This blog is based on references in the Bible to fear. God wills that we “BE NOT AFRAID”. Vincit qui se vincit" is a Latin phrase meaning "He conquers who conquers himself." Many theologians state that the eighth deadly sin is fear. It is fear and its natural animal reaction to fight or flight that is the root cause of our failings to create a Kingdom of God on earth. This blog is dedicated to Mary the Mother of God. "
A mid‑century drama where addiction, loyalty, and wounded love collide—and where a man fights not only the needle, but the gravity of the world that profits from his fall.
Sources: imdb.com
π¬ Production Snapshot
Studio: United Artists Director: Otto Preminger Release: 1955 Screenplay: Walter Newman & Lewis Meltzer, based on the novel by Nelson Algren Stars: Frank Sinatra (Frankie Machine), Kim Novak (Molly), Eleanor Parker (Zosh), Darren McGavin (Louie) Genre: Drama / Romance / Social Realism Notable: One of the first major Hollywood films to confront heroin addiction head‑on. Saul Bass’s jagged, iconic title design visually encodes the film’s central torment: a man trapped in the grip of his own arm.
π§ Story Summary
Frankie Machine returns to Chicago after a stint in rehab, determined to rebuild his life.
He has a gift—he’s a brilliant drummer—and he dreams of joining a real band, leaving behind the card‑dealing racket that once fed his habit.
But the world he returns to is a trap disguised as home.
Zosh, his wife, claims to be paralyzed and uses her supposed fragility to bind Frankie to her. Louie, the local dealer, lurks in the shadows, waiting for Frankie’s resolve to crack. Molly, the woman who truly loves him, offers tenderness, honesty, and a future—if he can stay clean long enough to reach it.
Pressure mounts.
Old debts resurface.
Temptation circles.
And when Frankie relapses, the film plunges into one of the most harrowing withdrawal sequences of the era.
A sudden death—accidental, chaotic—forces Frankie and Molly into flight.
But running only exposes the truth: Frankie must face his addiction, his guilt, and the manipulations that have kept him enslaved.
The film closes not with triumph, but with a fragile, hard‑won clarity:
freedom begins when a man stops lying to himself.
π° Historical & Cultural Context
Released in 1955, the film reflects:
Hollywood’s first serious attempts to portray drug addiction without euphemism
Postwar anxieties about masculinity, purpose, and economic entrapment
The rise of jazz as a symbol of both freedom and chaos
Otto Preminger’s crusade against the Production Code’s moral restrictions
Saul Bass’s revolution in graphic design—turning movie titles into psychological landscapes
It stands alongside films like A Hatful of Rain and Requiem for a Heavyweight as a portrait of men crushed between desire and despair.
✝️ Catholic Moral Resonances
1. Addiction as Bondage
Frankie’s arm is both instrument and chain.
His slavery is not glamorous—it is humiliating, isolating, and spiritually corrosive.
Insight:
Sin is not merely a choice; it becomes a captivity that requires grace, truth, and community to break.
2. Zosh and the False Mercy of Manipulation
Zosh’s “paralysis” is a lie used to control.
She offers comfort that suffocates, pity that imprisons.
Insight:
Mercy without truth becomes a weapon.
Love that manipulates is not love.
3. Molly and the Costly Mercy of Accompaniment
Molly does not excuse Frankie’s sin, nor does she abandon him.
She walks with him through the valley—without illusions.
Insight:
True mercy is costly.
It stands beside the sinner without enabling the sin.
4. Withdrawal as Purgation
Frankie’s detox scene is a cinematic purgatory:
sweat, shaking, darkness, and the slow burning away of illusion.
Insight:
Conversion often feels like death before it feels like resurrection.
5. The Drummer’s Dream
Frankie’s longing to play music is his longing for vocation—
for a life ordered toward beauty rather than destruction.
Insight:
Grace often begins as a small, stubborn desire for the good.
π· Hospitality Pairing
Drink: “The Broken Rhythm”
A jazz‑era cocktail with sharp edges and a warm center:
Bourbon
Dry vermouth
Dash of Angostura
Stirred, served over a single cube
Symbolism:
Bourbon = Frankie’s rawness
Vermouth = Molly’s steadying presence
Bitters = the pain of withdrawal
Single cube = the fragile clarity he fights to keep
Snack: Salted Pretzels
A barroom staple from Frankie’s world.
Symbolism:
Twisted, salted, humble—like the path of recovery itself.
Atmosphere
Dim light.
A small table.
Jazz on vinyl—Bernstein’s score if possible.
A space where honesty can breathe.
πͺ Reflection Prompt
Where in your life do you feel the tug of an old chain—
a habit, a fear, a lie—that still claims authority over you?
Who is your Molly—
the person who tells you the truth without abandoning you?
And what is the “music” you were made to play—
the vocation that addiction, fear, or shame has tried to silence?
A pre‑Code drama where fallen wealth, counterfeit nobility, and unexpected virtue collide—and where a woman discovers that salvation sometimes arrives in the rough hands of a man the world calls unworthy.
Sources: imdb.com
π¬ Production Snapshot
Studio: Columbia Pictures Director: William Beaudine Release: 1931 Screenplay: Dorothy Howell (adaptation), based on Men in Her Life by Warner Fabian Stars: Lois Moran (Julia Cavanaugh), Charles Bickford (Flashy Madden), Victor Varconi (Count Ivan Karloff), Don Dillaway (Dick Webster) Genre: Pre‑Code drama / social melodrama Notable: A compact Columbia B‑picture that exposes class hypocrisy, seduction, and the fragile dignity of a woman trying to rebuild her life. A story where the “gentleman” is a fraud and the “criminal” is the only man with a conscience.
π§ Story Summary
Julia Cavanaugh once belonged to New York’s privileged world—until her family fortune collapses.
Now burdened by debt and social shame, she becomes vulnerable to the wrong kind of attention.
Enter Count Ivan Karloff, a suave European aristocrat who seduces her with charm, flattery, and the illusion of security.
But when he discovers she is penniless, he abandons her without hesitation.
Into this wreckage steps Flashy Madden, a retired bootlegger with rough manners and a surprisingly tender moral core.
He offers to pay her debts—not for romance, but because he wants to become “a gentleman,” and he believes Julia can teach him.
Julia accepts, believing she is simply helping a man refine his manners.
But Flashy’s affection for her is real, deep, and quietly sacrificial.
Meanwhile, Julia is courted by Dick Webster, the senator’s son—a respectable match that promises stability.
Everything collapses when the Count returns to blackmail Julia.
Flashy confronts him.
A struggle.
A gunshot.
The Count falls.
Flashy is arrested and refuses to speak, determined to protect Julia’s reputation.
But Julia steps forward, risking everything—her engagement, her social standing, her future—to tell the truth.
The film closes with a sense of moral clarity:
the world’s “gentlemen” are not always good,
and the world’s “criminals” are not always lost.
π° Historical & Cultural Context
Released in 1931, the film reflects:
The Pre‑Code fascination with fallen women and social hypocrisy
America’s anxiety about class mobility during the Depression
The romanticization of the bootlegger as a folk hero
Columbia’s early‑’30s pattern of stories where virtue hides in unexpected places
A cultural moment when women’s financial vulnerability was a moral battleground
It sits comfortably beside films like The Good Bad Girl, Anybody’s Woman, and Secrets of a Secretary—stories where the world’s glitter hides rot, and the rough‑edged outsider carries the only real integrity.
✝️ Catholic Moral Resonances
1. The Counterfeit Aristocrat
The Count embodies the world’s false promises:
elegance without virtue, charm without loyalty, refinement without conscience.
Catholic insight: Sin often arrives dressed as sophistication.
2. The Bootlegger as the Unexpected Just Man
Flashy Madden is unpolished, uneducated, and morally ambiguous—but he is loyal, sacrificial, and truthful.
Catholic insight: God often raises the lowly to shame the proud.
The film becomes a parable of the Good Thief:
a sinner with a clean heart.
3. Debt as a Spiritual Symbol
Julia’s financial ruin mirrors her interior vulnerability.
Insight:
Debt = the weight of past choices
Her temptation to “marry out of it” reflects the human desire to seek salvation through worldly alliances rather than truth.
