THE MOST HOLY TRINITY

 

What should we do on the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity? – On the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity, we must do five things: 1. adore the mystery of the Triune God; 2. give thanks to the Most Holy Trinity for all the temporal and spiritual benefits we receive from Her; 3. consecrate ourselves totally to God and surrender ourselves completely to His divine Providence; 4. remember that through Baptism we entered the Church and were made members of Jesus Christ by the invocation and virtue of the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; 5. determine to always devoutly make the Sign of the Cross, which expresses this mystery, and to pray with lively faith and the intention of glorifying the Most Holy Trinity those words that the Church so often repeats: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. (Catechism of St. Pius X, Instruction I, c. XII).

THE FRUITS OF SIX DECADES OF "POST-CONCILIAR SPRING" WITHOUT CORRECTING THE CAUSES. THE ONLY SOLUTION: A RETURN TO THE TRADITION OF THE CHURCH, WHICH WILL ALWAYS BE LIFE-GIVING AND YOUTHFUL.

 

Don Rodrigo Ruiz Velasco y Barba recently published this very interesting article:

"The Debacle of the Religious." I take the essential data from historian Francisco José Fernández de la Cigoña, who in turn takes them from the Pontifical Yearbook (2025):

Jesuits: In 1965 there were 36,038; in 2024 there were 13,995.

Salesians: In 1967 there were 22,810; in 2024 there were 13,605.

Franciscans: In 1963 there were 27,136; in 2024 there were 11,984.

Benedictines: In 1963 there were 12,131 monks; in 2024 there were 6,382.

Capuchins: In 1963 there were 15,849 friars; in 2024 there were  9,794.

Dominicans: In 1963, there were 10,150; in 2024, there were 5,369.

Lazarists: In 1969, there were 6,284; in 2024, there were 3,033.

Augustinians: In 1967, there were 4,548; in 2024, there were 2,340.

Augustinians of the Assumption (Assumptionists): from 1,967 in 1966; in 2024, there were 962.

Carthusians: In 1967, there were 602; in 2024, there were 272.

Clerics of St. Viator: There were 1,968 in 1967; in 2024, there were 374.

Somascans: In 1959, there were 360; in 2024, there were  533.

Theatines: There were 164 in 1973; in 2024 there will be 171.

Claretians: There were 4,128 in 1966; in 2024 there will be 2,966.

Oblates of Mary Immaculate: There were 7,890 in 1966; in 2024 there will be 3,478.

Jerome Friars: There were 35 in 1974; in 2024 there will be 7.

Augustinian Recollects: There were 1,580 friars in 1967; in 2024 there will be only 929.

Overall, from 153,640 who were once friars, we have dropped to 76,194 in recent times. The reduction is around 50%, in a much more populated world (more than double the population in 1967). Calles will be  Congratulations (perhaps in hell*), but he was wrong: the way to achieve that goal was not open persecution."

*NOTE ON CATHOLICITY: There are those who claim that Plutarco Elías Calles died repentant and confessed.

TO KEEP IN MIND

“Life is your ship, not your home,” said Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, inviting us to reflect on the transitory nature of our earthly existence. Life, according to this metaphor, is like a ship we sail on, a journey full of experiences, lessons, and challenges. We should not become too attached to this world, since our true home, the final destination to which we are called, is heaven.

This thought encourages us to live with hope and purpose, reminding us that our ultimate goal is union with God in eternity, and that all our actions and decisions should be oriented toward that transcendental end.

TIME IS NOT OURS

As soon as we open our eyes in this life, time has already overtaken us.

It wakes us up without permission, drags us without pause, educates us with blows, and dismisses us without farewell.

No one chooses it. No one can stop it. No one ever sees the same time twice.

And yet, we treat it as if it were ours. As if it were a resource, a calendar, a number to be accumulated or managed, but not a mystery to be received.

And so, by dint of measuring it, dividing it, chasing it, we have forgotten that time does not belong to us.

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There are those who believe that time is the neutral framework of life. Others imagine it as an invisible god who rules all things without a face.

But the truth is much simpler, and more solemn: time is a creature.

As real as the sun, as fragile as the soul, as obedient as a servant awaiting orders from the Eternal.

It did not arise out of necessity. It is not self-sufficient. It has no end in itself.

It was created by God, not for man to dwell on, but to transform it into eternity.

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The human soul was made for eternity, but it can only choose within time.

And that is why time is not an empty succession, but the space of drama.

The drama of freedom, of sin, of grace, of forgiveness, of glory or perdition.

Every second is a battlefield.

Every moment can be an altar or an abyss.

Every day can incline the soul toward Heaven or toward judgment.

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But here is the secret that cannot be taught in academies: time is not understood with concepts, but with worship.

It is not mastered with clocks, but with knees.

It is not won by doing more things, but by uniting everything to God.

Therefore, he who multiplies his agenda but does not love wastes his time.

And he who appears ineffective in the eyes of the world, but unites his day to the Cross, is saving hours for eternity.

