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Recall, Christians, what Sacred Scripture declareth: "Pride goeth before destruction: and the spirit is lifted up before a fall." [Proverbs 16:18]And also: "Pride is the beginning of all sin. He that holdeth it, shall be filled with maledictions, and it shall ruin him in the end." [Ecclesiasticus, 10:15]Pride is numbered in the Catholic Catechism among the Seven Deadly Sins [CCC 1866]. Writing in the early Seventh Century AD, Pope Saint Gregory the Great reflected on the sin of pride in his epochal Moralia in Job, saying: "Whoever extols himself above his proper condition, is weighed down by the very burden...

Some of the most accessible and practical wisdom from the ancient Christian desert tradition can be found in the letters of Sts. Barsanuphius and John. They lived in Gaza (Palestine) in the early sixth century. Over 800 letters are preserved for us, and in these letters we get an inside look at what spiritual guidance looked like in the desert monasticism of those early years. And although much is different in the cultural context, even more seems to be the same in regard to the human struggle to draw near to God. In the letters of Sts. Barsanuphius and John...

On Saturday, in the throes of America’s turbulent 2020 election, thousands of Christians gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., for the inaugural National Day of Prayer and Return, a calling to repentance and prayer for healing. Dueling rallies and worship services on either side of the Washington Monument attracted crowds of thousands. Samaritan’s Purse President Franklin Graham held one rally with Vice President Mike Pence in front of the Lincoln Memorial Saturday afternoon, while Jonathan Chan and Kevin Jessup held “The Return” rally starting Friday night and continuing throughout Saturday in front of the U.S. Capitol building. The...

If future generations are to look upon Old Glory and see it as a symbol of hope, freedom, and justice, we must always protect and defend what we know to be true about it. These three words, which have also been painted on statues of people deemed problematic for their historical shortcomings, seem to carry the same weight the Stars and Stripes once did. Similarly, many professional athletes are now permitted to kneel or even remain in the locker room during the national anthem or to print social justice slogans on their jerseys. Traditional expressions of patriotism have become taboo...

If My People Who Are Called By My Name... - - America's Last Hope - - Introduction It is clear; It is concise... 2 Chronicles 7:14 "If my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." But as clear and concise as it is, we commonly hear this verse misquoted and misapplied. So first, we must avoid the mistake of misquoting the verse... we must not leave out important aspects...

The arrogant attitude that we or they own the answer and that anyone suggesting alternative responses to the coronavirus must be acting from stupidity, malice, or greed must stop. Two weeks into the coronavirus pandemic, much remains unknown. There are two certainties, though: Americans need more humility and we need more awe.Americans need humility to recognize the limits in our predictive capabilities; the uncertainty of scientific models; and that the countervailing interests of safeguarding lives and livelihoods render it impossible for any political leader to achieve a perfect outcome.The reflexive rejection of contrary views as either an ignorant exaggeration...

Posted on February 16, 2020 by Msgr. Charles Pope Twelve Steps to Humility In yesterdayÂ’s post, we considered the twelve steps of pride set forth by St. Bernard of Clairvaux. In escalating ways, the twelve steps draw us to an increasingly mountainous and enslaving pride.St. Bernard also enumerates the twelve steps to deeper humility and it is these that we consider today. As with yesterdayÂ’s post, the list by St. Bernard is shown in red, while my meager commentary is shown in plain, black text. To read St. BernardÂ’s reflections, consider purchasing the book Steps of Humility and Pride.(1)...

President Donald Trump made a rare appearance at a church last Sunday. It’s a safe bet the sermon was not based on Proverbs 15:1—”A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” If it was, it didn’t appear to have much effect. Before and after church, the president engaged in a tweet storm that insulted several people, including the late Sen. John McCain. Trump accuses McCain of being complicit in the leak of the Steele dossier, a private intelligence report compiled by former MI6 officer Christopher Steele for the political research firm Fusion GPS, which, among...

In light of the staggering revelations of Abp. Carlo Maria Viganò, currently hunted by the Holy See's intelligence services for asking Pope Francis to resign for the cover-up of former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick's homosexual predation, Church Militant reached out to Dr. Antonio Caponnetto, an accomplished Catholic historian and doctor in philosophy from Buenos Aires — and one who knows more about Pope Francis when he was Cdl. Jorge Bergoglio than anyone else. Caponnetto is a prolific researcher and lecturer who's written extensively about liberation theology in South America, but is mostly known for his book La Iglesia Traicionada (The Church Betrayed), a first-hand account of living under the reign of Cdl. Bergoglio...

Humility in Prayer According to St. Teresa of Avila Msgr. Charles Pope • July 9, 2018 • I have written before on humility in prayer as St. Augustine sets it forth. In today’s post I look to the same topic, but this time as St. Teresa of Avila presents it in her treatise The Way of Perfection.In setting forth her teaching, I have substantially reworked the order of her reflections. St. Teresa was able to see the “whole rose” of the topic, jumping from petal to petal without effort. I, being of a vastly inferior intellect and of far...

