Thursday, May 21, 2026
"America Unites to the
Sacred Heart of Jesus"
Smoke in This Life and Not the Next
May 21 — Cheap Night
The pain of Purgatory begins with loss — the soul deprived of the sight of God, its true light.
It is a moral thirst, sharper than any earthly grief.
Then comes the pain of sense — the suffering that touches what remains of our earthly attachments.
The Doctors teach it is fire.
The Fathers say it is the same flame the rich man feared:
quia crucior in hac flamma — “I am tormented in this flame.”
Tonight’s cheap cigar and cheap whiskey are reminders:
purification burns.
If we refuse the small fires now,
the great fire waits.
Question:
What in me still needs burning away.
MAY 21 Thursday of the Seventh Week of Easter
St. Christopher Magallanes
Acts,
Chapter 23, verse 10
The dispute was so serious that the commander, AFRAID
that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, ordered his troops to go down and
rescue him from their midst and take him into the compound.
During Paul’s time the Jewish people were divided into two camps. Paul
in his fearlessness had spoken the truth and it struck a nerve with both sects
wanting his death.
How often is truth and reason ignored?
Men find it easier to fall into camps and
rationalize or justify their actions. Christ tells us to use reason much as He
did with Thomas and believe. God has given us intelligent foresight as well as
the Holy Spirit.
The Virtue of Foresight: A Mark of Wisdom[1]
The ancient
philosophers identified man’s capacity for thought by the use of different
words for perceiving reality: sensus (the five senses), imaginatio
(the ability of the mind to recall pictures from the past or paint pictures of
the future), ratio (the ability to think in logical steps to reach a
conclusion), and intellectus (the ability to perceive the truth all at
once as self-evident). While animals have instincts as a form of knowledge,
they do not reflect on the past or ponder the future with the capacity to think
that distinguishes human virtues such as foresight and prudence, a mark of
wisdom.
While ants
prepare for the winter, they do not contemplate eternity. While dogs have keen
memories, they do not gather wisdom from the accumulated experience of the
entire human race as a source of universal truth.
Beyond the Present
Because man is
a rational animal with the power of intelligence, human thinking goes beyond
the immediate concerns and duties of the present moment. Man’s memory allows
him to recall the mistakes of the past and not repeat them and to learn from
the previous experience of older generations in his study of history. Man’s
imagination allows him to project into the future and consider possibilities,
consequences, and likely outcomes. The art of living requires this capacity to
think today while mindful of the past and conscious of the future. This wise
thinking, however, is not escaping into the past with nostalgia or calculating
about the future with cunning. The foresight of a wise man is a far cry from
the reckoning of a fox or rat.
Exceeding our Grasp
Foresight does not mean simply being insured for accidents to protect against harm to a person’s health or damage to his home. While home and car insurance show prudential judgment, foresight is more than prevention or precaution. It goes beyond not taking foolish chances but rather embraces noble efforts and daring initiatives to achieve an ideal. It encompasses the common good, the welfare of future generations, the happiness of all family members young and old, and an awareness of the four last things: death, the final judgment, heaven, and hell. Foresight strives for excellence and imagines always the difference between the way things are in the present and the way things ought to be in the future. Famous characters in literature like Don Quixote seek to restore the best of the past—the virtues of knighthood—to inspire future generations with truth, honor, chivalry, and courtesy. Robert Browning writes that “man’s reach should exceed his grasp, “Or else what’s a heaven for?”
Foresight always aspires to perfection and never rests complacent with mediocrity, the lowest common denominator, or the average. Just as God in His Divine Providence foresees man’s needs and plans for them, man too needs to be provident—to be far-seeing, to think ahead, to be mindful of consequences, and to realize that the outcome of the future depends on the choices of today. Created in God’s image, man imitates God by providing for others and acting with prudence about the future with the virtue of foresight. For example, God’s all-wise plan for life—envisioning a child’s needs—prepares for the birth of the newborn by endowing man and woman with parental instincts to care for and protect the infant. All good parents are provident as they attend not only to the present needs of their children but also think ahead for their future.