4. The Mock Proposal Scene
Flashy asks Julia to help him find the words to propose to “someone.”
She doesn’t realize he means her.
Insight: Grace often speaks indirectly before it speaks plainly.
5. Truth as Purification
Julia’s courtroom testimony is her confessional moment:
public, humiliating, costly—and cleansing.
Catholic insight:
Truth spoken at personal cost becomes a path to redemption.
π· Hospitality Pairing
Drink: “The Rough Gentleman”
A pre‑Code‑era cocktail that mirrors Flashy’s arc:
A psychological‑Gothic drama where fear, wounded memory, and the architecture of the soul collide—and where love must confront not evil, but the terror a man carries inside himself.
Sources: imdb.com
π¬ Production Snapshot
Studio: Universal Pictures Director: Fritz Lang Release: 1947 Screenplay: Silvia Richards (adaptation), based on Museum Piece No. 13 by Rufus King Stars: Joan Bennett (Celia Lamphere), Michael Redgrave (Mark Lamphere), Anne Revere (Caroline), Barbara O’Neil (Miss Robey) Genre: Gothic noir / psychological thriller Notable: A late‑period Lang film blending expressionist shadows, Freudian psychology, and Bluebeard myth. A meditation on marriage, trauma, and the hidden rooms of the human heart.
π§ Story Summary
The film opens with a whirlwind romance in Mexico:
Celia Barrett, a wealthy and self‑possessed New Yorker, meets the enigmatic architect Mark Lamphere.
He is brilliant, magnetic, and strangely fragile beneath the surface.
They marry quickly.
Too quickly.
When Celia arrives at Mark’s estate, she discovers a world of shadows and secrets:
A son who fears his father
A housekeeper who watches too closely
A secretary who hides half her face
And most unsettling of all— a private wing of rooms meticulously recreating famous murders of women.
One room remains locked.
Mark will not speak of it.
No one will.
As Celia’s fear grows, she begins to suspect that Mark’s obsession is not academic but personal—that the locked room is a prophecy of her own death.
But the truth is deeper and more tragic:
Mark is not a killer.
He is a man haunted by a childhood wound so profound that it has shaped his entire adult life.
The climax is not a battle but a revelation:
Celia enters the forbidden room, confronts the wound at its source, and forces Mark to face the memory he has spent a lifetime avoiding.
The film ends not with triumph but with a fragile, hard‑won reconciliation—
a marriage rebuilt on truth rather than illusion.
π° Historical & Cultural Context
Released in the late 1940s, the film reflects:
Post‑war anxieties about masculinity and psychological instability
Hollywood’s fascination with Freudian analysis
The Gothic revival in American cinema
Lang’s own preoccupation with guilt, fate, and the architecture of the mind
It is a spiritual cousin to Rebecca, Gaslight, and Suspicion, but more expressionist, more symbolic, more interior.
Lang turns the house into a psyche:
every corridor a memory, every locked door a wound.
✝️ Catholic Moral Resonances
1. The Wound Beneath the Sin
Mark’s danger is not malice but unhealed trauma.
Catholic moral theology insists that to heal a person, you must descend beneath the symptom to the wound.
Celia does exactly this.
She refuses to treat Mark as a monster; she treats him as a man in bondage.
2. Marriage as a Descent into Mystery
The film dramatizes a truth the Church teaches:
marriage reveals the beloved’s hidden rooms.
Some are beautiful.
Some are terrifying.
All require courage, patience, and grace.
3. Fear as a False Prophet
Celia’s fear tells her to flee.
But fear is not the voice of God.
She chooses discernment instead—
a clear‑eyed courage that neither denies danger nor surrenders to it.
4. Mercy as a Form of Truth‑Telling
Celia’s mercy is not softness.
It is the willingness to name the wound, confront the darkness, and call Mark back to himself.
This is the Catholic pattern:
truth without cruelty, mercy without naivety.
5. The Locked Room as a Spiritual Symbol
Every soul has a room it refuses to open.
The film becomes a parable of confession, healing, and the painful grace of revelation.
π· Hospitality Pairing
Drink
A deep, smoky red—Syrah or a dark Rioja.
Something with shadows and warmth.
Snack
Dark bread with salted butter, or a simple charcuterie plate.
Food that feels elemental, grounding, steady.
Atmosphere
Low light—one candle or a single lamp
A quiet room with long shadows
A sense of entering a mystery rather than solving a puzzle
A space where hidden things can come into the light without fear.
πͺ Reflection Prompt
What is the “locked room” in your own life—the memory, fear, or wound you avoid?
Who in your orbit carries a hidden sorrow that looks like anger, distance, or danger?
And what would it look like to enter that room—
not recklessly, not naively—
but with the courage of Celia Lamphere:
a courage that sees the wound, names it, and brings light where darkness has lived too long?
Conversion often feels like death before it feels like resurrection.
People Will Talk (1951)
A romantic‑philosophical drama where compassion, courage, and moral imagination confront the smallness of gossip and the cruelty of institutional judgment.
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Release: 1951
Screenplay: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Stars: Cary Grant (Dr. Noah Praetorius), Jeanne Crain (Deborah Higgins), Finlay Currie (Shunderson), Hume Cronyn (Prof. Elwell)
Genre: Romantic drama / social satire
Notable: One of Grant’s most unusual roles—gentle, principled, almost pastoral. Mankiewicz blends romance, ethics, and satire into a film that feels startlingly modern in its defense of human dignity.
π§ Story Summary
The film begins with a crisis of fear and shame:
Deborah Higgins, a young student, collapses under the weight of an unplanned pregnancy and the terror of public disgrace.
Enter Dr. Noah Praetorius—Cary Grant at his warmest.
He treats her not as a scandal but as a soul.
What follows is a quiet, luminous drama:
a doctor who refuses to humiliate the vulnerable
a woman learning to trust again
a mysterious guardian (Shunderson) whose silence carries the weight of a redeemed past
an academic rival, Prof. Elwell, determined to destroy Praetorius through rumor, suspicion, and bureaucratic cruelty
The investigation into Praetorius’s life becomes a moral trial:
Is compassion itself suspicious?
Is mercy a threat to the system?
The climax is not explosive but revelatory:
Praetorius dismantles his accuser not with anger but with truth, humor, and a disarming gentleness that exposes the poverty of Elwell’s soul.
The film ends in hope—marriage, new life, and the triumph of dignity over gossip.
π° Historical & Cultural Context
Released in post‑war America, the film pushes against the era’s moral rigidity:
It treats unwed pregnancy with tenderness rather than condemnation.
It critiques institutions that value rules over persons.
It elevates compassion as a form of intellectual and moral courage.
Mankiewicz, fresh from All About Eve, uses his trademark wit to expose the absurdity of judgmental systems.
Grant, meanwhile, plays Praetorius almost like a secular saint—calm, humorous, unflappable.
The film anticipates later debates about medical ethics, privacy, and the dignity of the patient.
✝️ Catholic Moral Resonances
1. Mercy as the Highest Form of Truth
Praetorius embodies the Gospel’s moral imagination:
truth without cruelty, clarity without condemnation.
He sees Deborah not as a “case” but as a daughter of God.
His mercy is not indulgence—it is justice rightly ordered.
2. Gossip as a Spiritual Disease
The title is a warning:
“People will talk.”
Gossip becomes the film’s antagonist—
a force that wounds reputations, distorts truth, and replaces charity with suspicion.
Catholic tradition names this sin clearly: detraction and calumny.
3. The Dignity of the Wounded
Deborah’s fear is not of her condition but of judgment.
The film insists that dignity is not lost through weakness;
it is lost when others refuse to see Christ in the vulnerable.
4. The Mystery of Shunderson: Redemption in Silence
Shunderson is a living parable:
a man with a dark past who has become a guardian of life.
His loyalty echoes the Church’s teaching that grace can transform even the most wounded histories.
5. The Physician as Moral Steward
Praetorius models the vocation of healing as a spiritual calling:
to protect, to uplift, to restore.
Snack
Honey‑Butter Scones
Warm, comforting, simple—echoing the film’s insistence that kindness is never complicated.
