Investiture as a Bridal Ceremony

A nun is a Bride of Christ. Her Clothing, or 'Investiture', is the ceremony in which she becomes His bride.

From One Peter Five

By Dr Peter Kwasniewski

The following chapter talk was written by the same religious superior who wrote “The Symbolism of Religious Clothing: Why Nuns Wear What They Do.” Here she shows her keen understanding of philosophy, theology, and Catholic tradition, which come together to yield something unsurpassably beautiful. The text has been edited by Dr. Peter Kwasniewski. 

The imagery of the religious Sister as a bride plays a significant role in our Rite of Investiture. The one to be clothed presents herself as a bride, dressed in white. After having received the religious habit and her religious name, she is given a candle. As he hands her the candle, the celebrant says to her: “May a bright light be in your hands, so that when the Bridegroom comes, you may go to meet Him and enter with Him to the wedding feast.”

The image of the virgin as bride of Christ is ancient. In 2 Corinthians 11:2, Paul alludes to the metaphor of the Church as Bride of Christ by addressing the congregation: “I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” This text is heard frequently at Mass, because it is the Epistle for the Common of Virgins. The Church Fathers, speaking of consecrated virgins, already apply bridal imagery. We read in Saint Ambrose’s De Virginibus (Bk. 1, ch. 5): “Imagine a loveliness greater than the beauty of her who is loved by the King, approved by the Judge, dedicated to the Lord, consecrated to God; ever a bride, ever unmarried, so that neither does love suffer an ending, nor modesty loss.”

The Office for the Feast of Saint Agnes, from which so many elements in the traditional rite of female monastic profession are drawn, is replete with bridal imagery. The third antiphon of Lauds reads: “With His ring, my Lord Jesus Christ has betrothed me, and He has adorned me with the bridal crown.” The Office of the Common of Virgins rings out, too, with bridal imagery.

In logic class, we spoke about univocal, equivocal, and analogical word use. In what sense is the word “bride” used when it is referred to brides as in human marriage, brides as in religious Sisters, and bride as in the Church Herself? It is clear that the use is not univocal: the three are not brides in the same way. The use is not equivocal, because the three meanings are related, even if not the same. The use is analogical, two or more meanings that are partly the same and partly different and related to each other.

The essence of being a bride is the same in all of the uses of the word mentioned above. A bride is one who is given to a bridegroom. The heart (essence) of being a bride is being given and belonging. One cannot be a bride without a bridegroom. Being a bride presupposes a bridegroom. A bride is a relational reality. The bridal gift is total: including all that one has, all that one is, all that one will be. Bride and bridegroom are united. The gift is given at a particular time and extends into the future.

Being a bride is exclusive. It means being given and belonging to one, not to more than one. A bride can have only one bridegroom. One cannot give oneself totally to more than one person, or else the gift would not be total, but partial. The gift of self for life must be total and therefore exclusive.

The manner in which the gift of self is expressed differs in each case, depending on the nature of the bridegroom, and it is in this sense that the three uses of bride are analogical. The manner in which self-gift takes place is not the same for a human bride, a religious Sister, and the Church as Bride.

In many religious communities, bridal imagery was removed from ceremonies of investiture following the Second Vatican Council, which meant especially that the bridal gown was not worn. The reason for removing bridal imagery was a misunderstanding of the analogical use of the word. It was thought that bridal dresses would be misunderstood, that the image would be taken in the sense of a human bride. Yet removing the bridal imagery is seriously problematic, when both Sacred Scripture and the saints very freely use this imagery! How could one understand The Song of Songs or Saint John of the Cross’s poem at the beginning of the Ascent to Mount Carmel without understanding the use of the image of bride? We draw upon earthly models not because they are sufficient as they stand, but because they are capable of servings as symbols that point beyond themselves to something transcendent.

I compared the Rite of Investiture of a good Novus Ordo community—one genuinely trying to be faithful to Catholicism—with our Rite of Investiture. In the Novus Ordo Rite of Investiture, there is not a single bridal reference, neither in words nor in any other way during the ceremony. In the blessing of the habit, which takes place before the ceremony, there is a bridal reference in the text of the blessing of the veil: “May they [the Sisters], by Your protection, always with equal purity of body and mind, preserve that which is mystically signified thereby: that when, with the prudent virgins, they come to the everlasting recompense of the saints, they may also be worthy to enter, conducted by You, to the nuptials of endless felicity: Who live and reign, world without end. Amen.”  The emphasis in the ceremony itself seems to be on “following Christ more closely,” rather than on being His bride. When handing the postulants their new habits, the celebrant says: “You are called to follow Christ in the religious life, not because of your good works, but because of the grace of God. Receive the habit as a sign of your dedication to God and wear it with humble hearts.” Obviously, we do wish to follow Christ more closely, and this, too, is the meaning of our life; but without bridal imagery, the Rite lacks beauty, lacks femininity. In the deepest sense, it lacks emphasis on being totally given and belonging to one in the most intimate way possible.

A rather obvious objection presents itself. Given that bridal love is exclusive, how can it make sense for all religious Sisters to call themselves “bride of Christ”? Does Christ have thousands, even millions, of brides? We could take the objection further: don’t we also say that not only religious Sisters and consecrated virgins but indeed every soul is espoused to Christ in virtue of baptism? How, then, do we make sense of the multiplicity of brides with one Bridegroom?

