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. "
π¬ Production Snapshot
Studio: Twentieth Century Pictures (pre‑merger with Fox)
Director: William A. Wellman
Release: 1934
Screenplay: Leonard Praskins & Casey Robinson
Stars: Spencer Tracy, Jack Oakie, Constance Cummings
Genre: Crime drama / Working‑class adventure
Notable: A gritty, fast‑moving Pre‑Code‑adjacent film featuring real footage from the 1933 Long Beach earthquake. Tracy plays one of his earliest “ordinary man with moral backbone” roles, and Wellman brings documentary realism to telephone‑company field work.
π§ Story Summary
Joe Graham (Spencer Tracy) and Casey (Jack Oakie) are linemen and night‑shift troubleshooters for the telephone company—men who climb poles, crawl through basements, and fix what breaks in the dark. Joe is steady, principled, and quietly heroic; Casey is comic relief with a good heart. Ethel Greenwood (Constance Cummings), a switchboard operator, becomes the emotional center of the story as Joe’s love interest and moral compass.
What begins as routine night work spirals into danger when Joe uncovers a criminal racket using telephone lines for illegal operations. A police raid, a murder, and a frame‑up pull Joe into a web of corruption. The climax erupts during a catastrophic building collapse—augmented by real earthquake footage—where Joe and Casey must risk their lives to save others and expose the truth.
The film closes with restored order, renewed loyalty, and the quiet dignity of men who return to their tools and their vocation, having faced danger without fanfare.
π° Historical and Cultural Context
Released just as the Production Code began tightening, the film retains the rawness of early‑’30s crime pictures—gambling dens, corruption, and moral ambiguity.
William Wellman, known for Wings and The Public Enemy, brings a semi‑documentary realism to working‑class professions.
Twentieth Century Pictures was still independent, giving the film a rougher, almost newsreel texture.
The use of real Long Beach earthquake footage gave audiences a shock of authenticity rarely seen in studio films of the era.
Spencer Tracy was on the cusp of major stardom; this film helped define his persona as the decent, blue‑collar American hero.
✝️ Catholic Moral Resonances
Though not explicitly religious, the film carries a moral architecture that aligns naturally with Catholic social teaching—especially around work, justice, and courage.
Vocation as Service
Joe’s pride in being a “trouble shooter” reflects the dignity of labor: work as participation in God’s order, not merely a paycheck. He refuses promotion because he wants to serve where the real problems are—an echo of the Church’s esteem for humble, hands‑on vocations.
Courage in the Ordinary
The film elevates the quiet heroism of workers who protect the public without applause. This mirrors the Catholic conviction that sanctity often hides in ordinary duties faithfully done.
Justice Against Corruption
Joe’s refusal to be intimidated by criminals or compromised by fear reflects the moral clarity of the just man—one who stands firm even when institutions falter.
Mercy and Loyalty
Casey’s comic bravado masks a deep loyalty; Ethel’s steadiness anchors Joe. Their relationships embody the Catholic sense that community is a shield against despair.
Suffering as Refinement
The earthquake sequence becomes a crucible: danger strips away pretense and reveals character. In Catholic thought, trials reveal the truth of the heart and purify intention.
π· Hospitality Pairing
Drink: Rye Whiskey Highball
Simple, working‑class, and clean—something a lineman might take after a long shift, but elevated enough to honor the film’s grit and heart.
Snack: Salted Pretzels or Warm Pub Nuts
Unpretentious, sturdy, and fitting for a story rooted in night shifts, saloons, and the camaraderie of labor.
Atmosphere:
Dim lighting, like a night‑shift depot or a switchboard room.
Soft jazz or early‑’30s dance‑band music.
A sense of being “off duty,” letting the film’s working‑class world settle around you.
πͺ Reflection Prompt
God inviting you to act with Joe Graham’s steadiness: doing the right thing without applause, protecting others quietly, and treating your vocation as a place where grace can take root?
“Is the Division on the Right a Trap?” from U.S. Grace Force.
Core message of the video
The conversation (Fr. Heilman and Mark Mallett) argues that Satan’s preferred strategy right now is division—especially among people who should be allies in truth. They warn that:
Influencers and commentators on the political right are attacking each other publicly.
This is not just “bad optics”; it is spiritually dangerous because it fractures the very people who need unity to resist cultural and spiritual collapse.
Division is being engineered—through pride, suspicion, ego, and spiritual blindness—to weaken the Church and any movement that stands for truth.
The deeper meaning: a divided house cannot stand, and the enemy wants Christians distracted, angry, and fighting each other instead of fighting him.
The video frames this as a spiritual trap, not merely a political one.
How the CCC interprets this moment
The Catechism gives a precise lens for what the video is describing:
1. Humanity is in a dramatic spiritual battle
CCC 409 teaches that the whole of human history is marked by a “dramatic struggle between good and evil.” Division is one of the enemy’s oldest weapons.
2. Satan is the “father of lies” who sows discord
CCC 391–395 explains that the devil’s rebellion leads him to divide, accuse, and distort.