Looking Ahead
The word
“pro-vide” comes from two Latin words that mean to look before or ahead. To be
Godlike, to be wise, to be prudent, and to exercise common sense means to weigh
consequences and be aware of both the present and the future. All actions bear
fruit for good or for ill. As the parable of the talents illustrates, God
expects the coins to be multiplied and earn interest—evidence of foresight and
imagining the future with good judgment. God judges’ man by the abundance of
his harvest: “By their fruits you shall know them.” There is no interest
earned, no bountiful harvest, no fruitful field without foresight, without
sowing the right seeds in the springtime of life for the later years. Unlike
animals that live in the present and do not foresee the future with vision or
ideals, man enjoys a greater awareness of time as he recollects the past and
anticipates the future. In fact, the cardinal virtue of prudence takes account
of past, present, and future—learning from the mistakes and experience of the
past, making a practical judgment based on the reality of the present, and
foreseeing the consequences of actions today that affect others for the common
good in the days ahead. To be responsible, moral, and sensible, a person
naturally thinks ahead—living today but anticipating tomorrow, saving money now
for next year’s purchases, educating children in their youth for their later
adult life, keeping the Ten Commandments and living the life of the Beatitudes
in the expectation of life everlasting.
Foresight for the Future
Christ taught his followers to be both “gentle as doves and wise as serpents.”
The serpent looks to the left and to the right, moves slowly and cautiously, and checks for dangers and enemies. Thinking must always precede acting; otherwise, a person acts foolishly or imprudently without weighing the effects or reactions beforehand. Without foresight a person wastes money, time, or effort and accomplishes nothing. Without foresight—an intelligent plan of action to achieve a moral goal—no one progresses toward a destination. To live only for the present and think “eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die” does not amount to wisdom because the future always comes. Man enters the future either prepared or unprepared—like the ants in Aesop’s fable that prepared for winter or the cicada that only sang in the summer and froze in the cold. Foresight for students means not only preparing for a career through a good education but also gathering wisdom to live well and to enjoy an abundant life. Nothing learned—no matter the subject matter, book, or class—is ever wasted. Whatever a person learns in science, social studies, religion, or English, he will use in one capacity or another. Not to learn is to show no foresight. If not in his own profession, then in his own personal life a person will be glad he knows, glad he can teach others, glad he possesses an informed mind capable of making intelligent decisions. A person in high school or college is not just qualifying for a profession but providing for a life of the mind, one of the greatest sources of human happiness because man is designed to love truth, to desire knowledge for its own sake, and ultimately to know God. It is not only human wisdom to think ahead for the sake of one’s own happiness but also charity to be far-sighted on behalf of the well-being of others. Just as a Christian is obligated to love others as Christ loves him and forgive others as God forgives him, he also needs to think of others and provide for their future as God provides for the birds of the air and the lilies of the field.
Copilot’s
Take
The episode in
Acts reveals something perennial about human nature: when truth confronts
entrenched factions, reason evaporates and tribal instinct takes over. Paul’s
courage exposed the fault lines between Sadducee and Pharisee, and the crowd
reacted not with discernment but with fury. This is the same dynamic that
governs modern ideological conflict. Men prefer camps to conscience, slogans to
thought, and emotional certainty to the hard labor of reason. The commander
feared Paul would be torn apart because mobs do not weigh truth—they consume
it.
The virtue of foresight stands as the antidote to this collapse of reason.
The classical tradition understood that man alone can remember the past, imagine the future, and judge the present in light of both. Animals react; men reflect. Foresight is not anxiety about tomorrow but the disciplined habit of seeing consequences before they arrive. It is the virtue that keeps a man from drifting with the passions of the moment and anchors him in the long horizon of God’s providence. Without foresight, even good intentions become reckless.
This virtue
becomes especially urgent when confronting evil. The Cristeros did not rise
because they were impulsive or enraged; they rose because they had been formed.
Their foresight came from catechesis, sacramental life, and a culture that
understood suffering as part of discipleship. They recognized the danger long
before the persecution reached its peak. They saw the State’s encroachment,
understood the spiritual stakes, and prepared their households accordingly.
Their resistance was not improvisation—it was the fruit of formation.
America’s
crisis is not yet persecution; it is unpreparedness. Our danger is not the
firing squad but the slow erosion of conviction. A people accustomed to comfort
cannot imagine sacrifice. A Church accustomed to convenience cannot imagine
martyrdom. If a Cristero‑level test arrived tomorrow, the question would not be
whether Americans would fight. The question would be whether Americans believe
anything strongly enough to suffer for it. Persecution does not create martyrs;
it reveals whether martyrs already exist.
The virtue of
foresight exposes our present weakness. We have information but little wisdom,
outrage but little discipline, rights but few responsibilities. We prepare for
retirement but not for judgment. We insure our homes but not our souls. The
Cristeros understood that the future is shaped by the choices of today. They
lived with the four last things in view—death, judgment, heaven, and hell—and
that clarity gave them courage. A man who contemplates eternity does not
tremble before temporal threats.