Atmosphere
Soft lamplight
A tidy room with a single vase of flowers
Light classical strings or a quiet jazz trio
A sense of calm clarity:
a space where no one is judged and everyone is seen
πͺ Reflection Prompt
Where in your life are you tempted to let “what people will say” shape your decisions?
Who in your orbit needs the kind of mercy that restores dignity rather than measures fault?
And what would it look like, today, to practice Praetorius’s gentle courage—
to defend the vulnerable,
to silence gossip with truth,
and to let compassion become your most persuasive argument?
Notable: A brisk, stylish entry in the Drummond series, blending gentleman‑adventurer charm with psychological menace. Barrymore’s performance adds gravitas and theatrical intelligence.
What follows is a cat‑and‑mouse pilgrimage through London:
cryptic clues delivered with icy elegance
traps designed to humiliate or break Drummond
a psychological duel between a grieving widow and a relentless hero
the police, led by Barrymore’s sardonic Inspector, always one step behind
Drummond is forced to confront not only danger but the moral shadow of his own past victories.
Every clue is a judgment.
Every step is a reckoning.
The climax brings justice — but not triumph.
The victory is real, yet tinged with the sorrow of a world where violence always leaves a residue.
π° Historical & Cultural Context
Released in the late 1930s, the film reflects a world sliding toward war: men of action, women of resolve, and villains shaped by grief rather than ideology.
The Drummond series embodied the British ideal of the gentleman‑hero — brave, witty, loyal — yet this entry complicates that ideal by showing the cost of heroism.
Barrymore’s presence elevates the film into something more theatrical and psychological:
a meditation on justice, guilt, and the thin line between righteousness and obsession.
✝️ Catholic Moral Resonances
1. Justice Without Mercy Becomes Vengeance
Irena Soldanis is not a cartoon villain.
She is a widow.
Her grief has curdled into cruelty.
The film becomes a meditation on the Gospel truth: “The measure you give will be the measure you get.”
Her pursuit of vengeance mirrors the spiritual danger of nursing old wounds until they become weapons.
2. The Hero’s Temptation: Self‑Righteousness
Drummond is brave — but not blameless.
His past actions, however justified, have consequences.
The film quietly asks: What does it mean to be responsible for the unintended suffering your victories create?
This is the moral maturity of the Christian life:
courage tempered by humility.
3. Loyalty as a Virtue of the Will
Drummond’s companions — Algy, Tenny, and the Inspector — embody steadfastness.
Their loyalty is not sentimental; it is chosen, tested, and costly.
It echoes the fidelity of covenant love: to stand with another even when the path is dark.
4. Evil as a Wound, Not a Monster
The film refuses to dehumanize its antagonist.
This is profoundly Catholic: sin wounds, but does not erase the image of God.
Irena’s tragedy is not that she is wicked,
but that she cannot imagine a world where mercy is possible.
π· Hospitality Pairing
Drink
Earl Grey with Bergamot
Refined, aromatic, slightly sharp — the taste of London fog and clipped British resolve.
Snack
Shortbread & Blackberry Jam
Buttery stability with a dark, tart center — mirroring the film’s blend of charm and menace.
Atmosphere
A dim lamp or low firelight
A leather chair or blanket — something “club‑room” in tone
Soft classical strings or a 1930s radio playlist
A sense of brisk clarity: a world where wit is a weapon and loyalty is a shield
πͺ Reflection Prompt
Where in your life are you tempted to repay hurt with hurt?
What past victory — professional, relational, or spiritual — still carries a shadow you haven’t acknowledged?
And what would it look like, in this season, to let mercy interrupt the cycle, so that justice becomes healing rather than harm?
The video emphasizes that Matthew 25 makes our judgment hinge on how faithfully we practice the works of mercy, and it highlights that one of the most neglected of these is caring for “the most forgotten souls.” Eric Genuis—a classical pianist, composer, and missionary—shares how his ministry brings Christ’s presence to people who are abandoned, overlooked, or hidden from society. He describes performing in prisons, rehab centers, and places marked by deep suffering, where beauty, dignity, and personal presence become a form of mercy. The hosts stress that these forgotten souls are not only materially poor but spiritually starved for hope, human connection, and the assurance that God has not forgotten them. The video calls viewers to rediscover this neglected work of mercy and to take seriously Christ’s warning that we will be judged by how we treat “the least of these.” youtu.be
A wartime espionage romance where loyalty, identity, and desire collide in the shadows of Stockholm.
π¬ Production Snapshot
Studio: London Film Productions Director: Victor Saville Release: 1937 Screenplay: Arthur Wimperis & Lajos BΓrΓ³ Stars: Vivien Leigh, Conrad Veidt, Anthony Bushell Genre: Spy thriller / romantic espionage drama Notable: A pre‑war film that blends glamour with moral ambiguity. Beneath its polished surface lies a meditation on divided loyalties, hidden identities, and the cost of loving someone whose truth you cannot fully know.
π§ Story Summary
Set in neutral Stockholm during World War I, the film follows Madeleine Goddard (Vivien Leigh), a fashionable boutique owner who is secretly a French intelligence agent. Her shop becomes a crossroads of coded messages, whispered alliances, and elegant deception.
Enter Baron Karl von Marwitz (Conrad Veidt), a charming German officer with secrets of his own.
Their attraction is immediate — and dangerous.
As their romance deepens, both continue their covert missions:
Madeleine smuggles information through her fashion house
Karl manipulates intelligence networks with quiet precision
Each suspects the other
Each hides behind charm, wit, and half‑truths
The tension builds as their loyalties pull them in opposite directions.
When the truth finally surfaces, love and duty collide.
The ending is bittersweet: two souls drawn together, yet separated by the kingdoms they serve.
π° Historical & Cultural Context
Released just two years before WWII, the film reflects Europe’s growing anxiety about espionage, shifting alliances, and the fragility of peace.
Vivien Leigh was on the cusp of international stardom; Conrad Veidt, already a master of morally complex roles, brings gravity and melancholy.
The film’s elegance masks a deeper unease: the sense that truth is always provisional in a world built on coded messages.
Stockholm’s neutrality becomes a metaphor for the human heart caught between competing loyalties.
✝️ Catholic Moral Resonances
The Mask as a Spiritual Condition
Both Madeleine and Karl live behind carefully crafted personas.
Their duplicity is professional — but it becomes personal.
The film becomes a meditation on the spiritual cost of living without transparency.
Love in a Divided Heart
Their romance is real, but their truths are not.
They long for intimacy but cannot offer honesty.
It echoes the Gospel’s warning: “No one can serve two masters.”
The Temptation of Neutrality
Stockholm’s neutrality mirrors the human desire to avoid choosing sides.
But the film insists: Neutrality is itself a choice — and often a costly one.
The Tragic Nobility of Sacrifice
Karl’s final decisions carry the weight of a man who sees clearly and chooses duty over desire.
Madeleine’s sorrow becomes a quiet echo of the soul’s longing for a unity it cannot yet claim.
π· Hospitality Pairing
Drink
Black Tea with Lemon
Clean, sharp, elegant — the taste of a room where secrets are spoken softly.
Snack
Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt
Bittersweet, refined, and slightly dangerous — like the romance at the film’s center.
Atmosphere
A single candle, evoking the salons and shadowed corners of wartime Stockholm
Soft classical strings or salon jazz
A sense of poised tension — beauty layered over danger
πͺ Reflection Prompt
Where in your life do you feel the pull of divided loyalties — the desire to be fully known and yet the instinct to hide?
What mask do you wear for the sake of peace, and what would it cost to set it down?
And in this season of discernment, what truth is asking to be spoken so that love can become honest, whole, and free?
oIt’s funny that as child my dad was in the military in Germany and Belgium (for over 6 years) and both places were about a 2 hour drive from Paris and we never went.
§My Dad said that it was because it was too dangerous to do with a large family (seven children).
Candace’s Worldwide Vineyard Tour — Walla Walla Valley, Washington
Theme: Fullness, Maturity, and Walking in the Strength God Has Built
πΏ OVERVIEW
Walla Walla is where the journey gathers weight— not heaviness, but substance, the kind of maturity that comes after courage has been lived, not merely imagined.
The valley is a bowl of abundance: rolling wheat fields, deep soils, old vines, and wines that speak with confidence and depth. After Yakima’s forward stride, this week invites you to stand tall in the strength God has already formed in you.