Whenever Christians turn on each other, the enemy’s fingerprints are present.
3. Sin fractures communion
CCC 1849–1851 describes sin as a rupture of communion—with God and with neighbor.
Public feuds, prideful attacks, and suspicion are not neutral; they are spiritual wounds.
4. Christ restores unity
CCC 817–822 teaches that unity is a mark of the Church and a work of the Holy Spirit.
Division is therefore not just unfortunate—it is anti‑Christic in the literal sense of opposing the work of Christ.
How to confront evil in this context
The video’s warning aligns with the Church’s teaching: the first battlefield is not political but spiritual. Confronting evil here means:
1. Refuse the bait of division
Evil wants you to react, accuse, and escalate.
Christ confronts evil by naming it and then refusing to participate in its logic.
2. Discern spirits, not personalities
The enemy wants you to think the problem is “that person.”
The CCC reminds us the real enemy is the spiritual power behind the discord (CCC 2851).
3. Stand in truth without losing charity
Truth without charity becomes a weapon.
Charity without truth becomes sentimentality.
Evil wins with either imbalance.
4. Guard your interior peace
The devil cannot work in a soul that is peaceful, recollected, and surrendered to God.
Interior peace is not passivity—it is spiritual armor.
5. Practice the threefold office of Christ
You and I have returned to this theme often:
Priest — offer your suffering and confusion to God.
Prophet — speak truth clearly, without venom.
King — govern your passions, your tongue, and your attention.
This is the opposite of the enemy’s strategy.
6. Unmask the lie
Every division is built on a lie:
“You must destroy your brother to defend the truth.”
Christ exposes this lie by showing that unity in Him is the only ground where truth can stand.
Studio: 20th Century Fox Director: Elia Kazan Release: 1945 Screenplay: Tess Slesinger & Frank Davis, adapted from Betty Smith’s novel Stars: Dorothy McGuire, James Dunn, Joan Blondell, James Gleason, Peggy Ann Garner Genre: Family drama / Coming‑of‑age Notable: Kazan’s debut feature, a tender portrait of poverty, dignity, and hope in early‑20th‑century Brooklyn. James Dunn won the Academy Award for his heartbreaking performance as Johnny Nolan, and Peggy Ann Garner received the Juvenile Oscar for her luminous portrayal of Francie.
π§ Story Summary
In the Williamsburg tenements of 1912 Brooklyn, young Francie Nolan grows up in a world of scarcity, imagination, and fierce family loyalty. Her mother, Katie (Dorothy McGuire), is disciplined and unsentimental, carrying the household on her back. Her father, Johnny (James Dunn), is a singing waiter—charming, affectionate, and undone by alcoholism. Between them stands Francie, whose hunger for beauty and learning becomes the “tree” that insists on growing in hard soil.
Francie’s world is shaped by small triumphs and quiet heartbreaks: the ritual of saving pennies for the tin‑can bank, the humiliation of poverty, the joy of books, the ache of watching her father falter, and the steady love of Aunt Sissy (Joan Blondell), whose warmth and mischief soften the family’s burdens. When tragedy strikes, Francie must learn to carry both memory and hope, discovering that resilience is not loud but rooted—like the tree outside her window that grows despite everything.
The film closes not with triumph but with a deepening: a family choosing to rise, a girl choosing to grow, and a neighborhood that holds both sorrow and grace in the same narrow streets.
π° Historical and Cultural Context
Postwar America embraced stories of ordinary families enduring hardship with dignity; this film became a touchstone for that sensibility.
Elia Kazan’s direction brought a documentary realism to tenement life—textures of laundry lines, stairwells, and street corners that feel lived‑in rather than staged.
Betty Smith’s novel, beloved for its honesty, arrived during WWII; the film adaptation carried that same spirit of endurance into the final months of the war.
James Dunn’s performance mirrored his own life—struggles with alcohol, a fall from stardom, and a redemptive return—giving Johnny Nolan a poignancy that audiences recognized as real.
The film helped establish the coming‑of‑age genre as a serious cinematic form, not merely sentimental but morally and socially observant.
✝️ Catholic Moral Resonances
Beneath its domestic realism, the film carries a quiet Catholic heart—sacramental, incarnational, attentive to grace in the ordinary.
Dignity in Hidden Labor
Katie Nolan embodies the Church’s teaching that work—especially unseen, domestic work—is a participation in God’s sustaining love. Her strength is not glamorous but sacrificial.
Mercy for the Wounded
Johnny Nolan is not excused, but he is never despised. The film models a Catholic tenderness toward the sinner: truth without cruelty, compassion without denial.
Family as a School of Virtue
The Nolans’ poverty becomes the forge where patience, humility, and perseverance are formed. Their home is a small domestic church, imperfect yet sanctifying.
Hope Rooted in Reality
The tree that grows in the courtyard is a symbol of grace: life insisting on flourishing where it should not. This mirrors the Church’s conviction that God plants hope in the most unlikely soil.
