Wait did sitcoms use to be good?

One of my recent meditation books was “The Ladder of Divine Ascent” by St John Climacus, and on the chapter on temperance he poses a mock challenge to the vice (demon) of gluttony. I think the response sums up the troubles we have in our pleasure worshipping culture today. When Christ said “this kind (demon) can go out by nothing, but prayer and fasting” I believe this may have been the one(s) he was referring to. Fasting and temperance is our greatest weapon from the all the disordered appetites of the body, and when you control (mortify) the stomach it is amazing how many other internal defects come in order (including a controlled lust- not elimination of it though because that is a disorder in itself)

“36. And gluttony, annoyed by these insults, raving with fury against us and foaming, replies: ‘Why are you who are my underlings overwhelming me with reproaches? How are you trying to get separated from me? I am bound to you by nature. The door for me is the nature of foods. The cause of my insatiability is habit. The foundation of my passion is repeated habit, insensibility of soul and forgetfulness of death. How do you seek to learn the names of my offspring? If I count them, they will be more in number than the sand. But learn at least the names of my first born and beloved children. My first-born son is a minister of fornication, the second after him is hardness of heart, and the third is sleepiness. From me proceed a sea of bad thoughts, waves of filth, depths of unknown and unnamed impurities. My daughters are laziness, talkativeness, familiarity in speech, jesting, facetiousness, contradiction, a stiff neck, obstinacy, disobedience, insensibility, captivity, conceit, audacity, boasting, after which follows impure prayer, whirling of thoughts, and often unexpected and sudden misfortunes, with which is closely bound despair, the most evil of all my daughters. The remembrance of falls resists me but does not conquer me. The thought of death is always hostile to me, but there is nothing among men that destroys me completely. He who has received the Comforter prays to Him against me; and the Comforter, when appealed to, does not allow me to act passionately. But those who have not tasted His gift inevitably seek their pleasure in my sweetness.’ The victory (over this vice) is a courageous one. He who is able, let him hasten to dispassion and to the highest degree of chastity.”

Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? And who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood And has not sworn deceitfully. He shall receive a blessing from the LORD And righteousness from the God of his salvation.

Psalm 24:3-6

St Augustine’s sermon on love

11. If any of you should wish to act out of love, brothers, do not imagine it to be a self-abasing, passive and timid thing. And do not think that love can be preserved by a sort of gentleness – or rather tame listlessness. This is not how it is preserved. Do not imagine that you love your servant when you refrain from beating him, or that you love your son when you do not discipline him, or that you love your neighbor when you do not rebuke him. This is not love, it is feebleness. Love should be fervent to correct. Take delight in good behavior, but amend what is bad. Love the person, but not the error in the person: God made the person, but the person alone made the error. Love what God made, not what the person made. If you love one thing, you remove another. When you esteem one thing, you change another. But if you are severe, let it be out of love, for the sake of correction. This is why love was represented by the dove which descended upon the Lord. [Matt. 3:16] Why did the Holy Spirit, who pours love into us, take the form of a dove? The dove has no bitterness, yet she fights with beak and wings for her young; hers is a fierceness without bitterness. In the same way, when a father chastises his son he does so for discipline. As I said earlier, the kidnapper inveigles the child with bitter endearments, in order to sell him; a father, for the sake of correction, chastises without bitterness.

British adverts "Ah Christmas! What would it be without chicken satay skewers and a selection of delicious Indian snacks..."
Me: *checks notes* "Er... still the Nativity of Our Lord I think."

>>>GRAPHIC CONTENT<<<

This baby is about to die

I hope it serves as a sacrifice so you may understand the damned evil practice of abortion and why it must be so vociferously opposed. Do not ever dare to take the matter lightly, much less so flippantly say, with pathetic and childish indignation, in an attempt to feign being “based” for attention and clout “What race is it”. I see the twisted and pathetic wretch you are, so deformed by bitterness and hatred you spit in the face of being a human.

But God still loves you

“You look disappointed man are you OK?”
“I don’t hate abortion enough”

15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
Psalms 51:15, ESV

Jesus said to Saint Margaret of Cortona “When you are hidden from the world, it is true that interior temptations assail you. Yet it is safer to struggle with these temptations than to seek security in intercourse with the world, for temptation purifies the soul. When your mind is crowded with earthly affairs, the dwelling I have prepared for Myself in your heart is closed against Me.” (MC, 118–119)

A Tuscan Penitent: The Life and Legend of St. Margaret of Cortona, by Father Cuthbert, Burns Oats and Washbourne, London, 1900. (MC)

NOVEMBER 15: A DEACON CASTRATED BY COMMUNISTS
Blessed Juan Duarte Martin
Deacon and Martyr
Died: 1936
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He was a Spanish deacon and martyr. During the anti-Catholic Spanish Revolution, he was arrested for his faith. The militiamen tried to seduce him by bringing a girl in his cell. Because they did not succeed, they castrated him, gave his private parts to the girl, and had her parade them on the streets. He was later killed by filling him up with gasoline and setting him on fire, alive. He was able to forgive the militiamen before dying.

I have asked many- do you imagine yourself watching porn in your 30s? Most say no and are horrified at this possibility. Why do people fear wasting their 30s more than wasting their 20s? Is this not inverted?

The priest was talking about God’s plan, and had some quite caustic words to say about people who passively lie down and accept God’s plan. His point was not that we shouldn’t submit to God’s will, but that we ought to be persistant in prayer for the things we need and not just accept hardship as part of God’s plan but persist in asking for his help. What would have happened if Saint Monica had passively said “It’s God’s plan” stopped praying for her son? Or if Sarah had said so soon “Thy will be done Lord” and stopped praying for a child? These are virtuous submissions to God’s omniscience and a beautiful display of humility, but it may be misplaced

The point of recognising God had a plan is not that we are impotent to petition Him, but that He achieves what he wants in the end, but that may very well be fervent prayer. Ask the things that you want of God because cares for you and wants to help you and you cannot know God’s will, only your own. But your will, so long as it is in conformity with God’s law, is likely to be His too. So be persistant in prayer and it will be granted eventually.