If America were tested, the ones who would stand firm would not be the loudest voices online but the quiet men who pray the Rosary, attend Mass faithfully, form their children, and live under the Kingship of Christ. These are the men who already practice small acts of fortitude, who already deny themselves, who already understand that freedom is not the absence of restraint but the presence of virtue. The Cristeros were not extraordinary men—they were ordinary men who had been prepared by grace and habit.
The
confrontation with evil begins long before the crisis. It begins in the
confessional, in the discipline of the mind, in the courage to speak truth
before it becomes costly. A man who cannot say no to his appetites will never
say no to a tyrant. A man who will not kneel before God will eventually kneel
before the State. Foresight teaches a man to prepare his household spiritually,
morally, and intellectually so that when the test comes, he is not scrambling
to improvise virtue.
Whether America
would pass a Cristero‑style test depends entirely on whether we recover
foresight now. The crisis will not forge character; it will expose it. The time
to prepare is before the storm, not during it. The Cristeros remind us that
courage is not born in the moment of danger—it is cultivated in the long,
hidden years of fidelity. If we desire to stand firm when evil demands our
surrender, we must begin by living with the long horizon of eternity in view
today.
St. Christopher Magallanes and Companions[1]
Like Blessed Miguel Agustin Pro, S.J. (November 23), Cristobal and his twenty-four companion martyrs lived under a very anti-Catholic government in Mexico, one determined to weaken the Catholic faith of its people. Churches, schools and seminaries were closed; foreign clergy were expelled. Cristobal established a clandestine seminary at Totatiche, Jalisco. Magallanes and the other priests were forced to minister secretly to Catholics during the presidency of Plutarco Calles (1924-1928).
All of these martyrs except three were diocesan priests. David, Manuel and Salvador were laymen who died with their parish priest, Luis Batis. All of these martyrs belonged to the Cristero movement, pledging their allegiance to Christ and to the church that he established to spread the Good News in society—even if Mexico's leaders had made it a crime to receive baptism or celebrate the Mass.
These martyrs did not die as a single group but in eight Mexican states, with Jalisco and Zacatecas having the largest number.
They were beatified in 1992 and canonized eight years later.
— Excerpted from Saint of the Day, Leonard Foley, O.F.M.
Things to Do:
· Read "A Mexican Bloodletting"
· From the Catholic Culture Library read "Viva Cristo Rey! The Cristeros Versus the Mexican Revolution"
· Watch "For Greater Glory"
Apostolic Exhortation[2]
Veneremur Cernui – Down in Adoration Falling
of The Most Reverend Thomas J. Olmsted, Bishop of Phoenix,
to Priests, Deacons, Religious and the Lay Faithful of the Diocese of Phoenix on the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist
My beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Part II
Hold Nothing Back from Christ
27. On the sacred day of Holy Thursday, Jesus’ last night with His disciples, He knew that soon He would return to His Father, but He also knew how much they will need His presence, one that “The Imitation of Christ” eloquently describes as consoling and strengthening: “When Jesus is near, all is well and nothing seems difficult. When He is absent all is hard. When Jesus does not speak within, all other comfort is empty, but if He says only a word, it brings great consolation” (Book II Chapter 8). In a certain sense, we can say that here Jesus faces a dilemma. On the one hand, He desires to return to His Father and on the other hand, He desires to remain with His disciples. God’s love always finds an ingenious solution to such dilemma. Jesus returns to His Father, but by instituting the Sacrament of the Eucharist, at the same time He remains with His disciples, to accompany them in the challenges, difficulties, and suffering that they will face as they take on the mission of preaching the Good News.
Through the Eucharist, Jesus gives the greatest gift of Himself to His disciples and to us. Indeed, the Eucharist is truly the sacrament of Christ’s love!
28. God’s love for us did not stop at the Incarnation. He did not just become one of us and share our life from conception to death and redeem us through His suffering, Death, and Resurrection. His self-giving love went beyond by becoming our very nourishment. The Eucharist reveals how much Jesus loves us. Saint John Vianney, the patron saint of priests, expresses eloquently God’s extreme love for us in the Eucharist: “Never would we have thought of asking God to give us His own Son. But what man could not have even imagined, God has done. What man could not say or think, and what he could not have dared to desire, God, in His love has said it, planned it and carried His design into execution. We would never have dared to say to God to have His Son die for us, to give us His Body to eat, His Blood to drink… In other words, what man could not even conceive, God has executed. He went further in His designs of love than we could have dreamed” (The Eucharist Meditation of the Curé D’Ars, Meditation I).
