Unless the mind and will are ready to believe in God’s absolute right to teach and command, there is little likelihood that fasting and penance with extra prayer will be followed carefully. The will must be free of self-interested desires and fears in order to bend the mind to ascent to an unseen God and to His whole mysterious order of salvation. Prejudices and sinful habits easily find excuses for refusing to submit to truth and  self-discipline.

Americans are being driven into their vehicles by COVID-19 pandemic-fueled woes. And their ranks are likely to grow as the government safety net frays and evictions and foreclosures rise. MORE

After creating havoc in the power and natural gas markets, the next commodity sector causing concern in Texas is the state’s enormous oil refining industry, where installations are being forced offline by the big freeze. MORE

Filthy lucre apparently had much to do with the closing of Catholic Churches in March 2020. It’s not that COVID-19 necessitated the closure of churches thus forcing dioceses to turn to the state for financial aid, but that the state ordered the closure of churches and paid (bribed) the dioceses to ensure their compliance. According to the Associated Press, the U.S. Catholic Bishops received over $3 billion in such “financial aid.” MORE

Since for this no church is necessary, he suggests to gather on Ash Wednesday “for a while” at home, to make the sign of the cross on each other’s forehead, and to read a coronavirus prayer contained in the Pastoral Letter. MORE

Francis says this Lent love means “caring for those who suffer or feel abandoned and fearful because of the Covid-19 pandemic. In these days of deep uncertainty about the future, let us keep in mind the Lord’s word to his Servant, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you” (Is 43:1). In our charity, may we speak words of reassurance and help others to realize that God loves them as sons and daughters”. MORE

Novena – Day 1 
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
St. Michael the Archangel, we honor you as a powerful protector of the Church and guardian of our souls. Inspire us with your humility, courage and strength that we may reject sin and perfect our love for our Heavenly Father. In your strength and humility, slay the evil and pride in our hearts so that nothing will keep us from God.

“We are heartbroken to share that our dear Brayden Smith recently passed away unexpectedly,” his mother, Debbie Smith, announced in a tweet on Friday, February 12. “We are so grateful that Brayden was able to live out his dream on @jeopardy.” MORE

Amazon has just unveiled the plans for its new corporate headquarters that will stand in Arlington, Virginia, directly across the Potomac River from Washington DC. The announcement inaccurately describes the design as a “double helix” but scholars of ancient history and the Bible will readily recognize the ancient model for the design: the Tower of Babel. VIDEO

In the 1969 revision of the Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints, the feastday of Saint Valentine on 14 February was removed from the General Roman Calendar and relegated to particular (local or even national) calendars for the following reason: “Though the memorial of Saint Valentine is ancient, it is left to particular calendars, since, apart from his name, nothing is known of Saint Valentine except that he was buried on the Via Flaminia on 14 February.” (Calendarium Romanum ex Decreto Sacrosancti Œcumenici Concilii Vaticani II Instauratum Auctoritate Pauli PP. VI Promulgatum (Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis, MCMLXIX), p. 117 ) MORE

It’s interesting how he words this, ‘the touchiest’ as if it’s ‘molestation’.

Ash Wednesday is one of the touchiest observances on the liturgical calendar — literally. Many churches mark the beginning of the penitential season of Lent with the imposition of ashes. Clergy smear ashes, usually those left after burning palm fronds from the previous year’s Palm Sunday celebrations, onto congregants’ foreheads, often in the shape of a cross. MORE