Spiritual conference by Father McBride, SSPX. God’s glory.

God creates to manifest His glory. We (and all creatures, but especially rational creatures) were created to glorify God, in order that God’s glory be manifested.

Glorify God by becoming a saint. We glorify God by becoming saints. God is glorified by sanctifying and perfecting us. That is our purpose. To be sanctified. God is glorified by our sanctification.

We were created to glorify God. Wisdom is to be able to see things as God sees them—from the perspective of eternity.

“Why am I here?” Look back at where God has led you so far. Think about God’s glory. God wants to perfect us and sanctify us.

Spiritual conference by Father McBride, SSPX. The love of God.

Gladiator. Maximus says, “What we do in life, echoes in eternity.”

Everything we do must serve our eternal end. Start with a desire to seek and follow Christ. What kind of God are we seeking? God of love. Devotion to the Sacred Heart is important.

We must believe in charity. Believe that God is love. Believe in the love of God, and allow our heart to be conquered by it.

What matters is what we did with our life. There is no need to do great external acts; we are judged according to our love. We will never love God (or become saints, which is the same thing) if we are not convinced of this—God’s love for us. We are seeking someone who has been seeking us for our entire lives.

Absolutely everything we have has been given to us by God.

Our existence comes from God. We have a chance to be eternally happy with God and His saints. God has loved me from eternity.

Family. God has placed us into good families.

Everything that you are—your talents, your abilities, your education, your friends—everything is a gift from God.

Baptism. Sanctifying grace. Father Emmanuel says, “The Christian life is nothing else but the living out of baptism.”

To be a traditional Catholic.

The Crib, the Cross, and the Tabernacle. Whenever we doubt His love, think back to these three things.

1.) God took on a human nature to save us and to set and example. God lived for thirty three years on the earth He created.

2.) Remember Who is on the crucifix. God loves us and suffered for three hours on the Cross for us. You learn most by reflecting on the Cross. The crucifixion is the greatest sermon ever preached.

3.) Our lives revolve around the Eucharist. We should never get too used to divine things such as Holy Communion. We must arouse our fervor.

Holy Confession. We are sinners. Saint Paul writes, “While we were still His enemies, He died for us.” God loves us as we are, full of weakness and misery. The mercy of God in the confessional. The priest acts in persona Christi. It is Christ Himself who forgives sin. The essence of confession is contrition. “I realize that I have offended our Lord ···”

Spiritual conference by Father McBride, SSPX. Our sanctification.

Sanctity is our highest ideal. What wounds the Heart of God the most is the ingratitude and indifference of Catholics. What God desires above all else is to be loved. Love always awaits a response. If a man expresses his love to a woman, he wants a response. And God has expressed His love for us, in giving us everything. When we freely give God our love and our heart, it glorifies Him. (It adds to His accidental glory, as there was potential not to love Him.)

Everything we do in life determines our eternity. To glorify God is simply to love Him.

God loves us, and we must love Him in return, but how do we do that? The only way to love God is to live for Him, and grow in virtue, and stay close to the sacraments, and to do our Lord’s will. Our sanctification is the will of God.

What is there in my life that’s contrary to God’s will? What is displeasing to our Lord? Get rid of these things. Conform to the will of God.

Have the desire to love God. If you don’t have the desire to love God, pray for that desire.

But this is not about feelings.

Desire and generosity. We must give God everything.

Perseverence. We can’t give up.

The Cross. God proved His love for us through the Cross, and it is through the Cross that we must prove our love for Him. Accept whatever God sends our way. Offer it up and don’t complain. Carry the cross out of love for God. Don’t drag the cross.

“He who knows how to love, knows everything.”

Anecdote.

Somebody asks a priest, “Father, is it okay if I smoke while I pray?” Father answers, “I don’t know, sound kind of scandalous.”

Another person asks him, “Can I pray while I smoke?” The priest answers, “That’s not a bad idea. Why don’t you go for a walk and pray a Rosary?”

The anecdote is about ···

Spiritual conference by Father McBride, SSPX. The goal of the College.

“The only real sadness, the only real failure, the only great tragedy in life, is not to become a saint.” The only goal is to become a saint. Nothing else matters if you fail to become a saint. This is our vocation. To live out our baptism. To be children of God. And to become saints.

We are members of the Church militant, so we are soldiers of Christ. We are in a battle. This isn’t an abstract concept.

We must love God. Every man and woman looks up to somebody, to respect and admire him. Look up to Christ. Christ is the most perfect person to look up to, to respect, to admire, and to love. We need to have devotion to the Sacred Heart.

This is our goal at the College. Our Lord reigns on this campus. Archbishop Lefebvre blessed this College.

Remind yourself why you’re at this College. Maybe you know your reasons or maybe not. You have your reasons for coming here. But God has His. And they are the real reasons why you are here. The providence of God. God knows everything and has a plan for every soul. Everything is mapped out. Man has free will. We can choose not to follow providence. But all of us are here providentially. Our Lord has a plan. He wants you to be and do much.

Formation. You will receive formation. Say to yourself, “I am here to become something that I am not.” Become more virtuous.

There are four elements of formation that you will receive from this College.

1.) Continue to learn how to think. Don’t think with your emotions. Use your intellect. We were created to know so that we can love.

2.) Learn important principles. Principles are truths that do not change. Principles can be applied and lived by. Always see the Good and the Beautiful.

Don’t have your own ideas. People have already figured this stuff out. Receive the principles. Think with the mind of the Church, not your own ideas. You can’t change the faith. Don’t have your own ideas, but ask yourself, “What does the Church say?”

3.) Develop virtue, and exercise the will. Many people have no will power. They can’t refuse anything. They can’t sustain anything. They can’t commit to anything.

This College will help with moral virtues. Obedience. Docility. The willingness to receive and to learn as much as you want—you must have the hunger to learn. And docility toward authorities and toward your priests. A priest once told me, “You will never be wise if you are not docile.”

“In all things look to the end.” That’s what wisdom is. Docility is intellectual humility.

Also the virtues of patience, charity, and social virtues. See our Lord in your neighbor and love Him.

The most important thing in marriage is fraternal charity.

4.) Spiritual formation. The whole person is formed here, and the most important part of the person is his spiritual life. Learn to love the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ. Learn how to pray. Prayer is the most important thing in your life.

Whatever you do in this world, you must be people of prayer. You must believe that the spirit of the world is contrary to the Spirit of God. Let us make Contra mundum our motto. It means, “Against the world”. The kingdom of God is against the world.

