Lee Gilbert

Publisher of Back to Asceticism by de Rancé; The Real de Rancé by Ailbe Luddy, and Jean Feuillet's Life of St Rose ( MA Biblical Theology 2015

[Lee Gilbert @LeeGilbert41943]

@MatthewJLB @hilarityjane @BenedictineCell Matthew in a similar vein you might also like Back to Asceticism the Trappist Option which is really a commentary on monastic life by Armand Jean de Rance. He published this under the title On the Sanctity and Duties of the Monnastic State. We retitled to publish it for our time.

[Lee Gilbert @LeeGilbert41943]

Alexander, I am pretty sure that this and many other arguments you undoubtedly have with the Catholic Church come from Protestant pastors and literature; and likely too from a Protestant tradition passed down from parent to child within your family for centuries. Am I wrong? As with many others you may well say you are not a Protestant, but a Christian, but nevertheless you are protesting are you not? And against what are you protesting except the Catholic Church? So also Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, Knox...the Protestant Reformers. You have come into their inheritance.

Have you ever in your life taken a serious look at what the Catholic Church has to say for herself, especially in the Catholic Catechism? Beyond that, have you ever looked into the history and the writings of the early Church fathers?

If ever you do, you will not find anything like the church service you frequently attend. You will find Bishops, priests and deacons; you will find the Eucharistic Sacrifice; you will find a belief that the Eucharist is the self-same flesh that hung upon the cross. You will not find anything like the communion service of a Protestant Church.

Here I suppose you may well say that you need do nothing of the sort, for you have the Bible. Yet, where in the Bible does it say that everything is in the Bible? It does say that Jesus speaking to the Apostles says, "He who hears you hears me." For that matter, where in Heaven's name do you think the Bible came from? An Angel did not give it fully formed into the hands of John Knox.

No, really, where do you think it came from? And where does your animus with the Catholic Church come from?

[Lee Gilbert @LeeGilbert41943]

Certainly this and any number of other anecdotes (and Jesuits for that matter) put the order in a bad light. They could be multiplied ad nauseam. As a result, some comments below reflect a common attitude toward the order found within the Church these days. And yet...I wonder.

Certainly there must be individuals and possibly whole provinces within the order who are faithful to the Ignatian charism and who do not deserve to fall under a kind of blanket suspicion and disdain. Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J. comes to mind. I for one would like to know who they are, how the order fell into such decline and what initiatives at reform might be underway.

Or, is there something in Ignatian spirituality, in the Jesuit dna, so to speak, that necessarily leads the sort of collapse that has come upon the order and upon the entire Church, for that matter, in this loss? Certainly fellow religious, and especially Dominicans, have an informed opinion on this issue.

I've read and heartily recommend The Jesuits-a History by Markus Friedrich. What articles or books would bring me up to speed with the current situation?

[Lee Gilbert @LeeGilbert41943]

@Theoladeledada "I am black but beautiful, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Cedar, as the curtains of Solomon." Song of Songs 1:5

[Lee Gilbert @LeeGilbert41943]

@MustafaCharts 27

[Lee Gilbert @LeeGilbert41943]

@Simi_2210_ The skin

[Lee Gilbert @LeeGilbert41943]

@Ellie_0790 3, obviously

[Lee Gilbert @LeeGilbert41943]

@farman4x 3

[Lee Gilbert @LeeGilbert41943]

I once read of a pastor who made every effort to encourage his people to attend daily Mass. As a result he had about a third of his parish doing so.

You would think this would be such an easy sell, but I have never heard (or at least do not recall) the case for it being made from the pulpit, much less a consistent campaign. Of salesmanship I once read that if you want the sale, you must ask for it, but for this no one asks.

Back in the day my son and I attended a "leadership camp" sponsored by Opus Dei. In the course of it one presenter asked the boys, "What are the qualities of a good leader?" They offered up good answers until one boy said, "Doesn't ask too much of his followers." At this the fathers burst out laughing, and frankly I didn't get it till I reflected on the great leaders of the past, the great generals, for example, and Jesus Christ Himself. Caesar, Napoleon, Churchill and many others, have inspired great heroism precisely by asking for heroic effort and even the supreme sacrifice.

Honestly, I think many people would be thrilled to be given the challenge to begin their day with Mass and the Rosary...and would respond with fervor. Could it be that, "You do not receive because you do not ask," applies here as well? ...I mean to the Church as a whole.

Both those habits would go a long way toward confirming us in belief and stirring us to devotion.

[Lee Gilbert @LeeGilbert41943]

@MarioNawfal "The thief (Mohammed) comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I (Jesus Christ) have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

[Lee Gilbert @LeeGilbert41943]

Amazing to me and distressing is that in this entire protracted discussion among Catholics there is not the least reference to Scripture. It is a thing incredible in this day and age when consulting the Word of God can be done in a flash, without even rising from one's chair.
Supergrok settles this question definitively in a very Catholic way, by quoting from Scripture and revealing the mind of the Holy Spirit. From this we know that cussing is offensive to God, but that is the very definition of a sin.

Colossians 3:8
"But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips."
"Filthy language" (Greek: aischrologia) refers to obscene, shameful, or vulgar speech.

Ephesians 5:3-4
"But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving."

James 3:9-10
"With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be."

Matthew 12:34-37 (Jesus speaking)
"...For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of... But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."