This is a landscape of fullness: • reds with depth and muscle, • whites with richness and poise, • vineyards that feel seasoned, rooted, and sure of themselves.
This week is about owning the maturity God has cultivated in you— walking without shrinking, speaking without hesitation, and living as someone who has been shaped by grace and fire.
The wines—Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Sangiovese, and expressive blends—carry that same seasoned confidence.
π DAILY OUTLINE
TUESDAY • MAR 31
Location: L’Ecole No. 41 (lecole.com) Focus: Maturity and depth Act: Taste a heritage red and notice how age brings harmony, not fragility. Prompt: Where has God matured me in ways I didn’t notice until now?
WEDNESDAY • APR 1
Location: Pepper Bridge Winery (pepperbridge.com) Focus: Strength with gentleness Act: Stand among the estate vines and feel the quiet power of rootedness. Prompt: What strength in me is becoming more gentle, more controlled, more Christlike?
THURSDAY • APR 2
Location: Woodward Canyon (woodwardcanyon.com) Focus: Honesty that refines Act: Taste a structured Cabernet and let its clarity challenge you. Prompt: What truth is God sharpening so I can walk more cleanly?
Focus: Legacy and long vision Act: Walk slowly through the historic district and feel the weight of time. Prompt: What legacy is God asking me to build with intention?
SATURDAY • APR 4
Location: Reininger Winery (reiningerwinery.com) Focus: Integration of past and present Act: Hold a glass to the light and notice how layers coexist without conflict. Prompt: What parts of my story is God weaving together into something whole?
SUNDAY • APR 5 — PALM SUNDAY
Mass: St. Patrick Catholic Church, Walla Walla (stpatrickww.org) Vineyard: Doubleback (doubleback.com) Focus: Entering the Passion with dignity Act: Write one place where you feel Christ inviting you to walk with Him into holy courage. Word: Hosanna.
MONDAY • APR 6
Location: Gramercy Cellars (gramercycellars.com) Focus: Discipline and spiritual precision Act: Taste a focused Syrah and reflect on the discipline God is restoring in you. Prompt: What practice is God calling me to reclaim with seriousness and joy?
Jael went out to meet
Sisera and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside with me; do not
be AFRAID.” So he went into her tent, and she covered him with a
rug.
This story doesn’t turn
out well for Mr. Evil “Sisera” as God protects Israel from their enemies via
women. We are now in the final stages of God’s covenant that is going to be
completed via another woman, the mother of Christ.
Girl Power
Israel turns away from
God again. This time they're conquered by Jabin, the king of Canaan. Israel
cries unto the Lord.
Wait—haven't we seen
this episode before?
Luckily for them, God
raises up an awesome judge: Deborah, a prophetess and the only female judge in
the book. Girl power! Deborah tells Barak, an Israelite general, that God
commands him to take 10,000 soldiers from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun
and attack Jabin's army. She promises that God will give them victory.
Barak says he'll only go
to battle if Deborah comes, and she does, but lets him know that it won't be
him who kills Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army—it'll be a woman! Barak leads
his 10,000 men against Sisera's army, including 900 chariots of iron. Barak's
army kills every last one of Sisera's men—except for Sisera. He's hiding at his
friend Heber's tent. Looks like things are about to get really in-tents.
Heber's wife, Jael, goes
out to meet Sisera, "and said unto him, turn in, my lord, turn into me;
fear not" (KJV 4:18). If your friend's wife ever says these words to
you, run away. Sisera tells Jael not to tell anyone he's in the tent.
"Sure, Siss. No problem," she says, tucking him into bed with some
milk. After he drifts off to sleep, Jael "took a nail of the tent, and
took a hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the
nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground" (KJV 4:21).
And with that, Jabin was
defeated. Ladies for the win!
The Devil and I do
struggle [God said to St. Bridget], in that we both desire souls as bridegrooms
desire their brides. For I desire souls in order to give them eternal joy and
honor.
The Devil desires souls
to give them eternal horror and sorrow.
Great courage is
required in spiritual warfare. ST. TERESA OF ΓVILA
Draw near to God,
and Satan will flee from you. ST. EPHRAEM THE SYRIAN
To sin is human,
but to persist in sin is devilish. ST. CATHERINE OF SIENA
Repentance is
returning from the unnatural to the natural state, from the Devil to God,
through discipline and effort. ST. JOHN THE DAMASCENE
Hence the Lord has
said that he who has faith the size of a mustard seed can move a mountain by a
word of command; that is, he can destroy the Devil’s dominion over us and
remove it from its foundation. ST. MAXIMUS THE CONFESSOR
Do not oppose
head-on the thoughts that the Enemy sows in your mind. Instead, cut off all
conversation with them by prayer to God. ST. ISAAK OF SYRIA
Copilot’s Take
The Book of Judges opens with a
nation caught between promise and compromise, still surrounded by the very
enemies they failed to drive out. Into this landscape of half‑obedience and
recurring infidelity, God raises leaders—not magistrates, but deliverers—who
embody His determination to rescue His people even when they drift. Deborah and
Jael stand out in this cycle as luminous figures, women who step into the
breach when courage among the men has thinned. Their story unfolds like a
solstice: light reaching its longest stretch, exposing everything that hides in
the shadows.
Deborah’s leadership is not an
anomaly but a divine intervention. She listens when others hesitate, speaks
when others stall, and calls Barak into a mission he is reluctant to embrace
alone. Her presence becomes the catalyst for Israel’s movement, a reminder that
God’s authority is not constrained by human expectations. The Catechism’s
teaching on providence—God guiding all things toward their appointed end—echoes
through her role. She is the voice of clarity in a season of confusion, the
prophetic light that breaks through Israel’s spiritual cloud cover.
Jael, by contrast, is the quiet
force of decisive action. She does not command armies or sit beneath a palm
tree dispensing judgments. She simply recognizes evil when it collapses at her
doorstep and refuses to let it survive the night. Her tent becomes the unlikely
battleground where Sisera’s tyranny ends. The saints speak with one voice about
this kind of courage: fortitude that resists evil, prayer that cuts off the
enemy’s whisper, repentance that returns the soul to its natural state. Jael
embodies all of it without fanfare. She acts not out of vengeance but out of
fidelity to the covenant people.
Together, Deborah and Jael reveal a
pattern for confronting evil that is both ancient and urgently relevant. God
speaks through Deborah, Israel moves through Barak, and deliverance arrives
through Jael. Revelation, obedience, and decisive action—three movements of the
same divine symphony. Judges 4 is not a celebration of human violence but a
portrait of moral clarity. Evil is not negotiated with. It is not entertained.
It is not allowed to linger. It is confronted, exposed, and ended by those who
are willing to stand in the light God provides.
On the summer solstice, the longest
day of the year, this story reads like a spiritual mirror. God gives maximum
light for maximum clarity. He exposes what hides, strengthens what trembles,
and empowers whoever is willing to act with courage. Deborah listens, Barak
moves, Jael finishes. The invitation is the same today: listen with clarity,
move with obedience, and act with courage. Evil is real, but its power is
limited. God’s light is stronger, and He wastes none of it.
Tuesday of Holy Week
Traditionally the account of
Christ's Passion according to St. Mark is read today and most
people continue with spring cleaning. Also today marks the bargaining of Judas
with the Sanhedrin as the Jewish way of tracking time makes Tuesday evening
Wednesday as days changed after sunset and not at midnight following the Roman
time keeping method.[2]
We learned yesterday from St. John
that Judas was a thief. He robbed from Christ, from the other apostles, from
the incipient Church. Jesus, for him, had become merely an excuse to seek after
his own interests. Jesus was not the one thing necessary, as he was for Mary of
Bethany. Jesus wasn't even an end, but merely a means for Judas to satisfy his
own greed. Judas supposedly had serious qualms of conscience about the failure
to sell the years’ worth of aromatic nard with which Mary had anointed Jesus' feet,
but he thought nothing about selling Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Judas had
been a disciple merely in his body, not in his heart. Judas had been called
personally by the Lord, had lived with him for about 1,000 days, had followed
him for three years, had heard him preach and teach, had seen him walk on
water, still stormy seas, feed thousands with a five rolls and two sardines,
raise three people from the dead, heal on countless occasions the sick, blind
and lame and have mercy on countless sinners, had even received from the Lord
the power to do many of these same things himself, and had been entrusted by
him with the money bag for the Twelve. But he tragically had never gotten to
know Jesus, and even more tragically had never gotten to love him. He remained
just a follower of Jesus on the outside, not on the inside. In betraying Jesus,
Judas valued him less than a handful of coins, forgetting that it would profit
him nothing to gain the whole world and forfeit his life.[3]
Goffine’s
Devout Instructions (1896) for Tuesday in Holy Week
Prayer. O ALMIGHTY and everlasting God grant us so to celebrate the mysteries
of Our Lord s passion that we may deserve to obtain pardon.
