Get Back!

All too soon the retreat was over and everyone drove off into the metrosprawl to their various destinations. You need a retreat after that drive, so I spent the night in Dallas before heading back to the rural idyll that is The Compound.

What did I gain in the few days away at Montserrat retreat house? A new-found appreciation for the rule of St. Benedict, Chesterton, and a significant dose of humility mixed with contrition. All very good things, as was the company of fellow clergy and the opportunity to worship together.

It was good, too, to step away from the news for a short time, but I couldn't help noticing that a 17 year old Danish woman is going to be punished for fighting off a "refugee" with pepper spray. The message seems pretty clear; women of Europe, don't you dare defend yourselves against your new Islamic overlords. 

So where's the feminist outrage? That seems to be in inverse proportion to the number of Germans purchasing firearms. Or, to put it another way, there isn't any.

Make of this what you will,

LSP

Rule of St. Benedict

We've been hearing addresses on the Rule of St. Benedict at this retreat, and they're very helpful. Good job, retreat conductor. Benedict lived at the end of the 5th century and pretty much founded monasticism in the West. Some even say that he rescued Western civilization and I'd be inclined to agree.

Speaking of the end of civilization, Donald Trump is boycotting Fox, and whatever else you care to say about the billionaire presidential hopeful, he's certainly shaking things up. I'll leave you with this blast against the neocons from ZeroHedge,

Blinded by hubris, enthralled by the possibilities of unlimited power, the neocons – and their liberal internationalist doppelgangers on the other side of the political spectrum – didn’t see the nationalist backlash coming.

That points to a curious lack of vision on their part.  What would Benedict say? I'll wager he'd counsel humility, a virtue that's in notoriously short supply.

God bless,

LSP

Get Humble And Clean Your Guns

If you don't clean your guns they break and don't shoot right, like the long-lost Anglican Communion itself. That's why I took some time out this morning to put a couple of firearms to rights. I won't lie, they were filthy little beasts.

As I cleaned the miserable offenders my mind strayed to the virtue of humility, something that's in short supply in the world but mandated by the Gospel."If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all," says Christ to the disciples and to us. So we've got to get humble, but how?

Eat Humbly at the Compound

Aquinas, commenting on the Rule of St. Benedict, says this:

The first degree of humility, then, is that a person keep the fear of God before his eyes and beware of ever forgetting it. Let him be ever mindful of all that God has commanded; let his thoughts constantly recur to the hell-fire which will burn for their sins those who despise God, and to the life everlasting which is prepared for those who fear him. […] Let a man consider that God is always looking at him from heaven, that his actions are everywhere visible to the divine eyes and are constantly being reported to God by the Angels.

There is no Fear of God Before Their Eyes

The fear of God is fast disappearing from the West, will it be replaced by the satanic tyranny of pride?

Cheers, 

LSP