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The Meaning of Catholic

The Meaning of Catholic
The Meaning of Catholic
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  • The Meaning of Catholic

    Holy Days of Opportunity + Recognize/Resist like SLAVS

    11/05/2026 | 32 mins.
    * Sunday - The Greatest Liturgical Sermon of Jesus Himself
    * Monday - Cyril & Methodios Byzantine Feast Day
    * Latin Rite ROGATIONTIDE
    * Ascension Vigil - the GREATEST Prayer of the Messiah - FATIMA
    * Thursday - ASCENDING HIS THRONE
    * Friday - Ascension Octave
    * Saturday - Ascension Octave
    * There’s an Octave - “Ascension Sunday” (it’s pre-55, yall! :)


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  • The Meaning of Catholic

    On the Necessity of Keeping Your Peace Undisturbed

    09/05/2026 | 7 mins.
    When a man reads about news of any kind, he is transported away from his immediate reality into things he cannot control. He is often disturbed within himself. He may be agitated, anxious, or wrathful. His heart is disturbed, which can affect his intellect and will. He can be tempted to pusillanimity—which is a failure to do what lies in your power (II-II q133 a1)—or despair, which is conforming your intellect and will to a denial of God’s goodness and power (II-II q20, a1, 3). Both of these vices are related to sloth and effeminacy (II-II q138 a1). Hence a man must first understand that these disordered movements of the heart lead him to vice and sin and are thus tools of the Devil to destroy his soul. Thus he must fight manfully against these inclinations.
    Now peace is defined as “tranquility of order” in which “all the appetitive (emotional) movements in one man are set at rest together” (II-II q29 a1). And whereas the former vices are a result of sloth, peace is the result of charity which is union with God (Ibid., a3). When we advance in charity for God, our emotional life is quieted because our soul is properly ordered, with reason and will governing our emotional life so that it is properly expressed. Thus our reason guides us to become angry when anger is proper, but it also moderates the pleasures of wrath by meekness, so that we seek a just vindication, not an excess of cruelty (cf. II-II q158 a1). And if we have a virtuous anger, it is with tranquility of heart and peace of mind. Since your peace is proportionate to your charity, any lack of peace is evidence of a lack of charity and holiness. So pick up your cross.
    Keeping your Peace
    Dom Scupoli states that “The whole and principle business of your life must consist in continually quieting your heart, and never letting it go astray.”[1] For truly when a heart is perfected in charity, there is nothing which can disquiet it because it is united to the One Uncreated and Unmoved. As it is written, Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee (Is. xxvi. 3) and again
    Our God is our refuge and strength. Therefore we will not fear, when the earth shall be troubled; and the mountains shall be removed into the heart of the sea (Ps. xlv. 2-3).
    The wisdom of the saints says that the way in which we must obtain this peace is through rejecting every created consolation—even spiritual consolation—and clinging to God alone. Thus we embrace suffering because it blesses us with the detachment needed to achieve inner peace. Scupoli:
    You must toil and make every effort, especially at the beginning, to embrace tribulation and adversity as your dear sisters—desiring to be despised by all, and to have no one who entertains a favorable opinion of you, or brings you comfort, but your God.[2]
    We must continually embrace suffering until we come to a place where we actually desire it because we know what great help it is to charity and union with God.
    Mr. Dan Burke said in one of his classes that the differences between the Three Ages of the Interior life in regards to sufferings are as follows:
    [Pre-Purgative / out of state of grace - avoid suffering by some form of inebriation]
    * Purgative - learning to accept suffering
    * Illuminative - embrace suffering
    * Unitive - seek suffering
    It is thus that we must approach all things in God’s Providence—with a great desire to suffer, a desire to be united to Christ and Him Crucified. Let a man examine himself and see whether his peace is disturbed by reading the news or investigating controversy. If he is disturbed, let him drop everything and come back to the Lord, fighting strenuously against the temptations toward effeminacy and embracing the cross. It is unwise to enter battle before one is properly prepared to fight and overcome. Therefore attend to your soul, lest it be lost on the Day of Judgment. Abide in charity with God and acquire peace and detachment before you engage with these lesser matters.
    Fighting from the Heart
    And yet, St. Thomas also says (I-II q24 a1) that man must be moved to the good not only by his intellect and will, but also by his heart, as the New Catechism says, citing the Summa:
    Moral perfection consists in man’s being moved to the good not by his will alone, but also by his sensitive appetite, as in the words of the psalm: “My heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God” [Ps. lxxxiii. 2] (1770).
    Therefore our whole being – intellect, will, and heart – must rest in the peace of Christ from the truth of Christ. The only way to fight with the heart of a man of God is to hide your heart in the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Here alone is your refuge. Here alone is your peace. Here alone is your very life.
    Sacred Heart of Jesus have mercy on us!
    [1] Lorenzo Scupoli, Of Interior Peace or the Path to Paradise contained within The Spiritual Combat (Scriptoria Books: 2012), 163.
    [2] Ibid., 165.
    Photo by Adam Edgerton on Unsplash