The difference is the Divinity of Our Lord. Unlike the finite love of creatures, the love of the Triune God poured out in Jesus Christ is always total but not exclusive. He loves totally and inclusively, which is why we can say that He loves each human person with all the fullness of His love. In the state of glory, we will be taken up into the inclusive love of the Triune God, so that we will no longer be able to give ourselves exclusively to an individual human person, but will give ourselves entirely to God and, in Him, inclusively to all human persons. The reason that there is no marriage in heaven (cf. Matthew 22:30) is that total self-gift will no longer be exclusive, but we will enter into the inclusive love of God.

Our referring to ourselves as “brides of Christ” reveals that we understand that the mutual self-gift between ourselves and Christ can be total without, on His part, being exclusive. For our part, as creatures, as baptized Christians, as consecrated virgins, the gift is exclusive: we give ourselves wholly to Him as His bride, and since our Bridegroom is in glory, we, being bound to Him, participate, through Him, in this glory and are “not given in marriage” in the earthly sense. It is for this reason that our vocation is called an eschatological vocation: in it one may see, as in a mirror, an image of the final destiny of the saints.

All Saints' Day (All Hallows' Day, or "Hallowmas")

A reminder of the indulgences for the poor souls available this month (see the top of the sidebar) and a Reading for All Saints from St Gregory Thamaturgus. 

From FishEaters

This is a Holy Day of Obligation on which we celebrate the Church Triumphant -- all the Saints in Heaven, canonized or unknown.

After Noon today, and until Midnight tomorrow, a person who has been to confession and Communion can gain a plenary indulgence, under the usual conditions, for the poor souls in Purgatory (who will be commemorated tomorrow) each time he visits a church or public oratory and recites the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Glory be to the Father six times. This is a special exception to the ordinary law of the Church according to which a plenary indulgence for the same work can be gained only once a day. Some of the grave-visiting customs described on the entry for All Souls Day, then, may begin today in some places.

In anticipation of All Souls' Day tomorrow, when night comes on this day, we darken the room, light a candle blessed at Candlemas, and pray the Rosary for our dead. Praying the 129th Psalm (the De Profundis) and/or the Litany of the Saints would also be lovely. You can download the Litany, in Microsoft Word .doc format, in English or in Latin.

You can also download the following reading for All Saints' Day -- St. Gregory Thamaturgus (b. A.D. 213) -- in Microsoft .doc format by clicking here (2 pages).

Reading

On All the Saints
By St. Gregory Thamaturgus

Grant thy blessing, Lord.

It was my desire to be silent, and not to make a public display of the rustic rudeness of my tongue. For silence is a matter of great consequence when one's speech is mean. And to refrain from utterance is indeed an admirable thing, where there is lack of training; and verily he is the highest philosopher who knows how to cover his ignorance by abstinence from public address. Knowing, therefore, the feebleness of tongue proper to me, I should have preferred such a course.

Nevertheless the spectacle of the onlookers impels me to speak. Since, then, this solemnity is a glorious one among our festivals, and the spectators form a crowded gathering, and our assembly is one of elevated fervour in the faith, I shall face the task of commencing an address with confidence. And this I may attempt all the more boldly, since the Father requests me, and the Church is with me, and the sainted martyrs with this object strengthen what is weak in me. For these have inspired aged men to accomplish with much love a long course, and constrained them to support their failing steps by the staff of the word; and they have stimulated women to finish their course like the young men, and have brought to this, too, those of tender years, yea, even creeping children. In this wise have the martyrs shown their power, leaping with joy in the presence of death, laughing at the sword, making sport of the wrath of princes, grasping at death as the producer of deathlessness, making victory their own by their fall, through the body taking their leap to heaven, suffering their members to be scattered abroad in order that they might hold their souls, and, bursting the bars of life, that they might open the. gates of heaven.

And if any one believes not that death is abolished, that Hades is trodden under foot, that the chains thereof are broken, that the tyrant is bound, let him look on the martyrs disporting themselves in the presence of death, and taking up the jubilant strain of the victory of Christ. O the marvel! Since the hour when Christ despoiled Hades, men have danced in triumph over death. "O death, where is thy sting! O grave, where is thy victory?" Hades and the devil have been despoiled, and stripped of their ancient armour, and cast out of their peculiar power. And even as Goliath had his head cut off with his own sword, so also is the devil, who has been the father of death, put to rout through death; and he finds that the selfsame thing which he was wont to use as the ready weapon of his deceit, has become the mighty instrument of his own destruction.

Yea, if we may so speak, casting his hook at the Godhead, and seizing the wonted enjoyment of the baited pleasure, he is himself manifestly caught while he deems himself the captor, and discovers that in place of the man he has touched the God. By reason thereof do the martyrs leap upon the head of the dragon, and despise every species of torment. For since the second Adam has brought up the first Adam out of the deeps of Hades, as Jonah was delivered out of the whale, and has set forth him who was deceived as a citizen of heaven to the shame of the deceiver, the gates of Hades have been shut, and the gates of heaven have been opened, so as to offer an unimpeded entrance to those who rise thither in faith.

In olden time Jacob beheld a ladder erected reaching to heaven, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon it. But now, having been made man for man's sake, He who is the Friend of man has crushed with the foot of His divinity him who is the enemy of man, and has borne up the man with the hand of His Christhood, and has made the trackless ether to be trodden by the feet of man. Then the angels were ascending and descending; but now the Angel of the great counsel neither ascendeth nor descendeth: for whence or where shall He change His position, who is present everywhere, and filleth all things, and holds in His hand the ends. of the world? Once, indeed, He descended, and once He ascended,--not, however, through any change of nature, but only in the condescension of His philanthropic Christhood; and He is seated as the Word with the Father, and as the Word He dwells in the womb, and as the Word He is found everywhere, and is never separated from the God of the universe.