Suffering as Formation
Francie’s heartbreaks—especially the loss of her father—become the soil of her vocation. Her suffering does not crush her; it deepens her capacity for love, imagination, and truth.
π· Hospitality Pairing
Drink: Irish Coffee — warm, humble, and tinged with sweetness and sorrow, echoing Johnny Nolan’s charm and fragility.
Snack: Fresh‑baked brown bread with butter — simple, nourishing, the kind of food a Brooklyn tenement mother would stretch to feed her family, yet rich enough to honor the film’s tenderness.
Atmosphere:
A single lamp or warm bulb to evoke the tenement’s intimate glow.
Soft turn‑of‑the‑century parlor music or early American folk tunes.
A quiet moment afterward to reflect on the small mercies that sustain a family.
πͺ Reflection Prompt
Where in your own life is God asking you to grow like Francie’s tree—quietly, stubbornly, in soil that feels too hard—and what small acts of fidelity might nourish that hidden growth?
She Wouldn t Say Yes |1945 Comedy Film | Rosalind Russell | Lee Bowman
π¬ Production Snapshot
Studio: Columbia Pictures Director: Alexander Hall Release: November 29, 1945 bing.com Screenplay: Virginia Van Upp, Hans (John) Jacoby, Sarett Tobias Wikipedia Stars: Rosalind Russell, Lee Bowman, Adele Jergens, Charles Winninger, Harry Davenport Wikipedia Genre: Screwball comedy / Romantic farce Notable: A post‑WWII comedy built around Russell’s signature blend of intelligence and exasperated charm. The film plays with the era’s fascination with psychiatry, impulse, and the tension between professional women and romantic pursuit. It also reflects the Production Code’s moral boundaries, shaping a story where desire must pass through propriety before fulfillment. Obscure Hollywood
π§ Story Summary
Dr. Susan Lane (Rosalind Russell), a disciplined psychiatrist fresh from work at a military hospital, believes firmly in suppressing impulsive behavior. On her way home, she is literally knocked off her feet by comic‑strip creator Michael Kent (Lee Bowman), whose mischievous “Nixie” character encourages people to follow their whims. Wikipedia
A series of accidental encounters—train tickets switched by an impulsive clerk, shared compartments, and repeated collisions—forces the two into each other’s orbit. Kent is instantly smitten; Susan is instantly irritated. His pursuit is persistent, playful, and increasingly elaborate, culminating in a trick marriage that she spends much of the film trying to undo. Wikipedia
The comedy unfolds through misunderstandings, psychological banter, and the contrast between Susan’s rigid self‑control and Kent’s breezy spontaneity. By the final reel, her defenses soften, his antics settle, and the two meet in a middle ground where affection triumphs over analysis.
π° Historical and Cultural Context
Postwar romantic comedies often explored the re‑entry of women into domestic life after wartime independence. Susan Lane’s professional authority—and the film’s insistence that she must eventually yield to romance—reflects that cultural tension.
The Production Code shaped the film’s boundaries: flirtation is allowed, but sexual innuendo is muted, and marriage becomes the moral gatekeeper for intimacy. This stands in sharp contrast to pre‑Code films like She Had to Say Yes (1933), where desire was depicted more frankly. Obscure Hollywood
Rosalind Russell’s persona—fast‑talking, competent, slightly neurotic—was at its peak. This film sits between her sharper comedies (His Girl Friday) and her later, more polished roles (Auntie Mame).
Train‑set comedies were a 1940s staple, using confined spaces to heighten romantic friction. The film’s best sequences—ticket counters, berths, bar cars—capture that era’s cinematic charm. IMDb
✝️ Catholic Moral Resonances
Though lighter and less overtly moral than the dramas you’ve been exploring, the film still carries subtle resonances:
The Dance Between Reason and Impulse
Susan’s profession represents order; Kent represents spontaneity. The film suggests that virtue lies not in suppressing desire but in integrating it—echoing the Catholic understanding that reason and passion are meant to be harmonized, not opposed.
Marriage as the Moral Horizon
The Production Code’s insistence on marriage before intimacy mirrors the Church’s teaching that romantic desire finds its proper fulfillment within covenant rather than impulse.
Humility as Conversion
Susan’s journey is one of softening—recognizing that her self‑sufficiency is tinged with pride. Kent’s journey is one of grounding—learning that love requires more than whim. Their union becomes a small parable of mutual refinement.
The Comic as a Gentle Corrective
Comedy here functions as a moral teacher: it exposes rigidity, mocks vanity, and invites the characters (and the audience) to laugh themselves into a more humane posture.
π· Hospitality Pairing
Drink: Champagne Cocktail — light, effervescent, playful, matching the film’s screwball energy and train‑car flirtations.
Snack: Buttered Popcorn with a dash of smoked salt — simple, nostalgic, and perfectly suited to a 1940s comedy that leans on charm rather than spectacle.
Atmosphere:
Soft big‑band or swing music to evoke the postwar mood.
A small lamp or warm light to echo the cozy train compartments.
A relaxed, laughter‑ready posture—this film is meant to delight, not to instruct.
