After I posted the explanation of the actual meaning of the lyrics of “God Rest (Make) Ye Merry (Mighty), Gentlemen” last year, a reader emailed to point out the etymology of the word “comfort”, as in “tidings of comfort and joy”…

Com: with

Fort: strength

Here is the medley of God Make Ye Mighty, Gentlemen with We Three Kings.

Tidings of Strength and Joy, Mighty Men, in this Great Octave of the Manifestation of Our Lord: King and God and Sacrifice!

Happy Feast of the Epiphany! Might one even wish you a Spiffany Epiphany!

This is one of my favorite paintings, and this week is the octave of the feast of its depiction: the Epiphany, or Adoration of the Magi.  This painting makes me smile every time I see it.  I love the depiction of Our Lady because she is so very beautiful. But the Star of this Show is the Baby Jesus – and His Big Toe.

Adoration of the Magi, Ottavio Vannini, early 1600s, Florence

When I look at this image, it seems not like a painting to me, but like a .GIF.  What do I mean by that?  I can see the movement of Our Lord’s toe as He is wiggling it, and I can see the subtle smile come across Our Lady’s face as she looks down at the scene of the very serious and lofty king leaning in to kiss the tiny toe of the Creator of the Universe and King of Kings, and He is PLAYFULLY wiggling it and making cooing baby sounds as the Magi puckers up and leans in to “get that Toe!” as so many of us have done exactly with other babies.

We have discussed many times in this space the infinite HUGENESS of God, using galaxies and galactic clusters as metaphors for His infinite bigness and our infantesimal smallness.  I am reminded of something Our Lord said to St. Catherine of Siena, to whom, let us not forget, He was MYSTICALLY ESPOUSED.  Listen to His words to His beloved Catherine:

“Do you know, daughter, who you are, And who I AM? If you know these two things, you will be blessed. You are she who is not; whereas I AM HE WHO IS. Have this knowledge in you and the enemy will never deceive you….“

God Almighty can say to His beloved, “you are she who is not” because it is true relative to Him, and because ALL EXISTENCE, REALITY AND TRUTH is through Him, with Him and in Him.

And that brings us back to the Tiny Wiggling Toe. It is precisely through these infinite juxtapositions that we draw closer to God in our contemplation of Him.  The selfsame God that created and sustains the galaxies, galactic clusters and the entire universe is also the cooing Baby wiggling His Big Toe at the Magi crawling on the ground to kiss It.  

Without the Majesty of the Bigness, you can’t appreciate the Humility of the Smallness, and without the Condescension of the Smallness, you can’t appreciate the incomprehensible Love of the Bigness.

This is the same idea with the two species of Fear of the Lord – without the servile fear of the Lord as Our Judge, you can’t fully appreciate the filial fear that He established Himself with the words, “I no longer call you slaves, but friends….” The paradigm shifted with the Incarnation and proclamation of the Gospel from not sinning primarily for fear of punishment, to not sinning because He loves us so much that to disappoint or hurt Him in any way is (should be) revolting to us.

And likewise, without the filial fear of breaking Our Lord’s Heart, one can very easily cast aside the fact that He is, in fact, the Fearsome and Terrible Judge and He can be twisted by our minds into the horrific cartoon character “Jesus my Boyfriend”, or even worse, “Jesus my pet Golden Retriever”. People with no healthy servile fear of the Lord are called “cheap grace” Protestants, or just universal salvationists.

So what exactly is the Good News?  Is it that God is NOT the Just and Terrible Judge of Mankind who will sort the sheep from the goats, and sift men like wheat from chaff, burning the chaff?  No.  The Good News, the GOSPEL is that the Just and Terrible Judge is also the Baby wiggling His Tiny Toe as the Three Kings crawl forth to kiss It.  The Gospel is that the Just and Terrible Judge ALSO loves you infinitely, and is thus 100% on your side.  Do you understand that?  THE JUDGE IS ON YOUR SIDE TO AN EXTENT THAT YOU SIMPLY CANNOT COMPREHEND.

