Dictatorship Of Relativism

‎We are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism that does not recognize anything as for certain and has as its highest goal one’s own ego and one’s own desires as the final measure. - Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, pre-conclave homily

The Soul Clouded By The Desires Is Darkened In The Understanding

The soul that is clouded by the desires is darkened in the understanding and allows neither the sun of natural reason nor that of the supernatural Wisdom of God to shine upon it and illumine it clearly. At the same time, when the soul is darkened in the understanding, it is benumbed also in the will, and the memory becomes dull and disordered in its dire operation. The intellect cannot get the illumination of God’s wisdom, the will cannot get the love of God, and the memory cannot get God’s image. Darkness and coarseness will always be with a soul until its appetites are extinguished. The appetites are like a cataract on the eye or specks of dust in it; until removed they obstruct vision. The affections and appetites deprive them of a treasure of divine light. Any appetite, even one that is but slightly imperfect, stains and defiles the soul. - Saint John of the Cross, 'Ascent of Mount Carmel,' Bk. 1. Ch. 8. No. 2, 4, 6, 7

You're Bored? That's Because You Keep Your Senses Awake And Your Soul Asleep

You're bored? That's because you keep your senses awake and your soul asleep. ― Saint Josemaría Escrivá

What Is The Responsibility Of The Catholic Church As The Lights Go Out All Over Western Civilization?

What does the Church do? What is the responsibility of the Catholic Church as the lights go out all over Western Civilization? It is a question that we Catholics who see that reality need to start thinking about seriously. An empire that murders its own children, a population that is self-absorbed and lusts after little else other than being entertained...whose economy is rushing head long into unsustainable debt. This empire is on the short course to self-extinction. The faithful Catholics remaining, however few, need to be prepared to emerge from the rubble and once again rebuild. We did it after Rome, we will do it again. But as in the days of Rome, there will be martyrs. No empire goes quietly into the night. - Michael Voris

Looking Through This Distorted World's Lenses

The world in which we now live is a world whose outlook is so distorted that we absolutize what is relative (money-making, power, success) and relativize what is absolute (truth, moral values, and God). Power, riches, fame, success, and dominance are idolized; humility, chastity, modesty, self-sacrifice, and service are looked down upon as signs of weakness. - Doctor Alice von Hildebrand

Man Finds Himself Betwixt A Twofold Gravitational Force

The Fathers of the Church maintained that human beings stand at the point of intersection between two gravitational fields. First, there is the force of gravity which pulls us down – towards selfishness, falsehood and evil; the gravity which diminishes us and distances us from the heights of God. On the other hand there is the gravitational force of God’s love: the fact that we are loved by God and respond in love attracts us upwards. Man finds himself betwixt this twofold gravitational force; everything depends on our escaping the gravitational field of evil and becoming free to be attracted completely by the gravitational force of God, which makes us authentic, elevates us and grants us true freedom. - Pope Benedict XVI

How Many There Are Who Shrink From Whatever Requires Manhood

How many there are, who love to live delicately and shrink from whatever requires manhood. - Pope Leo XIII

The World Promises You Comfort, But You Were Not Made For Comfort

‎The world promises you comfort, but you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness. - Pope Benedict XVI

Lust Would Like us to Believe That it Can Make us Happy

Sexual activity is fuelled by an unfulfilled desire for true love. In the words of Josh Harris, “Lust would like us to believe that it can make us happy. If we just give it what it wants, it will stop pestering us and be satisfied. Lust is never satisfied, you can’t bargain with it and come out a winner. Lust hijacks sex. It wants to train your desires to delight in the thrill of the forbidden so that you lose your Godly appetite for what is good.” Close physical involvement is not equivalent to true affection. - Love Undefiled

Blessed Are Those Who Make Good Use of Time

Oh how precious time is! Blessed are those who know how to make good use of it, because, on the day of judgment, all will have to render a strict account of it to the supreme Judge. Oh, if only all could understand how precious time is, undoubtedly everyone would do his best to spend it in a praiseworthy manner! Saint Padre Pio

Look Upon Every Temptation as an Invitation to Grow

Do not grieve over the temptations you suffer. When the Lord intends to bestow a particular virtue on us, He often permits us first to be tempted by the opposite vice. Therefore, look upon every temptation as an invitation to grow in a particular virtue and a promise by God that you will be successful, if only you stand fast. - Saint Philip Neri

By Deviating From the Moral Law Man Violates His Own Freedom

The exercise of freedom does not imply a right to say or do everything. It is false to maintain that man, "the subject of this freedom," is "an individual who is fully self-sufficient and whose finality is the satisfaction of his own interests in the enjoyment of earthly goods." Moreover, the economic, social, political, and cultural conditions that are needed for a just exercise of freedom are too often disregarded or violated. Such situations of blindness and injustice injure the moral life and involve the strong as well as the weak in the temptation to sin against charity. By deviating from the moral law man violates his own freedom, becomes imprisoned within himself, disrupts neighborly fellowship, and rebels against divine truth. - CCC

If a Man Lies With a Male as With a Woman, Both of Them Have Forfeited Their Lives

If a man commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death. If a man disgraces his father by lying with his father's wife, both the man and his stepmother shall be put to death; they have forfeited their lives. If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall be put to death; since they have committed an abhorrent deed, they have forfeited their lives. If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them shall be put to death for their abominable deed; they have forfeited their lives. If a man marries a woman and her mother also, the man and the two women as well shall be burned to death for their shameful conduct, so that such shamefulness may not be found among you. If a man has carnal relations with an animal, the man shall be put to death, and the animal shall be slain. If a woman goes up to any animal to mate with it, the woman and the animal shall be slain; let them both be put to death; their lives are forfeit. - Leviticus 20:10-16

Now, Turn Back and Search For Him Ten Times as Hard

As by your will you first strayed away from God, so now turn back and search for him ten times as hard; for as he brought down those disasters on you, so will he rescue you and give you eternal joy. - Baruch 4:28-29

They Do Not Give a Thought to Their Poor Soul, Which Must be Happy or Miserable for all Eternity

Oh, how bitterly shall we regret at the hour of death the time we have given to pleasures, to useless conversations, to repose, instead of having employed it in mortification, in prayer, in good works, in thinking of our poor misery, in weeping over our poor sins; then we shall see that we have done nothing for Heaven. Oh, my children, how sad it is! Three-quarters of those who are Christians labor for nothing but to satisfy this body, which will soon be buried and corrupted, while they do not give a thought to their poor soul, which must be happy or miserable for all eternity. - Saint Jean Marie Vianney