EPISTLE. Jeremias xi. 18-20.
In those days Jeremias said: Thou, O Lord, hast showed me,
and I have known then Thou showedst me their doings. And I was as a meek lamb
that is carried to be a victim: and I knew not that they had devised counsels
against me, saying: Let us put wood on his bread, and cut him off from the land
of the living, and let his name be remembered no more. But Thou, O Lord of
Sabbath, Who judgest justly, and triest the reins and the hearts, let me see
Thy revenge on them: for to Thee have I revealed my cause, O Lord my God.
Instead of the gospel the Church reads to-day:
THE PASSION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST,
According to St. Mark xiv. and xv.
At that time: The feast of the Pasch, and of the Azymes
was after two days: and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might
by some wile lay hold on Him, and kill Him. But they said: Not on the festival-
day, lest there should be a tumult among the people. And when He was in
Bethania in the house of Simon the leper, and was at meat, there came a woman
having an alabaster box of ointment of precious spikenard: and breaking the
alabaster box she poured it out upon His head. Now there were some that had
indignation within themselves, and said:
Why was this waste of the ointment made?
For this
ointment might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and given to
the poor. And they murmured against her. But Jesus said:
Let her alone, why do you molest her?
She hath
wrought a good work upon Me. For the poor you have always with you: and
whensoever you will, you may do them good; but Me you have not always. What she
had, she hath done she is come beforehand to anoint My body for the burial.
Amen I say to you, wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole
world, that also which she hath done, shall be told for a memorial of her. And
Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Him to
them.
Who hearing it were glad: and they promised him they would give him
money?
And he sought
how he might conveniently betray Him. Now on the first day of the unleavened
bread when they sacrificed the Pasch, the disciples say to Him: Whither wilt
Thou that we go, and prepare for Thee to eat the Pasch. And He sendeth two of
His disciples, and saith to them:
Go ye into the city; and there shall meet you a man carrying a pitcher of
water, follow him; and whithersoever he shall go in, say to the master of the
house, The Master saith, where is My refectory, where I may eat the Pasch with
My disciples?
And he will
show you a large dining-room furnished; and there prepare ye for us. And His
disciples went their way, and came into the city; and they found as He had told
them, and they prepared the Pasch. And when evening was come, He cometh with
the twelve. And when they were at table and eating, Jesus saith: Amen I say to
you, one of you that eateth with Me shall betray Me. But they began to be
sorrowful, and to say to Him one by one:
Is it I?
Who saith to
them:
One of the twelve, who dippeth with Me his hand in the dish?
And the Son of
man indeed goeth, as it is written of Him: but wo to that man by whom the Son
of man shall be betrayed. It were better for him, if that man had not been
born. And whilst they were eating, Jesus took bread: and blessing broke, and
gave to them, and said: Take ye, this is My body. And having taken the chalice,
giving thanks He gave it to them. And they all drank of it. And He said to
them: This is My blood of the New Testament, which shall be shed for many. Amen
I say to you, that I will drink no more of this fruit of the vine, until that
day when I shall drink it new in the kingdom of God. And when they had said a
hymn, they went forth to the Mount of Olives. And Jesus saith to them: You will
all be scandalized in My regard this night; for it is written, I will strike
the shepherd, and the sheep shall be dispersed. But after I shall be risen
again, I will go before you into Galilee. But Peter saith to Him: Although all
shall be scandalized in Thee, yet not I. And Jesus saith to him: Amen I say to
thee, to-day even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny Me
thrice. But he spoke the more vehemently: Although I should die together with
Thee, I will not deny Thee. And in like manner also said they all. And they
come to a farm called Gethsemani. And He saith to His disciples: Sit you here,
while I pray. And He taketh Peter and James and John with Him; and He began to
fear and to be heavy. And He saith to them: My soul is sorrowful even unto
death; stay you here, and watch. And when He was gone forward a little He fell
flat on the ground; and He prayed that if it might be, the hour might pass from
Him: and He saith: Abba, Father, all things are possible to Thee, remove this
chalice from Me, but not what I will, but what Thou wilt. And He cometh, and
findeth them sleeping. And He saith to Peter:
Simon, sleepest thou? couldst thou not watch one hour?
Watch ye, and
pray that you enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the
flesh is weak. And going away again, He prayed, saying the same words. And when
he returned, He found them again asleep (for their eyes were heavy) and they
knew not what to answer Him. And He cometh the third time, and saith to them:
Sleep ye now, and take your rest. It is enough: the hour is come behold the Son
of man shall be betrayed into the hands of sinners. rise, let us go. Behold, he
that will betray Me, is at hand. And while He was yet speaking, cometh Judas
Iscariot, one of the twelve, and with him a great multitude with swords and
staves, from the chief priests and the scribes and the ancients. And he that
betrayed Him had given them a sign, saying: Whomsoever I shall kiss, that is
He, lay hold on Him, and lead Him away carefully. And when he was come,
immediately going up to Him, he saith: Hail, Rabbi: and he kissed Him. But they
laid hands on Him, and held Him. And one of them that stood by drawing a sword,
struck a servant of the chief priest, and cut off his ear. And Jesus answering,
said to them:
Are you come out as to a robber with swords and staves to apprehend Me?
I was daily
with you in the temple teaching, and you did not lay hands on Me. But that the
Scriptures may be fulfilled. Then His disciples leaving Him all fled away. And
a certain young man followed Him having a linen cloth cast about his naked
body: and they laid hold on him. But he, casting off the linen cloth, fled from
them naked. And they brought Jesus to the high priest: and all the priests and
the scribes and the ancients assembled together. And Peter followed Him afar
off, even into the court of the high priest: and he sat with the servants at
the fire, and warmed himself. And the chief priests and all the council sought
for evidence against Jesus that they might put Him to death, and found none.
For many bore false witness against Him, and their evidences were not agreeing.
And some rising up, bore false witness against Him, saying: We heard Him say, I
will destroy this temple made with hands, and within three days I will build
another, not made with hands. And their witness did not agree. And the high
priest rising up in the midst, asked Jesus, saying:
Answerest Thou nothing to the things that are laid to Thy charge by these
men?
But He held His
peace and answered nothing. Again, the high priest asked Him, and said to Him:
Art Thou the Christ, the Son of the blessed God?
And Jesus said
to him: I am. And you shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of the
power of God, and coming with the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest
rending his garments saith:
What need we any farther witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy. What
think you?
Who all
condemned Him to be guilty of death. And some began to spit on Him, and to
cover His face, and to buffet Him, and to say unto Him: Prophesy: and the
servants struck Him with the palms of their hands. Now when Peter was in the
court below, there cometh one of the maidservants of the high priest. And when
she had seen Peter warming himself, looking on him she saith: Thou also wast
with Jesus of Nazareth. But he denied, saying I neither know nor understand
what thou sayest. And he went forth before the court, and the cock crew. And
again, a maid servant seeing him, began to say to the standers-by: This is one
of them. But he denied again. And after a while they that stood by said again
to Peter: Surely, thou art one of them: for thou art also a Galilean. But he
began to curse and to swear, saying I know not this man of Whom you speak. And
immediately the cock crew again. And Peter remembered the word that Jesus had
said unto him: Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt thrice deny Me. And he
began to weep. And straightway in the morning the chief priests holding a
consultation with the ancients and the scribes and the whole council, binding
Jesus, led Him away and delivered Him to Pilate.