We are here to correct misconceptions. Prayer is not a chore. It is the greatest privilege, to be able to speak with our Lord and our Lady and the saints.

Learn to pray by praying. Ask Him, “Lord, teach us to pray.” Prayer is talking to God. Put yourself in the presence of God. Make an act of faith and adoration. And speak with Him.

Everything depends on your prayer life. Prayer is what brings graces down upon earth. Children can pray because they can talk and love. We tend to become worldly and material, but spiritual things are what really matter. Let us pray for a good year.

Spiritual conference by Father McBride, SSPX. Duties of state at the College.

We are looking for God. We can find God anywhere and at any time.

Seek God in our duties of state with a pure intention. The Blessed Virgin Mary pleased God in all her actions, such as sleeping. “All I ask is for them to fulfill their duties of state.” Do your job and offer up all the crosses God sends you, and you will become a saint as long as you do it in a supernatural way, with supernatural intention. “If you want to be a saint, make the sign of the Cross well.” “He who is faithful in little things will be faithful in greater things.”

What are your duties of state here at Saint Mary’s College? Write the paper out of love for God. “There are many who love God, but not many who love His will.” Talk is cheap. Prove it by your actions. It’s not about feelings, although feelings can be a consolation. Even without feeling like you love God, you know that you love God if you do His will with a supernatural intention.

1.) Your soul. Taking care of your soul. Your spiritual life. You can’t help others unless you’ve already taken care of yourself. Your spiritual life must come first. Have your priorities in order. Be more virtuous. Receive the sacraments. Stay on schedule. The more virtuous you are, the better a student you’ll be.

Put God first and everything else falls into place. If God is given the last priority, you get less done. The more you take care of your soul and your spiritual life, the happier you’ll be.

2.) Studies. As a student, this is your main focus. This is the will of God. Taking studies seriously is the main way you will sanctify yourself. Your studies must take priority over many things, and there are many distractions.

Social life. Social life is great and there’s always something going on. It’s a lot of fun. But that’s not why you’re here. You’ll have more fun if you put your soul first and take your studies seriously.

Work life. You’re not here to work. You’re here to go to college. Don’t work too much. Jobs interfere with studies and social life. Fifteen hours per week maximum.

Love life. You’re not here to find that “special person”. The Catholic doesn’t live according to his feelings. Dating is not allowed at this College.

Don’t have “ideas”. Have “principles”. Your own ideas about dating versus what the Church says about dating. Dating is for when you’re ready to get married.

Why does the Church teach that? There are dangers. You can’t date someone for three or four or five years. Either you’ll fall into grave sin, or the relationship won’t work. You need to have money to support your family. Maturity. Eighteen or nineteen years old is not old enough to marry. If you’re not mature yet and you enter into a serious relationship then it’s more difficult. No rush.

Dating is a huge distraction from your studies. When you date, you don’t care about calculus. You can’t be a serious student.

It ruins the social dynamic of the College. It’s more like a family when everyone’s doing stuff together rather than dating. Dating causes drama.

When you are disciplined, you’ll be happier. These college days will be the happiest days of your life, but if you get into a relationship then you won’t be as happy. You can meet someone here and become friends and become more than friends and eventually get married. But keep it under control.

God’s will. Father Mateo says the saints are the happiest people on earth. Love, selfless love, is the key to happiness.

Spiritual conference by Father McBride, SSPX. Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The modern culture is putting pressure on you to want to date too soon. Don’t believe that you can’t be happy without being in a relationship.

Seek our Lord Jesus Christ and follow Him. We are called to sanctity. “If you want to be a disciple, take up your cross and follow Me.”

The Blessed Virgin Mary. By going to Mary, we waste no time finding Jesus. We cannot honor or praise her too much. She draws souls to herself and brings them to her Son. She’s the shortest and surest way to sanctity and to the Sacred Heart. Our Lady is not about justice. Where there is Mary, there is Jesus. God came into the world through Mary, and He wills that we go to Him through Mary.

Thank God for the Blessed Virgin Mary. Our Lord gave her to us on the Cross. She gave birth to us through her sorrows.

She is the Mediatrix of all graces. The Co-Redemptrix. She knows what we need. “I have many graces to give, but none who ask me.” She helps us even when we don’t ask, but when we pray she showers us with graces. Ask our Lady for the fraternal charity that she has.

Sometimes it’s easier to go to Mom than it is to go to Dad. Our Lady is approachable and loves to be called “Mother”. Pray to her. We pray as we love. Prayer is a loving, friendly conversation with someone who loves us.

This is her campus and her town. The more that you love her, the more that you’ll love her Son. Make sure to say your Rosary. If you ever miss it, pray it twice the next day to make up for it. We should leave Saint Mary’s more devoted to our Lady than when we got here. She’s the “cause of our joy”.

Spiritual conference by Father McBride, SSPX. Our rule of life.

The spiritual conferences keep the College unified and directed toward spiritual things. This conference is for practical advice. Our vocation is to glorify God by sanctifying ourselves. Remember, it’s not just about you. Our Lord loves each of us, and we must return that love. Whatever plan God has for us, we are going to touch other people. We are going to affect other lives. It’s not just about us. God will use us.

None of us are the same as we were one week ago. Either we are better or we are worse. The importance of a daily schedule or rule of life. We don’t need to do anything extraordinary. We need a plan. We need to make sure we are using our time well. We need a daily schedule, to use our time well and put order in our lives. Also to supernaturalize our actions. We need to direct all our actions to God by having a supernatural intention.

Don’t act by feelings. It’s the will of God over our own will.

Starts with setting a bed time and a time to wake up. Don’t stay up too late. Saint Vincent de Paul says, “Go to bed early and save your soul.” Sometimes it’s good to sleep in and get extra rest, but in general we need to plan to wake up at a certain time. Waking up when you want to sleep in is an act of mortification.

Pope Saint Pius X says the first and last moments of each day should be devoted to God and to our own soul.

Schedule should be firm and flexible. Set aside time to study, and time for friends. You don’t want to study too much or not enough. Balanced life.

“Big Five.” Five things everyone should do. And if you do these five things, you’ll continue making progress.

1.) The morning offering or morning prayers. We need to direct our actions toward God. Renew the intention throughout the day. That’s why we pray before and after classes and eating. Virtual intention. Offer everything that day to the Sacred Heart. Pray to our Lady.

2.) The Rosary. Give our Lady those fifteen minutes every day. If you don’t say your Rosary, your spiritual life will be two or three times as hard. Say the Rosary with other people because it’s a public devotion.