πͺ Reflection Prompt
Where might a little levity or loosened self‑protection open space for grace in your own daily rhythm—especially in places where seriousness has become a shield rather than a strength?
Studio: 20th Century Fox Director: Carol Reed Release: 1965 Screenplay: Philip Dunne, based on Irving Stone’s biographical novel Stars: Charlton Heston, Rex Harrison, Diane Cilento, Harry Andrews Genre: Historical drama / Biographical epic Notable: A rare film that dramatizes the spiritual and artistic struggle behind the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Heston and Harrison embody two titanic wills—Michelangelo’s interior vocation and Pope Julius II’s outward mission—locked in a conflict that becomes a meditation on creation, authority, and divine calling.
π§ Story Summary
Michelangelo Buonarroti (Charlton Heston), already a renowned sculptor, is reluctantly commissioned by Pope Julius II (Rex Harrison) to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo resists, insisting he is a sculptor, not a painter. His first attempt collapses under the weight of his own dissatisfaction, and he abandons Rome for the mountains, seeking clarity in the raw forms of nature.
In the solitude of the quarries, he receives a renewed vision—Creation, Fall, Flood, and the promise of redemption. He returns to Rome with a fire that neither exhaustion, criticism, nor papal impatience can extinguish. Julius II, meanwhile, wages wars, battles illness, and pushes Michelangelo relentlessly, demanding progress even as he himself is transformed by the unfolding beauty above him.
The ceiling becomes a crucible for both men: Michelangelo’s agony of creation and Julius’s agony of leadership. When the frescoes are finally revealed, the ecstasy is not triumph but revelation—beauty born from struggle, vocation purified through conflict, and two flawed men drawn closer to God through the work they fought to complete.
π° Historical and Cultural Context
1960s epic filmmaking favored grand historical canvases, and this film stands out for grounding spectacle in spiritual and artistic interiority.
Charlton Heston, known for biblical epics, brings a prophet‑like intensity to Michelangelo—driven, stubborn, and aflame with vocation.
Rex Harrison plays Julius II as both warrior and shepherd, capturing the Renaissance papacy’s blend of political power and spiritual responsibility.
The film reflects mid‑20th‑century fascination with genius as burden, portraying artistic creation as a form of suffering that yields transcendence.
Its attention to the Genesis cycle mirrors a cultural moment hungry for origins, meaning, and the possibility of renewal amid global upheaval.
✝️ Catholic Moral Resonances
Beneath the Renaissance grandeur lies a deeply Catholic meditation on vocation, obedience, and the sanctifying power of beauty.
Vocation as Obedience to Truth
Michelangelo refuses to paint what he does not believe. His agony is fidelity—an artist wrestling with God’s call. This mirrors the Church’s teaching that vocation is not self‑expression but self‑gift.
Authority as a Refining Fire
Julius II’s pressure exposes Michelangelo’s pride, but Michelangelo’s persistence exposes Julius’s need for humility. Their conflict becomes mutual sanctification: authority purified by beauty, genius disciplined by obedience.
Creation as Participation in God’s Work
The Genesis frescoes are not decoration; they are catechesis in color and form. Michelangelo becomes a co‑creator, revealing divine truth through human craft.
Suffering as the Path to Revelation
The ceiling is born through exhaustion, misunderstanding, and near collapse. This echoes the Paschal pattern: suffering that yields glory, labor that becomes liturgy.
Beauty as Evangelization
Julius II, hardened by war and politics, is softened and converted by the beauty unfolding above him. The film affirms the Church’s conviction that beauty can pierce the heart where argument cannot.
π· Hospitality Pairing
Drink: Tuscan Sangiovese — earthy, structured, tied to the same soil Michelangelo carved and loved. A wine that tastes of stone, labor, and sunlight.
Snack: Pecorino Toscano with figs or honey — simple, monastic, and worthy of a feast day. A pairing that honors both the austerity of the artist and the splendor of the finished work.
Atmosphere:
A single candle or lamp to echo the chapel’s contemplative glow.
Renaissance choral music—Palestrina or Victoria—played softly before the film.
Silence afterward, allowing the viewer to sit with the weight of creation and the grace of completion.
πͺ Reflection Prompt
Where is God asking you to labor in a way that feels costly, slow, or misunderstood—and what vision, once received, would give you the strength to persevere until the work becomes revelation?
Studio: Paramount Pictures Director: Mitchell Leisen Release: 1937 Screenplay: Virginia Van Upp, based on the Broadway play Burlesque Stars: Carole Lombard, Fred MacMurray, Charles Butterworth, Harvey Stephens Genre: Romantic comedy / Musical drama Notable: One of the finest Lombard–MacMurray pairings; a rise‑and‑fall story wrapped in nightclub glamour and emotional realism. The Panama Canal Zone setting gives the film an expatriate, morally humid atmosphere where charm and temptation coexist.