Aforetime did the devil deride the nature of man with great laughter, and he has had his joy over the times of our calamity as his festal-days. But the laughter is only a three days' pleasure, while the wailing is eternal; and his great laughter has prepared for him a greater wailing and ceaseless tears, and inconsolable weeping, and a sword in his heart. This sword did our Leader forge against the enemy with fire in the virgin furnace, in such wise and after such fashion as He willed, and gave it its point by the energy of His invincible divinity, and dipped it in the water of an undefiled baptism, and sharpened it by sufferings without passion in them, and made it bright by the mystical resurrection; and herewith by Himself He put to death the vengeful adversary, together with his whole host.

What manner of word, therefore, will express our joy or his misery? For he who was once an archangel is now a devil; he who once lived in heaven is now seen crawling like a serpent upon earth; he who once was jubilant with the cherubim, is now shut up in pain in the guard-house of swine; and him, too, in fine, shall we put to rout if we mind those things which are contrary to his choice, by the grace and kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the power unto the ages of the ages. Amen.

The Ten Principles of the Orthodox Conservatives - 3. That Civil Society Is a Repository of Knowledge

The Third Principle of Conservatism, from the Orthodox Conservative website. 

From Orthodox Conservatives

3. That civil society is a repository of knowledge. (For none of us is capable of doing all we are able to do, nor knowing all that we know, on our own.

3. That civil society is a repository of knowledge

Margaret Thatcher once (in)famously declared that there is “no such thing as society”. It earned her the enmity of the Left permanently, whose very philosophy is built around the primacy of society and the subjection of the individual to its will. The forgotten second half of the declaration, however, is telling; “there are only individuals, and their families”. What Thatcher maybe misunderstood of her own philosophy, was that there is no monolithic society; instead, ‘society’ is merely a collection of associations and traditional communities, overlapping constantly with one another, brought and held together under the banner of government and politics, national identity, and (perhaps) some quirk of geographic boundary. Indeed, the Conservative Party’s 2010 Manifesto stated, as some leading members of the Party had in the 2000’s, “there is such a thing as society, it is just different from the state”. An observer would be forgiven for being confused here; “so what do conservatives think about society?” The answer, if there is one, is varied and complex (as usual – nothing is ever easy).

The first thing we think needs addressing is the concept of Knowledge. Kieron O’Hara predicated his defence of conservatism on the twin principles of Knowledge and Change, both pertinent to conservatism’s continued relevance and revivals, and distinctly connected. The issue of change is always a difficult one; the assumption that conservatism is the “desire to conserve” is misguided in that it ignores one of Burke’s most fundamental observations, that “a society without the means of change is without the means of conservatism”. Hogg makes this point more lucid in his claim that “if conservatism meant ‘no change’, then the only truly conservative organism would be a dead one”. Here is revealed the distinctly organic view of society that conservatives take; that it changes of its own accord, it is a living thing, and must be respected as such. 

All human experience generates knowledge, but no individual is capable of experiencing everything, so no individual is capable of knowing everything on their own. As a result, it is impossible for you to know if something is dangerous to you until you have tried it – part of the wonderful playfulness of children is the curiosity that spurs them on. But trying something once can be so dangerous that there might be coming back from it; the reason we do not allow children to play in the road is because they do not understand its dangers. Unfortunately, this is often how we learn – from the mistakes of others. 

This is where the truth of civil society shows itself: we learn from the shared knowledge of those around us. At times this might be direct experience , but for the most part it is from the knowledge that is passed down through generations until such a time when the threat of danger has seemingly disappeared – but only because we have taken that knowledge seriously. Chaos always lurks just beyond the boundaries of the known, sometimes with a comforting face, and (as we show in principle six) it is better to stay within the boundaries of received knowledge than to abandon it entirely. 

This is not to say we cannot challenge this knowledge – after all, we are beings with free will that very often refuse to listen to received wisdom, because it is the natural curiosity of life to dream and wonder. It is this experimentation of the individual that allows society to persist in its safety. And this deep well-spring of knowledge is not only the guiding light of safety and action to the individual, but the source of continued and persistent identity for society at-large. The shared history and experiences that stretch across generations provide a continual lineage of identity that flows through the residual symbols of culture that others have loved and have found value in. 

So why is Knowledge relevant? Put simply, the knowledge of how society could change and alter can only be found in society itself. In other words, even if it were a good idea to do so, government cannot possible know how to direct society towards a final goal, because the knowledge required to do so is so dispersed and unintelligible that it cannot never be held, all at once, by one institution. Similarly, as society is the primary repository of knowledge, it is also the primary producer of identity. Where postmodernists seek to tear down the categorical boundaries of social identity to strip us back to the bare bones of our animal state – and thus remake us into novo sapiens that can live in the utopias of tomorrow – conservatives are enamoured with those social identities that have been produced and fostered over time, and which shape us indefinitely. The significance of institutions – from families to schools, from friendship groups to sports teams – in shaping our behaviour, and by extension our identities, cannot be overstated. But it is this shared identity that provides society with the unique means by which we can bridge the gap between individual identities and see ourselves as members of the “first-person plural – the ‘we’”, and so we must cherish these identities as providing us with a sense of belonging with one another.