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  • The Meaning of Catholic

    The Aesthetics of Theatre with Mr. Murray Rundus

    08/05/2026 | 9 mins.
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  • The Meaning of Catholic

    Pre-55 Miracle Feast Days + a Great American Saint!

    04/05/2026 | 10 mins.
    Join the Catholic Movement against Big Tech
    * Sunday: Finding of the True Cross by St. Helena
    * Monday: St. Monica
    * Tuesday: Pope St. Pius V
    * Wednesday: St. John before the Latin Gate
    * Thursday: St. Stanislaus
    * Friday: Apparition of St. Michael
    * Saturday: St. Gregory Nazianzen
    * Sunday: St. Damien Molokai


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  • The Meaning of Catholic

    America Lost the Cold War: the Basic Hypothesis

    01/05/2026 | 11 mins.
    By your prayers, over the next few months I will be developing the research we’ve been working on for our book together, which has the working title The First Fruits of Fatima You’ve Never Heard Of: the Saga of the Russian Catholic Church of the Byzantine Rite 1917-Present. This research will only be available to those who chip in something to help fund our lay apostolate by subscribing to Pelican or to this Substack. But here’s one of the basic hypotheses we’re working with: America lost the cold war by swallowing the errors of Russia.
    As a Michigander in these United States myself, I think this framework is very important to illuminate our whole epoch. As it happens, the late great Jesuit Fr. John Hardon had a similar insight in 1998, at a time when the American Empire was proclaiming to the world that they had won the Cold War:
    The United States of America is the most powerful Marxist country in the world.
    In the lecture in which he said these words in 1998, Fr. Hardon looks at some of the basic principles of Marxism and observes that these same principles have been adopted by the American Empire.
    I would add these errors are also exported by the American Empire. E. Michael Jones notes in his important text Logos Rising that when the Iranians revolted against the western-imposed government in 1979, they were actually reacting against, among other things, the imposition of pornographic Hollywood on their traditional, Shia Muhammadan culture.
    Obviously the Muhammadans follow the false prophet and warlord Muhammad to blaspheme His Majesty, Our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Kings. Nevertheless, Dr. Jones is not wrong to point out this fundamental rejection of American-imposed Marxism in the form of the evil images of pornography.
    But let’s back up.
    I want to lay out the very basics of this hypothesis. And I must give due credit to my daughter who wrote a fantastic high school paper analysing Marxism. She summarised the basic principle of Marxism like this:
    “You’re only as good as what you can do.”
    In other words, human dignity is power. Your worth is based on how much power you have. If you don’t have power, you’re worthless.
    Hence, the Marxists tell the poor – you have no power because the rich have stolen from you. This statement might be true or false, depending on the degree of oppression in any given country that the rich are imposing upon the poor and weak. This is the actual reality that the poor have suffered since the industrial revolutions began circa 1776.[1]
    In any case, the poor man has a real or perceived oppression. The same is true of Blacks or other minorities, immigrants, or any group of people who are suffering real or perceived injustice of any kind.
    OK so there’s some degree of truth in the first claim – you are suffering because of evil men. Let’s just grant that as true for the sake of this argument.
    But I would also assert that in the hearts of these minorities and oppressed peoples, they perceive themselves to be oppressed. That is the main truth which we can all agree on.
    That is the state of their hearts.
    And the heart is the axis of human history, so it is false to be hard-hearted toward these poor souls, like Ben Shapiro, and haughtily trumpet “Facts don’t care about your feelings!”
    Thanks, that attitude never converted a single heart to the truth. That’s literally heartless. The point is to win hearts first, then (and only then) win arguments. (Yes, the Marxists are consumed in their own feelings - but the solution is not to go to the opposite extreme and treat them mercilessly!).
    But I digress.
    The point here is that the Marxist, unlike Ben Shapiro, is correctly assessing the state of these hearts. That’s the main truth to seize upon here.
    What does the Marxist do next with this truth? Like the serpent, he whispers a lie. That’s when the fundamental lie comes in.
    “You’re only as good as what you can do.”
    You, poor man, have no power. Therefore you are worthless. It’s time to seize the power from the rich and claim your human dignity.