π§ Story Summary
Maggie King (Carole Lombard), a shipboard hairdresser, is stranded in Panama after a chaotic encounter with Skid Johnson (Fred MacMurray), a trumpet‑playing soldier with more talent than discipline. Thrown together by circumstance, they build a life in the local nightclub scene—she dances, he plays, and their affection grows into marriage.
Skid’s trumpet brilliance draws the attention of New York agents, and success pulls him away from Maggie. Distance, pride, and an opportunistic former flame erode his fidelity. Maggie, wounded but steadfast, watches the man she loves unravel under the weight of fame and self‑indulgence. Only when Skid hits bottom does he recognize the cost of his pride and the depth of Maggie’s loyalty.
The film resolves not with spectacle but with humility: a broken man returning to the woman who never stopped loving him, and a marriage rebuilt on truth rather than charm.
π° Historical and Cultural Context
Paramount in the late 1930s specialized in sophisticated romantic dramas with musical flair, and Leisen was a master of emotional texture.
Carole Lombard, though famous for screwball comedy, delivers one of her most grounded, emotionally mature performances.
Fred MacMurray was still early in his career, often cast as the charming but flawed everyman—an archetype he refines here.
The Panama Canal Zone setting reflects 1930s fascination with exotic, transient spaces where Americans lived outside familiar moral structures.
The film’s rise‑and‑fall arc mirrors Depression‑era anxieties about ambition, instability, and the fragility of relationships under pressure.
✝️ Catholic Moral Resonances
The film’s nightclub sheen hides a deeply moral story about vocation, fidelity, and the purifying fire of humility.
Fidelity as Covenant, Not Sentiment
Maggie’s love is not naΓ―ve; it is covenantal. She remains faithful not because Skid deserves it but because she understands marriage as a promise that endures through disorder. Her fidelity mirrors the Church’s teaching that love is an act of the will, not a mood.
Ambition Without Virtue Leads to Ruin
Skid’s downfall is not caused by talent but by pride. His gifts become destructive when detached from gratitude and discipline. Catholic moral tradition warns that unanchored ambition corrodes the soul and fractures relationships.
Humility as the Doorway to Restoration
Skid’s return is not triumphant—it is penitential. He must face the truth of his failures, accept Maggie’s mercy, and rebuild his life from the ground up. This echoes the sacramental pattern: contrition, confession, restoration.
Mercy That Does Not Excuse Sin
Maggie forgives, but she does not pretend nothing happened. Her mercy is clear‑eyed, rooted in truth. This is the Church’s vision of mercy: not indulgence, but love that heals without lying.
Marriage as Mutual Sanctification
Their reconciliation suggests that marriage is a school of virtue. Maggie’s steadfastness and Skid’s repentance become the means by which both grow in maturity and grace.
πΈ Hospitality Pairing
Drink: The Panama Highball — light rum, lime, and club soda. Bright, tropical, and honest—echoing the film’s early joy before ambition complicates things.
Snack: Plantain chips with a touch of sea salt. Simple, warm, and rooted in the film’s Canal Zone setting.
Atmosphere:
Soft jazz or trumpet instrumentals playing quietly.
A dim lamp or candle to evoke the nightclub’s glow without its chaos.
A small keepsake or memento on the table—a reminder of Maggie’s steadfastness and the way love remembers even when wounded.
πͺ Reflection Prompt
Where has ambition—your own or someone else’s—pulled you away from the relationships that anchor you, and what small act of humility could begin the work of restoration?
·Spring Break in Panama City Beach March 15-31st. Slap on your sunscreen and grab your shades for a laid-back spring break on Panama City Beach. This sunny haven on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico beckons with its tagline, “World’s Most Beautiful Beaches.” You’ll see why once you sink your toes into its unique sugar-white sand.
π The Conqueror’s Pilgrimage — March 21–27, 2026 Jerusalem — The School of Sacrifice
Theme: Surrender, Cost, Fidelity, and the Weight of Love Identity Shift: From commissioned man → cruciform man Jerusalem is where Christ reveals the cost of mission. It is where obedience becomes sacrifice, where courage becomes fidelity, where the disciple’s voice becomes a witness. This week is about entering the mystery of Christ’s Passion, letting His love interpret your suffering, and allowing your mission to be shaped by the Cross.
π¨ Where We Stay
Notre Dame of Jerusalem Center A pilgrim house overlooking the Old City walls. Steps from the Holy Sepulchre and the Via Dolorosa. Quiet rooftop chapel and terrace for prayer. Ideal for a week of contemplation, surrender, and deep union with Christ. Website: https://www.notredamecenter.org/
✝️ Where We Attend Mass
Church of the Holy Sepulchre or Notre Dame Chapel
Search: Holy Sepulchre Mass times Search: Notre Dame Jerusalem Mass times
Mass becomes the daily anchor—your entry into the Paschal Mystery you will walk physically through the city.
