LIVE-STREAMING of Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Traditional Catholic Masses and devotions from St. Gertrude the Great in Ohio and St. Jude’s in Stafford, Texas can be found here and here.

A description of the great metaphysical drama remembered and re-enacted this week from the St. Andrew’s Missal:

The drama of the Passion is universal and in one sense will end only with the world itself, for all men, by their sins, have taken a share in the death of Christ. Jesus was bound to triumph through those very atoning sufferings by which He became the Victim of every passion which shall agitate the human race until the end of the world. For He has atoned for the pride of those who share the hatred of truth which turned the Jews into murderers; the avarice of those who are possessed by the demon of greed which drove Judas to sell his master; the lust of all who indulge in sensual delights like Herod, who mocked Jesus and sent him back to Pilate; the cruelty of those who love to cause suffering like the soldiers, who struck our Lord and insulted Him; and the cowardice of all who leave the path of duty like the Apostles, who forsook Him to whom they owed everything.

Our Lord’s Passion is the whole of humanity, hurling itself upon its divine healer and yet cured by Him ….

THIS photo of a supposed victim of the attack in the Brussels metro is so fake, it’s laughable. Two people are hugging next to the injured man with no concern for him at all. They can’t even cover his bare skin with a jacket or respond to his plea for help. They appear completely unconcerned. Another woman is doing what? Looking for the can of red pigment dye?

In this age of cellphones, there should be dozens of images of bloody carnage. Instead, there are these posed photos.

Lamentation, Rogier Van der Weyden; 1441

FROM Fr. Frederick William Faber’s At the Foot of the Cross:

NOWHERE in the Old Testament do we seem to come so near to God as in the book of Job. Nowhere is He more awfully enshrouded in mystery, or more terrible in His counsels regarding the children of men; and yet nowhere is He more plainly or more tenderly our Father. It is because the mystery of suffering is depicted therein. Because it is all so human, it seems to lead us so far into the Divine. Because it is the uttermost trial of the creature, he lies the more completely in the Creator’s arms. The calamities of Job are to the Old Testament what the Passion of our Lord is to the New, and the one was an intentional foreshadowing of the other. When we come to speak of our Lady’s dolors, we remember the touching picture of Job’s friends, when they heard of his afflictions and came to visit him. “When they had lifted up their eyes afar off, they knew him not, and crying out they wept, and rending their garments, they sprinkled dust upon their heads toward Heaven. And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no man spoke to him a word; for they saw that his grief was very great.” They knew that silence was the best consolation. Read More »

Crucifixion, Andrea Da Firenze, 1370-77

HERE IS ANOTHER profound insight from St. Thomas Aquinas:

The Mode of the Passion. So must the Son of Man be lifted up.

This refers to His being raised upon the cross. He willed to die lifted up, (i) To purify the air: already He had purified the earth by the holiness of His living there, it still remained for Him to purify, by His dying there, the air; (ii) To triumph over the devils, who in the air, make their preparations to war on us; (iii) To draw our hearts to His heart,  I, if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all things to myself (John xii. 32). Since in the death of the cross He was exalted, and since it was there that He overcame His enemies, we say that He was exalted rather than that He died. He shall drink of the torrent by the way side; therefore shall Hie lift up His head (Ps. cix. 7).

Christ on the Cross, Albrecht Altodorfer; c. 1520

CHRIST in his Passion suffered more than any human being has ever suffered. The more elevated a being, the greater its potential for suffering. Given his divine nature, Christ was capable of a level of sensitivity, both physical and mental, which dwarfs that of any normal human being.

Thomas Aquinas wrote of Christ’s Passion:

The Passion of Christ is by itself sufficient to form us in every virtue. For whoever wishes to live perfectly, need do no more than scorn what Christ scorned on the cross, and desire what He there desired. There is no virtue of which, from the cross, Christ does not give us an example.

If you seek an example of charity, Greater love than this no man hath, than that a man lay down His life for his friends (John xv. 13), and this Christ did on the cross. And since it was for us that He gave his life, it should not be burdensome to bear for Him whatever evils come our way. What shall I render to the Lord, for all the things that He hath rendered to me (Ps. cxv. 12).  Read More »

CLIPS from Mel Gibson’s movie, The Passion of the Christ

FROM Bernie Suarez:

 As we saw in the Paris attacks, once again we’re seeing a “global” component to the “reaction” phase of the usual problem-reaction-solution dialectic employed by the controllers. Look for it. Problem at point A, subsequent “reaction” to the problem at point B, all the way on the other side of the world. This then leads to a “solution” that applies to both point A and B. This also serves to endorse the illusion that the bogeymen, in this case ISIS of course, involved in the Brussels attack are somehow everywhere at once. Read More »

CHAOS FRANK banishes the sacred from Holy Thursday. The anti-pope takes the annual foot-washing ceremony to a whole new level of apostasy by washing the feet of Muslims and other non-Catholics. The Ding Dong School of Apostasy has no shame. It despises the profundity and truths of the Catholic Church. Novus Ordo Watch reports:

Francis is a demagogue of the most cunning sort. He conveniently fails to distinguish genuine refugees from mere “migrants” and thus exploits people’s good will and naiveté. His moralizing appeals to people to “welcome migrants” and “open hearts” consist of one-sided, dangerous half-truths that are not derived from Catholic principles but are simply an expression of pseudo-spiritual sentimentality. His bogus Naturalism is ultimately founded on a denial of original sin, that is, on a denial of the fact that our human nature is fallen. This is something he has in common with Benedict XVI.