All you have to do is say “yes” to Him.  All you have to do is say and believe, “Jesus, I know that You love me”, and then ACTUALLY ACT LIKE YOU BELIEVE IT.  Keep His commandments.  Don’t break His heart.  Enter His One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. Avail yourself of the Sacraments He established for YOU and YOUR SALVATION, most especially the Sacrament of Confession and the Sacrament of the Altar, which is His very Physical Substance.

Look at the Tiny Wiggling Toe.  Then go look up at the stars and galaxies and galactic clusters that He made and sustains without effort.  Put the two together and know that you are he who is not, and the Tiny Toe is HE WHO IS.

I hope this helps.

St. Raymond of Penafort was a Dominican who is basically THE father of Canon Law.

So, you can understand why we are especially, especially happy to celebrate his feast today, and beg his intercession, especially for any Canonists named “Raymond” that we might know of….

The Codex that St. Raymond assembled at the behest of Pope Gregory IX was essentially the codex that was in force from ARSH 1234 until the 1917 Code was promulgated.

Apparently, St. Raymond did a pretty good job. 😉

BUT, being the unlettered laywoman that I am, I can’t but be delighted by St. Raymond’s most famous miracle. Now, I want you to just stop and think in stillness about how brilliant and rigorous St. Raymond must have been, and then consider the veracity of what you are about to read. Do you think that a man like Raymond would have permitted a story like what you are about to read to spread like wildfire throughout the world, if it weren’t true? 160 miles in six hours is an average speed of 27 mph. This is a block quote from Wiki: And, just to be sure everyone knows, “Moors” are musloids.

Raymond of Penyafort served as the confessor for King James I of Aragon, who was a loyal son of the Church but allowed his lustful desires to shackle him. While on the island of Majorca to initiate a campaign to help convert the Moors living there, the king brought his mistress with him. Raymond reproved the king and asked him repeatedly to dismiss his concubine. The king refused to do so. Finally, the saint told the king that he could remain with him no longer and made plans to leave for Barcelona. But the king forbade Raymond to leave the island, and threatened punishment to any ship captain who dared to take him. Saint Raymond then said to his Dominican companion, “Soon you will see how the King of Heaven will confound the wicked deeds of this earthly king and provide me with a ship!” They then went down to the seashore where Raymond took off his cappa (the long black cloak worn by Dominicans over the white tunic and scapular), and spread one end of it on the water while rigging the other end to his walking staff. Having thus formed a miniature mast, Raymond bid the other Dominican to hop on, but his companion, lacking the saint’s faith, refused to do so. Then Raymond bid him farewell, and with the sign of the cross he pushed away from the shore and miraculously sailed away on his cloak. Skirting around the very boats that had forbidden him passage, the saint was seen by scores of sailors who shouted in astonishment and urged him on. Raymond sailed the ~160 miles to Barcelona in the space of six hours, where his landing was witnessed by a crowd of amazed spectators. In awe of this miracle, King James I renounced his evil ways, made penance, and thereafter led a good life.

27 mph, baby! Evinrude, eat your heart out!!!

IT HAPPENED!

Justin Trudeau has RESIGNED! pic.twitter.com/kSIxE46eKX

— Russell Brand (@rustyrockets) January 6, 2025

CIA agent explains how the government baits and tricks mentally unwell social media users into committing crimes they wouldn’t normally commit pic.twitter.com/QPXEq8jUfh

— Conspiratorial Report (@CnsprtrlRprt) January 3, 2025

Gavin O’Blennis is the CIA’s most famous gay operative in Ukraine.
pic.twitter.com/VSOpbDnya3

— @amuse (@amuse) April 11, 2024

Hi, Ann-

I admire and appreciate your stubborn, staunch advocacy for the importance of visual beauty, and the power of clothing to convey it. And I will never forget having been struck, around three years ago now, by the utterly unexpected sight of a lowly counter attendant at our local UPS store, a man perhaps in his late thirties, wearing a 1940-style vest and long-sleeved dress shirt complete with sleeve garters.

Ann, I was stunned. This was not a conventionally handsome man — in fact, an unkind person might say that he looked like a stereotypical “nebbish” — but he sure got my attention, and in the very best way. I complimented him on how wonderful he looked, and he seemed startled and shyly appreciative.

