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I finished another Michael D. O’Brien book last night: By The Rivers of Babylon: A Novel.
US HERE
It is about the prophet Ezekiel. My only regret is that there wasn’t more. In the past I’ve complained half-heartedly that, for his earlier works, he could have benefited from an editor. Not this time. I don’t want to say too much about this book, other than it is clear that O’Brien is – as always – writing for us, for our day. You pick up quickly when he is making parallels of our own time.
For those of you who do not know this, and I am guessing that’s quite a few, Ezekiel was of the priestly lineage. When the Babylonians took Jerusalem in the 6th c. BC, he was forced into the Exile along with many others. In his 30th year, while in exile, he was called by God to be a prophet.
It is the Feast of St. Januarius, and therefore one of the days upon which the preserved blood of the saint liquifies. The recurring event occurs on three dates every year: 19 September (the saint’s feast day), 16 December and the first Saturday in May. Recently there was an exceptional occurrence which surprised people.
Joy all around this morning as Archbishop Domenico Battaglia displays the miraculously liquified blood of San Gennaro (Saint Januarius) on his feast day in the Cathedral of Naples. pic.twitter.com/NutCpFj8gO
— Catholic Sat (@CatholicSat) September 19, 2025
It’s always good to see a tweet from my friend His Hermeneuticalness.
Roberto de Mattei has written a superb account of Cardinal Merry del Val. It includes many valuable observations and judgments on his life and times. Warmly recommended.https://t.co/69qpUCzNk1 pic.twitter.com/gEW8UHckeK
— Fr Timothy Finigan (@FatherTF) September 19, 2025
Sorely missed…
Cardinal Wojtyla’s Prophetic Words Preached in Philadelphia in 1976.
“We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has ever experienced. I do not think that the wide circle of the American Society, or the whole wide circle of the Christian… pic.twitter.com/sDOQn3SnWH
— Sr. Mary Joseph Calore, SSCJ (@sscjusa) September 19, 2025
White to play and gain material.
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.
“IM THIS CLOSE” @charliekirk11
US Bishop Confirms Rumors of Charlie Kirk Converting Soon to Catholicism: He Told Me “I’m This Close”A little more than a week before his murder, Kirk attended a pro-life prayer breakfast in Visalia, California, which is in the Diocese of Fresno.… pic.twitter.com/iBGSniTU7H
— Catholics for Catholics ?? (@CforCatholics) September 19, 2025
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In his heart, Charlie was Catholic; he did not have time to make it official. The enemy could not have that strong brave voice for Catholicism! Charlie died a martyr’s death witnessing for Christ. He very well might have been the strongest public Catholic voice in the world.
yesterday i had the privilege of vespers and adoration. at vespers there were 12 of us in total including the pastor and one lay brother of his order. all Latin chant in an inner-city parish.
everyone else was much younger than me. i believe the pastor to be in his early forties. i don’t think anyone else present was over 35. good things are afoot!
I don’t do Facebook, but I was able to go through Sister Mary Joseph contributions. What an edifying and moving and beautiful thread. Moved to tears.
If you have told us about the splendid photo of bringing the Blessed Sacrament now having a turn among the current selection, I have missed it!
Sharon Kabel, a librarian and researcher, explored the source of Wojtyla’s “final confrontation” quote on her blog a few years ago. Evidently, it occurred in New York City.
https://sharonkabel.com/post/cardinal-wojtyla-and-final-confrontation/
I have sort of a question about Charlie about to become a Catholic.
When I visited a Traditional Catholic abbey during the summer of 1998 (at the suggestion of Malachi Martin) to talk about becoming Catholic, the abbot told me to start going to Mass (this would be 2 hour drive once a month and only an hour and a quarter on other Sundays) and that yes my wife and daughters should wear mantillas, but come anyway if they don’t have them. I was assured I would be rewarded by attending Mass, but he said don’t go to a NO Mass. Now here is the kicker, he said that if something happened to me before I converted, it was on him. That is he said, “That’s on me.” We as a small family were conditionally baptized 3 years later. Now I take Father Abbot’s words to have meant that if he did anything to keep us from converting, it was on him, but also we should not worry that we might die before converting if we were proceeding in the right direction. So I assume Charlie was in the same situation as I was during that 3 year period.
But does what the Abbot told me make sense? It did to me, but I am not a theologian.
By the way, Dr Janet Smith not only thinks Charlie was a latter day St Paul, but also a latter day Plato.
Re the chess problem: the black queen has almost nowhere to go and white has the initiative so it should be possible for white to at least trade a lesser piece for the queen. Rd1-e1 would do that at the cost of the rook. Maybe there’s a less costly way for white but I couldn’t find it.