Society is a fragile organism, and it must be respected as one; protected from harm, but given the room and freedom to develop as it so organically wishes.

Making a Prophet of Mussolini

MM looks at the descent of Western Europe into the throes of Revolutionary, leftist totalitarianism. 

From The Mad Monarchist (12 February 2016)

In 1945, in the last days of the war, when his “Italian Social Republic” was in its death throes, Benito Mussolini made the following prediction about the future:

“The present war will produce an alteration in order of rank. Great Britain, for instance, is destined to become a second-class power, in view of disclosure of Russian and American strength…In a short time, Fascism will once more shine on the horizon. First of all, because of the persecution to which the Liberals will subject it, showing that liberty is something to reserve to oneself and refuse to others.”

And, the fact is, the liberals of today are working very hard to prove the Duce’s words to have been prophetic. In Germany, the Vice Chancellor recently said that the anti-immigration party “Alternative for Germany” should be placed under government monitoring as they do to neo-Nazis. In Sweden there has been widespread suppression of crime statistics that cast “multiculturalism” in a bad light. In the Netherlands, the police recently came to a man’s home to warn him against saying anything against immigrants on social media. In Britain, The Guardian recently announced they will not be allowing comments on any articles dealing with race, immigration or Islam. Seems they didn’t like what the public had to say on these subjects.

So, we can see very clearly that freedom of the press applies only to those who support the leftist position. Freedom of speech, likewise, applies only to those who support the leftist agenda and not those who oppose it. Witness, in the UK, how critics of Islam are banned from entering the country while Islamic fundamentalists can march down the streets of London bearing signs calling for Westminster Abbey to become a mosque or for the flag of Islam to fly over Buckingham Palace. We can also see very clearly that democracy only applies when the people agree with the left-wing power bloc. France, The Netherlands and Ireland vote against the EU and it doesn’t count. On an issue where the leftist agenda is widely opposed, people are not allowed to vote at all. No one in Europe voted to allow hordes of refugees into their countries, it just sort of happened and the rules allowing the “free movement of peoples” were all made by the EU whose decision-making body is not elected at all and never has been. So much for democracy.

Mussolini is being proven prophetic and, take notice, it is the left that is doing so and not the right. The left has continuously silenced any reasonable discussion about things like race, immigration, national sovereignty, military action and so on by accusing anyone who touches such subjects of “racism” and labeled them “Nazis”. This tactic has worked quite well. The only problem which they seemed to have overlooked is that there is one group of people who do not mind being called Nazis and that is the modern-day Nazis themselves. So, the liberal/leftist smear campaign has been making good progress at ensuring that everyone but the actual Nazis are cowed into submission. There are also, again, helping to make the case for those who have said that totalitarianism is the only way. They have done so by being so totalitarian themselves so that, as a result, people are going to feel as though they have only two options before them: a totalitarian state whose values I oppose or a totalitarian state whose values I support. The modern Fascists or National Socialists could never have done this on their own. The public was too comfortable to ever go for that kind of extremism and no one wants to think of themselves as being the “bad guys”. However, the leftists have labeled ANY opposition to their worldview as “extremist”, any national pride as “nationalism” and any effort to protect the future of your own people and culture as “racism” so that ordinary people are increasingly finding themselves in the “extremist” camp without having moved a muscle on their own.

They have also, by their heavy-handed efforts to suppress any and all dissent, helped to cast current political divisions in the same way that Mussolini did, again, making a prophet of the late Duce of Fascism. The bombastic black shirt also said, much earlier in his career:

“The struggle between the two worlds can permit no compromises. The new cycle which begins with the ninth year of the Fascist regime places the alternative in even greater relief -- either we or they, either their ideas or ours, either our State or theirs!”

The liberals are backing him up with their suppression efforts, essentially making the same case. They are making the case to reasonable people, supporters of constitutional government, that they will stop at nothing to achieve their goals and you are simply weak and foolish to carry on playing by the rules. There is no, ‘give and take’ and no point in making concessions, they are doing their best to make this a contest of “you suppress us or we will suppress you” with nothing in between as much as some might like to pretend that there is.

You think you have free speech? Depends on your politics or your skin color or your religion. A French magazine can publish numerous cartoons mocking Christians, a few mocking Jews but one mocking Islam gets them all shot and western governments give cover to the murderers by self-censoring. One set of rules for them, another for us. If you are President Obama, or the mayor of any of the numerous “sanctuary cities” in these United States, you can refuse to enforce immigration laws and that’s perfectly fine but if you are a county clerk named Kim Davis in Kentucky who refuses to enforce a court ruling on granting gay “marriage” licenses, you go straight to jail, do not pass go and do not collect $200. They can do it, but you can’t. You have to follow the rules but they don’t. If you’re a socialist mp from Scotland you can be on a first-name basis with the most murderous dictators in the world, spout treason constantly while taking a paycheck from the Queen and be a national celebrity, a left-wing icon but if you’re name is Tommy Robinson and you say you are against the Islamization of Britain, even while French-kissing a Black, Jewish, homosexual you are going to be called a “Nazi” and have the police set on you until they find some reason to put you behind bars.

