The Heart

"Notice the way in which Zacchaeus confessed his sin. He did not say: “Lord, I am a sinful man!”, or “Avarice is my sickness!” No; but, showing the fruits of repentance, he thus confessed his sin and his sickness: “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor.” is not this a clear confession that riches are his passion? “And if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.” Is not this a clear confession that his riches were acquired in a sinful manner? He did not, before this, say to the Lord: “I am a sinner, and I repent.” He confessed this silently to the Lord in his heart, and the Lord silently received his confession and repentance.

It is of more importance to the Lord that a man acknowledge and confess his sickness and cry for help in his heart than with this tongue, for the tongue is capable of deception, but the heart is not."

-St. Nikolai Velimirovich

Our Faith

Friends, with the sufferings we have to go through in this life, let us deal with them with a calm mind and by telling ourselves all things will pass.  However, may we never fall into doubt regarding the Truth of our Catholic Faith.  In my mind, once we lose the Faith, we lose everything.  If this tragic situation occurs, not only are we suffering in the life but we have lost our chance to redeem this suffering and we will spend the next in the hellfire.

Please friends, hold on to this venerable Faith of ours for everything else is trivial in comparison.

May all the Holy Martyrs of our Faith pray for us.

Max Richter - On the Nature of Daylight

The Home of Cricket

A beautiful short video on my favorite cricket ground, Lord's.  There are many wonderful honors in the world of sport but I cannot think of anything more supreme than playing test cricket at Lord's for England.

Can you think of all the men who are part of the mystic of this ground?  Sir Donald Bradman, Sir Jack Hobbs, Herbert Sutcliffe, Brian Lara, Sachin, Rahul Dravid, Ricky Ponting, Andrew Strauss...

Sin

There are several beautiful things in our Catholic Faith.  The Liturgy, the Mysteries (Sacraments), the Saints, devotions, etc..

What I find to be especially moving is a Priest sitting in a Confessional listening to the confessions of sinners.  The sinner, recognizing his own dirtiness, recognizing that he is the chief of sinners, comes humbly to the Priest because he is the only one can absolve sins.  

Pray for our Priests.  Pray for the Catholic faithful.  Pray for those who go to Confession regularly.  Pray for those who have not gone for some while but are currently battling the devil who is trying to keep them away from the Sacrament.

Happy Candlemas.

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A note on Candlemas.  I had the special grace to assist at the Mass which was celebrated in the traditional Norbertine Rite.  I was able to see a procession where the Sacred Ministers wore violet and the Deacon and the Subdeacon wore folded chasubles!  I never thought I would enter a Church and see folded chasubles but there they were!  May God be praised in our quest to restore Tradition! 

Medieval Chant - Salve Regina

Interior Battles

“All the trials we endure cannot be compared to these interior battles.” 

-St. Teresa of Avila