The Ember Days are special days for prayer and fasting during the liturgical year. They correspond to the four seasons, and they focus our attention especially on the blessings of nature. On the Ember Days, we give thanks for blessings we’ve received, but also remind ourselves of our need for penance and grace.

The Catholic Gentleman connected with our friends at Homeschool Connections, Walter and Maureen, to discuss good books that fathers can read to their sons or encourage their sons to read. They sent us quite a list. You can find the original article on Homeschool Connections here.

And what about “polite”? We think of the word today as meaning, more or less, mannerly. A polite person is somebody with manners; somebody who has the kindness to say please and thank you. But in origin the word is closer to polish, with the sense that the polite person is a sort of gleaming silver teapot. From its Latin roots (politus, the past participle of polire, to smooth or polish) through its emergence in Middle English and well into the 1700s, the word meant a thing buffed up or cleansed or even organized, although other meanings also emerged. So it always is with important words.

After World War One [1914-1918] had been underway for 2 years, the long-reigning emperor of one of the warring empires --Austria-Hungary--died and the throne was succeeded by his grandnephew, Karl, a visibly saintly man, who spent his precious two years on the throne making multiple offers for peace that were rejected. This caused the war to be extended two more years and millions of more deaths. In 1918 WWI came to an end, the empire was dismantled with the help of masons and other anti-Catholics here and abroad, and Karl and his wife, Empress Zita, were arrested and literally shipped 2000 miles away to a Portuguese island called Madeira off the coast of west Africa, with their seven children following later. He died there soon after, in penury, at the age of 34, leaving his pregnant wife of ten years, the Servant-of-God Empress Zita, and seven young children.

Some of the best advice ever given is that one ought to think twice before speaking. But we seem to have lost a vital component necessary to think even once: restraint. We’re not restrained, because many believe that blurting out the first thing that pops into one’s head is a sign of “authenticity.” It’s not.

Bishop Athanasius Schneider, Msgr. Alberto Turco, Dr. William Mahrt, Dr. Peter Kwasniewski, Dr. Edward Schaefer, Fr. Chad Ripperger, Fr. Mark Bachmann OSB, Mr. Nicholas Lemme... these are the speakers of the online International Gregorian Chant Conference, Sept 25 - Oct 2, hosted by the Gregorian Chant Academy.

When you work with your hands, you channel the way you’re made in the image and likeness of God. You resemble God the Father pouring Himself out in creativity, in divine generation.

I could have the power. If I had faith, true faith, I could work miracles. But I don’t, so I can’t. Thank heavens for that, because there’s no telling what I’d do. But then that’s false, isn’t it, since if I had that kind of faith I wouldn’t pull any shenanigans: no petitioning God to […]