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The eternal Word, by becoming incarnate, entered into time.

God, who does not need minutes, agreed to live each one, so that not one of our minutes would be left out of his Redemption.

And thus, time was sanctified.

Not because its substance changed, but because it was assumed by the Word and transfigured among men.

From then on, every moment can be united to the Mystery,

every hour can be grace,

every day can be an oblation...

if it is lived in Christ.

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Time does not wait.

But it does obey.

It obeys the One who created it.

And therefore, he who unites himself to the will of God does not fear the passing of days.  Because he knows that each day doesn't distance him from fulfillment, but brings him closer.

There is a higher freedom than that of one who controls his agenda: that of one who allows himself to be possessed by God's plan in time.

That freedom knows how to lose in order to win, to remain silent in order to conquer, to wait in order to burn.

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The soul that loves God doesn't waste time.

Not because it fears it, but because it sees it as a gift.

A fleeting, fragile, precious gift, whose value is measured not by its duration, but by its destiny.

The saints, who understood time more than all the watchmakers in the world, lived each day as if it were the first... and the last.

They knew that every moment could be the hour of their death or their eternity.

And so, they didn't rush: they worshipped.

They didn't plan for ten years: they prepared for ten centuries of glory.

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Time is not a tyrant.  The tyrant is the man who wants it without God.

Time does not kill: it is we who kill it when we use it without love.

Time does not age: it is the soul that withers if it does not await eternity.

Time, lived in grace, rejuvenates hope.

Time, united with sacrifice, transfigures history.

And time, offered with faith, conquers death.

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Time is not ours.

It was given to us… to give back.

And in that act—free, humble, silent—everything is at stake.

We will not be asked how much we did, but how much we offered.

Not how many hours our work lasted, but how much of God each one contained.

Because time will not be judged by its progress, but by its worship.

And only those who love the eternal Word discover that time is not a prison… but a path.

And that every minute is a possibility of eternity.

OMO

VIRTUE IN WOMEN

"The first fundamental virtue of the Christian woman is piety; but an educated, solid, and exemplary piety.

Her piety must be educated by an exact and reasoned knowledge of Christian doctrine. She needs, above all, a clear knowledge of our religion, to be prepared to solidly instruct, whether at home or outside of it, all those who vegetate in ignorance. Happy are the children who, from the earliest age, have learned the rudiments of the faith from the pious lips of their good mother or virtuous sister!

Religious knowledge must be elevated to the level of scientific knowledge: that is, they must understand the foundations of certainty on which the truths of our holy faith rest.

This reasoned knowledge of our holy faith is, especially in our days, indispensable for the Christian woman; because in our century of unbelief, she must be prepared and must prepare those who are  his own defenses against the pestilent contagion of skepticism; and it must also, many times, confound the ignorance of the wicked.

Their piety must be not only instructed, but also solid; and it will be so if it is based on the unshakeable convictions of faith, and on a will firmly resolved to serve God above all things. From this solid piety, well grounded on the convictions of the intellect and the firmness of the will, there spontaneously springs constancy in the well-regulated practice of devotion; the exercises of which will never be omitted, even if they cost some sacrifice.

Finally, piety must be exemplary; that is, it must be accompanied by good example, by the practice of Christian virtues, especially those born of charity, such as gentleness and affability in dealings, which make piety lovable.  ✨ Fr. Francisco J. Schouppe, S.J.

📖 The Christian Woman: Her Mission, Her Formation, and Her Defense.

SLOW AGONY

 The soul of our homeland, which enlivened that empire where the sun never set, in slow agony approaches its twilight. Impiety has seized our homeland, destroying the family. Divorce legalizes impiety, and in a chain of events, house upon house falls, and so do all our peoples; what surrounds us is a field of ruins and desolation. Abortion is the weapon with which the wicked dry up the source of life, of hope, and of a future, and they try to sully the innocence of those who are born. With petty selfishness, all parenthood is sterilized; homes are not homes, they are a barren wasteland invaded by beasts large and small. Poor old people! We remove their venerable presence from our existence and mercilessly forget them, along with their treasures of history and experience. Once they are euthanized, we cremate their remains because we have no mercy, not even for the dead.  

They no longer teach the truth in schools with a system they call secular that is actually atheist, justice is not served in the courts because they have banished the moral teachings preached by Christianity from the laws, nothing helps the people live in peace. Rosy parties oppress the broken, degraded people, depraved by vices, subjugated by the tyranny of multinationals. Partisanships that abhor even the concept of the common good and Natural Law. Pornography is impiety. It is the same impiety that inspires the arts. The spirit of this modern world, with its impious cruelty, erases from yesterday the support for tomorrow, and thus denigrates the traditions that allow Catholics to be the salt of this world.

ANGEL OF GOD

 Angel of God, my Guardian dear, to whom His love commits me here, ever this day be at my side, to light and to guard, to rule and guide. Amen.