“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
---
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.

This, but unironically

I’ve genuinely been reflecting on this tweet for years since I first saw it and it’s part of the reason I’m Catholic

“You don’t want to see people in hell, not even your enemies”

I do not judge the man who repents of his sins, I judge the man who defends them.