On April 16, 2018, the administrators of the Facebook group ‘One Million Connected Catholics’ did not publish my post: “How many Catholics today could answer simple questions such as the following? … “Who Decides The Truth?” (http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2014/06/who-decides-truth.html). (See below for the complete post.) In the Description for the group ‘One Million Connected Catholics’, we find: “Dan Burke established One Million Connected Catholics. … You can ALWAYS post things from the National Catholic Register and any EWTN News outlet…” “EWTN’s Raymond Arroyo: ‘Good Catholics’ can’t ignore controversy over Pope Francis” https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/ewtns-raymond-arroyo-good-catholics-cannot-ignore-the-controversy-surroundi (Note: When pasting this document into Free Republic, it seems...

The Need for Two Pockets Msgr. Charles Pope • January 28, 2018 • Like so many things in life, self-esteem needs to be balanced. The balance is between humility and pride. The following is attributed to Rabbi Simcha Bunim, one of the leaders of Hasidic Judaism in Poland in the late 1700s and early 1800s:Everyone must have two pockets so that he can reach into one or the other according to his needs. In his right pocket are to be the words, “For my sake was the world created,” and in his left pocket, “I am dust and ashes”...

Eyes that Are Humble - A Meditation on the Conversion of St. Paul Msgr. Charles Pope • January 25, 2018 • Today in daily Mass we read the well-known story of St. Paul’s conversion. There is a detail in the story that I have often pondered. Although I am speculating on the specifics, I think it ought not to be overlooked. Even my choice of the words “speculating” and “overlooked” (both of which refer to the eyes) indicate that we ought to “give an eye” to St. Paul’s eyes.As you probably recall, St. Paul was not just struck down...

Recently I wrote to the people in a group in which we meet every Friday to pray and to encourage each other in the period of great confusion in the Church. Today the world and the Church is on the left side, liberal, with the presumption of the love and mercy of God, with no obligation to live what we say in the Act of Contrition: “I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to sin no more, and to avoid the near occasion of sin” (“Who Decides The Truth?”; http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2014/06/who-decides-truth.html; https://www.scribd.com/doc/229388195/Who-Decides-the-Truth)! Thus there is the tendency to go...

George W Bush and Bill Clinton both took apparent jabs at Donald Trump at a forum on Thursday night as they named the one characteristic a president needed above all others. The two former presidents were speaking at a graduation ceremony for the Presidential Leadership Scholars program at the George W Bush Presidential Center in Dallas. Bush replied ‘humility’ in answer to the question about presidential qualities, and added – ‘I think it's really important to know what you don't know and listen to people who do know what you don't know.’ Clinton said anyone holding the highest office in...

It's something most conservatives a year ago would not have imagined: the opening act of Donald Trump’s agenda in the White House contains a real whiff of Ronald Reagan. To be sure, there's plenty the Reaganites won't like -- talk of trillion-dollar federal building campaigns, taxing business at the border, etc. -- but there's plenty to applaud as well. He’s proposing dramatic across-the-board tax cuts. That’s Reaganesque. He’s reasserting American strength and resolve in response to the dictators who rattle sabers at America. That’s Reaganesque. He’s appointing judges and Supreme Court justices that follow the Constitution instead of acting like...

Dear friends, As we know, today there is less prayer in the world and in the Church than every before, and more sin than ever before, even worse indifference, and thus what Saint Paul warned us about is even more true today: “Satan DISGUISES himself as an angel of light” (2Cor 11:14). This means that the great number of followers and collaborators of Satan in the world and in the Church today will lead us to destruction in such a way that all seems OK and the right thing to do. Thus it is more important than ever to seek...

On Humility in Prayer Msgr. Charles Pope • October 27, 2015 • Perhaps like you, I have to see people I love and care about through some difficult periods in their lives. One neighbor and parishioner recently lost her eight-year-old daughter to cancer. A number of my parishioners are seeking work and praying daily for it, but no employment offers have been forthcoming. Still others cry out for relief from any number of different crosses. I, too, have lots of things for which I pray; sometimes I get discouraged or even angry when God seems to say, “No” or, “Wait.”There...

Humility is Hard – A Meditation on Some Aspects of Humility Msgr. Charles Pope • August 9, 2015 • 0 Comments Pride is our most pervasive and serious sin; humility is its antidote and the foundation of our spiritual life. And as the remedy to our most deep-seated pathology, it must be strong medicine. Humility is hard to swallow and has a lot of things it needs to work on.Let’s consider humility under a number of headings.I. The Foundation of Humility – Indeed, humility as a foundation is a good image, since by it we bow toward the earth or...

Out of Pride and Into Humility: A Lenten Meditation on a Teaching by St. Bernard of Clairvaux By: Msgr. Charles PopeIn yesterday’s post, we considered the twelve steps of pride set forth by St. Bernard of Clairvaux. In escalating ways, the twelve steps draw us to an increasingly mountainous and enslaving pride.St. Bernard also enumerates the twelve steps to deeper humility (I am using the list from Vultus Dei HERE)  and it is these that we consider in today’s post. As with yesterday’s post, the list by St. Bernard is shown in red, but the commentary on each step is shown in...