Destroying Language Leads to the Destruction of Culture

You think, I daresay, that our chief job is inventing new words. But not a bit of it! We’re destroying words— scores of them, hundreds of them, every day. We’re cutting the language right down to the bone. Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.” — George Orwell,1984

VIDEO: Saint Thomas and Immigration

It seems that Saint Thomas Aquinas has an opinion on just about everything.

In this video, author John Horvat discusses what the views of Saint Thomas are on immigration and the treatment of immigrants.


 

VIDEO: After Vision Nigerian Bishop says Rosary will Bring Down Boko Haram

A Nigerian bishop says that he has seen Christ in a vision and now knows that the rosary is the key to ridding the country of the Islamist terrorist organization Boko Haram.

24 Quotes About Purity That Every Young (& Old) Catholic Should Know

Impurity is plastered everywhere today: Movies, TV, billboards, music, entertainment, books, and magazines.


We must fight back.


To that end the following collection of quotes -- many of which are authored by Doctors of the Church -- will provide you with the support and encouragement you need to stand your ground and fight for purity.

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

-- Matthew 5:8

“Holy Purity, the queen of virtues, the angelic virtue, is a jewel so precious that those who possess it become like the angels of God in heaven, even though clothed in mortal flesh.”

-- Saint John Bosco



“We must be pure. I do not speak merely of the purity of the senses. We must observe great purity in our will, in our intentions, in all our actions.”

-- Saint Peter Julian Eymard



“Those whose hearts are pure are the temples of the Holy Spirit.”

-- Saint Lucy



“We must practice modesty, not only in our looks, but also in our whole deportment, and particularly in our dress, our walk, our conversation, and all similar actions.”

-- Saint Alphonsus Liguori



“In the realm of evil thoughts none induces to sin as much as do thoughts that concern the pleasure of the flesh.”

-- Saint Thomas Aquinas



"In temptations against chastity, the spiritual masters advise us, not so much to contend with the bad thought, as to turn the mind to some spiritual, or, at least, indifferent object. It is useful to combat other bad thoughts face to face, but not thoughts of impurity.”

-- Saint Alphonsus Liguori



“Lust indulged became habit, and habit unresisted became necessity.”

-- Saint Augustine



“More souls go to hell because of sins of the flesh than for any other reason.”

-- Our Lady of Fatima



"Filthy talk makes us feel comfortable with filthy action. But the one who knows how to control the tongue is prepared to resist the attacks of lust."

-- Saint Clement of Alexandria



“The man of impure speech is a person whose lips are but an opening and a supply pipe which hell uses to vomit its impurities upon the earth.”

-- Saint John Vianney



"Either we must speak as we dress, or dress as we speak. Why do we profess one thing and display another? The tongue talks of chastity, but the whole body reveals impurity."

-- Saint Jerome



“A pure soul is like a fine pearl. As long as it is hidden in the shell, at the bottom of the sea, no one thinks of admiring it. But if you bring it into the sunshine, this pearl will shine and attract all eyes. Thus the pure soul, which is hidden from the eyes of the world, will one day shine before the Angels in the sunshine of eternity.”

-- Saint John Vianney



“The pure soul is a beautiful rose, and the Three Divine Persons descend from Heaven to inhale its fragrance.”

-- Saint John Vianney

“Chastity is the lily of virtues, and makes men almost equal to Angels. Everything is beautiful in accordance with its purity. Now the purity of man is chastity, which is called honesty, and the observance of it, honor and also integrity; and its contrary is called corruption; in short, it has this peculiar excellence above the other virtues, that it preserves both soul and body fair and unspotted.”

-- Saint Francis de Sales“Humility is the safeguard of chastity. In the matter of purity, there is no greater danger than not fearing the danger. For my part, when I find a man secure of himself and without fear, I give him up for lost.  I am less alarmed for one who is tempted and who resists by avoiding the occasions, than for one who is not tempted and is not careful to avoid occasions. When a person puts himself in an occasion, saying, I shall not fall, it is an almost infallible sign that he will fall, and with great injury to his soul.”

-- Saint Philip Neri



“Your good resolutions must not make you proud, but humble and diffident; you carry a large sum of gold about you, take care not to meet any highwaymen. In this life there is nothing certain: we are in a continual warfare, and, therefore, ought to be on our guard day and night. We sail in a tempestuous sea that threatens us on every side, and in a poor leaky vessel: the devil, who aims at nothing less than our destruction, never ceases to increase the storm, to overwhelm us thereby, if he can; hence it was that the Apostle gave this precaution, even to the virtuous: ‘Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall’ (1 Cor. x.12).”

-- Saint Jerome, Epistle to Saint Eustochium



“The state of grace is nothing other than purity, and it gives heaven to those who clothe themselves in it. Holiness, therefore, is simply the state of grace purified, illuminated, beautified by the most perfect purity, exempt not only from mortal sin but also from the smallest faults; purity will make saints of you! Everything lies in this!”

