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December 5, 2018

Note from the Managing Editor:

Of course Jesus can be gentle.  But as a descriptor, 'gentle' is a terribly misleading way of characterizing Him.

In a letter written in 1959 C.S. Lewis observed:

"'Gentle Jesus,' my elbow!  The most striking thing about Our Lord is the union of great ferocity with extreme tenderness.  (Remember Pascal?  'I do not admire the extreme of one virtue unless you show me at the same time the extreme of the opposite virtue.  One shows one's greatness not by being at an extremity but by being simultaneously at two extremities and filling all the space between.')

"Add to this that He is also a supreme ironist, dialectician, and (occasionally) humourist.  So go on!  You are on the right track now: getting to the real Man behind all the plaster dolls that have been substituted for Him.  This is the appearance in Human form of the God who made the Tiger and the Lamb, the avalanche and the rose.  He'll frighten and puzzle you; but the real Christ can be loved and admired as the doll can't."

That's the Jesus we want.

If you read CERC regularly you'll recognize that that's the Jesus we try to represent through our articles.  It's what we try to give you every day and also every week through our E-Letter.

Whether you're a regular or an occasional reader of CERC, we need your help to continue.  Please support us this Advent with a donation today.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

J. Fraser Field
Managing Editor

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"One road leads home and a thousand roads lead into the wilderness." - C.S. Lewis



New Resources


 
The Companionship the Twelve Met - Servant of God Monsignor Luigi Giussani - from Generating Traces in the History of the World: New Traces of the Christian Experience

Christ takes hold of the man in baptism; he makes him grow and become an adult.


 
Last of the greatest generation to serve - Father Raymond J. de Souza - National Post

The statesman he became outside the home was never more important than the father he was inside it.


 
A Nursery Rhyme Pope Francis Would Do Well to Read - Father George W. Rutler - Crisis

Of the twelve apostles, only one was a diplomat, and he is the only one of them who was not a saint, having drunk a toxic cocktail of arrogance and naïveté. This recipe is still fatal.


 
Cut the Complaining! - Thomas Lickona - Psychology Today blog

6 ways to teach and practice gratitude.


 
How the Church Has Changed the World: The Ordinary Man - Anthony Esolen - Magnificat

Everyone knows the name of Frank Capra from his most celebrated film, "It's a Wonderful Life".


 
Waiting and watching - Venerable John Henry Cardinal Newman - from Sermons Preached on Various Occasions

Now, one of these characteristics of a Christian spirit, springing from the three theological virtues, and then in turn defending and strengthening them, is that habit of waiting and watching, to which this season of the year especially invites us.


 
Religious orders that live the traditional counsels - Father George W. Rutler - From the Pastor

A bishop condescendingly asked John Henry Newman, "Who are the laity?" To which the great saint, and, one hopes, future Doctor of the Church, replied that the Church would look foolish without them.


 
1st Sunday of Advent - Father John Horgan - CERC

Advent is the season that prepares us, not just for Christmas, but for Christ's return in glory.

Editorials of Interest:

Happy Traddies at Clear Creek - Fr. Dwight Longnecker
Catholic. 100% Pro-life. Feminist. - Catholic World Report
St. Thomas Aquinas on Mohammad and Islam - Defenders of the Catholic Faith

Editorials of Interest


'A man of faith and humility' Catholics remember President George H.W. Bush - Catholic Herald

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo praised Bush as a 'courageous man, dedicated leader and selfless public servant'.


The best Christmas ad of 2018 or maybe of all time - YouTube

If it doesn't bring tears to your eyes, it will have you dancing.


Francis: Homosexuals "should not be accepted into the ministry or consecrated life." - Father Z's Blog

Francis warned. "It's [Homosexuality is] not just an expression of an affection. In consecrated and priestly life, there's no room for that kind of affection."


The New York Times Reveals Painful Truths about Transgender Lives - Public Discourse

Why should a doctor perform surgery when it won't make the patient happy, it won't accomplish its intended goal, it won't improve the underlying condition, it might make the underlying condition worse, and it might increase the likelihood of suicide? Sound medicine isn't about desire; it's about healing.


Cupich appointment shows: February conference in Rome will be damage control - Catholic Culture

This is the same Cardinal Cupich who said, regarding the latest eruption of the scandal, that the Pope was "not going to go down a rabbit hole on this."


National Geographic's new photo campaign highlights people with Down Syndrome - Aleteia

"Look at us a little differently" is a series of beautiful and dramatic portraits.


People With Down Syndrome Are Applying To Be On The Endangered List - Catholic Link

"By the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's own criteria, the Down syndrome community qualifies as endangered in many parts of the world."


Ousted Christian Student Senator: 'God's Really Been Reminding Me What It Means to Love Unconditionally' - Stream

Isabella Chow, a Christian student senator from the University of California, Berkeley, has faced major backlash for her Biblical stance on LGBTQ activism.


How My Parents' Divorce Ruined Our Holidays And Family Life Forever - The Federalist

In the decades since my parents' divorce and through the years of my marriage, I have learned no-fault divorce is one of the biggest lies of our culture.


The Anatomy of Doubt - CWR

We were already living in an age of doubt even before we suffered these blows to our faith. The test of faith is to overcome our doubts in time of great trial.


Your desires matter. Here's why. - Mind & Spirit

What the beloved desires matters, immensely, to the one who loves them. This is true of spouses. It is true of parents and friends. It is also true of our relationship with God.


Shakespeare was a Catholic sympathiser who left 'coded political messages' in his work - The Telegraph

It is now being claimed there was an unknown side to William Shakespeare, that of political commentator and champion of England's oppressed Catholic minority.


Catholics in California join in effort to consecrate state to Mary - Crux

An effort is underway to consecrate California to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.


Happy Traddies at Clear Creek - Fr. Dwight Longnecker

I've always been saddened that traditionalist Catholics are so often burdened by the extremists who give their movement an angry face.


When Young People Aren't Having Sex, Something's Wrong - Public Discourse

Another year, another write-up about the state of sexuality in modernity.


Claim of creating genetically-edited babies prompts ethics dispute - CNA

A Chinese scientist says he has created the first genetically edited babies, a claim that has led members of the scientific community to raise serious ethical concerns.


New population research shows half the world's countries are disappearing - Aleteia

Fully half of the world's countries have fallen below a fertility pattern that can support the continuance of the human race.


The Holy Mass in the First World War: A Photo Collection -New Liturgical Movement

In memory of this sorrowful centenary of the first armistice, a collection of photographs that testify to the faith of these men in the midst of the horrors of the front.


Why America desperately needs another baby boom - New York Post

Although the great engine of American capitalism is now humming on all cylinders, Americans remain strangely reluctant to have children.


Catholic. 100% Pro-life. Feminist. - CWR

"Like other pro-life feminists," says Fiorella Nash, "I see abortion as a form of exploitation and a sign that contemporary feminism has lost its way."


Cardinal accuses EWTN's Raymond Arroyo of attacking Pope Francis - LifeSiteNews

South African Cardinal Wilfrid Napier has come out swinging against EWTN's Raymond Arroyo, accusing him of reporting "negatively" on as well as "attack[ing]" Pope Francis.


Pope Francis' 'Paradigm Shift': What it Means and How to Respond to It - National Catholic Register

"The evolution in the Church's understanding of the Gospel over the centuries is not a question of a paradigm shift, but of the development of doctrine, organic and in continuity with the faith."


St. Thomas Aquinas on Mohammad and Islam - Defenders of the Catholic Faith

St. Thomas Aquinas, the Prince of Theologians had some things to say about Mohammed and Islam:


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

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