QOTD (with reflections): “We are the religion of the Incarnation…”

“We are the religion of the Incarnation. God became man, the invisible God became visible, he sanctified the material world and elevated these visible, tangible signs to communicate invisible graces and to convey eternal truths.”

— Canon Michael Stein, ICRSS, rector of St. Joseph’s Oratory (Roman Catholic) in Detroit

Amen!

Photos of the traditional religious procession in Detroit were widely shared on social media

Source: Vintage-style photo of St Joseph’s Day procession goes viral | Catholic Herald

Canon Stein noted, in reference to the St. Joseph’s Procession (pictured above) in particular,

“It only takes a quick glance around the world to see a fatherless society, and to see either a slothful or workaholic society, or a lack of an appropriate understanding of manliness. It’s neither brute nor effeminate, it’s faithful, it’s steadfast, it’s courageous and gentle. And we find all those things in St. Joseph, so I think that’s another part of the power of that picture.”

All very true. But, he goes on to add,

“We are body and soul, all these spiritual truths are meant to be communicated through our senses. We get to see our faith, hear our faith, taste our faith, etc., and that just appeals to us so much,” he said.

“Truth needs to shine in beauty…we’re not angels, we’re not just pure intelligences, we need to see, touch, hear; and that’s something the traditional liturgy has always done. That’s something that a reverent Mass or procession can do, these visible signs that the Church has used throughout her history to excite devotion and promote devotion.”

Again, amen. Amen, and amen!

One of my reasons for concern when we as Anglicans veer too far to the Protestant / Reformed side of the Christian spectrum is the accompanying tendency to get uncomfortably close to a quasi-gnostic devaluation of the physical, the material, the sensory – Creation itself – in favor of the cerebral, the theoretical, the (narrowly-defined) spiritual. “Spirit good, matter bad” is a common view in Christian circles. But, it’s a heretical one!

“Normies” and rebels

Just one more, and then I promise I will recede back into my self-imposed Lenten sabbatical, at least for a while…!

This came across my news-feed just this morning:

Nowadays, this is all too sadly true.

Too many young women today are destroying their natural beauty with tattoos and piercings, scrawling all over the masterpiece God made them to be, and dressing to be provocative or shocking rather than in ways that exemplify an objective standard of beauty, such as that expressed by St. Thomas Aquinas:

“Beauty, as St. Thomas says, is objective and has four attributes: truth, goodness, oneness and symmetry.  Beauty, when comprised of these qualities, directs us to God…

“Truth can be seen in clothing [and, I would add, other forms of adornment] that identifies the wearer as a man or woman, his status and occupation, even his character and family. Goodness is in the quality of materials and fine workmanship, and in the modesty that respects the natural virtues. Oneness is in the completeness of the ensemble and the way it matches in an ordered way. Symmetry is the proportion, consistency and uniformity that comprise it.

See the images above and to the right, and below, for classic examples! Examples of the alternative are all too easy to find, and need not be dwelt upon.

“This can be applied to everything: music and architecture, furnishings in the home, work and crafts, words and manners, meals and dinner tables, beautiful prayers and good reading. Local traditions sustain cultural beauty in holidays, ceremonies and ways of being that began long ago when people turned to God and received a flow of grace to generations. This realization makes us love and keep alive tradition. Beauty is expressed in many cultures and is diverse since God’s creation is immense. However, beauty cannot go against the natural order.”

Traditionalism, the revolt against the excesses of the modern (and postmodern) age, is indeed the new counterculture. Be counter-cultural! Be a rebel! Vive la révolution nuvelle et ancienne! Ce qui est vieux est nouveau.

---

Note: the young woman pictured above may be the lovely and talented Marilena – looks a lot like her, but I’m not sure it actually is. At any rate, be sure to click through to the linked video to see an example of how a young woman can be flirty and irresistible, without being degenerate in the process!

Knife crime: Tony Blair says police losing knife crime battle – BBC News

The former prime minister says “the emergency” means he is more worried about his own children.

Source: Knife crime: Tony Blair says police losing knife crime battle – BBC News

One more, since I’m posting anyway…

Many years ago, I wrote what was supposed to be a satirical piece for the local newspaper about a future “National Club Association” (the NCA) protesting a proposed ban on cudgels – the idea being, first they ban guns, then knives, and eventually clubs as well. Now that concept doesn’t look so satirical. The UK really is banning knives!

And of course, what doesn’t get mentioned is who are actually engaging in these knife-fights, slashings, stabbings, etc.: I feel fairly safe in presuming that it is not, for the most part, descendants of those who won the Battle of Britain in WW II, or the Battle of Agincourt, in 1415… The UK has chosen, on its own or by acceding to EU mandates, to take in many outsiders whose values and culture are inimical to Britons; as ye sew, so shall ye reap. In any case:

The Paleoconservatives, who posted this on Facebook, accurately commented:

“The progressive left simply wants control. Gun control, and if they get that, then knife control. They want to control your words, your faith, your children. Once, the best of the left were at least classical liberals, supporting freedoms, but these days they will make you accept their definition of progress – whether you like it or not.”

What is true in the UK, is also true here. The Left – I will not call them “liberals,” except ironically – wants one thing and one thing only: power. Control. The political heirs of the Jacobins of Revolutionary France, and Cromwell’s Puritans in the English Civil War, they want to impose their idea of the ideal society – a warped, twisted secular version of the Kingdom of God, a God in which they no longer even claim to believe – on everyone else. And they will stop at nothing to get it.

As the traditional Order for Compline puts it, quoting 1 Peter 5:8,

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist, firm in your faith.”

R.I.P. Russiagate. Here’s What We Learned | Bloomberg Opinion

 

 

Source: R.I.P. Russiagate. Here’s What We Learned

My apologies for once again inserting a political post into Lent.

But I did say that I’d make exceptions for significant incidents, and I’d say that the conclusion of the Mueller investigation – a two-year muck-raking expedition foisted on the American public square by Democrats and their fellow-travelers on the left side of the political aisle in an attempt to bring down the President, which has now ended without finding any evidence whatsoever of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign – is a significant incident.

“People who pushed the conspiracy theory are already busy telling their audiences that Trump still isn’t out of legal trouble. None of the legalistic niggling, however, will change the basic fact: A thorough, hard-hitting two-year investigation by a team that can’t be accused of being Trump sympathizers has found no proof of a conspiracy that has dominated U.S. airwaves since before Trump got elected. After this, any further political use of Russiagate can, and will, be deflected with an eye-roll.”

The author of this piece clearly has no love for Trump (unsurprisingly, for a Bloomberg contributor), but that makes it even more of an indictment of the Democrats’ absurdity in pursuing this misguided strategy:

“Democrats have clearly shot themselves in the foot. Instead of wasting their time on Russiagate, they could have focused more clearly on issues such as inequality, health care, the opioid epidemic, climate change. They have a chance to run a more meaningful campaign now that Mueller’s done – but the mistake will hang over them just as the Iraq war still hangs over the Republicans.”

It’s interestingly ironic – and it would be amusingly ironic, if not for the huge and lengthy expenditure of time, energy, and cash, not to mention the further polarization of American politics, resulting from this political fishing expedition – that many of the same people who accused (not entirely without justification) the likes of Breitbart and Alex Jones with promoting conspiracy theories have themselves been… promoting a conspiracy theory. “The pot calling the kettle black,” as my mother would have said.

Not cool, kids. Go to your rooms. No supper for you!