A few weeks later, my husband and I happened to be walking near the store and lo and behold, the same fellow was walking down the street with purposeful stride, this time in a beautifully-tailored 1940s-style overcoat, and wearing a fedora! Well. I decided then and there that if I were young again, unattached and ready to settle down, I would want to make THIS gentleman’s acquaintance, just on the basis of his appearance in those clothes (and also, I guess, having seen that he was employed, 😅)

Cheers, and Happy New Year-

C

This wafted in gracefully over the transom. This is from a Catholic girls’ high school newspaper in the mid-west from the late 1940’s.

Look upon this and let it sink in that our culture is truly, literally INVERTED. 

Teenaged girls today are, as a rule, revolting ugly slobs by their own choice. Beauty is actively, openly despised. Most girls today do not own ONE pretty dress. Not one. The notion that striving to always present oneself beautifully in public – and beauty is OBJECTIVE and REAL, being a constitutive quality of God Himself – is considered hate speech against fat, ugly dykes and really ANY actual females. You do notice that the only acceptable manifestation of “feminine” beauty is now transvestitism; in MEN masquerading as women. The transvestites are completely free to doll themselves up, but an actual woman? No way. Actual women are expected to conform to the cultural embrace of ugliness.

And the notion that we owe it to OTHERS to present ourselves beautifully in public, to put others first by asking ourselves, “Would I want to see me in yoga pants and a t-shirt with bedhead looking like hell? No, so why would I subject others to that? What gives me the right to inflict ugliness upon others?” – the very question is completely incomprehensible to today’s teeming throngs of narcissists.

And folks, this is about EFFORT. Speaking as a rock-solid 4 on the 1-10 scale, I turn heads on the daily NOT because I’m some great beauty. What turns heads in the EFFORT. Just being put-together and dressed in actual clothes; hat, gloves and tasteful and flattering makeup is the shocking sight. That’s it. I’m still physically a 4, but the fact that I fulfill my DUTY in the striving towards beauty actually creates beauty, just as striving for virility creates virility, striving for goodness creates goodness, and ultimately striving for sanctity creates sanctity. 

Physical beauty is obviously the most worldly of these qualities, BUT it is therefore also the most readily identifiable, relatable and accessible. So, start there. Showing a fundamental respect of oneself and of others by ALWAYS appearing in public with a SOLID EFFORT towards beauty will lead to higher, non-physical qualities and virtues IF one is so oriented and has a proper, solidly Christian conception and proper ordination of true, objective beauty commensurate with one’s sex.

Also over the transom from a long-time reader (and a VERY spiffy dresser) is this link to the beautiful coat as seen here.

I wish this was still the standard.. now people are wearing pajamas outside pic.twitter.com/RmHcnDrP76

— The cooking lady (@wolffdew) December 11, 2024

It isn’t cheap, but if you’re in the market, this is the actual coat. Sigh…

Fit and Flare Coat with A-Line Skirt in Black | 'Timeless Polka Dots'

Two years ago this morning the one and only living Vicar of Christ on Earth (whether he liked it or not) died of renal failure. Isn’t it interesting that Antipope Bergoglio mashed the throttle – attempting to suppress the Mass in the Venerable and August Rite of Gregory the Great, the attempt at Sodo-blessings – once the Pope was dead. It’s almost like the Pope was a RESTRAINER. You know, like the RESTRAINER in 2 Thessalonians 2. Hmmmmmmm…. 🤔

Here’s a picture of the absolutely Luciferian treatment of Pope Benedict’s corpse, being loaded into the back of a beat-up grey cargo van. But the thing that really jumped out at me about this picture when I saw it this morning was THE DOME. My lands. I’ve seen pictures of the dome of St. Peter’s taken within the past week, and folks, it’s black. The fact that the dome is oxidizing is not in and of itself any kind of miracle, BUT the fact that it turned black so rapidly after Pope Benedict died. It … gives one pause:

And now from Dr. Mazza, apropos of yesterday’s fifth anniversary of Antipope Bergoglio beating that Chinese lady in St. Peter’s Square.

Dr. Mazza:

And as for Bergoglio beating the Chinese lady, when you watch the longer version of the video it becomes clear he stopped shaking hands to deliberately avoid HER. I say because she was Chinese and he was afraid to get Covid (running rampant in China exactly 4 years ago).