    You, Black man, have no power. Therefore you are worthless. It’s time to seize the power from the White man and claim your human dignity.
    You, immigrant, have no power. Therefore you are worthless. It’s time to seize the power from the Rich White man and claim your human dignity.
    You get the idea.
    BUT WAIT.
    The idea of dignity as power is the same principle imbedded in the Declaration of Independence!
    “We hold these truths to be self-evident…”
    You know the rest. The fundamental dogma of the American Empire is that all men are created equal. That dogma is true in the fundamental Christian sense.
    But how does the Declaration of Independence use this truth? It proclaims that there can be no taxation without representation.
    In other words, if you don’t let me vote, you are offending my human dignity as your equal. Hence, Thomas Paine, the main propagandist of the American Revolution (whom Dr. Jones notes in his newest book, quoted Satan in his pamphlets to further his aims - so the primary texts itself show that there’s a Satanic element to 1776), said that Monarchy is Tyranny per se.
    If human dignity = power, then of course Monarchy is tyranny by definition.
    In fact, if human dignity = power, then any human hierarchy whatsoever is tyranny by definition.
    Hence, Feminism, one of the primary Errors of Russia, was born in the American and French Revolutions in particular.
    Already in March of 1776 when the Continental Congress was seizing power, Mrs. Abigail Adams threatened her husband John Adams that
    if particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.[2]
    And why shouldn’t the women rebel against their husbands in 1776? The woman had suffered under a real tyranny by the Protestants, who tore down the statues of the Queen of Heaven, and reduced woman to an object either of lust or propagation, no longer dignified as a woman possessing the feminine genius, as Dr. Alice von Hildebrand discusses in her book, The Privilege of Being a Woman: feminine participation in the Mother of God and her noble office of Queen and Mother!
    Because if we start with the error that human dignity is power, which is fundamental to the American and French revolutions – this idea fits perfectly with the errors of Russia. Communism is founded on the same premises.
    And this is why America lost the Cold War. Marxism took a new form in the west which fit perfectly within the liberal democracies.
    This new form of western Marxism consumed democratic societies without creating a totalitarian system like the Soviets or Chinese. Western Marxism created what Todd Huizinga calls the “new totalitarian temptation.” It’s a different form of totalitarianism, but it’s the same Marxist and Liberal lie.
    This is not to say that the American Revolution did not contain many Catholic principles and actually brought about, through God’s Providence, much good. But that’s another story and the subject of another book I’m writing: Saving These United States from the American Empire.
    But the main point to seize upon here is this: the framework for modern history is given by God Himself at Fatima – the errors of Russia will spread and the Immaculate Heart of Mary is the answer. In my view, America lost the Cold War because our principles (despite lots of good American Catholic efforts in the 1950s) could not overcome the errors of Russia.
    America was conquered by the errors of Russia.
    Therefore, all the more reason to get to First Saturday tomorrow, and remember you can finish the devotion in one hour. More to come here for paid subscribers and Pelican users.
    With respect and love to all,
    TimothyFounder, Meaning of Catholic lay apostolateSt. Joseph the Worker
    [1] Even at the same time that the poor were helped by those same industrial revolutions by mass producing cheap goods and products. In my view, the economic narrative is a both/and, not either/or, between the Marxists and the Austrians. That’s why the Catholic Social encyclicals draw upon both sides and correct both Marxists and Capitalist extremists.
    [2] Abigail Adams to John Adams, March 31, 1776 in Miriam Schneir, ed., Feminism: The Essential Historical Writings (New York: Vintage Books, 1972), 3. Emphasis added.


    This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit meaningofcath.substack.com/subscribe

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About The Meaning of Catholic

The Meaning of Catholic is a collaborative lay apostolate dedicated to uniting Catholics against the enemies of holy Church through the domestic church, catechetics, and the public promotion of truth and charity. meaningofcatholic.com Join the Guild to support our work and access the online community, free books, and exclusive content: meaningofcatholic.com/register meaningofcath.substack.com
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