All over the western world there are examples and ordinary people are asking themselves, “If they can do these things, why can’t we?” The ruling, liberal elites are making Mussolini’s case for him; either they win or we do, there can be no compromises because while you play by the rules, they do not and they can get away with it and you cannot. Think you have democracy? In Great Britain, polls have shown a vast majority of the public wants no more immigration, which includes a huge number of immigrants themselves and yet neither the Labour Party nor the Tory Party or the Liberal Democrats would ever think of actually halting immigration. Vote for more benefits and fewer military forces, that’s great but vote for no immigration or even slightly less immigration and you are out of bounds. You are only allowed to have democracy when the majority is in line with what their liberal rulers want. Again, people are going to be or are being faced with the question of why they should bother carrying on this charade of liberal democracy with the rule of law, civil rights, checks and balances and all the rest when only one side adheres to it? After being told that it’s wrong to think your people are better than other peoples to being told that it’s wrong to prefer your own people to other peoples to being told that it’s wrong to even want your own people to *survive* as a people because your “representative democracy” has given you rulers that feel as though they represent foreign peoples as much as if not more than you, after a certain point you are going to stop and wonder if there is anyone on your side or if there ever has been.

No one should be surprised if people come to that and see only the likes of Hitler looking smugly back at them. After all, these people have had it pounded into there heads that they are “Nazis” even without such seemingly minor details as a world war or genocide. You don’t hate anyone, you don’t wish harm on anyone and you would certainly never harm anyone yourself but if you would prefer that France be populated by French people rather than Arabs or Africans you are called a Nazi. You don’t want to see anyone bullied, harassed, tortured or killed but you think homosexuality shouldn’t be celebrated so you are called a Nazi. You believe in free speech, free elections, limited government but that the rules should apply to everyone no matter their race or religion, once again, you are called a Nazi. If you agree that your people have made mistakes in the past, done some pretty terrible things to others over the centuries but that you and your ancestors are not the worst human beings in the history of the world, you are still called a Nazi. If they keep this up, not only is the slur going to lose its sting but our suffering, guilt-ridden masses are going to start to believe it is true.

After all, many are only one step away as it is. When you look at the totality of National Socialist Germany, you will find that most of it has been embraced by almost the whole of Europe. You have your environmentalism, your bans on smoking, the state guaranteeing you a job, the equality of all citizens, socialism (because even the people who thoughts Germans were a superior race didn’t think they were capable of succeeding in a competitive free market), old age pensions, the power of the state to seize land for the collective good, state controlled education and guaranteed higher education for all, centralized power and ultimately a pan-European super-state and so on. In other words, take out the racist stuff and the death penalty and there is near nothing in the platform of the National Socialist party that would be objectionable in Europe today. Hitler could have been just as dictatorial, just as aggressive, just as murderous as he was and if he had just not been a racist, he would have admirers all over the halls of power today. Obama might even have his face on a Christmas tree ornament instead of Chairman Mao. So, what modern German people are basically being told by their current masters is that the only thing really fundamentally wrong with Hitler was that he thought the German people were the best in the world when he should have thought, as they do, that Germans are the worst ever.

My new personal favorite in regards to this sort of thing came from an article by Andrew Roberts in “The Telegraph” which called Donald Trump “the Mussolini of America”. Upon reading his long and unimaginative article, the basis for this assertion by Mr. Roberts boiled down to nothing more than Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again”. Now, stop for a moment and think about what that means, about what message Mr. Roberts is (presumably) unintentionally sending. He’s basically saying that Mussolini wanted to make Italy great again, and we know Mussolini was a Fascist (he invented it) and so, therefore, anyone who wants to make their country “great” must be a Fascist too! Mussolini also predicted that nostalgia for Fascism would grow in Italy as people remembered ‘the good old days’. This too, the left is working hard to make prophetic in as much as they have seemingly declared national greatness, any sort of national pride and any desire for a people or their country to aspire to something better to be the sole domain of Fascism. If their aim is to prevent countries and peoples from being “great”, any time before they held power will easily become a focus of nostalgia. They are handing a victory to the enemies they claim to despise the most which they could not have won on their own.

So, what then, is the alternative? What is the cure for this illness, the answer to this dilemma? There is no easy solution. It rests on all of us. It rests on us to not be cowed by threats and insults. It rests on us to stand up for our people and our country and not allow ourselves to be so soured by current imperfections that we join the ranks of those who wish to destroy us. It rests on us to return to the values, the ethics and the faith that made us great and prosperous. Nothing can replace vigilance and the constant need to defend what we have. In the United States, the written Constitution was supposed to protect us from much of what afflicts us today but we have allowed it to be violated and ignored. In countries like Britain, Denmark or Norway, the Crown was supposed to protect the people from their government (as the Austrian Emperor once famously told President Teddy Roosevelt) but they have been allowed to be shackled and silenced with the support of the populace. We must also stand for something higher, something nobler and we must also resist the urge, encouraged by our leftist enemies, to turn on our own kind, in our own countries and those that are and have long been our closest allies. We have a unique ability none others can match to point back to a greater example, untainted by an political demagogue, that western civilization can take a just and righteous pride in. We can give people examples of heroic leadership that was as benevolent as it was glorious which none of our enemies from any corner of the political field can ever hope to compete with. We have the truth on our side and facts no one can change; it was our side that gave every people their own ‘Golden Age’.