3.) Spiritual reading. Always have something to be working on at your bedside or at your side. When we read a good spiritual book, God can speak to our souls. God speaks through these means, to strengthen our minds and enlighten our wills.

Saint Augustine’s entire life was changed just be reading a few lines of Saint Paul.

Saint Ignatius was a soldier and a worldly man caught up in the honors and the glories of this world. He was injured and spent three months in a cast recovering. He only had two books to read, The Imitation of Christ and the Lives of the Saints. God spoke to his soul, and Ignatius became Saint Ignatius because of the spiritual reading, and four hundred years later we have Saint Mary’s.

Edith Stein. German Jewish woman who converted after reading a spiritual book.

And a second reason. Spiritual reading nourishes the soul. It sustains prayer life. When you stop reading, you stop praying, or you don’t pray as well. It becomes dry or less frequent.

The saints went before us. They are our mentors and role models. Fifteen minutes per day of reading.

4.) Fifteen minutes before the Blessed Sacrament in meditation or mental prayer. Through mental prayer we come to know God and ourselves. We will learn more about mental prayer, but this is something to shoot for.

5.) The examination of conscience. Without it you won’t make progress in the spiritual life. Were you faithful to your duties of state? Analogous to a business meeting to improve business, or a sports meeting to play better.

We are encouraged to practice these five things while we are at this College, and not just at the College. If we do these five things we will become strong Catholic men and women. Start with those five. If you don’t already do all of them then start with the daily Rosary and gradually add the other four into your life. It looks like a lot, like you wouldn’t have time to do it all, but between the five it only takes about an hour. And this is not just about us. By improving our spiritual life, we sanctify ourselves and ···

Announcements by Dr. Childs.

Matris vestris non hic hagit. Your mother doesn’t live here.

Curfew. Show up where you’re supposed to be, when you’re supposed to be there.

Spiritual conference by Father McBride, SSPX. The world.

Apply principles to our lives that we learn at Saint Mary’s College. In these two years, Saint Mary’s provides overview of the spiritual life. Retreats. What’s expected of you for the rest of your lives. Origin of the spiritual life. The plan of God. His plan for us.

The reality of grace. From the very beginning God planned for us to have a supernatural life. That’s our vocation. God gives us sanctifying grace, virtues, and the gifts of the Holy Ghost. God wants to share His divine life. The devil lied to Adam and Eve. What Adam and Eve forgot is that they were already like God, because they had sanctifying grace.

God wants to transform our souls. Christ is our exemplary cause. He is the efficient cause of our sanctification.

All graces we receive come from the Cross. They come from Christ. The role of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The role of the Church. “The angels are awesome.” People say the Catholic faith is boring, but we read in Scripture about the angels. Our faith is fascinating.

First part. The role of God. Then the role of man. Spiritual enemies. The world, the flesh, and the devil. Specific means of sanctification. The virtues, the gifts of the Holy Ghost, and the theological virtues.

Today we start with spiritual enemies. “Man’s life on earth is warfare.” We are at war. Saint Bonaventure says the Christian soldier must begin by victory over himself. We’re going to fight or be lost.

The threefold concupiscence. The flesh, the eyes, and the pride of life. The devil. This is pretty intense, but we have to realize we have enemies.

The world. At the day of recollection, we took as our motto Contra mundum. We are attracted to the world, especially today, and especially for young people. It’s a constant battle not to submit to the world.

The crisis in the Church is worldliness. Worldliness has entered Rome. Worldliness is naturalistic. It’s about man. It’s no longer about God or salvation. It’s a reaching out to people, but in a natural way. Nothing supernatural. No supernatural wisdom. Souls are going to hell and he’s preaching about trees and factories. He’s the vicar of Christ but he’s preaching about the environment. We have to fight against this worldliness that we tend to.

“The world.” Not all men, but men who are opposed to the principles of the Gospel. Criminals, sinners, people who are indignant, not living supernatural lives.

What is religion? Saint James writes, “Religion is this: to keep one’s self unspotted from this world.” “Whosoever will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God.” Our Lord says, “You’re either with Me or against Me.” The spirit of Vatican II says, “We can salvage the principles of the world.”

Saint John writes, “Wonder not, brethren, if the world hate you.” “Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore of the world they speak.” “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the concupiscence thereof: but he that doth the will of God, abideth for ever.”

Our Lord, especially in the gospel of John. The scene of our Lord before Pilate. “Pilate called Jesus and said to him: Art thou the king of the Jews? Jesus answered: Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or have others told it thee of me? Jesus answered: My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would certainly strive that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now my kingdom is not from hence. Pilate therefore said to him: Art thou a king then? Jesus answered: For this was I born, and for this came I into the world.”

“Traditional Catholic” doesn’t just mean “I go to Latin Mass” or “I like Gregorian chant”. It means we want the social reign of Christ the King. The modern church says, “That’s not really possible. It was a nice idea for the nineteenth century, but not anymore.” But the Archbishop says Christ reigns forever.

The ideals of the western culture is freedom and money. That’s what people live for. That’s the spirit of the world, not the Spirit of Christ.

We want the social reign of Christ the King.

It starts with our own soul and our own heart. Christ must first reign in our own hearts, and then in our parish, and then in our country. It doesn’t make any sense. Why would someone give their life to live as a religious? Sanctify ourselves to sanctify our children, parish, and country.

Believe in grace and in the supernatural order of things. Overcome the spirit of the world.

What’s the answer? To become Amish? No! The Amish are weird. They’re kind of creepy. We’re Catholics. We’re in the world but not of the world. There’s balance. Who’s more disposed to grace? The Amish or the pagan soccer mom?

We always hear, “That’s the way you are,” or, “That’s the way I am,” and, “There’s nothing I can do about it.” That’s not true. Never believe it. Nothing’s impossible for God. Always have a great belief in the power of God’s grace. Start out with a lot of problems, but in the end God transforms us. God takes the weak and sinful and gives them His perfection. Saint Augustine says when God crowns saints, He crowns His own work.

Towards the end of the gospel of John, at the Last Supper, our Lord says, “I will ask the Father, and he shall give you another Paraclete, that he may abide with you for ever.” “For the prince of this world cometh, and in me he hath not any thing.” “Remember my word that I said to you: The servant is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you: if they have kept my word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for my name’s sake: because they know not him who sent me.” This is what it means to be a Christian.

This is what the modern church wants, a false idea of peace. But the Catholic idea of peace, true peace, is having order in the soul. “These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you shall have distress: but have confidence, I have overcome the world.”