And Pilate asked Him: Art Thou the King of the Jews?
But He
answering, saith to him: Thou sayest it. And the chief priests accused Him in
many things. And Pilate again asked Him, saying:
Answerest Thou nothing?
behold in how
many things they accuse Thee. But Jesus still answered nothing: so that Pilate
wondered. Now on the festival-day he was wont to release unto them one of the
prisoners, whomsoever they demanded. And there was one called Barabbas, who was
put in prison with some seditious men, who in, the sedition had committed
murder. And when the multitude was come up, they began to desire that he would
do, as he had ever done unto them.
And Pilate answered them, and said: Will you that I release to you the
King of the Jews?
For he knew
that the chief priests had delivered Him up out of envy. But the chief priests
moved the people, that he should rather release Barabbas to them. And Pilate
again answering, saith to them:
What will you then that I do to the King of the Jews?
But they again
cried out: Crucify Him. And Pilate saith to them:
Why, what evil hath He done?
But they cried
out the more: Crucify Him. And so, Pilate being willing to satisfy the people,
released to them Barabbas, and delivered up Jesus, when he had scourged Him, to
be crucified. And the soldiers led Him into the court of the palace, and they
call together the whole band: and they clothe Him with purple, and platting a
crown of thorns, they put it upon Him. And they began to salute Him: Hail, King
of the Jews. And they struck His head with a reed: and they did spit on Him.
And bowing their knees, they adored Him. And after they had mocked Him, they
took off the purple from Him, and put His own garments on Him, and they led Him
out to crucify Him. And they forced one Simon a Cyrenian who passed by, coming
out of the country, the father of Alexander and of Rufus, to take up His cross.
And they bring Him into the place called Golgotha, which being interpreted is,
the place of Calvary. And they gave Him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but
He took it not. And crucifying Him, they divided His garments, casting lots
upon them, what every man should take. And it was the third hour, and they
crucified Him. And the inscription of His cause was written over, THE KING OF
THE JEWS. And with Him they crucify two thieves, the one on His right hand, and
the other on His left. And the Scripture was fulfilled which saith: And with
the wicked He was reputed. And they that passed by, blasphemed Him, wagging
their heads, and saying: Vah, thou that destroyest the temple of God, and in
three days buildest it up again, save Thyself, coming down from the cross. In
like manner also the chief priests mocking, said with the scribes one to
another: He saved others, Himself He cannot save. Let Christ the King of Israel
come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were
crucified with Him, reviled Him. And when the sixth hour was come, there was
darkness over the whole earth until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus
cried out with a loud voice, saying:
Eloi, Eloi, lamma sabacthani?Which is, being interpreted, My God, My God,
why hast Thou forsaken Me?
And some of the
standers-by hearing, said: Be hold He calleth Elias. And one running and
filling a sponge with vinegar, and putting it upon a reed, gave Him to drink,
saying: Stay, let us see if Elias come to take Him down. And Jesus having cried
out with a loud voice gave up the ghost.
[Here all
kneel.]
And the veil of the temple was rent in two, from the top
to the bottom. And the centurion who stood over against Him, seeing that crying
out in this manner He had given up the ghost, said: Indeed, this man was the
Son of God. And there were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary
Magdalen, and Mary the mother of James the Less and of Joseph, and Salome: who
also when He was in Galilee, followed Him, and ministered to Him, and many
other women that came up with Him to Jerusalem. And when evening was now come
(because it was the Parasceve, that is, the day before the Sabbath), Joseph of
Arimathea, a noble counsellor, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of
God, came and went in boldly to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. But
Pilate wondered that He should be already dead. And sending for the centurion,
he asked him if He were already dead. And when he had understood it by the
centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. And Joseph buying fine linen and taking
Him down, wrapped Him up in the fine linen, and laid Him in a sepulcher which
was hewed out of a rock. And he rolled a stone to the door of the sepulcher.
Jesus of Nazareth
underwent Jewish and Roman trials, was flogged, and was sentenced to death by
crucifixion. The scourging produced deep stripe like lacerations and
appreciable blood loss, and it probably set the stage for hypovolemic shock, as
evidenced by the fact that Jesus was too weakened to carry the crossbar
(patibulum) to Golgotha. At the site of crucifixion, his wrists were nailed to
the patibulum and, after the patibulum was lifted onto the upright post
(stipes), his feet were nailed to the stipes. The major pathophysiologic effect
of crucifixion was an interference with normal respirations. Accordingly, death
resulted primarily from hypovolemic shock and exhaustion asphyxia. Jesus' death
was ensured by the thrust of a soldier's spear into his side. Modern medical
interpretation of the historical evidence indicate that Jesus was dead when
taken down from the cross.
GETHSEMANE
After Jesus and his disciples had observed the
Passover meal in an upper room in a home in southwest Jerusalem, they traveled
to the Mount of Olives, northeast of the city. (Owing to various adjustments in
the calendar, the years of Jesus' birth and death remain controversial. However, it is likely that Jesus was born in
either 4 or 6 BC and died in 30 AD.
During the Passover observance in 30 AD, the last Supper would have been
observed on Thursday, April 6 [Nisan 13], and Jesus would have been crucified on
Friday, April 7 [Nisan 14].) At nearby Gethsemane, Jesus, apparently knowing
that the time of his death was near, suffered great mental anguish, and, as
described by the physician Luke, his sweat became like blood.
Although this is a very rare phenomenon, bloody
sweat (hematidrosis or hemohidrosis) may occur in highly emotional states or in
persons with bleeding disorders. As a result of hemorrhage into the sweat
glands, the skin becomes fragile and tender. Luke's descriptions supports the
diagnosis of hematidrosis rather than eccrine chromidrosis (brown or
yellow-green sweat) or stigmatization (blood oozing from the palms or
elsewhere). Although some authors have suggested that hematidrosis produced
hypovolemia, we agree with Bucklin that Jesus' actual blood loss probably was
minimal However, in the cold night air, it may have produced chills.
Though
technically only the last fourteen days of Lent explicitly consider the
sufferings of our Lord, the Stations of the Cross (a.k.a. the Way of the Cross)
have long been a popular Lenten devotion for any or all of the forty days
(though they tend to be done on Fridays). These fourteen scenes from the via
dolorosa, the sorrowful path that Christ took while carrying His cross to
Golgotha, help direct one's heart to the mysterium fidei of our Lord's selfless
sacrifice.
Since Lent recapitulates time spent
in the desert, other forms of asceticism have accrued to its observance.
Unessential travel and diversion are discouraged. In former times, certain forms of entertainment, such
as live theatre and secular music, were banned, as was the holding of court. Weddings were also forbidden in the
early Church; even after this changed, the Solemn Nuptial Blessing could not be
given during a Lenten wedding. Finally, married couples were once admonished to
abstain from conjugal relations
during this time (as they were admonished to do during all solemn fasts and
feasts). Again, the principle is the same: withdrawal from the preoccupations
of the flesh in order to focus on the spirit.
Today, plan to do
at least one Novena for the calendar year for yourself and for your Family. I
always plan to do the Divine Mercy Novena by hiking for nine Saturdays starting
on the Friday before Divine Mercy Sunday.
·Jesus
denounces the scribes and Pharisees (Mt 23:1-36; Mk 12:37-40; Lk 20:4547)
·Jesus
teaches in the Temple (Lk 21:37-38)
·Jesus
predicts the destruction of the Temple. (Mt 24:1-3; Mk 13:1-4; Lk 21:5-7
·Returns
to Bethany at night.
On
Tuesday morning, Jesus and his disciples returned to Jerusalem. They passed the
withered fig tree on their way, and Jesus spoke to his companions about the
importance of faith. Back at the Temple, religious leaders, upset at Jesus
establishing himself as a spiritual authority, organized an ambush with the
intent to place Him under arrest. But Jesus evaded their traps and pronounced
harsh judgment on them, saying:
"Blind guides! For you are like whitewashed
tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people's
bones and all sorts of impurity. Outwardly you look like righteous people, but
inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness...Snakes! Sons
of vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell?" (Matthew 23:24-33)
Later
that afternoon, Jesus left the city and went with his disciples to the Mount of
Olives, which sits due east of the Temple and overlooks Jerusalem. Here Jesus
gave the Olivet Discourse, an elaborate prophecy about the destruction of
Jerusalem and the end of the age. He speaks, as usual, in parables, using
symbolic language about the end times events, including His Second Coming and
the final judgment. Scripture indicates that this Tuesday was also the day
Judas Iscariot negotiated with the Sanhedrin, the rabbinical court of ancient
Israel, to betray Jesus (Matthew 26:14-16). After a tiring day of confrontation
and warnings about the future, once again, Jesus and the disciples return to
Bethany to stay the night.