29. How do we, then, respond to the Lord’s gift of Himself in the Holy Eucharist? Do we really desire Him? Are we anxious to meet Him? Do we desire to encounter Him, become one with Him and receive the gifts He offers us through the Eucharist?
To be continued…
Bible in a year Day 320 Peter's Denial Foretold
As we draw near to the end of the Gospel of Luke, Fr. Mike briefly expands on the story of the poor widow’s offering, emphasizing that the Lord cares more about the size of our hearts than about the size of our gifts. Fr. Mike also underscores Jesus’ moving words to Peter when he foretells Peter’s denial. Jesus’ words remind us that no matter how fiercely the enemy tries to attack us, he is always praying for each and every one of us. Today's readings are Luke 20-22:38 and Proverbs 26:17-19.
Around the Corner
o Note from Rachel: When I was but a child, I suffered a grand-mal seizure that nearly killed me. I was diagnosed with a brain tumor. My Dad immediately called Father Paul Wolff who was General Patton's Belgian Guide and asked for prays at the shrine of our Lady of Beauraing. A week later the brain tumor disappeared and there was still a small scar left on a portion of my brain, and I continued to have seizures, but medicine kept it under control for many years. Eventually through the work of a doctor I received a world class surgical procedure that completely healed me of seizures, from the world-famous Barrow Neurological Institute. Today I work there.
· National EMS Week spotlights the dedication and expertise of emergency medical professionals.
· do a personal eucharistic stations of the cross.
· Mary’s Month-Do a family Rosary
Thursday Feast
Thursday is the day of the week that our Lord gave himself up for consumption. Thursday commemorates the last supper. Some theologians believe after Sunday Thursday is the holiest day of the week. We should then try to make this day special by making a visit to the blessed sacrament chapel, Mass or even stopping by the grave of a loved one. Why not plan to count the blessing of the week and thank our Lord.
Plan a special meal. Be at Peace. According to Mary Agreda[3] in her visions it was on a Thursday at six o'clock in the evening and at the approach of night that the Angel Gabriel approached and announced her as Mother of God and she gave her fiat.
Dinner Menu
Best Places to Visit in May-New Orleans, Louisiana[4]
I love this ever chirpy and easygoing city where I always experience southern hospitality, fantastic live music and incredible food.
This month, it celebrates the mild weather with many special events, including the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.
While the days get warmer with relatively less humidity, you can enjoy pleasant weather with average daily highs of 84 degrees.
I recommend exploring the city on foot, taking a tour of the French Quarter’s beautiful homes and taking a memorable Jazz Cruise on the Steamboat Natchez.
- Visitors’ Centre Address: 339 Decatur St, New Orleans, LA 70130
- Average temperature – 84 degrees
- Location Map and Directions
My favorite highlights…
· Visiting Cinco de Mayo which was a lively and fun week of music, tacos, and margaritas.
- Hopping on a sightseeing tour and checking out all the major city attractions in one go.
- Riding on an airboat tour and going on a fast, exciting trip across the nearby swamps.
Today’s Menu
· Drink: Cajun lemonade
· Salad: Cajun Salad
· Main dish: Cajun Shrimp boil in foil
· Desert: Creole Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce Recipe
Daily Devotions
· Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them in fasting: Today's Fast: For the intercession of the angels and saints
· Litany of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus
· Offering to the sacred heart of Jesus
· Rosary
[3] Venerable Mary of Agreda. The Mystical City of God: Complete Edition Containing all Four Volumes with Illustrations (p. 770). Veritatis Splendor Publications. Kindle Edition
[4]https://globalgrasshopper.com/destinations/north-america/20-best-places-to-visit-in-may-in-the-usa/
PERSONAL AFFAIR (1953)
Gene Tierney • Glynis Johns • Leo Genn
Directed by Anthony Pelissier
A melodrama without excess and a mystery without spectacle, Personal Affair is a study in emotional misunderstanding and the quiet devastation caused by unspoken longing. Anthony Pelissier directs with a restraint that refuses sensationalism. Gene Tierney plays a headmaster’s wife whose poise hides a deep ache. Glynis Johns plays a troubled schoolgirl whose yearning becomes dangerous. Leo Genn anchors the film with a weary dignity as a man caught between duty, compassion, and suspicion.