-- Saint Peter Julian Eymard

“Chastity, or cleanness of heart, holds a glorious and distinguished place among the virtues, because she, alone, enables man to see God; hence Truth itself said, ‘Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God.’”

-- Saint Augustine



“There is no remedy so powerful against the heat of concupiscence as the remembrance of our Savior’s Passion. In all my difficulties I never found anything so efficacious as the wounds of Christ: In them I sleep secure; from them I derive new life.”

-- Saint Augustine



“God bestows more consideration on the purity of the intention with which our actions are performed than on the actions themselves.”

-- Saint Augustine



“He alone loves the Creator perfectly who manifests a pure love for his neighbor.”

-- Saint Bede the Venerable



"You carry your snare everywhere and spread your nets in all places. You allege that you never invited others to sin. You did not indeed, by your words, but you have done so by your dress and your deportment.”

-- Saint John Chrysostom



"Let your modesty be a sufficient incitement, yea, an exhortation to everyone to be at peace on their merely looking at you."

-- Saint Ignatius of Loyola

24 Quotes About Purity That Every Young (& Old) Catholic Should Know

Return to Order Interview on KSAL

On April 24, 2015,  Rich Alexander and Jeff Garretson have John Horvat back on their show, which airs on KSAL-AM 1150 in Salina, Kansas. They talk about the need for Sunday rest as part of the program for a Return to Order.

The interview can be heard here.

Return to Order Interview on KSAL

Replace Common Core with Family Dinner -

by John Horvat II

It is no secret that the American educational system is in disarray. In response, big government just loves to come up with multi-billion dollar, 10,000 page programs to fix the system. This results in programs like the Common Core that aims to make students “career and college ready.

There are easier ways to deal with the problem.

Researcher Jane Waldfogel has shown that “(even after controlling for many other factors) family dining is a powerful predictor of how children will fare as they develop. ‘Youths who ate dinner with their parents at least five times a week,’ she writes, ‘did better across a range of outcomes: they are less likely to smoke, to drink, to have used marijuana, to have been in a serious fight, to have had sex…or to have been suspended from school, and they had higher grad point averages and were more likely to say they planned to go to college’” (Robert D. Putnam, Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis, Simon and Schuster, New York, 2015, p. 122).

That is to say the moral formation of the family can provide the framework for students to flourish. If the goal is to make children “career and college ready,” why not encouraged parents to eat dinner together as a family? That is a system that works. It’s not a government program. It doesn’t cost the taxpayers anything. It is so much easier and results in more children planning to go on to college. Why not replace Common Core with the family dinner?

Replace Common Core with Family Dinner -

Is More Choice Better?

The problem is that when we are faced with too many choices in modern markets, there is a cost of having choice overload. This can lead to bad decisions, anxiety, stress and dissatisfaction – even clinical depression.

What is the solution to this dilemma? Author Barry Schwartz claims the solution lies in relying upon the social structure that normally serve to temper consumption. He says that, “Social institutions could ease the burden on individuals by establishing constraints that, while open to transformation, could not be violated willy-nilly by each person as he chooses. With clearer ‘rules of the game’ for us to live by—constraint that specify how much of life each of us should devote to ourselves and what our obligations to family, friends, and community should be—much of the onus for making these decisions would be lifted.” (Barry Schwartz, The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less, New York: Harper Perennial, 2004, p. 112.)

Is More Choice Better?

St. Louis Satanist Contests Abortion Waiting Period

May 4, 2015 (NewsBusters.org) -- The pro-abortion media crowd is embracing new ally in their fight: Satanists. 

“Mary” from Missouri is hoping to bypass her state’s 72-hour abortion waiting period by citing “sincerely held religious beliefs” – as a Satanist. The Friendly Atheist blog broke the story of how the Satanic Temple plans to aid a woman it calls Mary who believes in its “tenets.” The media followed suit, from a Think Progress editor expressing “love,” to a Salon editor concluding, “[R]eligious exemption laws are maybe cool when Satanists use them to get abortions.” 

Damien Ba’al, the head of the Satanic Temple’s St. Louis chapter, described his group’s “Project Mary.” 

“This is about a human being who has rights to control her own body and a right to her religious beliefs,” he said on the GoFundMe page raising money for Mary’s transportation to the St. Louis Planned Parenthood, lodging and daycare for her (born) child. 

“Myself and the rest of the St. Louis chapter of the Satanic Temple will be helping her circumvent these obstacles,” he said, because, “according to our tenets, one’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.” 

According to the Friendly Atheist, Mary will challenge her doctor in a letter “as an adherent to the principles of the Satanic Temple” to contest the waiting period.