π️ Daily Itinerary & Symbolic Acts
March 21 — Arrival in Jerusalem
π₯ Symbolic Act: “Enter the City of the King” Travel from Galilee to Jerusalem. Walk to the Old City walls and place your hand on the stone. Pray: “Lord, I enter Your city. Teach me the cost of love.” Mass: Notre Dame Stay: Notre Dame Center
March 22 — Mount of Olives
πΏ Symbolic Act: “Not My Will, but Yours” Visit:
Dominus Flevit
Garden of Gethsemane
Church of All Nations
Sit among the olive trees where Christ sweat blood. Journal: Where do I resist God’s will? Where is He asking for surrender? Stay: Notre Dame Center
March 23 — Upper Room & Mount Zion
π️ Symbolic Act: “Receive the Mission of the Eucharist” Visit:
Cenacle (Upper Room)
St. Peter in Gallicantu
Dormition Abbey
Read John 13–17 slowly. Reflect on how Christ forms His disciples through intimacy, humility, and sacrificial love. Stay: Notre Dame Center
π Symbolic Act: “Die and Rise with Him” Spend the morning in silence inside the Basilica. Touch the Stone of Unction. Pray at the Tomb. Let the Resurrection speak into your mission. Stay: Notre Dame Center
March 26 — Bethlehem: The Beginning of the Mission
⭐ Symbolic Act: “Return to the Place of Incarnation” Visit:
Church of the Nativity
Milk Grotto
Shepherds’ Field
Reflect on how Christ’s mission began in humility and hiddenness. Pray for the grace to live your mission with the same simplicity. Stay: Notre Dame Center
March 27 — Sending Forth from Jerusalem
π₯ Symbolic Act: “From the Tomb to the World” Final prayer on the rooftop overlooking the Old City: “Lord, I accept the cost. Make me faithful to the end.” Mass at the Holy Sepulchre. Depart strengthened, cruciform, and ready to carry your mission into the world.
Joshua summoned the Gibeonites and said to them, “Why did you
deceive us and say, ‘We live far off from you’? —You live among us!Now are you
accursed: every one of you shall always be a slave, hewers of wood and drawers
of water, for the house of my God.”They answered Joshua, “Your
servants were fully informed of how the LORD, your God, commanded Moses his
servant that you be given the entire land and that all its inhabitants be
destroyed before you. Since, therefore, at your advance, we were in greatFEARfor
our lives, we acted as we did.
Negotiation and Compromise. When Israel negotiated
with the Gibeonites and ignored God’s order to destroy the city, they allowed
compromise to jeopardize their mission. While negotiation is not wrong in
itself, leaders must never negotiate their convictions, direct orders, or core values.
When we start negotiating these, we compromise our mission.
If only our nation returned to wisdom and prayed and sought the
Lord’s instruction before we entered any treaties with other nations; sadly, we
too are like Joshua.
I prayed, and prudence was given me; I pleaded, and the spirit of
wisdom came to me. I preferred her to scepter and throne, and deemed riches
nothing in comparison with her, nor did I liken any priceless gem to her;
because all gold, in view of her, is a little sand, and before her, silver is
to be accounted mire. Beyond health and comeliness I loved her, and I chose to
have her rather than the light, because the splendor of her never yields to
sleep. Yet all good things together came to me in her company, and countless
riches at her hands. (Wis. 7:7-11)
Worrying keeps you trapped. Thinking sets
you free.
Prayer. MAY our devotion be made fruitful
by Thy grace, we beseech Thee, O Lord, for the fasts we have undertaken will
become profitable to us only if they are pleasing to Thy mercy.
EPISTLE. Isaias xlix. 8-15.
Thus saith the Lord: In an
acceptable time I have heard thee, and in the day of salvation I have helped
thee: and I have preserved thee, and given thee to be a covenant of the people,
that thou mightest raise up the earth, and possess the inheritances that were
destroyed : that thou mightest say to them that are bound : Come forth : and to
them that are in darkness : Show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and
their pastures shall be in every plain. They shall not hunger, nor thirst,
neither shall the heat nor the sun strike them: for He that is merciful to
them, shall be their shepherd, and at the fountains of waters He shall give
them drink. And I will make all My mountains a way, and My paths shall be
exalted. Behold these shall come from afar, and behold these from the north and
from the sea, and these from the south country. Give praise, O ye heavens, and
rejoice, O earth; ye mountains, give praise with jubilation: because the Lord
hath comforted His people, and will have mercy on His poor ones. And Sion said:
The Lord hath forsaken me, and the Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget
her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her womb? and if she should
forget, yet will not I forget thee, saith the Lord Almighty.
GOSPEL. John viii. 12-20.
At that time: Jesus spoke
to the multitudes of the Jews, saying I am the light of the world: he that
followeth Me, walketh not in darkness, but shall have the light of life. The
Pharisees therefore said to Him: Thou givest testimony of Thy self: Thy testimony
is not true. Jesus answered and said to them: Although I give testimony of
Myself, My testimony is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I go: but
you know not whence I come, or whither I go. You judge according to the flesh:
I judge not any man. And if I do judge, My judgment is true; because I am not
alone, but I and the Father that sent Me. And in your law, it is written, that
the testimony of two men is true. I am one that gives testimony of Myself: and
the Father that sent Me, giveth testimony of Me. They said therefore to Him:
Where is Thy Father? Jesus answered: Neither Me do you know, nor My Father: if
you did know Me, perhaps you would know My Father also. These words Jesus spoke
in the treasury, teaching in the temple: and no man laid hands on Him, because
His hour was not yet come.