1 November, Antonio, Cardinal Bacci: Meditations For Each Day

The Feast of All Saints

1. Today's feast should inspire in us a burning desire to become holy. Men long for many things in this world, things which are often useless and even sinful. They desire riches, pleasure, honours, success and material comfort. These things may be lawful, but they cannot satisfy the human heart which is made for God. Whenever we achieve any of our ambitions in this world, are we in fact happy or even perfectly satisfied? The truth is that we are not, because the soul is greater than the objects which surround us. God alone can fill and satisfy it.
Sanctity should be our principal ambition. We should yearn to be more closely united to God so that His Divinity may be reflected in our thoughts and in our actions. If we enjoy God's friendship, we shall become more like God and shall be lifted up above petty mundane considerations. Perhaps we doubt our ability to reach such a high spiritual level? Even so, we should nevertheless desire to reach it, and not just, in a passing and indifferent manner, but constantly and actively. We should keep our desire alive by repeating it to ourselves and by continually praying for God's grace to fulfil it. "I intend to become holy," said little Dominic Savio, and he kept the promise which he had made to God. Many people have formed the same resolution, both desert hermits and University professors, both humble workmen and rulers of nations. Since we ought to have the same intention, what is there to prevent us? Let us make this resolution now and put it into effect with the help of God.

2. God addressed the same command to all of us. “You shall make and keep yourselves holy, because I am holy.” (Lev. 11:44; Peter 1:16) “You are to be perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Mt. 5:48)

We are all obliged to strive to become holy, to work hard towards this  end, and to ask for the grace to sustain us in our efforts. We should not say that sanctity is impossible for us, because everything is possible with God's help. Let us imagine that we are in Heaven and can behold the innumerable choirs of the Blessed enjoying the unlimited and unending happiness of God's company. Nevertheless, they were once people like ourselves, with the same passions, failings, and temptations. They fought valiantly, supported by the grace of God; they conquered and were awarded the palm of victory. Now they enjoy everlasting happiness. Let us remember the words of St. Augustine: "If others, why not I?" If they succeeded in becoming holy, why cannot I do likewise?

3. In these days when the Church is so anxious to foster devotion to the Saints, let us fervently invoke their patronage. They arc our brothers and they reach out lovingly to assist us, because they desire us to share in their glory.

As we know, the Church is threefold. There is the Church militant, to which we belong; there is the Church suffering, which consists of the souls in Purgatory; and there is the Church triumphant, which is made up of the Blessed in Heaven. The bond of charity unites all three divisions. We who are still on earth have brothers and sisters in eternal glory who love us and intercede for us. Let us pray to them fervently and constantly. Above all, let us seek to imitate the sanctity which won such glory for them.

IN LUMINE FIDEI: 1 NOVEMBER – ALL SAINTS

IN LUMINE FIDEI: 1 NOVEMBER – ALL SAINTS: Dom Prosper Guéranger: The bells ring out as joyously as on the brightest days. They announce the great solemnity of the closing Cycle...

1 November, A Chesterton Calendar

NOVEMBER 1st

ALL SAINTS' DAY

You cannot deny that it is perfectly possible that to-morrow morning in Ireland or in Italy there might appear a man not only as good but good in exactly the same way as St. Francis of Assisi. Very well; now take the other types of human virtue: many of them splendid. The English gentleman of Elizabeth was chivalrous and idealistic. But can you stand still in this meadow and be an English gentleman of Elizabeth? The austere republican of the eighteenth century, with his stern patriotism and his simple life, was a fine fellow. But have you ever seen him? Have you ever seen an austere republican? Only a hundred years have passed and that volcano of revolutionary truth and valour is as cold as the mountains of the moon. And so it will be with the ethics which are buzzing down Fleet Street at this instant as I speak. What phrase would inspire a London clerk or workman just now? Perhaps that he is a son of the British Empire on which the sun never sets; perhaps that he is a prop of his Trades Union, or a class-conscious proletarian something or other; perhaps merely that he is a gentleman, when he obviously is not. Those names and notions are all honourable, but how long will they last? Empires break; industrial conditions change; the suburbs will not last for ever. What will remain? I will tell you: the Catholic saint will remain.

'The Ball and the Cross.'

The Holy Rule of St Benedict, Father of Western Monks

CHAPTER XXV. Of Graver Faults

2 Mar. 2 July. 1 Nov.

Let that brother who is found guilty of a more grievous offence be excluded both from the table and from the Oratory, and let none of the brethren consort with him or speak to him. Let him be alone at the work enjoined him, and continue in penance and sorrow, remembering that dreadful sentence of the Apostle, “That such a one is delivered over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.” Let him take his portion of food alone, in the measure and at the time that the Abbot shall think best for him. Let none of those who pass by bless him, nor the food that is given him.

2 November, The Roman Martyrology

Quarto Nonas Novémbris Luna sexta decima Anno Domini 2020

On the morrow is made the Commemoration of all the faithful departed.

November 2nd 2020, the 16th day of the Moon, were born into the better life:

Holy Victorinus, Bishop of Poitiers, who, after publishing many writings, as witnesseth holy Jerome, was crowned with martyrdom in the persecution under the Emperor Diocletian.
At Trieste, blessed Justus, who, in the same persecution, was martyred under the President Manatius.
At Sebaste, under the Emperor Licinius, the holy martyrs Carterius, Styriacus, Tobias, Eudoxius, Agapius, and their Companions.
In Persia, the holy martyrs Acindynus, Pegasius, Aphthonius, Elpidephorus, and Anempodistus, with many others their Companions.
In Africa, the holy martyrs Publius, Victor, Hermes, and Papias.
At Tarsus, in Cilicia, under the Emperor Julian the Apostate, the holy Virgin and martyr Eustochium, who, after grievous torments, gave up her soul in prayer to God.
At Laodicea, in Syria, (in the year 334) holy Theodotus, Bishop (of that see,) who excelled not in word only, but in deed and in power.
At Vienne, (in the seventh century,) holy George, Bishop (of that see.)
In the monastery of St. Moritz, in Switzerland, (in the sixth century,) the holy Abbot Ambrose.
At Cyrus, in Syria, the holy Confessor Marcian, (fourth century.)
V. And elsewhere many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
R. Thanks be to God.

