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May 13, 2020

Note from the Assistant Managing Editor:

"Our natural tendency is to praise God only when things are going well.  But Scripture tells us, Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances."  Read more in our reflection for this week, "Offering Acceptable Praise."

May 18th is the 100th anniversary of Saint John Paul II's birth, and CWR is celebrating by publishing a series of essays on the pope.  The first is adapted from the preface to George Weigel's Witness to Hope.  This passage particularly struck me:

What we sometimes call 'the human drama' is not just the story of those large-scale figures who dominate the history books.  The 'human drama' is in fact the spiritual and moral life of every human person.  And the task of the Church and its ministers, Pope John Paul II would insist, is to accompany men and women in the drama of their lives, exploring each life's uniquely dramatic circumstances while offering the mercy and forgiveness of Christ when the drama takes a bad turn.

Robert Royal's "Courage: Grace Under Pressure" is a timely read.  He explains two words we're not hearing enough of: courage and prudence. 

Joseph Addison wrote, "If you wish to succeed in life, make perseverance your bosom friend; experience, your wise counselor; caution, your elder brother; and hope, your guardian genius."  We end with Father George Rutler's column, "Persistence against the odds."

God bless you all this week! - Meaghen Gonzalez



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"Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought." - Pope Saint John Paul II



New Resources


 
Offering Acceptable Praise - Mary Healy - When Women Pray: Eleven Catholic Women on the Power of Prayer

To praise God is to become who we really are, since we were created to live for the praise of God's glory (Eph 1:12).


 
The Soul of Pope St. John Paul II - George Weigel - Catholic World Report

Shortly after the death of Pope John Paul II on April 2, 2005, Henry Kissinger told NBC News that it would be difficult to imagine anyone having had a greater impact on the twentieth century than Pope John Paul II.


 
Redeemer of Man - Francis X. Maier - The Catholic Thing

In 1998 Charles Chaput, then the archbishop of Denver, hosted a meeting on "the new technologies and the human person," co-sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.


 
Boys Must be Separated from Childhood to be Men - Jason Craig - Those Catholic Men

In Rudyard Kipling's coming-of-age novel Captains Courageous, a spoiled, rich teenager named Harvey is initiated into manhood through a series of adventures on a fishing vessel.


 
Courage: Grace under Pressure - Robert Royal - The Catholic Thing

The Batflu has driven us all batty, with talk of many things most of us never expected we'd have to think about.


 
God and Hell (part 2) - Fr. Thomas G. Weinandy, OFM, Cap. - The Catholiic Thing

Sin, by its very nature, is a direct attack upon or a violation of some good.


 
Persistence against the odds - Father George W. Rutler - From the Pastor

"As I was saying..." That, more or less, is how Saint Athanasius began his homily each time he returned from exile.

Editorials of Interest:

Making Sense of God's No - Blessed Is She
True Friends of Liberty Are Rare Indeed - The American Spectator
Strawberry Hill Revival - House & Garden

Editorials of Interest


May is an opportune month for taking up the Rosary - CWR

Pope Francis encourages us to make use of the "restrictions of the pandemic . . . to rediscover the beauty of praying the Rosary at home in the month of May."


Cardinal Sarah: Many Pandemic Communion Proposals are 'Madness' - NC Register

"Jesus cannot be treated like this," says the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.


The Haunting Unsolved Murder of Fr. Kunz - Catholic Exchange

The staunchly pro-life Kunz was known for celebrating the Traditional Latin Mass and the Novus Ordo Mass as the longtime pastor of St. Michael Catholic Church, located in rural Dane, Wisconsin.


Making Sense of God's No - Blessed Is She

"If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it" (John 14:14). I don't understand those words. I never have. Because how can they possibly be true?


Experts offer a path to reopening churches, and the sacraments - CWR

An April 28 document from the Thomistic Institute outlines a multi-phase proposal for resumption and expansion of public Masses while remaining in conformity with public health guidelines in force in different places.


Ted Koppel Discusses the State of Journalism and Democracy - YouTube

Koppel speaks to Walter Isaacson about the state of journalism and democracy today, with the U.S. in the throes of the impeachment trial.


True Friends of Liberty Are Rare Indeed - The American Spectator

A growing lack of concern for freedom from not just the left but also from some on the right.


Sewer Cleaners Wanted in Pakistan: Only Christians Need Apply. - NY Times

In Pakistan, descendants of lower-caste Hindus who converted to Christianity centuries ago still find themselves marginalized, relegated to dirty jobs and grim fates.


The Mystery of Christian Marriage: Felix & Elisabeth Leseur - Catholic Exchange

Reality is stranger than fiction. What you are about to read would be rejected by any reputable publisher as far-fetched, unbelievable even. What it is, however, is something not quite of this world: it speaks of a greater reality, one with its own laws and seasons.


The Idolatry of Eros and the Corporeality of God - CWR

Matthew Clemente's Eros Crucified is philosophy of religion done by a young scholar in such a way as to give one great hope for the future not just of the discipline, but of Catholic letters and intellectual culture more generally.


Why We Can't Do Evil Even If Good May Come - CWR

The prevalence of moral consequentialism in our society is supremely dangerous.


Biblical and Catholic Teaching on the Use of Alcohol - NC Register

Our Lord drank wine and turned water into wine.


$100 Million Russian Church Honoring Putin, Stalin And War To Open Soon - Religion Unplugged

It is a church which speaks not of God, but of the triumph of sacralized power, and — since Stalin's authority was far from Christian — of power that does not in the least need to be Christian.


Rakotzbrücke Devil's Bridge - Atlas Obscura

This jaw-dropping 19th-century bridge uses its reflection to form a perfect circle.


Strawberry Hill Revival - House & Garden

Walpole's fondness for sumptuous colour, lavish pattern and ornate decoration place Strawberry Hill firmly and significantly within the annals of architectural history.


The uncanny architecture of the Roman Pantheon - Aleteia

The construction of the oldest building in Rome is still a mystery to experts.


Cats and Sixty Foot Whales: Reflections on Children's Books - Mere Orthodoxy

Children's books and media have suffered decades of assaults.


St. John Henry Cardinal Newman and
St. Justin Martyr, pray for us

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