Be aware that there is a spirit in the world that we must fight against. The world is appealing and seductive, especially with technology. The beatitudes. “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” But the world has its own set of beatitudes. “Blessed are those who have a lot of money and do a lot of things.” “Blessed are those who do whatever they want.” Independence from God. Liberalism. The motto of the worldly headphones, “Hear what you want” to hear. Or Burger King’s, “Have it your way.” These maxims of the world are contrary to the Gospel.

As Catholics we believe that faith comes from hearing. We must receive.

We don’t have to be weird or be Amish or be unbalanced, but we must be aware that there’s a spirit of the world that we must fight against. We must make a choice. Live for the Gospel and the reign of Christ the King, or live for the world. The Freemasons, enemies of the Church, work so hard to oppose the Gospel. But it’s all a big illusion. The prince of the world.

Have a supernatural vision. The best remedy against worldliness is to live a spiritual life. See past the liberal illusion. It’s not even true and it won’t make you happy.

Announcements by Dr. Childs.

Today’s assignment. It’s about thinking ···

First-year students. Lists by next week. Hold off on polyphony ···

1. Think ahead. Permission slips. Don’t drop off your permission slip for the 8:00 AM trip at 5:00 AM that same morning.

2. Dorm jobs. It’s about thinking of others. The pile of trash on the ··· room is not a good idea. “But it’s not my trash.” I don’t care. Clean it up anyway. Your mother still doesn’t live here.

Order of priorities. First do your duties of state. Then pious devotions. Then volleyball.

Spiritual conference by Father McBride, SSPX. Roman virtue.

We’re not Amish, but Catholics should be classy and look presentable.

Grace and nature. “The life of man upon earth is warfare.” We are at war with the world. At war with ourselves. With our own fallen nature. The wounds of nature. Ignorance in our intellect. Malice of our will. Disordered irascible appetite. Concupiscence, the disordinate desire for pleasure. Lutherans say our nature was destroyed by nature, and then grace comes in and covers it. Mistaken. Catholics believe that we fix nature first and then grace comes in. Grace. Two things to keep in mind. 1.) It depends on our disposition. The goodness of our nature. We must be disposed. The more the thing is disposed, God’s grace works more freely. 2.) Grace can also heal the flaws of nature. God’s grace can heal and transform us. Believe in the power of God. God’s grace can do anything. Heal our wounds. Grace and nature, not separate but distinct.

Go back to the basics. Good qualities that we have to have for character. G. K. Chesterton’s Everlasting Man. Reflection on modern youths. He says, “There is a ··· of modern youth, ··· they are pagans ··· they have lost their paganism.”

We are Roman Catholics. The culture of Rome is part of our heritage. Good pagans preparing the world for the coming of our Lord. He came under the rule of their pagan culture.

Read The Young Man of Character. Rebuild the natural formation of manhood. Girls should hear this too. You want to marry a good man, and raise good men. You should understand men’s needs.

Our Lord and the centurion. Roman virtue. Natural virtue that God can really do something with. Our Lord wondered at this centurion.

Freedom. Moral freedom. Free will. The ability to choose the good, to ··· the good. Choosing the good because they want it. Saint Augustine says men are their wills. This is why we have no men today. Lack of willpower. It comes from a lack of conviction. The pleasures and attractions of the world. “The one word ‘I will’ can bring down the stars from heaven.” “Who has the ··· unfortune that the will ··· never receives commands that he has to obey, ··· jellylike, spineless will.” From our liberal culture. It’s ironic. The culture promises freedom for us. “Do what you want and you will be free.” It’s not true. ··· ends in slavery.

Abstine, sustine, agere. Know how to deny yourself, know how to persevere, and know how to act. That’s what it means to be a man.

Abstine. “Deny yourself.” “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” No spiritual life or charity without this self denial and self sacrifice. Some have exaggerated the power of man and the power of the will. Especially in the Renaissance. Wanted to glorify man at the cost of denying God.

Takes place during the first of the Punic Wars. These wars are essential. Learn about them. They show Rome’s role. Carthage is a symbol of the selfish man. Carthago delenda est. “I believe that Carthage must be destroyed.” After the final Punic War, Rome destroyed Carthage and salted the ground. Baptism. Salt is a symbol of wisdom, but also a symbol of the selfishness that still lives in the child. Carthago delenda est. This must be our prayer too.

First Punic War. Regulus was extremely successful. Natural virtue. Receives letter from his wife saying he has to come home. Things are rough. Senate makes him stay. He spends six years in prison in Carthage. Carthage wants to make a treaty. They allow Regulus to return to Rome to negotiate. Exchange of prisoners. He swears an oath that if his mission fails then he must return. He tells them not to accept the treaty. He returns to Carthage and tells them exactly what he did. Carthaginians are infuriated and put him in a barrel and pierce it with spears. Type of Christian martyr. His courage foreshadows the Christian martyrs because he died for something greater than himself. This is why males are selfish. They don’t know anything greater than themselves.

Sustine. “Persevere.” Be committed. The Carthagians were decadent. Hannibal was a cut above. Swore to Baal to destroy Rome. What he did was amazing, taking a hundred thousand men and elephants to go around Italy from the north. He had been attacking Rome for years. The Romans had their hands blessed for sure. Perhaps the greatest characteristic of the Roman heart is perseverence. Continuing the fight. Rome kept sending more and more troops. Perseverence. The refusal to back down. To never give up. We must have this in our spiritual lives as well. When things get hard, we start looking for consolation. We need more fire in the soul.

Julius Caesar. Attacking the Celts. His armada lands. Celtic warriors are waiting. They attack. Caesar commands his men to burn his ships. Nobody’s going home. Retreat is not an option. Defeat is not an option. Die to ourselves in the pursuit of virtue.

Agere. “Act.” The Romans were men of action. Chesterton says the modern youth look as ··· as monkeys. They go to college and try to get a job and keep dropping out. There’s no fire. There’s no action. “The only thing that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Our world is steeped in malice. Who is going to appease the wrath of God? “I will.” The saints become saints because they wanted it. Willpower aided by grace. The power of the will aided by grace.

Age qua agis. “Do what you are doing.” Stay focused. That’s a challenge at this College. There are a lot of good things that are also distracting. Socialization is distracting. Put your duty first, even if you don’t feel like it. Don’t act on feelings. Do what God wants. Don’t base your spiritual life on feeling. Feeling is not always going to be there.

So let us be Roman Catholic.

Spiritual conference by Father William Kimbel, SSPX. Joy and happiness.

It’s more about enjoying what comes to you, not trying to enjoy yourself.