This is not a scandal picture.
It is a meditation on the fragility of reputation and the peril of emotional ambiguity.
It is a domestic noir about longing, projection, and the moral cost of being misunderstood.
1. Production & Historical Setting
Post‑War British Restraint and Emotional Noir
Released in 1953, the film belongs to the British tradition of quiet, interior dramas where the danger is not violence but implication.
The shadows are not visual — they are social.
Britain is rebuilding, but its emotional life is tightly corseted.
Appearances matter.
Rumors matter more.
A single misunderstanding can unravel a life.
Anthony Pelissier’s Controlled Direction
Pelissier directs with a calm, almost clinical precision.
His style is:
- restrained
- observant
- psychologically exact
He refuses melodramatic outbursts.
He refuses easy villains.
He insists on the tragic weight of misinterpretation.
Gene Tierney’s Poised Vulnerability
As Barbara Vining, Tierney gives one of her most quietly devastating performances — a woman whose beauty becomes a liability, whose kindness is mistaken for intimacy, and whose marriage is strained by suspicion she cannot dispel.
Her performance is the film’s emotional center:
a woman punished not for sin, but for being seen.
Glynis Johns’ Troubled Innocence
As the schoolgirl, she is not malicious — she is lonely, impressionable, and desperate for attention.
Her infatuation is not erotic but existential:
she wants to be noticed, to matter, to be loved.
Leo Genn’s Moral Gravity
As the headmaster, he is a man torn between protecting his wife, protecting his student, and protecting his own reputation.
His restraint becomes its own tragedy.
2. Story Summary
The Vinings
A respectable couple in a small English town.
Barbara is gracious but restless.
Her husband is dutiful but emotionally distant.
Their marriage is stable — but not intimate.
The Student
Glynis Johns plays a girl who becomes attached to Barbara, seeing in her a maternal warmth she lacks at home.
Her admiration becomes fixation.
Her fixation becomes a problem.
The Disappearance
After a confrontation, the girl vanishes.
The town whispers.
The police investigate.
Suspicion falls on Barbara — not because of evidence, but because of imagination.
The Search
The film becomes a slow, painful unraveling of relationships:
Barbara’s marriage strains under doubt.
The town’s respect turns brittle.
The girl’s absence becomes a mirror for everyone’s fears.
The Return
When the girl is found, the truth is simple — and devastating:
she ran away not because of Barbara, but because of her own emotional turmoil.
The Ending
There is no triumph.
No vindication.
Only the quiet knowledge that reputations, once cracked, never fully mend.
The film ends with a marriage still standing — but altered, sobered, chastened.
3. Spiritual & Moral Resonances
A. The Danger of Emotional Ambiguity
Barbara’s kindness is misread.
Her gentleness becomes a projection screen for a lonely girl.
The film becomes a meditation on how easily good intentions can be misunderstood.
B. The Fragility of Reputation
In a small community, perception becomes truth.
Barbara’s innocence is irrelevant once suspicion takes root.
The film warns that a life can be undone not by sin, but by rumor.
C. Compassion Without Naivety
Barbara’s mistake is not moral — it is emotional.
She underestimates the depth of the girl’s need.
This is moral realism:
goodness must be wise, or it becomes dangerous.
D. The Wounds of Neglect
The girl’s longing is a symptom of deeper abandonment.
Her disappearance is a cry for connection, not rebellion.
Noir becomes pastoral theology:
the lost sheep wanders not from malice, but from hunger.
E. Marriage as a Place of Truth
The final scenes reveal a marriage forced into honesty.
Doubt has exposed what silence concealed.
The film ends with the possibility of renewal — but only through truth.
4. Hospitality Pairing — The Quiet Scandal Spread
- A mild, contemplative cigar — something soft‑bodied, reflecting the film’s subtle tension
- A gentle Scotch or Irish whiskey — smooth, introspective, matching the film’s British restraint
- Tea biscuits or simple bread with butter — the austerity of an English household under strain
- A dim, orderly room — the atmosphere of a life where everything appears proper until it isn’t
5. Reflection Prompts
- Where am I being misunderstood because I am not speaking plainly.
- What kindness in my life risks becoming emotional entanglement.
- Where is my reputation more fragile than I admit.
- Who in my world is starving for attention in ways I have not noticed.
- What truth must be spoken before suspicion grows into something destructive.
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