Memes of the Day

 

Clergy Speak-Out On Joe Biden

Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops and simple Priests are speaking out. A Catholic CANNOT vote for Biden!

From Anti-Catholic Ticket

Father James Altman, Pastor, St. James the Less, La Crosse, WI
"You cannot be a Catholic and a Democrat. Period." Source

Father John Boye, Pastor, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Cottage Grove, OR.
“It is particularly scandalous today that the most prominent Catholic politicians are the most anti-life. Such Catholics are truly wolves in sheep’s clothing.” Source

Cardinal Raymond Burke, Former Prefect of the Church's Highest Court
“Joe Biden is not a Catholic in good standing and he should not approach to receive Holy Communion.” Source

Fr. Kevin Cusick, Pastor, Saint Francis de Sales Catholic Church, Benedict, Maryland
“Joe Biden is not a practicing Catholic. And practicing Catholics cannot vote for Biden for president in good conscience." Source

Bishop Thomas Daly, Bishop of Spokane
“But if abortion is intrinsically evil, which Bishop McElroy admits to, how can Catholics vote for a candidate like Biden? He has moved in an aggressive way to do all he can to make sure abortion is available. He has walked away from the Hyde Amendment. If elected, he will push for legislation that furthers abortion. He is not passive on this issue. There is no nuance. He has taken a strong stand.” Source

Fr. Stephen Imbarrato, Activist pro-life Catholic priest, regular on EWTN, member of Red Rose Rescues
“[Biden] is a walking and talking scandal to his Catholic faith and has rightly been refused the Eucharist because he persists in ongoing mortal sin thus separating himself from communion with the Church. He scandalizes the Catholic faith in so many ways that objectively he actually seems “anti Catholic” in his beliefs.” Source

Bishop Joseph Kurtz, Archbishop of Louisville
“When a prominent Catholic politician [like Joe Biden] publicly and voluntarily officiates at a ceremony to solemnize the relationship of two people of the same-sex, confusion arises regarding Catholic teaching on marriage and the corresponding moral obligations of Catholics. What we see is a counter witness, instead of a faithful one founded in the truth.” Source

Fr. Edward Meeks, Pastor, Christ the King Church, Towson Maryland
“How dare you! How dare you present yourself so publicly as a faithful Catholic while trampling on the some of the Church’s most serious and most fervently held moral precepts?” Source

Fr. Robert Morey, Pastor, Saint Anthony Catholic Church, Florence, South Carolina
“Sadly, this past Sunday, I had to refuse Holy Communion to former Vice President Joe Biden. Holy Communion signifies we are one with God, each other and the Church. Our actions should reflect that. Any public figure who advocates for abortion places himself or herself outside of Church teaching.” Source

Cardinal Gerhard Müller, Former Prelate of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
"Its better to vote for a good Protestant than a bad Catholic.” Source

Archbishop Joseph Naumann, Archbishop of Kansas City and chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities
"Joe Biden was asked how he squared his support for legalized abortion with his Catholic faith. Again, he looked into the camera and said he believed in the sanctity of human life, but he did not think it right to impose his moral beliefs on others. Believing that an unborn child is an innocent human life and supporting the rights of others to kill this innocent child is anything but thoughtful. It is intellectually and morally an incoherent position.” Source

Father Michael O'Connor, Pastor of Our Lady of the Gulf, Bay St. Louis, MS.
"Joe Biden embraces teachings that are absolutely and fundamentally opposed to the priorities of our Church, to protect life, to protect the sanctity and the holiness of marriage. He is, in some respects, an embarrassment to Catholicism.” Source

Fr. Michael Orsi, Priest of the Diocese of Camden, New Jersey
“Joe Biden has stubbornly and contumaciously ignored Church teaching on abortion and Religious Freedom.” Source

Bishop Thomas Paprocki, Bishop of Springfield, IL.
“Biden and Harris “support the Democratic Party Platform promoting abortion and calling for the use of federal taxpayer funding of abortion and the appointment of pro-abortion judges. Biden also pledged to restore the Obama-Biden policy that mandates churches, businesses, colleges, and religious orders like the Little Sisters of the Poor to provide coverage for abortion pills in their employees’ health insurance plans.” Source

Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life
“[Biden’s] failure to protect the unborn puts him not only in conflict with the Catholic faith but with the Christian Gospel, the Founding principles of America, the very meaning of public service, and basic human decency. You can’t kill babies, and you can’t authorize anyone else to do so.” Source

Bishop Kevin Rhoades, Bishop of South Bend, IN.