Preparing for Battle[2] Keeping the Enemy Out
of Your Camp
Because the LORD your God
walks in the midst of your camp, to save you and to give up your enemies before
you, therefore your camp must be
holy. DEUTERONOMY 23: 14. This principle
of spiritual warfare must be
emphasized: Don’t invite the Enemy into your camp. Look out for Trojan Horses,
poisonous reptiles and be prepared to fight.
·“Poisonous
Reptiles” are the “little” sins that find their way into our hearts. We may
ignore them or think them of no consequence as we try to stand guard over the
carefully constructed fortifications of our spiritual life. To resist the
temptations of ordinary demonic activity, we must guard our thoughts closely and reject immediately any thought that leads to sin. We must also carefully examine our thoughts to seek out assumptions or
conclusions that may be false and contrary to faith, so that they lead us
astray. Above all, we must engage in
a frequent examination of conscience and then go regularly to Confession.
Here
are three ways to beat the devil and continue to stay true to the season of
Lent during these difficult times:
Faith: Through the virtue of faith, we
believe in God and all that he has said to us. The saints stand as giants of
faith that we can strive to imitate during this time. If you’re stuck at home
these days, read the life of any saint (online or through a book) and you will
see what I mean. It is abundantly clear how their faith kept them strong in the
most challenging of situations.
If we are living in undue
fear right now, then we are not living in faith. Our faith starts with us
trusting God in prayer and surrendering ourselves completely to him. If we
trust that we have a father in heaven who knows our needs, before we even ask for
them (Matthew 6:8), then we can trust that God will be with us during this
tumultuous time and see us through it – even if the particular trials in our
lives become especially burdensome.
Hope: Hope keeps us from discouragement
and is the quality by which we anchor our souls in Christ. We should certainly
be prudent and careful during this time.
Throughout history, there
have been countless natural and man-made disasters, but God has never forsaken
his people. As the psalmist tells us:
“God
is our refuge and our strength,
an
ever-present help in distress.
Therefore,
we fear not, though the earth be shaken
and
mountains plunge into the depths of the sea.”
(Psalm
46:2-3)
In addition, never forget
that we are not made for this world – we are made for heaven. And while we
should certainly live in the hope of a better tomorrow in this world, we should
also pray for a greater outpouring of the virtue of hope in our lives, so that
we may even more ardently desire to one day enjoy the kingdom of heaven and
eternal life.
Love: Among countless lessons that
Jesus taught us through his Cross, two are particularly of value during this bank
run. The first is that Jesus showed us that love is expressed in action. There
are people all around us right now who are alone or who may need help in
various ways. Love them in action. This may involve helping your elderly
neighbor get groceries. Or it may require you to give your spouse a night off
as he/she deals with the new reality of working from home (including possibly a
home filled with screaming kids). It may also be a good idea to reflect on the spiritual and corporal works of mercy to see how else you can love
others in action.
The second lesson I wish
to highlight from the Cross is its sacrificial dimension. Jesus showed us his
love through sacrifice – dying to himself – by dying on the Cross. Everyone’s
nerves are a bit frayed as we continue to grapple with the unknowns and ever-changing
situations related to this current bank run. Seize every opportunity you get to
make sacrifices – big or small – for someone else in these days.
Love is at the heart of
the Christian faith and in these difficult times, we can witness to our faith
in the way we love God and those around us. The greatest benefit of acting
through the virtue of love is that the fruits of love are joy, peace and mercy
(CCC 1829) – all of which are much-needed right now.
Living our lives rooted in
faith, hope and love, especially during this recession, will root us more
deeply in God, not just for the Lenten season, but for beyond it too. We don’t
know how this monetary crisis will unfold and how it will continue to affect
us. But we know God. We can trust and hope in God.
“The
Lord is my light and my salvation. whom shall, I fear?
The
Lord is the stronghold of my life.
of
whom shall I be afraid?”
(Psalm
27:1)
Bible in a
year Day 262 Miracle
Worker
As we read about the many
miracles Jesus performs in today's readings from Matthew, Fr. Mike asserts the
objective reality of those miracles and reinforces that Jesus is truly the Son
of God who has power over matter. We learn that in Jesus, we too can do things
that we could never do on our own. Today's readings are Matthew 14-17, and
Proverbs 19:9-12.
International Day of
Forests seeks to celebrate forests while providing a platform to raise
awareness of the importance of trees. The day also raises awareness of rapid
deforestation and educates about the vital role that forests and trees play in
sustaining and protecting humans by supplying us with freshwater
and oxygen. In fact, forested watersheds and wetlands provide the world with
nearly 75% of its accessible freshwater. International Day of Forests was
declared in December 2012 by the United Nations
General Assembly in an effort to promote the importance of forests to humans
and aid in conservation efforts. International Day of Forests is observed
annually on March 21st. Since then, International Forest Day has become one of
the most influential global events advocating for forest conservation in the
world.