Pray: As
we journey with Jesus through Holy Week, remember all those in our world today
who carry heavy crosses of poverty, homelessness, and hunger. Pray for the poor
and vulnerable today.
Act: Commit
with your family to do at least one of the five suggestions in the article
above.
We often learn our doctrine much more deeply and
effectively simply by celebrating the feasts and fasts of the Church.
In fact, in Orthodox Judaism the calendar is the
catechism of Israel. According to Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, “On the pinions of time which bear us through
life, God has inscribed the eternal words of His soul-inspiring doctrine,
making days and weeks, months and years the heralds to proclaim His truths.
Nothing would seem more fleeting than these elements of time, but to them God
has entrusted the care of His holy things, thereby rendering them more
imperishable and more accessible.”
2698 The Tradition of the Church proposes to the
faithful certain rhythms of praying intended to nourish continual prayer. Some
are daily, such as morning and evening prayer, grace before and after meals,
the Liturgy of the Hours. Sundays, centered on the Eucharist, are kept holy
primarily by prayer. The cycle of the liturgical year and its great feasts are
also basic rhythms of the Christian's life of prayer.
No one knows human nature better than the God who
created it. The book of Genesis tells us that the Lord God made the world in
six days and rested on the seventh. He rested not because he was weary-God does
not tire-but because He wanted to provide a model for human labor and rest. The
Church calendar coincides with the cosmic rhythms of God. The Church calendar
reflects this fact: That Christ rose from
the dead in payment for our sins and is the Jewish Messiah that was hoped for.
In
the moments when you are tempted to be careless or halfhearted in the struggle,
let these exhortations stir you to a renewed valor in battle and provide you
with strategies to follow.
·The
life of man upon the earth is a warfare. Tob 12: 13 DOUAY-RHEIMS
·God
has not destined us to wrath, but to gain.
·Fight
the good fight, having faith and a good conscience. 1 Tim 1: 19
·lay
hold of the life eternal, to which you have been called.
·Conduct
yourself in work as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
·Do
not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Rom 12: 21 RSVCE
·The
unceasing prayer of a just man has great effectiveness.
Bible in a
year Day 272 The
Call of Nehemiah
Fr. Mike
introduces the book of Nehemiah and takes us through Nehemiah’s exemplary
response to the call of God as he does what God asks simply because he asks. He
also encourages us to pray for our enemies and explains the need to refrain
from vengeance in our interactions with others, especially when we are provoked
by their actions. Today’s readings are Nehemiah 1-2, Zechariah 12-13, and
Proverbs 20:20-22.
·A
collaborative statement from three communities of women religious seeks to
offer Catholic support for trans, nonbinary, and gender-expansive people[11]
oOn
Trans Day of Visibility, the church must be ‘a force for good’.
This is what
the catechism of the church states on this subject.[12]
Sexual Identity
(No. 2333)
“Everyone, man and woman, should acknowledge and accept his sexual identity.
Physical, moral, and spiritual difference and complementarity are oriented
toward the goods of marriage and the flourishing of family life. The harmony of
the couple and of society depends in part on the way in which the
complementarity, needs, and mutual support between the sexes are lived out.”
(No. 2393)
“By creating the human being man and woman, God gives personal dignity equally
to the one and the other. Each of them, man and woman, should acknowledge and
accept his sexual identity.”
Body and Soul
(No. 364)
“The human body shares in the dignity of "the image of God": it is a
human body precisely because it is animated by a spiritual soul, and it is the
whole human person that is intended to become, in the body of Christ, a temple
of the Spirit: Man, though made of body and soul, is a unity. Through his very
bodily condition he sums up in himself the elements of the material world.
Through him they are thus brought to their highest perfection and can raise
their voice in praise freely given to the Creator. For this reason man may not
despise his bodily life. Rather he is obliged to regard his body as good and to
hold it in honor since God has created it and will raise it up on the last
day.”
Modesty
(No. 2521)
“Purity requires modesty, an integral part of temperance. Modesty protects the
intimate center of the person. It means refusing to unveil what should remain
hidden. It is ordered to chastity to whose sensitivity it bears witness. It
guides how one looks at others and behaves toward them in conformity with the
dignity of persons and their solidarity.”
(No. 2522)
“Modesty protects the mystery of persons and their love… Modesty is decency. It
inspires one's choice of clothing. It keeps silence or reserve where there is
evident risk of unhealthy curiosity. It is discreet.”
(No. 2523)
“There is a modesty of the feelings as well as of the body. It protests, for
example, against the voyeuristic explorations of the human body in certain
advertisements, or against the solicitations of certain media that go too far
in the exhibition of intimate things. Modesty inspires a way of life which
makes it possible to resist the allurements of fashion and the pressures of
prevailing ideologies.” Updated August 7, 2019 2
Privacy
(No. 1907)
“First, the common good presupposes respect for the person as such. In the name
of the common good, public authorities are bound to respect the fundamental and
inalienable rights of the human person. Society should permit each of its
members to fulfill his vocation. In particular, the common good resides in the
conditions for the exercise of the natural freedoms indispensable for the
development of the human vocation, such as ‘the right to act according to a
sound norm of conscience and to safeguard . . . privacy, and rightful freedom
also in matters of religion.’”
Mutilation
(No. 2297)
“Except when performed for strictly therapeutic medical reasons, directly
intended amputations, mutilations, and sterilizations performed on innocent
persons are against the moral law.”
Rene Descartes (1596-1650), founder
of Analytical Geometry and Modern Philosophy
In the beginning of his Meditations (1641) Descartes
wrote:
“I have always been of the opinion
that the two questions respecting God and the Soul were the chief of those that
ought to be determined by help of Philosophy rather than of Theology; for
although to us, the faithful, it be sufficient to hold as matters of faith,
that the human soul does not perish with the body, and that God exists, it yet
assuredly seems impossible ever to persuade infidels of the reality of any
religion, or almost even any moral virtue, unless, first of all, those two
things be proved to them by natural reason. And since in this life there are
frequently greater rewards held out to vice than to virtue, few would prefer
the right to the useful, if they were restrained neither by the fear of God nor
the expectation of another life.” (Descartes 1901).
“It is absolutely true that we must
believe in God, because it is also taught by the Holy Scriptures. On the other
hand, we must believe in the Sacred Scriptures because they come from God.”
(Descartes 1950, Letter of Dedication).
“And thus, I very clearly see that
the certitude and truth of all science depends on the knowledge alone of the
true God, insomuch that, before I knew him, I could have no perfect knowledge
of any other thing. And now that I know him, I possess the means of acquiring a
perfect knowledge respecting innumerable matters, as well relative to God
himself and other intellectual objects as to corporeal nature.” (Descartes
1901, Meditation V).
The English word "sacrament" comes from Latin sacramentum,
which means "mystery" or "rite" in classical Latin
(although it also came to mean an "obligation" or "oath" in
Medieval Latin).
It is related to the Latin adjective sacra ("holy") and verb sacrare
("to devote, consecrate, make holy"). The Latin Vulgate Bible
uses sacramentum 16 times (8x OT; 8x NT) to translate Greek mystΔrion.
On the other hand, the Greek word ΞΌΟ ΟΟὡΟΞΉΞΏΞ½ (mystΔrion,
something "secret" or "hidden"; used 28 times in the NT) is
translated by several different words in the Latin Vulgate Bible:
mysterium (19 times in the Vulgate NT:
Matt 13:11; Mark 4:11; Luke 8:10; Rom 11:25; 16:25; 1 Cor 2:7; 4:1; 13:2;
14:2; 15:51; Eph 3:4; 6:19; Col 1:26; 2:2; 4:3; 2 Thess 2:7; 1 Tim 3:9;
Rev 10:7; 17:5)
sacramentum (8 times: Eph 1:9; 3:3, 9;
5:32; Col 1:27; 1 Tim 3:16; Rev 1:20; 17:7)
testimonium (only once: 1 Cor 2:1)
All
three of these Latin words could be translated "mystery," but mysterium
more often connotes the invisible or hidden dimensions, while sacramentum
more often refers to the visible or symbolic aspects of a spiritual or
divine mystery.