The virtue of joy. Can we be happy on earth? Should we be happy on earth? Joy is the foundation of our life.

So, what is joy? Joy is rest in a good thing we’ve obtained. We all have a desire for it. Even those who sin are seeking happiness. Whatever we do—come to this College, go to classes, go to the bonfire tonight—it’s all for happiness. We like happiness. We seek happiness. We want it. But we don’t understand it.

Two mistakes.

1.) Confuse joy with pleasure. Pleasure is satisfaction of the senses. Joy is spiritual and rational. Pleasure is a means to something else. We’re not Puritans. They think pleasure is evil. But because pleasure is limited and only lasts so long, it’s not our final goal. And pleasure is not happiness in itself. It can help bring happiness, and is a means to happiness, but it is not joy.

2.) Thinking joy on earth can be perfect. As Catholics we know that’s not true.

We’re rational creatures. We’re the only animals who can wait. Dogs will see the food and get the good thing without waiting. We have the ability to say, “No. I’m going to wait for that.” We can’t have perfect happiness now, but we can wait for it.

Can we actually have joy on earth? Or are we doomed to live a long life waiting for heaven? No, God wouldn’t submit us to a life of torture waiting for happiness. “God knows our frame.” So we’re not Puritans. God created in us a need for happiness, and we can’t survive without happiness. We’re not really alive if we’re not happy.

What is true joy? Having an order toward our final end. Towards the good of heaven. Today’s Introit reads, Lætétur cor quæréntium Dóminum. “Let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord.” Rejoice. If that order is there, that person is happy.

Happiness is a choice. And Saint Francis de Sales says, “The happiest souls are the most loved by God,” and, “A sad man is a sorry saint.”

So, practically, how do we gain this joy? How do we order ourselves toward our last end?

Duty of state. Doing the will of God.

Prayer. If you have a GPS with no signal, it’s useless. The way we follow the GPS to heaven and get the signal is prayer. In prayer you can find the deepest joy. Prayer is union with God, and God is joy.

Secondly, form the habit of joy. Because joy is a virtue, and virtue only comes through repeated action. Force yourself to be joyful? It’s like iceskating. In the beginning you’re forcing yourself, but it’s still enjoyable. So like every habit, once you get to a certain point, it gets easy and pleasurable.

How else do we gain joy?

Don’t think about yourself. When you think only of yourself, you eliminate friendship, the world, and God who is joy. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Learn to laugh at yourself. True joy comes from dying to self. It’s not the death that brings joy, but it’s to obtain life. Don’t suffer for its own sake. Suffer to make room for God and make room for joy.

Another practical thing. Listen to good music. And singing. Guys don’t want other people to hear us sing. We are often held back by fear of other people’s opinion or human respect. So singing helps us to get out of ourselves.

Always be ready to see the humorous side of things, when something bad happens.

Lastly, we have to remember the fatherhood of God, and the fact that He cares for us. He created us with happiness as the foundation of our life. He desires we have happiness now, by seeking eternal happiness.

What is the difference between joy and happiness? Joy is more deep. Happiness is a more general term. But they’re sort of interchangeable.

Spiritual conference by Father McBride, SSPX. The devil and the angels.

The goal of the Sodality is to help you to have an interior prayer life. The ultimate goal of the College is that after two years you will graduate from here knowing to pray. Everything you study is meant to form you and to give you a greater love for the Church. Your success. A lot of it depends entirely on your prayer life. The Roman spirit. Mental prayer every day.

“The life of man upon earth is a warfare,” and half the battle is remembering we are at war. Si vis pacem, para bellum. Roman motto. It means, “If you want peace, prepare for war.”

The false peace of the liberals. No war. No struggle. The modern mindset. We just get along and are nice to everybody and we all get to heaven. It’s not true. They make up their own reality. Their own ideas of sin. Of justification, etc. Si vis pacem, para pacem. Paul VI’s motto. “If you want peace, prepare for peace.”

Our Lord is at battle. In the gospel He is constantly contradicted and attacked.

We are at war against ourselves. We are at war against our fallen nature. Disrupt these and our comforts and our defects. If we don’t work on that now, it’s never going to happen.

Saint Francis de Sales writes, “Do what we will, the world must wage war upon us.” The world is so attractive, and that’s human. It’s normal. Music is attractive. It makes you feel good. We like it, but that doesn’t mean it’s good or ok. It has an effect on you. The spirit of the world.

Our flesh. The world. The prince of the world. The prince of darkness. The devil. We forget about him. He wants to remain hidden and not be taken seriously. When we talk about the spiritual life, we have to talk about him.

Halloween. Haunted houses. It’s getting out of control. It’s sick and weird out there. Kids dress up as devils and they’re cute. It’s become a big joke.

Angels have their own personalities. Each angel is its own species. The devil is a real person. Who is he? When God created in the beginning, he gave more to one angel than the rest. One angel was the most talented and most gifted. Lucifer. The bearer of light. “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer?” Lucifer looked at himself, and he loved himself. He committed pride and disobedience and wouldn’t subject himself. “Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.” “I would rather rule in hell than be subject in heaven.” Devils chose themselves over God. Non serviam.

“And there was a great battle in heaven: And the devil was cast unto the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.”

God allowed Satan to thwart His plan. The providence of God, drawing good out of evil.

The devil’s work is of malice. He hates God and hates what God loves. So he hates us, and knows we are being offered what he lost. Devils are stuck in eternal frustration, knowing they can never have what they were made for. He wants us to lose our souls.

Angels are extremely intelligent. Lucifer had the greatest intelligence, and he knows us, and has a personal file on us. He knows our weaknesses and our past sins.

The guardian devil.

The devil will wait thirty years for a priest. The Curé d’Ars. Even if we’re saintly our days, we must remain humble and be aware of the devil. Saint Peter writes, “Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour.”

He knows he has little time. His world’s going to end, and he’s dragging down as many souls as he can. “The devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time.”

Even though there’s hatred and malice, he comes as an “angel of light”.

As long as we’re not doing what we’re supposed to be doing, he’s happy. He’s patient.

The evil one cannot act directly on our minds, and he can’t touch our wills. He can’t read our thoughts. Only God can enter our minds and hearts, which He does, with grace. The devil can act on the body, passions, and memory, and he acts indirectly on the will through the sensitive appetite.