By the way, there is nothing good or holy or worthy of compassion in being a migrant per se. The word “migrant” simply denotes someone who moves from one place to another. In and of itself, this is neither good nor bad; it is morally indifferent. Just because someone wants to move from one country to another doesn’t mean the desire is justified, prudent, or holy, and the destination country certainly has no moral obligation to grant entry to the migrant. On the contrary: A country which allows entry to anyone who asks, merely because he asks, is in grave danger of destroying itself. A nation without borders is not a nation, and a country’s first obligation is towards its own citizens, not towards everyone else.

This really isn’t complex philosophy, this is basic common sense.

The Last Supper, Christ and the apostles at table, 15th century; Alexander Master; The Hague 

FROM Dom Prosper Gueranger’s Liturgical Year:

This is the first day of the Azymes, or Feast of the Unleavened Bread. At sunset, the Jews must eat the Pasch in Jerusalem. Jesus is still in Bethania; but He will return to the City before the hour for the Paschal supper. The Law commands this; and, until He has abrogated the Law by the shedding of His Blood, He wishes to observe its ordinances. He therefore sends two of His Disciples to get everything ready for the Pasch, without, however, telling them the great Mystery, wherewith it is to terminate. We who know it, and that it was at this Last Supper that was instituted the Sacrament of the Eucharist, we can understand why He sends Peter and John, in preference to any of the other Disciples, to prepare what is needed (St. Luke, xxii. 8.). Peter, who was the first to confess the Divinity of Jesus, represents Faith: and John, who leaned upon the breast of the Man-God, represents Love. The mystery, which is to be instituted at tonight’s Supper, is revealed to Love by Faith. It is this that Jesus would have us learn from His choice of the two Apostles; but they themselves see not the intention of their Master. Read More »

TONY writes:

I have just mailed you a small donation. While I enjoy reading all of your posts, I just want to relate how one recent post was so important to me.

It was the message from the woman whose husband is a non-believer. She related how he belittled her and treated her quite badly for her beliefs. You wrote in reply,”Rejoice in your rejection.” That truly struck a chord with me. I have struggled for over 25 years with a regret related to a girl I loved. She chose another at that time. Read More »

PAUL C. writes:

Democrats, Republicans, and the Supreme Court are tearing a six-year-old away from her family of five years.  Indians (Native Americans), as part of the establishment axis, have turned most Americans into a kind of cuckhold, an American culture that would watch an Indian culture tear Lexi from her American culture. Lexi, you see, is 1.5% Indian, and by legislative action and Court approval, she must be returned to her distant Indian in-laws. According to the minds of many Indians, her white family can be punished for the supposed sins of their ancestors, unlike Indian ancestors.  And they ignore that they punish Lexi also.  Many Indians, apparently, don’t care that Lexi has cultural attachments far more influential than her non-existent Indian cultural attachment.  They pretend minority discrimination as their reason. Read More »

PHILLIP MERICLE reviews an Adam S. Miller book on the Civil War:

As such the expression ”Civil War” is a misnomer, as the control of the Northern government was never contested. Miller offers a few alternative titles, such as “The War for Southern Independence,” “The War of Federal Aggression” or “The War against Southern Secession” as more accurate options. Read More »

Source

The Cistercian monastery of Rievaulx Abbey, Yorkshire, UK; founded in 1132 and abandoned during the 16th-century dissolution of the monasteries

THE Rev. Frederick William Faber (1814-1863), the famous English theologian and hymnist, wrote his book Bethlehem three years before his death. An excerpt:

The Incarnation lies at the bottom of all sciences, and is  their ultimate explanation. It is the secret beauty in all arts. It is the completeness of all true philosophies. It is the point of arrival and departure to all history. The destinies of nations, as well as of individuals, group themselves around it. It purifies all happiness, and glorifies all sorrow. It is the cause of all we see, and the pledge of all we hope for. It is the great central fact both of life and immortality, out of sight of which man’s intellect wanders in the darkness, and the light of a divine life falls not on his footsteps. Read More »

Christus factus est pro nobis obediens usque ad mortem mortem autem crucis.
Propter quod et Deus exaltavit illum: et dedit illi nomen quod est super omne nomen.
Christus factus est pro nobis obediens usque ad mortem mortem autem crucis.

Christ became obedient for us unto death, even to the death of the cross.
For which cause God also exalted Him and hath given Him a Name which is above all names.
Christ became obedient for us unto death, even to the death of the cross.

FOR MORE liturgical novelty, see Call Me Jorge.

E. MICHAEL JONES talks briefly on the connection between sodomy and usury.

Why is this emergency worker looking right into the camera instead of wiping this woman’s face?

JOHN Rappoport writes on the terrorist attack which occurred at 9:11 a.m. yesterday in the city where the E.U. is headquartered:

Somewhere in the bowels of the EU headquarters, a high-ranking official is standing in front of a mirror, applying tan base to his parched pale face, combing his sparse hair, rehearsing his upcoming statement to the press:

“Let’s see. Reality versus appearance. The reality is, this is perfect for us. An attack within a mile of our building. We couldn’t have anything to do with it. We’re victims. We’ve been making sure the governments of Europe keep their borders open, to let in terrorists, and so on. Now, when I appear before reporters…the appearance. I need to affect an expression of outrage mixed with sadness. Dignified. Do dignified. ‘The terrible events of today, the assault on Europe, on the stability of society. We will not rest until we bring the criminals to justice. At the same time, we must not fall into the trap of believing that all people coming to our lands are’…no, scratch that last part. Too early for that. The bodies are still lying on the ground. Stay with the outrage and the sadness. And assurances that we will work harder to gain control over the situation. We all stand united. Together. Our thoughts are with the grieving families…”

He walks out into a large hall, exits the building, and stands before a throng of reporters. He nods, steps to a podium. He looks out into the distance, as if summoning up a greater understanding. Read More »