In a sense, Jesus Christ himself can be called
"the mystery of salvation" or "the sacrament of God," since
he, through his incarnation, made visible to us the mystery of the invisible
God.
Similarly, the Church as a whole is sometimes called "the sacrament
of salvation," since it is "the sign and the instrument of the
communion of God and men" (CCC§780;
cf. §§774-776).
The word "sacrament"
most commonly refers to seven particular rites or ritualsperformed
in and by the Church.
Many older Catholics will still remember the very
brief definition from the Baltimore Catechism (1941): "A
sacrament is an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace."
(§304).
The current official Catechism of the Catholic
Church (1994; 2nd edition 1997), gives a more extended definition:
"The sacraments are efficacious signs of
grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the church, by which divine
life is dispensed to us. The visible rites by which the sacraments are
celebrated signify and make present the graces proper to each sacrament.
They bear fruit in those who receive them with the required
dispositions." (CCC§1131;
see also "Sacrament" in the CCC's Glossary).
These sacraments are considered "Sacraments of
Christ," "Sacraments of the Church," "Sacraments of
Faith," "Sacraments of Salvation," and "Sacraments of
Eternal Life" (CCC §§1113-1134).
The seven sacraments can be subdivided into three
sub-groups:
three "Sacraments of Christian
Initiation" (Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist);
two "Sacraments of Healing"
(Penance/Reconciliation and Anointing of the Sick);
two "Sacraments of Vocation"
(Holy Orders/Ordination and Matrimony/Marriage; also referred to as
"Sacraments at the Service of Communion").
Litany
of Trust — Tuesday, March 31
From the
fear that my weakness makes me unusable to You, deliver me, Jesus.
Reflection
As
the Church approaches the solemn days of the Passion, the Gospel places before
us not the strength of the disciples but their frailty. Peter boasts of loyalty
and collapses. James and John fall asleep in the garden. Judas trades intimacy
for silver. Even the crowds who once cried “Hosanna” will soon shout “Crucify
Him.” Holy Week is not a parade of human competence—it is a revelation of
divine mercy moving through human weakness. We fear that our failures
disqualify us, that our inconsistencies make us unworthy instruments of grace.
Yet Christ enters His Passion surrounded not by heroes but by the hesitant, the
fearful, and the flawed.
Jesus
does not abandon them. He does not replace them. He carries them. The Passion
reveals a God who does not wait for perfect disciples but forms saints out of
those who stumble toward Him. In Gethsemane, Jesus asks His friends to stay
awake, knowing they will fall asleep. At the trial, He looks at Peter with
tenderness, not condemnation. On the Cross, He entrusts His Mother and His
Church to a disciple who had fled only hours before. To stand with Christ on
March 31 is to let this truth settle into the heart: God does not need our
strength to accomplish His work—He asks only for our surrender. Our weakness is
not a barrier to His grace but the very place where His mercy takes root.
Scripture
“My grace is sufficient for you, for power is
made perfect in weakness.”
— 2 Corinthians 12:9
Prayer
Jesus,
meet me in the places where I feel small, inconsistent, or unworthy. Teach me
to trust that Your strength is not hindered by my weakness but revealed through
it. Free me from the fear that I must be perfect before I can serve You. Let my
limitations become openings for Your mercy, and shape my heart to walk with You
through the mysteries of Your Passion.
Reflection
Question
Where
do you fear that your weakness disqualifies you—and how might Jesus be inviting
you to let His strength be revealed precisely there?
[15] Sheraton, Mimi. 1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A
Food Lover's Life List (p. 800). Workman Publishing Company. Kindle Edition.
[16] Schultz, Patricia. 1,000 Places to See Before You
Die: A Traveler's Life List Workman Publishing Company. Kindle Edition.
Tormented (1960)
π¬ Production Snapshot
Studio: Allied Artists Pictures
Director: Bert I. Gordon
Release: 1960
Screenplay: George Worthing Yates & Bert I. Gordon
Stars: Richard Carlson, Susan Gordon, Lugene Sanders, Juli Reding
Genre: Supernatural thriller / psychological horror / guilt‑haunting morality tale
Notable: A seaside ghost story that plays like a moral parable. Beneath its B‑movie surface lies a sharp meditation on conscience, omission, and the slow corrosion of the soul.
π§ Story Summary
Jazz pianist Tom Stewart is preparing for marriage on a quiet island. His former lover, Vi Mason, returns and threatens to expose their past. At the lighthouse, she slips and clings to the railing, begging for help.
Tom chooses not to save her.
This silent refusal becomes the film’s hinge.
After Vi’s death, Tom’s life begins to unravel. Her ghost appears in subtle, unnerving ways:
A wristwatch washing ashore
Footprints where no one walks
A disembodied hand stealing the wedding ring
Her voice whispering the truth
Her face appearing in photographs
Her presence disrupting the wedding rehearsal
Tom’s attempts to hide the truth lead him deeper into darkness. A ferryman discovers his secret and tries to blackmail him; Tom kills again. A young girl, Sandy, witnesses his actions, becoming the final threat to his collapsing faΓ§ade.
At the lighthouse—where the first sin occurred—Tom tries to silence the child. Vi’s ghost intervenes. Tom falls to his death, and the haunting ends only when the truth is restored.
π° Historical and Cultural Context
Part of the late‑1950s/early‑1960s wave of supernatural thrillers where ghosts represent conscience rather than monsters.
Director Bert I. Gordon, known for creature features, turns inward toward psychological and moral horror.
The seaside setting reflects postwar anxieties about reputation, hidden sin, and the fragility of public respectability.
The film’s ghost effects, though modest, serve the story’s moral clarity rather than spectacle.
The narrative echoes mid‑century fears of scandal and the cost of maintaining a lie.
✝️ Catholic Moral Resonances
The Sin of Omission as the First Betrayal
Tom’s refusal to save Vi is not an act of violence but an act of withholding—a betrayal born in silence.
It echoes the Catechism’s teaching that sins of omission can be as grave as active wrongdoing.
The Ghost as Conscience Made Visible
Vi’s haunting is not malevolent; it is revelatory.
She is the truth Tom refuses to face—persistent, unyielding, and ultimately merciful.
The Multiplication of Lies
Tom’s descent illustrates how sin darkens the intellect and weakens the will.
One refusal becomes a pattern.
One death becomes two.
The soul collapses under the weight of its evasions.
The Innocent as the Final Test
Sandy, the child who sees clearly, becomes the target of Tom’s desperation.
Evil, when cornered, always turns on innocence.
A Hint of Judas on Tuesday of Holy Week
Tuesday is the day Christ exposes hidden intentions.
It is the day Judas’s interior fracture becomes visible.
Tom’s story mirrors this pattern:
a quiet betrayal, a concealed truth, a conscience that refuses to stay silent.
The haunting becomes a cinematic echo of the Gospel’s warning—
that the heart’s secret choices eventually step into the light.
π· Hospitality Pairing
Drink:
Dark Roast Coffee with a Dash of Sea Salt
Bracing, coastal, slightly bitter—like the taste of a conscience awakening.
Snack:
Salted Caramel Popcorn
A nod to the film’s B‑movie roots: simple, nostalgic, perfect for a late‑night thriller.
Atmosphere:
A dim lamp or candle, echoing the lighthouse’s lonely glow
Soft jazz playing quietly, recalling Tom’s profession
A sense of moral tension—truth pressing gently but firmly toward the surface
πͺ Reflection Prompt
Where in your life is there a temptation to “look away” rather than act—and how might God be inviting you to choose courage over concealment?
What truth is quietly knocking, asking to be faced before it grows heavier?
And in this Tuesday of Holy Week, where Judas’s hidden intentions come into the light, what small act of honesty could keep your heart free, clear, and steady?
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