Regarding Joe Biden: “I believe it is wrong for Notre Dame to honor any 'pro-choice' public official with the Laetare Medal, even if he/she has other positive accomplishments in public service, since direct abortion is gravely contrary to the natural law and violates a very fundamental principle of Catholic moral and social teaching: the inalienable right to life of every innocent human being from the moment of conception. I also question the propriety of honoring a public official who was a major spokesman for the redefinition of marriage.” Source

Bishop Richard Stika, Bishop of Knoxville, Tennessee
“[I] don't understand how Mr. Biden can claim to be a good and faithful Catholic as he denies so much of Church teaching, especially on the absolute child abuse and human rights violations of the most innocent, the not yet born. And he also praises his sidekick who has shown time and time again in senate hearings that she is an anti-Catholic bigot.” Source

Bishop Joseph Strickland, Bishop of Tyler, Texas
“As the Bishop of Tyler I endorse Fr Altman’s statement in this video. My shame is that it has taken me so long. Thank you Fr Altman for your COURAGE. If you love Jesus & His Church & this nation…please HEED THIS MESSAGE.” Source

Bishop Thomas Tobin, Bishop of Providence, Rhode Island
“Biden-Harris. First time in awhile that the Democratic ticket hasn’t had a Catholic on it. Sad.” Source

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, Former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States
“[If Biden were elected,] we would find ourselves facing an Orwellian dictatorship desired by both the 'Deep State' and the 'Deep Church,' in which the rights that today are considered fundamental and inalienable would be trampled with the complicity of mainstream media." Source

Amid Protests, Polish President Backs Abortion for Fatal Fetal Abnormalities

Sad, sad news from Poland. I had thought better of Duda. He should call out the army and restore order, not kowtow to the baby-killers!

From Catholic World Report

By CNA

CNA Staff, Oct 30, 2020 / 01:01 pm (CNA).- Facing protests across the country after a court ruling prohibiting abortion for fetal abnormalities, the Polish president said Friday he would propose a bill permitting abortion in cases of fatal fetal abnormality.

Andrzej Duda said Oct. 30 he would introduce a bill to allow abortion “when prenatal tests or other medical indications show a high probability that the child will be stillborn or have an incurable disease or defect that will lead to the death of the child inevitably and directly, regardless of the therapeutic measures used,” Reuters reported.

Protests across Poland began after the constitutional court ruled Oct. 22 that a law permitting abortion for fetal abnormalities was unconstitutional. The Polish constitution says that the state “shall ensure the legal protection of the life of every human being”.

The court was asked to examine the law last year by a group of 119 MPs belonging to the ruling Law and Justice party, as well as two smaller parties.

About 1,000 abortions are legally procured in the country annually, the vast majority of them on the basis of fetal abnormality.

Abortion will continue to remain legal in cases of rape, incest, and risk to the mother’s life.

Duda initially welcomed the court ruling, telling the Warsaw daily Dziennik Gazeta Prawna Oct. 23 “that abortion for so-called eugenic reasons should not be allowed in Poland. I believed and believe that every child has a right to life.”

The AP reported Oct. 29 that Duda had told RMF FM that abortion should be prohibited for non-fatal fetal conditions such as Down syndrome, but permitted for fatal abnormalities: “it cannot be that the law requires this kind of heroism from a woman.”

He said: “I believe that there should be a regulation which, in case of lethal defects, will unequivocally guarantee the rights on the side of the woman.”

Protesters have been blocking roads and bridges, and disrupting churches, across Poland. A mass protest is occurring Friday evening in Warsaw.

Supporters of abortion rights disrupted Sunday Masses across Poland this weekend. They have also left graffiti on church property, vandalized a statue of St. John Paul II, and chanted slogans at clergy. Roads and bridges have been blocked, and some workers were on strike Oct. 28.

Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski has said 76 people have been detained in connection with protests at churches, and 101 cases are being prosecuted.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has warned the protests will contribute to the spread of the coronavirus. Poland has had more than 299,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19, and 4,851 deaths.

Five people have been charged with organizing an illegal protest attended by 850 on Oct. 29 in Police, about 10 miles north of Szczecin.

And the national public prosecutor has said protest organizers will be charged with “causing an epidemiological threat”.

Internationally, protests have been held outside Polish embassies, ranging from tens gathered in Rome, to more than a thousand in Stockholm.

The permanent council of the Polish bishops’ conference said Oct. 28 that the Church makes a “constant call for protection, including legal protection, of the life of every human being, including the unborn.”

“The commandment of love imposes on us an important duty of caring, helping, and giving mothers and families who receive and raise sick children the protection they need,” the bishops reflected. “We thank all communities and institutions that have been doing this for years, and we appeal to parishes, Catholic movements, and other church organizations to undertake specific initiatives to meet those who need and will need both individual and institutional help.”

“The Church will always stand for life and support initiatives that protect it,” they added.

The bishops spoke of their “great pain” at “the escalation of social tension and aggression” during the protests.

“The vulgar language used by some of the protesters, the destruction of social property, the devastation of churches, the profanation of sacred places, or prevention of the liturgy there are also disturbing.”

“We call on everyone to engage in meaningful social dialogue, to express their views without resorting to violence, and to respect the dignity of every human being,” they said.

The bishops commented that “we ask politicians and all participants of the social debate, at this dramatic time, to thoroughly analyze the causes of the situation and look for ways out, in the spirit of truth and for the common good, without instrumentalizing matters regarding the faith and the Church.”

The bishops thanked the pastors and laity “who are courageously defending their churches,” as well as the security services. “The Church wants to remain open to all people, regardless of their social and political affiliation,” they noted.

Reflecting on the impositions due to the coronavirus pandemic, they appealed for “solidarity and compliance with the sanitary safety regulations.”

“We also ask all believers to fast, to give alms, and to pray for social peace, with the intention of protecting life, putting an end to the ongoing crisis, and ending the developing pandemic,” they concluded.