined man who cared deeply about his flock. He worked with Servant of God Carlo Braga and died with Saint Callisto (or Callistus) Caravario. Callisto and Luigi were killed while protecting their parishioners from pirates. They were canonized in 2000 and their feast day is February 25.
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Wikipedia: "Luigi Versiglia, S.D.B. (5 June 1873 – 25 February 1930) was an Italian Catholic prelate and professed member from the Salesians of Don Bosco who served as the first apostolic vicar of Shaoguan from 1920 until his murder. He was also a former novice master noted for his strict austerities and discipline but for his loving and compassionate care of the poor and defenceless. He led the first Salesian expedition to China in 1906 and remained there until his death, functioning for the people in various capacities such as a gardener and barber."
The Vikings once raided and plundered medieval monasteries for their riches, but no plot to destroy them holds a candle to self-inflicted destruction wrought by modernism.
The Vikings frequently sacked monasteriesacross Europe since they were isolated, poorly defended, and held vast wealth, artifacts, and livestock. With prayer and penance, the monks eventually prevailed and converted the Vikings.
Today, something different is happening. A new round of sacking is taking place. However, no Vikings or barbarians are despoiling the convents and abbeys. The monks and nuns themselves are, perhaps unwittingly, the agents of their self-destruction.
The Devastation of Modern Spirituality
It is easy to trace the origins of this new enemy. Modern spiritualities introduced after the Second Vatican Council attacked traditional forms of worship, hollowed out everything of substance, and left countless communities devastated. Viking theologians tore down everything in their paths.
Like a Viking lightning raid, old monastic traditions were overturned. Schedules, fasts, and prayer vigils were abandoned. Churches were gutted of their old adornments, “wreckovated” in a manner far more thorough than the ignorant barbarians. Social justice causes replaced the focus on prayer and penance.
Aging monks and nuns are now left with places made for once flourishing establishments, with no one to replace them. One by one, communities are falling apart, and their properties are put to other purposes. In France, two monasteries or convents close each month.
Aging monks and nuns are now left with places made for once flourishing establishments, with no one to replace them….In France, two monasteries or convents close each month.Tweet This
The Demise of La Grande Trappe
The seriousness of this crisis was recently made dramatically clear when the monks of La Trappe Abbey in Normandy announced that they may leave their monastery in 2028. The shock was so great that Pope Leo XIV held a confidential meeting with its abbot immediately after the announcement.
This Cistercian abbey is not just any abbey. It is a storied monastery that has housed monks for 900 years. It is known as “La Grande Trappe,” since it was the place where Abbot Armand de Rancé carried out the Trappist reform of the Cistercian order in 1662. As a result, all Reformed Cistercians are informally known as Trappists.
The Trappist community, after “following a long discernment,” decided that the lack of vocations and the heavy burden of maintaining the property made it consider leaving the site in 2028. They propose to walk away, as barely twenty aging monks live where once a hundred flourished.
A Long History
This is not the first time that La Trappe has faced an existential crisis. The abbey was founded in the 12th century, around 1122, in honor of the granddaughter of William the Conqueror. It survived wars and plagues, the French Revolution, and everything that the devil could throw at it. The abbey was even closed for a while and given up for lost. However, fervent abbots and monks always saved it from destruction.
Its story is inspiring.
During the Middle Ages, La Trappe united itself to St. Bernard’s Cistercian Order of Cîteaux. It was part of a vast network of abbeys associated with Cîteaux that flourished in a golden age of great fervor and holiness.
In the 15th century, however, things changed. The abbey was prey to English troops during the wars between France and England. Thus, it suffered greatly due to its location near the scene of so much strife.
In the 16th century, the abbey was held in commendam, meaning it was considered vacant and administered by another person—one not living in it but benefiting from its revenues. The abuse of this canonical state often led to mismanagement of properties like La Trappe, where the monks barely survived.
With the coming of the French Revolution, the government expelled the monks and confiscated their abbey in 1792. Some eighty monks accepted the inevitable by moving to other accommodations or returning to the world. Their names are lost in history.
However, Abbot Augustin de Lestrange, with 24 other monks, went into exile at La Valsainte in Fribourg, Switzerland, where they resolved to observe the exact and literal observance of the Rule of St. Benedict and the usages of Cîteaux. Despite the desperate conditions of this exile, they overcame all obstacles because they were consumed with the love of God and the Cross.
With Valsainte as its base, the community attracted so many monks that the abbot sent some out to found other establishments in Spain, England, Belgium, and Piedmont.
Everything finally changed for the better when Abbot Armand de Rancé initiated a reform of the abbey by returning to the austerity and purity of a rule of silence, prayer, manual labor, and seclusion from the world.
An Incredible Odyssey
When the anti-Catholic French revolutionaries invaded Switzerland in 1798, they expelled the Trappists. Thus began an incredible odyssey in which the monks roamed the globe in search of a permanent home. The trek took them to America, Germany, and even Russia. Amid the incredible suffering and hardship of their wanderings, their numbers grew all the while.
Indeed, in 1813, the Trappist abbot purchased the land on Fifth Avenue where St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City now sits from the Jesuits to create a school and orphanage. Their stay was cut short by the fall of Napoleon, which allowed the now-augmented group of monks to return to France, only to find their beloved La Trappe in ruins.
The monks rebuilt the abbey atop the old one. By the time of the abbot’s death in 1827, 700 monks had joined the roving and now restabilized order. This new reform, as it was called, soon led to the establishment of 20 monasteries in the United States, Canada, Syria, and other places.
As long as the monks maintained their fervor, penances, silence, and fasts, they prospered. The more difficult the life, the more the monasteries were filled. As long as they were focused on a love for God and the Blessed Mother, there was no problem of recruitment.
Tragic Ending
The final chapterin this long saga is the post-1960s reform that modified the fast, simplified the rule, and suppressed the perpetual silence. The reforms, notes theEncyclopedia Britannica,“placed greater emphasis on individuality, [and] has resulted in diversity among the various Trappist monasteries, whereas previously all abbeys observed a uniform set of rules and traditions.”
Here entered the “new barbarian” spiritualties and novelties with their Viking theologians, who overturned everything and wrought great havoc. Whereas the roving monks of strict observance attracted hundreds, the postmodern monks of “diversity” saw hundreds flee the cloister. The noise that invaded the silence kept out recruits searching for sublime truth.
The lesson of this story is very clear. If the monks of La Grande Trappe wish to see their abbey revived, there is no need for “long discernment.” They must embrace their tradition in all its awesome and splendorous rigor, as they did before. What will attract the young Gen Zers, now converting, will be an appeal to the sublimity of religious life, not an “emphasis on individuality.”
It is time to expel the barbarian spiritualities with their Viking theologians that sack the abbeys—and so many parishes. Above all, it is time to return to the all-consuming love of God and the Blessed Mother that makes all things possible.
Pictured: AbbotArmand Jean le Bouthillier de Rancé, OCSO, Founder of the Trappists