International Day of Forests Facts
& Quotes
·According
to the UN, forests cover one third of the Earth’s land mass.
·Nearly
one-third of the world's largest cities get their drinking water
directly from protected forest areas. Forests act as natural filters for water
by removing particles from it such as metals and nitrogen.
·According
to the UN, approximately 1.6 billion people worldwide depend on forests for
their livelihood.
International Day of Forests Top
Events and Things to Do
·Join
the celebration of the International Day of Forests and World Water Day in the
Economic and Social Council Chamber of the UN. Every year they host a meet and
greet style event in the chamber that the public can join in on.
·Watch
a movie that advocates for the protection of forests or showcases their rich
biological diversity. Some of our favorites are Planet Earth, FernGully:
The Last Rainforest, and Wild.
·Spread
awareness on social media by using the hashtags #InternationalDayofForests,
#SavetheForests or #IntForestDay.
·Share
your favorite photo of a forest or plant with the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the UN by emailing it to idf@fao.org. The UN will add it to a
combined gallery of everyone’s pictures around the world!
·Read
a book that is advocating forest conservation. Some of our favorites are: The
Sibley Guide to Trees, The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring,
and Forest Ecology.
Not a Ladies’ Man (1942)
π¬ Production Snapshot
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Director: Lew Landers
Release: 1942
Screenplay: Rian James (from the story Just Another Dame by Robert Hardy Andrews)
Stars: Paul Kelly, Fay Wray, Douglas Croft, Ruth Ford
Genre: Domestic drama / Legal melodrama
Notable: One of Fay Wray’s final pre‑retirement roles; a compact, 60‑minute Columbia B‑drama centered on fatherhood, truth‑telling, and the moral cost of public duty.
π§ Story Summary
District Attorney Robert Bruce (Paul Kelly) is a recently divorced father trying to raise his young son, Bill, with steadiness and integrity. Bill’s emotional turmoil at school draws the attention of his compassionate teacher, Hester Hunter (Fay Wray), whose concern slowly becomes affection for both father and son.
The drama intensifies when Robert discovers that his ex‑wife has remarried a racketeer he is preparing to prosecute. His instinct to protect Bill from shame collides with his obligation to uphold the law. Bill, sensing the tension but not understanding it, tries to “fix” the situation in ways that only deepen the crisis.
The film moves toward a quiet, human resolution: truth must be faced, dignity must be preserved, and love—steady, patient, unshowy—can rebuild what fear and secrecy have strained.
π° Historical and Cultural Context
Wartime domestic dramas were common in the early 1940s, offering audiences stories of home, duty, and moral clarity amid global uncertainty.
Columbia’s B‑unit specialized in brisk, emotionally direct films that foregrounded character over spectacle.
Fay Wray’s late‑career roles often cast her as a stabilizing, morally grounded presence—an echo of her shift away from the sensationalism of her early 1930s fame.
Legal melodramas of this era frequently explored the tension between public responsibility and private vulnerability, reflecting anxieties about corruption, family breakdown, and civic virtue.
✝️ Catholic Moral Resonances
The film’s quiet domestic scale opens surprisingly rich moral territory.
Truth as the Foundation of Communion
Robert’s desire to shield his son from painful truths is understandable, but secrecy fractures trust. Catholic moral teaching frames truth not as harsh exposure but as the ground on which relationships can heal.
The Vocation of Fatherhood
Robert’s struggle is not simply legal—it is vocational. He must discern how to be a father who protects without deceiving, who disciplines without crushing, who models integrity even when it costs him.
The Teacher as Moral Witness
Hester embodies the Church’s vision of accompaniment: she sees the child, not the scandal; she offers presence rather than judgment. Her role mirrors the vocation of educators who safeguard dignity and nurture hope.
Justice Without Vengeance
The prosecution of the racketeer is not framed as triumph but as duty. Catholic social teaching insists that justice must be ordered toward the common good, not personal vindication. Robert’s restraint reflects this.
Healing Through Right Relationship
The film’s resolution suggests that families are repaired not by erasing the past but by choosing fidelity in the present—an echo of the Church’s insistence that grace works through human cooperation, not magical escape.
π· Hospitality Pairing Drink: A Whiskey Highball—simple, honest, unpretentious. It matches the film’s tone: nothing flashy, just clarity and warmth.
Snack: Buttered toast with a sprinkle of smoked salt. Domestic, comforting, and evocative of a kitchen where a father and son might talk through hard truths.
Atmosphere:
A single lamp on, creating a sense of evening reflection.
A schoolbook or notebook on the table, nodding to Hester’s quiet influence.
A sense of calm order—because the film is about rebuilding what disorder has strained.
πͺ Reflection Prompt
Where in your life are you tempted to “protect” someone by withholding truth—and what would it look like to trust that charity and clarity together can heal more deeply than silence?
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