That’s why we don’t fear the devil, but we must be aware of him. Saint Teresa of Avila writes, “These cursed spirits have tormented me so often, and I am now so little afraid of them,—because I see they cannot stir without our Lord’s permission.” “Let him understand that each time we despise these terrors, their force is lessened, and the soul gains power over them. There is always some great good obtained.” She has this contempt for the devil. It’s important to have this attitude. When you don’t show fear to the devil, the devil doesn’t bother you. Humility and confidence. The more humble we are, the more confident we are. And really pray, especially when we are tempted.

How you can tell whether your temptation is from the world, or the devil, or our flesh? When the devil tempts us, the temptation is more sudden. More intense. And with a spirit of pride or contempt of authority. And irritableness. Any sadness or discontentment is always from the devil.

We have three means to combat the devil.

1. We have to pray and be strong.

2. Our second means are the sacraments and sacramentals. When a soul goes to Communion, she’s like a lion breathing fire. The fire of charity.

3. Third, after contempt for the devil. Be confident and never show fear. When the devil sees weakness, he attacks even more.

October is the month of the angels.

October 2^nd is the Feast of the Guardian Angels. The angels can pray for us, protect us, and inspire us. First thank God for giving us the guardian angels we’ve been given. Have a real relationship with your guardian angel. Some people say, “The Catholic faith is boring.” But we each have a guardian angel. That’s not boring at all. Thank them and pray to them.

Saint Raphael, October 24^th. He said to old man Tobias, “Joy be to thee always.”

Announcements by Dr. Childs.

Starkenburg. Have a supernatural spirit. The fun is only accidental. The essential is where we’re going, with a supernatural intention. Spirit of penance. Make reparation for our sins.

Dress code. Skirts below the knee.

The Young Man of Character. Read it within the next year. We need men.

Spiritual conference by Father McBride, SSPX. Courtesy and etiquette.

Courtesy and respect.

The enemies in this life. Our own fallen nature, the world, the devil.

The importance of courtesy and nobility in the Catholic life. Manhood and womanhood. If you want to be great men and women, you have to be able. You have to have respect. There’s a lot of disrespect in this world. Hand it down. Respect comes from the parents. You have to teach it. It doesn’t come naturally. Rousseau was wrong. Young couples, you are the future of the Catholic Church. Be more noble. Despise the vulgarity of the world. Don’t be too casual and too formal, but don’t go too extreme either.

Virtue is dying. It is virtue that generates true courtesy. Saint Bonaventure says the virtuous man is master of himself. In the ’60s institutions stopped teaching Catholic civility, manners and respect.

Liberalism. “Do what you want.” We struggle with liberalism. We want independence in every aspect of our lives. We don’t like rules. We want to follow our feelings.

Also equality, another spirit of the revolution. We’re all equal. We’re all on the same footing. Egocentrism. The world of me. The most important thing in my world is comfort and what’s easy.

“‘I celebrate myself,’ the poet Walt Whitman wrote. The thought is so delicious it is almost obscene. Imagine the joy that would come with celebrating the self—our achievements, our experiences, our existence. Imagine what it would be like to look into the mirror and say, as God taught us, ‘That's good.’”

Liberal extreme.

The devil is the first liberal who rejects God and rejects authority.

We need to come back to reality. Maturity is true recognition of reality. Submission to the object. To the reality around me. And act in accordance with it.

Courtesy. Because of our natural dignity as Christians. We have intellect and will. Our life is a life of knowledge and love. Supernatural level. We have the divine life within us. The Catholic life is the development of our baptism. “I’m a child of God, but I’m going to act in an undignified way.” It’s a lie. The purpose of our life is to be transformed into Christ. By His grace we are made more like Him. We need to work toward that dignity. But we know we do have this fallen nature, and that’s part of the battle. We have a tendency toward what is low. Toward what is vulgar.

“I didn’t have very good parents. They didn’t teach me these things.” You can see which students are taught respect by their parents. Some young boy went out of his way to open the door for Father. He learned that somewhere. He wasn’t born knowing it. The purpose of the Christian life is charity. Courtesy is the incarnation or concrete expression of charity. We are meant to love God in return, and love our neighbor because we love what God loves.

All courtesy comes from Christendom. The Benedictines christianized and culturized Europe. Chivalry of the Middle Ages. Etiquette of Catholic culture. Constantly going out of yourself, thinking of others.

“Well Father, externals don’t matter.” “It’s what’s inside that counts.” Hypocrisy, etc. You have to be real and genuine, you can’t be fake. “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you are like to whited sepulchres, which outwardly appear to men beautiful, but within are full of dead men’s bones, and of all filthiness. So you also outwardly indeed appear to men just; but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.” The exterior is a manifestation of what’s on the inside.

Having standards and having a code of conduct helps us to be what we need to be. The cassock. Why? To remind the priest of who he is and what he is. After Vatican II, they took them off.

When you try to have a serious atmosphere and have respect, it helps us to go to God and to practice humility, charity, and respect.

Chesterton says courtesy is when humility meets dignity. Respect does demand a lot of humility. It takes effort to think of others.

Belloc’s poem.

Of Courtesy, it is much less
Than Courage of Heart or Holiness,
Yet in my Walks it seems to me
That the Grace of God is in Courtesy.

On Monks I did in Storrington fall,
They took me straight into their Hall;
I saw Three Pictures on the wall,
And Courtesy was in them all.

The first the Annunciation;
The second the Visitation;
The third the Consolation,
Of God that was Our Lady’s Son.

The first was of Saint Gabriel;
On Wings a-flame from Heaven he fell;
And as he went upon one knee
He shone with Heavenly Courtesy.

Our Lady out of Nazareth rode—
It was her month of heavy load;
Yet was Her face both great and kind,
For Courtesy was in Her mind.

The third it was our Little Lord,
Whom all the kings in arms adored;
He was so small you could not see
His large intent of Courtesy.

Our Lord, that was Our Lady’s Son,
God bless you, People, one by one;
My Rhyme is written, my work is done.

If you visit a monastery or convent, everyone’s thinking of everyone else.

Everything is working against us. Our parents received less and we’ve learned less than we should have. If we’re too worldly, too attached to the things of this world, we cannot be dignified. You’ll be turned in on yourself and you won’t be able to respect or pass it on.

A woman who had been married for sixty years in a good marriage. “They need to respect each other.” The sacraments are dependent on our disposition.

About College. I’m your father, so I need to correct you at times. Elevate spirit in the reading room. It needs to be more dignified. The reading room should be more formal than a family room.

Cleanliness. Be clean and orderly. Pick up after yourselves. The order and cleanliness helps us. A clean and orderly environment makes us more serious. Women need to keep their houses clean. It’s hard to want to be excellent in a messy environment.

