There is a lot to discuss in this. At some point we should try for a transcript. Listen to the whole thing before reacting. I know, I know… there’s combox and some people click into full “OOGA BOOGA” mode and have to start spouting before they’ve even gotten past the title. Try for a little patience. It won’t hurt.
BTW… what group within the Catholic Church is more aligned with Peterson’s message than most others? And what does that say about those who are trying to suppress them?
I have long observed that a demographic sinkhole is opening up under the Church here in these USA. The fact is that lots of “nones” will stop even pretending to embrace the family religion. Also, the inexorable movement of time is applying the “biological solution” to us all. We will lose a lot of seasoned Catholics and, with them, their financial support. Their children are already going and gone.
Corona lockdown melodrama has accelerated the opening of the sinkhole. I suspect that quite a few people who barely went to church will disappear pretty much for good. A stronger Church and stronger bishops would have made a little difference, however. The weakness we showed, however, did huge damage.
That said, many traditional Masses kept going and traditional priests found creative ways to keep things going. This did not go unnoticed, either by the rank and file nor by the powers that be.
I still believe that as the sinkhole widens, two main groups will stay strong, those who want Tradition and also those who are converts from an evangelical background along with charismatics with sound devotions. These groups will find each other. There will be some friction points along the way, but they will begin to integrate. That’ll be something to see.
Thus I come to my point. I saw a really interesting story that dovetails with what I describe above.
From Faithwire:
‘God Is Gonna Use Her’: Meet the Incredible McDonald’s Worker on Mission From God to Pray With and Inspire Customers
A Mississippi McDonald’s worker inspires customers and her community daily by sharing her faith — and prayer — with those who visit her restaurant.
Brenda Wilson’s story emerged after a photo of her impromptu prayer with a customer gained traction on social media. Now, she’s explaining why she takes the time to pray with those she encounters.
“Because all things are possible through Jesus Christ. If I didn’t have God, ain’t no way these folks are going to stand here and let me pray through the drive-thru and hold up their times,” Wilson told WLOX-TV. “We have times that we have to go through, but he allows me 15 seconds with each one that I pray with. It’s like, when they leave and have tears in their eyes, I know God touched your heart.”
She said she feels led by God to offer these prayers — and others agree.
A customer named Dylan Brooke shared a Facebook message last month detailing a recent interaction with Wilson, and it inspired thousands.
“She stopped me while I was going to get my drink and told me God told her she needed to pray for me right then and there,” Brooke wrote. “I’ve been silently struggling with a few things lately and having a hard time figuring it all out.”
Brooke said Wilson “got on her knees” and prayed over her struggles — issues she knew nothing about but was somehow still able to offer comfort. The customer said she “left in tears.”
“She hit every spot. Word for word, every issue. She knew,” Brooke wrote. “God works in mysterious ways.”
Wilson told WLOX-TV, while she now inspires others, her own life experience came with severe challenges. As a child, she was abused and faced difficulties that caused her to wonder, early on, if there even was a God.
[…]
Never underestimate the power of an invitation.
Fuse this sort of evangelical zeal, this level of personal skin in the game with the stability and clarity that is founded in the Traditional Latin Mass…
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Health report: As you may recall, I suspect that I had “Omicron”. I didn’t get tested, but the symptoms were consistent. I didn’t lose taste. I’ve been holding myself out of circulation for some days now. I figure I can get around a bit. Today is a regular chess club day. I will have to make a determination whether or not to go. Prudence suggests just a little longer.
However, on this sunny day, with cardinals and others singing all around the place, and after my repast of English breakfast tea and buttered toast with Patum Piperium (thank you sender!) I’m feeling rather shack-wacky and ready to get out.
Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the first match between Boris Spassky and Bobby Fisher in Iceland. Fischer lost on a blunder.
Today, 12 July was a rest day.