August 8, 2019 La Stampa interview: “What do you fear most for our planet?” Bergoglio: “The disappearance of biodiversity. New lethal diseases. A drift and devestation of nature that can lead to the death of humanity.”

Yup. Antipope Bergoglio was almost certainly informed and enjoined as an integral cooperator in the CoronaScam by his WEF NWO Freemasonic Luciferian buddies.

Dear Ann,

A blessed and merry Christmas to you.

Thank you for your blog posts and videos, many of which I have found very helpful in understanding the current insanity in the Church and the world. I am particularly thankful for your recent posts on clerical celibacy and continence.

In the novus ordo Church, even before Antipope Frankenstein the Merciful, there is a common notion that allowing a priest to be laicized, so he can marry a woman, is a merciful concession to human weakness.

BULL-S***.

I am a priest, I am normal, and I am strongly attracted to women. I can understand the idea that allowing a priest to continue in his ministry after he has fallen into sexual sin (and therefore also sacrilege) with a woman and repented is a merciful concession to human weakness. By the grace of God I have never fallen into such sin as a priest, but I can easily understand how it’s possible.

Laicization and marriage is completely different. Repentance, and therefore true mercy, which requires repentance to be effective, is totally absent. In its place is substituted the cleaning up of a canonically irregular situation. A priest violates his grave obligation of continence by getting it on with a woman, and possibly also violates his obligation of celibacy by invalidly attempting civil marriage with her; and the response of the ecclesiastical authorities is to dispense him from his obligations and allow him to marry her validly in the Church.

Um, no. That doesn’t help. It actually hurts. A lot.

Although it may mean his future copulation with his wife isn’t mortally sinful, it does nothing to purge him of the guilt of his previous mortal sins of fornication, sacrilege, and abandoning his priestly ministry. On the contrary, by receiving a nice signed and sealed rescript from Rome, he is encouraged to believe that he has done the right thing, and is now “right with the Church.”

Of course that’s not true. As alter Christus, he was espoused to the Bride of Christ, and has now abandoned Her for some trull that he found more to his liking. His repentance now will almost require a miracle. He will very probably burn in Hell for all eternity, with the blessing of his bishop and the Pope. And how they will avoid burning in Hell for helping him get there, I don’t know.

My moral theology professor in seminary, Fr. Romanus Cessario, O.P., told us that “A priest who leaves for a woman is the scum of the earth.” I see more and more how right he was. Such priests–and they are many–simply declare that they love copulation more than they love God and His Mother. God have mercy on them.

I wish I could draw some pithy conclusion from this, but I can’t, so I’m going to have a beer, read some P.G. Wodehouse, and go to bed. May God bless you and your work. And may He have mercy on His poor Church.

Signed,

Father

Warmest wishes to one and all for the happiest and holiest of Christmases. As Tiny Tim said so earnestly, God bless us, everyone.

If you don’t know the three verses to Adeste Fideles in Latin and deep comprehension in English, I seriously recommend learning. Nothing brings Alpha Bravo to misty eyes in church quite like verse three (Ergo qui natus). If there is a tenor or soprano singing above the faithful… I’m toast. 😭😭😭

May the Infant Jesus and the Holy Family bless and keep you all.

Adeste fideles læti triumphantes,
Venite, venite in Bethlehem.
Natum videte
Regem angelorum:
Venite adoremus (3×)
Dominum.

O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant!
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem;
Come and behold Him
Born the King of Angels:
O come, let us adore Him, (3×)
Christ the Lord.

—-

Cantet nunc io, chorus angelorum;
Cantet nunc aula cælestium,
Gloria, gloria in excelsis Deo,
Venite adoremus (3×)
Dominum.

Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation,
Sing, all ye citizens of Heaven above!
Glory to God, glory in the highest:
O come, let us adore Him, (3×)
Christ the Lord.

———

Ergo qui natus die hodierna.
Jesu, tibi sit gloria,
Patris æterni Verbum caro factus.
Venite adoremus (3×)
Dominum.

Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, born this happy morning;
Jesus, to Thee be glory given!
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing!
O come, let us adore Him, (3×)
Christ the Lord.