The reading room is a public space. When we’re in a public social enviornment, we need to be dignified. Don’t lie on the couch. Don’t take your shoes off. It’s not your room or home. That’s not the place for it.

No blankets. It’s also not the right place for that. It’s not formal enough. It’s more cozy with a blanket, but we’re not about coziness. We’re about seriousness.

Men, respect the girls. Don’t flirt with them or tip them over in a chair or poke them. A girl is something sacred. Even on a natural level, because of who she is. You can joke around, even with friend, but there’s a line and you can’t cross it. Flirting is selfishness in action. It’s very undignified. Girls can help the boys by being dignified. Men respect women more when women demand more respect.

Pride. It manifests itself in many ways. The lazy person is proud. The snob is also proud. We’re Catholics. We’re meant to be a step above everyone else. It doesn’t make sense to study theology and then act undignified in the reading room. Rules of courtesy and etiquette are meant to keep us above the rest of the world.

Announcements.

Blessed Louis and Zélie Martin.

A Model for Today’s Family Life.

Spiritual conference by Father McBride, SSPX. Merit.

(A lecture on The Spiritual Life: A Treatise on Ascetical and Mystical Theology, chapter 2, section 2, 228-248 (pp. 119-130).)

Read Bishop Fellay’s letter.

Read article by John Vennari about synod on Catholic Life News.

Two extremes. 1.) Pay too much attention and become a conspiracy theorist. 2.) Not care because it doesn’t affect your life. Intellectual effort. More and more people don’t want to make that effort.

Merit. Whatever we have become at the moment of death is how we will be for eternity.

The catechism says, “Every good act freely done by a soul in the state of grace and with a supernatural intention, possesses a threefold value for our spiritual growth, inasmuch as it is meritorious, satisfactory and impetratory.”

When you do a good action in a state of grace, three things happen.

1.) Meritorious. Reward in heaven.

2.) Satisfactory. Cancels punishment due to sin. The Council of Trent says this is the result of the willing acceptance of the ills and sufferings of this life.”

3.) Impetratory. Obtain new graces from God. Saint Thomas Aquinas says the our life becomes a continual prayer when our activities are constantly directed towards God” Everything we do is prayer if we do it with a supernatural intention, directing our thoughts to heaven.

Develop an interior life. Don’t stay on a natural level. Live the supernatural life that our Lord wants us to live. Morning prayers, etc. We weren’t made to live a natural life. We were made to live God’s life. A divine life. Merit is a right to a supernatural reward arising both from a supernatural work done freely for God’s sake, and from a divine promise to give such a reward”

Two kinds of merit.

De condigno. Merits given in strict justice. Only Christ can merit this strictly, but we can out of the goodness of God.

De congruo. Based on fittingness, not strictly justice. For example, a soldier in battle. If he’s paid, it’s done in strict justice. But if he’s given a medal, it’s fitting.

Four things in order to merit. 1.) It must be free and willful. 2.) The action must be supernaturally good. 3.) We need to be in a state of grace. 4.) We need to be on earth, in via. At the moment of death merit is no longer possible.

Our Lord is “the first and principal cause” of all our merits. Saint Paul, in his epistle to the Philippians, writes, “For it is God who worketh in you, both to will and to accomplish, according to his good will.”

Four subjective conditions for increasing our merit on our part. Our dispositions.

1.) The degree of sanctifying grace we have. The degree of charity. The more grace a person has, the more merit his actions have. That’s why our Lady’s actions are so meritorious. The more grace we have, the more we are worth in the eyes of God. God loves each person more or less depending on the degree to which they resemble Him.

2.) Our degree of union with our Lord Jesus Christ. Without our Lord, we cannot merit anything. He is the source of all merit. Everything we do is due to Him, but He wants our cooperation. The vine and the branches. Go to Benediction or visit the chapel to increase our ···

3.) Purity of intention. The purer the intention, the more you will merit. Make the morning offering and renew the intention throughout the day, which is why we pray before class and before meals. Do it out of love for God. It’s sinful to do good things out of pride.

4.) The fervor or intensity in which we do something. The more fervor we have, the more merit. Attend Mass more. Make a greater effort. Do everything with fervor and enthusiasm. Depends on our generosity and our cooperation with actual graces.

The difficulty of something will come into play. It’s not true that more difficult things are automatically more meritorious, although difficulty can ··· If you have great charity, a small act is more meritorious than somebody who suffers greatly on a natural level.

In this life we carry a few crosses for eternal happiness. We give our few loaves and fishes, and God will perform the miracle.

“The logical conclusion of all this is the necessity of sanctifying all our actions, even the most ordinary. We have already said it: all our actions can become a source of merit if done with a supernatural end in view and in union with our Lord, who even in the workshop at Nazareth never ceased to merit for us. What progress can we not thus make in a single day! From the moment we awake until we retire at night the meritorious acts which we can perform, if we are recollected and generous, may be numbered by the hundreds. Indeed, there is a growth of the Godlike life of grace in our souls not only through every act of the day, but through every effort to make each action more perfect; through every effort to dispel distractions at prayer, to apply our minds to our tasks, to keep back an unkind word, to render a service to others. Likewise, every word inspired by charity, every good thought turned to good account, in short, all the movements of the soul directed by our free-will towards good are so many means of increasing merit.”

“At the end of it, man has become something: the something he has become he will eternally remain.”

Spiritual conference by Father Wiseman, SSPX. Liberal education and intellectual effort.

Intellectual effort. You work. You study. You try to learn. We try to teach you.

Liberal arts. Education that purports to make you free. The education of the free man.

Notion of freedom. Two camps. Two ideas of freedom.

1.) Freedom is a question of removing all restraint and restrictions. Complete autonomy and independence. In order to find the truth, it’s necessary that one be permitted to question and criticize everything. The idea is, you don’t want to be forced. Not forced to believe anything. You need to be the one to choose what’s true, for you. Freedom comes before truth. Adam and Eve wanted freedom first.

2.) In order to be free, you must first find and hold to what’s true. You must submit to the truth. Doesn’t result in independence. ··· results in self-restraint, self-rule. “If you continue in my word, you shall be my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Freedom comes from knowing truth. Not the same as independence or no restraints. Truth is primary. Truth must come before freedom.

Our Lord. Subordinate your mind and will to truth.

Liberal education. It’s freeing because it allows one to know truth which will set him free.

To know the truth is man’s highest faculty and most worthwhile activity. The CEO vs. the janitor. The CEO is a higher position because it requires knowledge and judgement. Anyone can be a janitor.

