Infants Are Unable To Play With Building Blocks

According to the British Association of Teachers and Lecturers, children who are 3 and 4 don't have dexterity in their fingers because they're too addicted to swiping tablet screens.

The children know how to use the devices, but they barely know how to play with actual toys.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/infants-are-unable-to-use-building-blocks-because-theyre-too-addicted-to-ipads-2014-4#ixzz2zWxnIMra

The True Meaning of Easter

Written by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

The Resurrection represents the eternal and definitive triumph of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the complete defeat of his adversaries, and the supreme argument of our faith. Saint Paul said that, if Christ had not resurrected, our faith would be vain. The whole edifice of our beliefs is founded on the supernatural fact of the Resurrection. Let us then meditate about this highly elevated subject.

*          *          *

Christ Our Lord was not resurrected: He resurrected. He was dead. Lazarus was resurrected. Someone other than him, in this case, Our Lord, called him back to life. As for the Divine Redeemer, no one resurrected Him. He resurrected Himself, needing no one to call Him back to life. He took his life back when He so willed.

Everything that is said about Our Lord can be analogically applied to the Holy Catholic Church. We often see, in the history of the Church, that precisely when She seemed irremediably lost and all the symptoms of catastrophe seemed to undermine Her, events took place that kept Her alive against all the expectations of Her adversaries. A rather curious fact is that sometimes it is the Church’s enemies that come to Her aid, rather than Her friends. For example, in a most sensitive time period for Catholicism like Napoleon’s era, an extremely unusual episode took place: a conclave was convened for the election of Pius VII under the protection of Russian troops, all of them schismatic and under the command of a schismatic sovereign. In Russia itself, the practice of the Catholic religion was curbed in a thousand ways. Yet, in Italy, Russian troops ensured the free election of a Sovereign Pontiff precisely at the moment when a vacancy in the See of Peter would have caused such grievous damages for Holy Church that, humanly speaking, she might never have been able to overcome them.

Such are the marvelous means that Divine Providence employs to demonstrate that God has the supreme government of all things. However, let us not think that the Church owed Her salvation to Constantine, Charlemagne, John of Austria, or Russian troops. Even when She seems to be entirely abandoned and when She lacks the most indispensable natural resources for survival, let us be certain that Holy Church will not die. Like Our Lord, She will rise with Her own, divine strength. And the more inexplicable the seeming resurrection of the Church may be from the human standpoint (we say seeming, because, unlike Our Lord, the Church will never die a real death), the more glorious Her victory will be.

In these murky and sad days, let us thus confide. However, in order to restore all things in the Kingdom of Christ, let us confide not in this or that power, man, or ideological current but in Divine Providence, which will once again force the sea to open wide, move mountains and cause the whole earth to tremble if necessary to fulfill the divine promise: “The gates of Hell shall not prevail against Her.”

Videos: BEST Holy Week processions ever

You’ll love these uplifting Holy Week videos

I really think you’ll enjoy watching this breathtaking footage:
Video: Stunning Holy Week Processions in Spain

When it comes to Holy Week, Catholic Spain is matchless. The public display of reverence, penance and devotion are simply inspiring.

So as we meditate on the Passion of Our Lord, please share this inspirational video with others who might enjoy receiving it.

Wishing you many blessings this Holy Week.

The Sainte Chapelle: Glorious Fruit of the Middle Ages: VIDEO

Medieval man was able to bring forth amazing faith-inspired works of beauty that organically flourished from a Christ-centered society.

Nelson Fragelli, researcher and speaker on medieval architecture shares his insight with you about France’s Sainte Chapelle, one of Christendom's most noble examples of medieval artistry. This masterpiece was guided by a profound wisdom and love of God. Mr. Fragelli makes the connection between Saint Chapelle and the principles outlined in the book, Return to Order.  

We invite you to take a look at this marvel that you may admire and also hope that its beauty will not merely remain a thing of the past, but that it might also inspire a future, a true Return to Order.

Get more information about this Return to Order and how to buy the book by going here:
http://www.returntoorder.org/

Is the Internet Causing People to Lose Their Religion?

Americans are losing their religion and according to one researcher the internet is to blame. About 18 percent of Americans now claim no religious affiliation.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The internet may be making people into agnostics or atheists faster than any other influence in history. A new study shows that 18 percent of Americans now claim no religious affiliation, up from just 8 percent in 1990. That's about 25 million people.

Researchers publishing in the MIT Technology Review say that there is a significant correlation between increased internet use and decline in religious affiliation. However, they caution that correlation does not mean causation and say that the increase in internet use is probably only responsible for 25 percent of the decline. Read more:

http://www.catholic.org/news/hf/faith/story.php?id=54842

Ukrainian Catholic leader reconsecrates nation to Mary’s protection

On April 6, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church renewed the consecration of Ukraine to the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk did so “because of the great tribulation that all the people and our entire country are experiencing at this time due to the occupation of part of our land-- a situation that fills our hearts with anxiety for the future, uncertainty and fear,” the Religious Information Service of Ukraine (RISU) reported.

External Devotion to Mary is Not Enough

The Holy Curé of Ars sometimes met sinners, blinded by delusions, who relied on some external practice of devotion to the Blessed Virgin to quiet their consciences and give them permission to sin with greater freedom, without fear of the everlasting flames of hell.

In such cases, his harsh words had tremendous effect, both by bringing the guilty ones to realize the monstrosity of their presumption, which is so insulting to the Mother of Mercy, and by giving them an act of devotion to use for imploring God’s grace to escape the infernal snake’s crushing coils.

But in a similar situation, clergymen without true devotion to the Virgin Mary would only succeed, by these cold and wounding words, in making the poor drowning wretch let go of the buoy that might have kept him afloat until he reached safety.

Dom J.B. Chautard
Excerpt from The Soul of the Apostolate, (L’âme de tout apostolate), Pierre Tequi / E. Vitte Editons, 1920.

Humility Is Compatible with the Rich Dress of One’s Office

Saint Francis de Sales, the bishop of Geneva, while on a journey during Lent, went to the church attached to a monastery of Capuchin friars. He arrived at sermon time; the preacher had taken ostentation in dress as his sermon’s theme and was inveighing vehemently against prelates and ecclesiastical dignitaries who, instead of setting an example of humility, wore splendid garments.

When the sermon ended, the bishop went into the sacristy and summoned the preacher. Once they were alone, Saint Francis said, “Reverend Father, your discourse was edifying. It may also be true that we who are in authority in the Church are guilty of sins from which the inmates of the cloister are exempt. Nevertheless, I consider it highly unwise to say such things as you did on this subject from the pulpit, to the common people. Moreover, I wish to call your attention that for many reasons it is a matter of necessity that the princes of the Church should keep up an appearance befitting their rank. Besides, one never knows what may be hidden beneath a silken robe.”

Saint Francis unbuttoned the upper part of his purple cassock, and let the monk see that he wore a ragged hair shirt next to his skin. “I show you this,” Saint Francis added, “so that you may learn that humility is quite compatible with the rich dress of one’s office.

From henceforth see that you are less harsh in your judgments and more prudent in your speech.” If the dignitaries of the Church were wretchedly dressed, they would lose the respect due to themselves and to their office. Therefore it is not only permissible, but obligatory upon them, to dress in accordance with the official rank they hold.

* Adapted from Father Francis Spirago’s Anecdotes and Examples Illustrating the Catholic Catechism (New York: Benziger Brothers, 1904), 187–188.