Viva Immaculata

For a great number of Catholic Irish-Scots this year has been quite momentous on the sporting field. It is 50 years since a group of young Scots, playing for one of Glasgow’s prodigious teams became the champions of Europe – which effectively meant they were the world’s greatest football (i.e. soccer) team. Why this anniversary has meant so much to so many is worth pondering, and maybe I’ll do so more fully on the 100th anniversary! One of the remarkable…

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Whether I like it or not, I’m a child of the revolution: I’ve swallowed much of the garabage in the swamp around me. And the swamp is full of cultural Marxism, progressive ideas, tolerance quotas, political correctness, capitalistic-communistic usury, the contraceptive mentality – and fear! There were three children (two in particular) who lived in recent times that were not trapped by the allurements of the world. They did not try to speak ‘the right way’ – or ‘the left…

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I used to think Pope John Paul II was totally fearless, Our Lady’s pope right to the end. Now? I wonder. The consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is a serious matter. Why then didn’t it take place as Our Lady commanded? If Our Lady called for it then surely obedience demanded that God’s will – spoken by Our Lady – be done. ‘Truth itself speaks truly, or there’s nothing true’ – and if the truth is…

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I. Doctoral Thesis incomplete Long before the ‘Year of Mercy’ and the Synods on Marriage and the Family there was a doctoral student, whose specialization was marriage and the family, who attempted to make a comparative study between St. Faustina Maria Kowalska’s understanding of divine mercy, and that proposed by the great devotee of herself, Pope John Paul II. As the thesis was being written many things in the Church and the world happened and the student in question withdrew…

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  Sometimes the things one hears cuts deep into the soul. And one is left without being able to respond. The contemporary cultural phrase that ends all discussion is, “Well, that’s your opinion….” It takes the floor away from any search for the truth – or even an attempt to present it. It seems to be a cultural form of self-defence – like an intellectual Jiu Jitzu move? It seems to give one “peace with God”. That, one thinks, would…

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Funny how sometimes the penny just drops and you get it. Popular rhetoric calls it the ‘Ah-ha moment’. I once heard it attributed to Bernard Lonergan – the Canadian Jesuit philosopher-theologian. Whatever it’s provence the term seems to catch what is meant by ‘the penny dropping’ or ‘enlightenment’. Suddenly one sees the reason for something. Basically, we all go from ignorance to understanding. There’s no shame in it; the shame would be in satisfaction with ignorance. It may takes years…

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He’s a dear friend, and speaks very much like many other men who have their story to tell. His dad was hard working, but never really there. Work became a sign of what real men where about – work and straight talking. Calling a spade for what it is; and not taking any nonsense from anyone. He’ll admit to his mistakes – but not in a public way that looks for a sympathy vote. His is the stoical Scots-Irish way….

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  Having completed another session in recitation of poetry with the little ones – they remember everything from ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ by Alfred Lord Tenyson, to ‘Jabberwockey’ by Lewis Carroll, and so much more – it is time to try something else. “What next?” “The Vessel with the Pessel!”, comes the cry from the balcony! “Yes! The Vessel with the Pessel!” It’s not actually a piece of poetry but the genius behind the composition, and more so…

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  Isn’t it great to feel alive – I mean, really feel it? A few years ago a friend was in a serious car accident. It was a miracle that he survived. That’s when it’s great to have friends – they prayed like Carmelites and he pulled through!!! When he walked out of the hospital six months later the head doctor smiled and said; “Yes, Mr. Smith, I think only God in Heaven knows how you survived.” But that wasn’t…

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Have you ever met someone who loves Our Lady, loves going to Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, tries to get to Confession twice a month, and the Holy Mass daily, reads the Sacred Scripture often, and can quote popes, saints, and Church history as if he were talking to his mother? Not to mention being fluent in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew – not to mention a host of languges picked up from his ‘travels.’ Seems like a pretty good Catholic…

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