On the side of the will as well. To govern oneself, to act in a rational manner.

The slave is ruled by someone else. The freeman is ruled by ···

Realize the inherent value of an education that claims to set you free. This doesn’t happen at most colleges.

Requires of us an intellectual effort. Because you must find truth first and submit yourself to it. You must persevere. Possess the truth and hold to it.

Intellectual effort. Effort. Properly speaking, effort is talking about the will. Each of your senses can be focused by the will. Concert. “Listen to the violins.” You can block out all other sounds and focus on just the violins. “What does that sign say?” You focus on the sign and can read it.

The will is always ordered to the good. Every act of the will at its root presupposes the love of some good. Hate, fear, joy, and all other motions of the appetite, are in relation to something we love. Saint Thomas says love is the first act of the will, and the most universal act.

The will is the rational appetite. It chooses the good. Diligere “love” comes from legere “choose”.

Hamlet says to Horatio, “Since my dear soul was mistress of her choice and could of men distinguish, her election hath sealed thee for herself.” “When I was able to choose, I looked around and distinguished between men, and chose you as my friend.” Hamlet loves Horatio. The will is a question of loving and a question of choosing. The act of the will is to love and to choose, not to feel.

“Intellect” comes from intus legere, “to read into”.

“Understand” has the same etymology as “substance”. To understand is to get at the substance of the thing. To get around the accidents, to the essence of the thing.

The perfection of understanding. The perfection of the act of the intellect. Not just about receiving. You also have to express. The intellect forms a concept. It conceives something. Our Lord is the Word, the concept proceeding from the mind of God.

The Merry Wives of Windsor. Shellwe wants to marry Mrs. Page. “Conceive me, conceive me.” “Did you get your mind around it and understand what I was trying to say?”

The one who can do that—understand and express it—possesses knowledge. If you try to teach another, you will learn better than they will, because you’re forced to express. “Conversation.” “Together you are trying to express truth.”

Intellectual effort. Question of the will loving and choosing truth, and making an effort to seek and receive it. Express the truth. Get mind around the essential. Connect with freedom. Liberal education. Has as its goal a real possession of the truth. Man’s highest activity. Results in freedom. Results in man being able to submit himself to truth and govern all his actions according to truth. To make an intellectual effort, you must keep in mind the goal, which is truth, and make an effort to go after it, and express it, conceive it, and have your mind around it.

It would be strange if the highest activity of man was not also pleasurable and a source of delight. It is. Study is pleasurable. But not in the feelings. Saint Thomas says the intellectual pleasure or delight that comes with understanding truth is greater than all bodily pleasures.

McDonald’s. Pleasure comes from possessing and resting in some good. Intellectual pleasure must be greater than bodily pleasure, because the truth is a greater good than the burger from McDonald’s. Man would rather lose his hearing than lose his intellect. Nabuchodonosor became a beast. Better to be without your sight than to be a madman.

You possess the truth all at once, but you never possess a burger all at once. First you anticipate the burger. Then you eat the burger. Then you rest in the burger. You can’t do that all at once.

You possess the truth forever, but you only possess the burger for five minutes.

1.) Truth is higher.

2.) Possess it all at once.

3.) Permanently.

4.) The more truth, the more pleasure. But not with burgers. After you eat many burgers, it’s sickening. Not pleasurable.

Challenge. Look at your college time so far, take something you’ve really understood, grasped, and look back at how delightful that is. And that delight leads to contemplation.

It’s accidental, but the effort we make to obtain truth increases the delight, because the more work you put into it, the more you appreciate the fruits of the labor. It’s hard to seek truth and to study. You struggle on the math problem or syllogism, then you get it, and delight, and can contemplate it.

How do we make an intellectual effort?

Three enemies of intellectual effort.

1.) The attitude of “getting the grade”. The attitude that the most important thing is the grade. It’s true that the grade means something, but it’s not most important in liberal education, because it is a form of slavery. It reduces everything to the level of utility. Recall the goal. We are here first to understand the truth and be set free. Put before your mind the goal of possessing the truth, and put your will to it. “I’m here to learn, to understand, to do the most worthwhile thing. To ··· the truth, and ···”

2.) Intellectual despair. Midnight before the test, staring at the same page and you still don’t get it, so you throw out the whole thing. We tend to throw it out the window when we don’t get it. We have to realize that understanding takes time and takes effort. We have to get stuck. Socrates talks about being stunned by a fish, and also about giving birth to the truth. When you get stuck, it’s a sign you’re on the edge of understanding. You’re about to grasp it, but you must get past that obstacle. Accept that we’re going to get stuck. Be patient. It takes time.

In your intellectual life, if you continue in your thinking, and you understand the truth about something, ten years later, you’ll see the truth of it even more. Do not despair. Despair won’t result in freedom.

3.) Complacency. Saying, “I get it,” and then moving on, no longer thinking about it. Real wisdom is about understanding simple things deeply. Missing the point of deepening your understanding. Don’t be satisfied with knowing enough to satisfy the professor. Challenge yourself to understand the material. Deepen your understanding of truth, if you really want truth.

If we’re here, it’s because we ant to be free. We want to live a life that’s worth living, not just to get a degree. Intellectual effort is a part of this life. This worthwhile life. This noble life. Love the truth while you are here. Everything’s ordered to help you to live a life worth living.

Announcements by Dr. Childs.

Pray for ···

You have a papal dispensation to eat a turkey sandwich on the day after Thanksgiving. It’s a standing dispensation for all Americans. Don’t be scrupulous.

November 21^st. The Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Spiritual conference by Father McFarland. Sentimentality.

We tend to turn serious events into sentimentality. We’re trying to make ourselves feel better about the fact that the world is falling apart around us. People change their profile pictures. What good does it do? People are dead, and how many died in a state of grace?

Liberalism—sentimentality—is what caused these problems in the first place.

··· we and the French are dropping more bombs in the Middle East.

The sentimentality allows us to hide from the reality. All that matters to the modern world is that we feel good. Ours is a generation that expects everything to be handed to it. We always think that everything that goes wrong is unfair.

“Black Lives Matter”. Of course they do. They’re human beings. But their lives don’t matter any more than any other human life. Statistically black people are killed more by black people than by white people.

People ignore the reality.

Announcements by Dr. Childs.

Sodality meeting. Tuesday night at 7:45 PM.

Our College song was rediscovered last year.

Read Bishop Fellay’s letter on the aftermath of the synod and our relations with Rome.⁠ The SSPX has ordinary jurisdiction now.

Notice at the chapel entrance.