Exodus 20:7 (Third Commandment)
"You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name." This directly covers using God's name (or Jesus') as a swear word.

[Lee Gilbert @LeeGilbert41943]

How to find stocks that are about to explode in price?

[Lee Gilbert @LeeGilbert41943]

@kikisknees Is there a comparable map for the USA, state by state?

[Lee Gilbert @LeeGilbert41943]

Amor propre kicks in. What the hell, what does the Voris quote have to do with your character assassination of Christine Niles? She broke with him when it became evident he was reverting to his former way of life. In fact, she was a whistleblower! And yet...

No, forget it. Man up or don't.

[Lee Gilbert @LeeGilbert41943]

Andy, "Investigate first, then find fault." You doubt it to be the case! You could have found out definitively within seconds and avoided the sin of once again slurring her good name.
Here is Supergrok's report on the situation.

Yes, Christine Niles resigned from Church Militant (St. Michael’s Media) in early November 2023 (around November 9), shortly before Michael Voris was forced out.

https://t.co/noqWKBzfEj

She left voluntarily as a whistleblower and board member, issuing a public video statement explaining her departure. Voris was asked to resign by the board for breaching the organization’s morality clause (related to personal misconduct involving adults, which he alluded to as confronting “horrible ugly things” from his past).

https://t.co/noqWKBzfEj

Her Stated ReasonsIn her roughly 8-minute video statement (posted on X/Twitter and YouTube), Niles said she would not share private details about Voris’s specific “breach of the morality clause.” However, she highlighted:

https://t.co/OUosLKXFjE
Troubling changes in the direction of Church Militant and decisions made by Voris over the past year (especially the prior several months).
A noticeable personality change in Voris—he was “not the man that I came to work for in 2014.”

The end of regular staff prayer practices (which Voris had once led diligently, including morning/evening prayer, daily Rosary, and Mass). She described this as a “massive warning sign” that had stopped for about two https://t.co/FGRl06yYkg

She described a deteriorating work environment and later sent a detailed letter to the board outlining issues (including those later referenced in staff communications). Reports indicate she denounced unprofessional behavior by Voris.

Andy, this is the hard-working, upright journalist you refer to as a "dumb bitch." You owe her a public apology.

[Lee Gilbert @LeeGilbert41943]

@WarblyWobble @ChristineNiles1 No, in fact she is not in his employ, nor has she been for some time, not for years in fact.

[Lee Gilbert @LeeGilbert41943]

Abortion is only the logical extension of the contraceptive mentality, so to that extent you are not as prolife as you think. It has become the back-up contraceptive.

Besides that, contraceptives are a threat to marriage since women who are tired of going through life bloated iniate 3/4 of divorces. This results in messed up children. At least here in Portland young recovering drug addicts tell me that about half of the high school population are on drugs.

If you ever read the biographies of scvhoolshooters, yu will find that virtually all of them are children of divorce.

With contraceptives a couple lies to each other. The act itself says "I give myself to you completely. I will support you and the children I engender. I will bear your children." The act itself implies fidelity and openness to life, but with repeated lies contraceptives hollow out the marriage.

With contraceptives both pre-marital sex and extra-marital affairs are made to seem inconsequential, though of course they are really devastating to the persons themselves, to marriages, and to socety as a whole.

Besides all that, the civilizational struggle we are in with the Muslims is underneath it all, and definitively, a struggle between the Contraceptors (us) and the Procreators (them). The West is being overwhelmed and will very likely sink beneath a demographic tide. Contraceptives and the sexual suicide which it implements are destroying us in many, many ways, not excluding the estrogenized water we drink.

[Lee Gilbert @LeeGilbert41943]

Pres. Trump, Find a way. Get this done!

[John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr @the_17thletter4]

🚨🇯🇵BREAKING

JAPAN'S NEW ANTI-ISLAM LAWS SEND SHOCKWAVES

Halal - BANNED✅
Mosques - BANNED✅
Call to prayer - BANNED✅
Burka - BANNED✅

This is basically saying Islam is not welcome here

Should we copy Japan?

A. Yes
B. No

[Lee Gilbert @LeeGilbert41943]

“Cry out full-throated and unsparingly, lift up your voice like a trumpet blast; Proclaim to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins.” This I have actually seen done, but many years ago, by Msgr Eugene Luke, pastor of St. Petronille's in Glen Ellyn, IL who died in 1973.

Since then for the most part I have seen preachers catching bees with honey, but when the pulpits were fountains of vinegar, the churches were packed. Underneath it all, people want to be brought to repentance, to have hell brought to mind, if need be to be scared witless and brought to tears of compunction.

Every great preacher has done exactly that, beginning with Jesus Christ. We'll be hitting the mark when all the confessionals in the Church are staffed with priests, because the saintly ascetic missionary priest Fr. Vincent Ferrer Redivivus has come to town and will be preaching at all the Masses. When he preaches sobs are heard from the congregation and people leave their pews to go to confession.

[Lee Gilbert @LeeGilbert41943]

What an ugly, ugly church.

[Jeremy Wayne Tate @JeremyTate41]

The world's tallest church is about to get its crown.

On June 10, 2026, exactly 100 years after Antoni Gaudí's death, the Sagrada Família will inaugurate the four-armed cross atop the Tower of Jesus Christ.

[Lee Gilbert @LeeGilbert41943]

@EYakoby This in itself makes him presidential material.