Speaking of 1972, and speaking of 1962, a date we venerate around here, I am presently reading the account of the Candidates tournament…
Curacao 1962: The Battle of Minds that Shook the Chess World
This is a fascinating account of the tournament with lots of personal anecdotes about the players, what sort of people they were, their interrelationships. Represented were Benko, young Fischer, Keres, Filip, Korchnoi, Geller, Petrosian, and Tal. It was here that Fischer told Sports Illustrated that the Soviets were conspiring to draw to make it hard for him, mathematically, to emerge victorious. Involved with this mess are the wives of Victor Korchnoi and Tigran Petrosian who were very thick with the Soviet handlers and were pressuring the rapid and easy draws.
So, here’s an easy endgame puzzle. Black to move and win.
I had learned to play chess from my grandfather and, by the time 1972 came around, I was well into competitions.
I spent a good share of my youth in the summers in the West, Montana and Wyoming. Let’s just say that in 1972 there was one conduit of information about The Match: the newspaper. I would nearly quiver myself into an alternative metauniverse waiting for the days’ notation.
TODAY… the match began. HERE
Fifty years ago.
I don’t know how he does it.
My friend Fr. Cliff Ermatinger has another promising book, now available.
Who’s Speaking?: Discerning the Good Shepherd’s Voice from that of the Stranger
The title and image are references to John 10:27-28: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand.”
I’ve done some reading of the book in PDF format which he sent me. It is very good.
And check these out as well.
The Trouble with Magic: Our Failed Search for More and Christ’s fulfillment of our Desires
by Fr. Cliff Ermatinger
US HERE – UK HERE (newly added)
From the description:
The original temptation of Adam and Eve is often depicted as a trivial thing, with our first parents gaining more than they had lost – the ability to choose for themselves good and evil. In this book Father Cliff Ermatinger shows us how what was lost, was far more precious than realized, what was acquired far more reaching in its damage than suspected, and the lengths that God would undergo to restore His lost creation more majestic than imaginable.
The reader is enjoined to come along on an examination of everything that brought humanity to this point in time: from a tree in the garden long ago, mankind’s tendencies towards superstition and turning to gods that cannot save, to the modern shaman in the corner shop that goes by other names: Tarot reader, Yoga guru, , Healer, Social Engineering Overlord. In the end, it is all the trouble with magic.
But this is not the end, for, as Father Ermatinger lays out, God’s ways are not our ways, and He will make straight that which we have broken while bringing the broken human person beyond the lost Eden into perfect communion with Himself.
His other titles are also worth your time! For example:
Rescued from Satan: 14 People Recount their Journey from Demonic Possession to Liberation
My good friend Fr. Gerald Murray, a fine canonist, has a forthright offering today at The Catholic Thing.
Excerpt:
When confronted by Speaker Pelosi and President Biden’s obstinate and scandalous public rejection of the Church’s teaching on the inherent immorality of abortion, the aim of the Church’s pastors must be the putting to an end of such scandal by convincing the offending parties to repent and recant.
Any word or deed, any silence or passivity of the Church’s shepherds likely to create the impression that Pelosi and Biden’s support for abortion is not really a serious offense against God’s law, and therefore does not render them ineligible to receive Holy Communion, is in fact a grave scandal that leads to great harm to the pastoral mission of the Church.
Read the whole thing there, but here is one more taste…
On the matter of killing unborn children, Pope Francis on the one hand forcefully condemns it, and on the other hand criticizes bishops who take steps to end public support for such killing by Catholic political leaders such as Pelosi and Biden. This puzzling dissonance frustrates bishops and others who see no good reason to avoid enforcing canon law in a matter of such gravity.
If Francis and the rest of these bishops won’t follow or apply the Church’s laws, why should we worry about the Church’s laws?
Too many people today are without good, strong preaching, to the detriment of all. Share the good stuff.
Was there a GOOD point made in the sermon you heard at your Mass of obligation for the 5th Sunday after Pentecost (15th Ordinary in the Novus)?
Tell about attendance especially for the Traditional Latin Mass. I hear that it is growing. Of COURSE.
Any local changes or (hopefully good) news?
A few thoughts of my own, HERE.
Today is the Feast of a saint about whom, when Padre Pio learned of her and her writings, said, “Someone who understands me.”
This is in Italian with subtitles. You will be riveted, so that’s okay.
This is super hard identity Catholicism.
Coat of Arms by D Burkart
A Daily Prayer for Priests
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